The Children palace (Zi Nu)

Zi Nu (子女) means sons and daughters, and it is the fourth section of the classic's palace chapters. The old text uses it to estimate children, but its own instructions are worth noticing: it says to read the stars in this palace first, and if the palace has none, to look across the chart at the opposite palace. We apply the same borrowing habit to every empty palace in your chart.

Here, we also use the palace as a prompt about creativity, care and what you nurture. The Children palace is the palace of things you bring into the world and then have to let go of: a child, a student, a band, a business, a story. Its stars describe how you nurture and how you teach, and whether you enjoy play or lean toward structure.

Across the chart is the Property palace (Tian Zhai), a good partner for it: what you build, and the home it is built in.

This palace says nothing about whether you will or should have children, and no chart can. The better question is what you want to nurture, and whether you give it the kind of attention you would want to receive.