Self and Other lines: locating Shi and Ying in the Eight Palaces

Locate the people and the subject separately

Self locates the questioner's side; Other can represent a counterpart or the external side of the matter. The focus line identifies what the question is about. For money, look for Wealth; that line is not necessarily Other.

The same hexagram keeps the same Self and Other positions when the question category changes. If asking on another person's behalf, first make the relationship between questioner and subject explicit.

For a known hexagram, use the palace reference tables below. To include your own cast's date and moving lines, use the free six-line casting tool. You can cast online or enter six physical coin throws; no birth information is needed. An interpreted reading is a separate, priced step.

Count from the bottom

Line 1 is the bottom line and line 6 the top. Self and Other are always three line positions apart: 1 and 4, 2 and 5, or 3 and 6. There are two intervening lines; “three apart” does not mean three lines between them.

In a primary palace hexagram, Self is at line 6 and Other at line 3. As the palace sequence progresses through its first five transformations, Self moves through lines 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The final two stages place Self at 4 and 3.

Worked example: Guan, Observation

Guan has Wind above Earth and belongs to the Qian / Heaven (乾) palace, at the Fourth generation (四世) stage. Self is line 4 and Other line 1. The table follows a chart's visual order from top to bottom; line counting still begins at the bottom.

Find the Self and Other markers first, with two intervening lines. For a money question, Wealth appears at lines 3 and 6; neither is Other. Choosing between two lines of the same category needs the moving-line and month/day context, rather than position alone.

This is a static placement example: it has no particular casting day's conditions or moving lines, so it cannot establish whether a proposed agreement will succeed.

Compare the full structure in the Guan hexagram guide. To enter your own six throws, open the casting tool, choose the physical-coin input mode, and enter them from line 1 to line 6. The result labels Self and Other for you.

What the mnemonic is encoding

The traditional placement verse in Bu Shi Zheng Zong is a compact description of this progression. Another mnemonic compares matching yin/yang positions in the upper and lower trigrams: the bottom pair is called Earth, the middle pair Human and the upper pair Heaven.

Those comparisons can identify the stage without searching a printed sixty-four-row list. A second mnemonic identifies the palace once the stage is known. The important point is that these are structural rules, not a random assignment based on the question.

The Eight Palaces sequence

Start with a doubled trigram. Flip the lower lines successively for the first five generations; the wandering-soul stage flips the fourth line back; the returning-soul stage restores the lower trigram to the palace’s original form.

The reference grid below shows all eight families and their eight entries. It uses the engine’s structural results, so the line positions shown in a reading and in the library share a source.

“Wandering soul” and “returning soul” are traditional stage names. They do not imply literal spirits in a person. Wandering is often associated with uncertainty or movement; returning with return and consolidation. These are broad interpretive themes, not conclusions by themselves.

How to read the axis

Self describes your side; Other the counterpart or target. If Other’s element controls Self, a reading may discuss external pressure. If Self controls Other, it may discuss your active role. Generation, combination or clash can add context.

None is a single yes/no switch. The focus line’s condition, moving lines and month/day influences still matter. A harmonious Self/Other pair does not prove a deal will close; a clash does not establish a breakup.

Self is not the same as the focus

For a money question, the Wealth line represents the subject even when Self is a different relationship category. Self’s support and its contact with that focus help frame your connection to the matter. Under the site’s Other question category, Self itself is selected as the focus.

If you ask on someone else’s behalf, say who they are and what your relationship is. The questioner and the person being asked about should not be silently merged.

Use the table with the other layers

Learn branch assignment to understand how each line receives its element, and focus selection to connect the table to a question. The changing-lines guide explains the next layer. The static library does not include the casting day’s Six Spirits or a particular cast’s moving lines.