How is a Question Chart created?

Construct the board with a timestamp and purpose

Creating a Question Chart begins with a single precise moment and an immovable question. Every subsequent placement on the board answers that one question, nothing else.

What must be fixed first

Decide the question and lock the moment, using date and time converted to the traditional Chinese calendar. Every Question Chart is time stamped to the hour and the stem branch of that hour. Every temporal coordinate fixes the Heaven and Earth panels, which are the two layers of the board: the Heaven panel records the celestial positions derived from the hour and stems, and the Earth panel records the ground palaces arranged in a fixed 3 by 3 grid. Every mistake in the timestamp ruins the chart.

Map the 9 Palaces and align panels

Draw the 9 Palaces in the standard square layout. Place the Earth panel as the immutable grid. Rotate or set the Heaven panel into relation with the Earth panel according to the hourly rule defined by the school you follow. Every school has a convention for how the Heaven panel moves relative to the Earth panel, so state your method before you begin. Every palace will receive the central indicators that define outcomes.

What you place in each palace

Place three families of markers into palaces: 9 Stars, 8 Gods, and 8 Doors. Place the 9 Stars first, because they are the principal energetic qualities that color a palace. Explain briefly, the 9 Stars are the astral archetypes that indicate movement, resources, visibility, conflict, and timing. Place the 8 Gods next, because they operate as the active agents, the personalities that will take action or block action. Explain briefly, the 8 Gods are the metaphysical actors that change how a Star behaves in a palace. Place the 8 Doors last, because they are the outcomes and methods of entry. Explain briefly, the 8 Doors are the action gates that determine whether an intention opens, closes, escapes, or locks down. Follow the conventional placement rules of your lineage for which Star, God, and Door occupy each palace given the Heaven and Earth panel alignment.

How the Three Wonders govern the question

Invoke the Three Wonders at the start of the reading: Time, Space, Person. Explain briefly, the Three Wonders are the framing rules that force you to place the question in context. Decide which Wonder you prioritize. Lock Time when the question is strictly outcome and timing oriented. Lock Space when location or positional advantage matters. Lock Person when the actor is the primary variable. This decision determines which palace becomes the question palace and which palace becomes the period palace for movement and prognosis.

Which palace is your question palace

Assign the question palace according to the Three Wonders rule you selected and the subject of your question. For personal matters the Person palace is primary. For transactional matters the Space palace often becomes primary. For timing and deadlines the Time palace is primary. Move the stem, branch, and door alignments into the chosen palace to establish what I call the interrogation point. Everything you read next will be relative to that palace.

Set the Six Instruments for technical judgement

Place the Six Instruments as overlays that assist precise judgment. Explain briefly, the Six Instruments are the analytic tools that quantify influence, such as the Counting Instrument for advantage, the Seal Instrument for authority, and the Hood Instrument for concealment. Use them to score competing palaces, quantify advantage, and to resolve ties when two palaces present equal promise. Do not use the Six Instruments as a crutch instead of a clear timestamp and correct panel alignment.

Movement rules: when and how things shift

Apply the movement rules next. Determine whether the chart requires a static read or a moving chart read. Static charts read the positions as placed. Moving charts simulate progression by advancing the Heaven panel according to hour sequences, or by rotating the Doors based on stems. Every movement rule is mechanical. If you are predicting development over days or months, advance the Heaven panel in step with the calendrical unit you are testing. Mark changes to which 9 Stars, 8 Gods, or 8 Doors enter the question palace at each step.

Common placement pitfalls

Never mix placement conventions from different lineages without translating between them. Never place 9 Stars, 8 Gods, or 8 Doors by memory alone when a timestamp and charting tool are available. Never treat the Heaven and Earth panels as cosmetic. Always log the base timestamp and the rule set used for panel alignment on the chart itself for later validation.

Checklist for building a Question Chart: 1. Lock the question and timestamp. 2. Set Heaven and Earth panels. 3. Populate 9 Stars, 8 Gods, 8 Doors. 4. Assign the Question Palace using the Three Wonders. 5. Apply Six Instruments. 6. Advance movement if required.

How to validate the chart

Run a quick live-check against a known outcome. Use a simple historical test case, recreate the timestamp, and confirm the placements produce the expected verdict. If the placements do not match the known outcome, retrace your conversion of civil time to stem branch, and confirm panel alignment. If you find repeated inconsistency, the fault is almost always timestamp conversion or a misapplied movement rule, not metaphysics.

Turn construction into a decisive read

Translate placements into an operational directive. Identify whether the 8 Doors at the question palace are favorable or restrictive. Combine that with the 9 Stars quality there and the operative 8 Gods temperament. Use the Six Instruments to quantify margin of advantage and to pick the timing window when the Heaven and Earth panels align most favorably. Record the sequence of movements that changes a bad palace into a better palace, and use that sequence as the tactical plan.

Build the chart precisely, and act on the positions you see with the same precision.