The Friends Palace Covers Friends, Colleagues and Staff
The Friends Palace (Jiao You Gong) shows how you deal with people outside your family. That means friends, colleagues, staff and business partners. It is one of the twelve palaces in Ziwei Doushu.
Enter your birth time in the free Ziwei Doushu calculator and find the cell labelled 僕役; the chart labels are in Chinese. The major star in that cell describes the people who tend to be around you. Major stars are the fourteen main stars that shape a chart.
See your Ziwei Doushu chart
Generate your natal chart to discover which stars shape your destiny and how they interact across your twelve palaces.
From Servants Palace to Friends Palace: Where the Names Come From
Both names refer to the same palace, named in different eras.
| Name | Meaning | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| Servants (Nu Pu) | Master and servant, boss and staff | Classical texts such as the Complete Book of Ziwei Doushu (Ziwei Doushu Quanshu) |
| Servants (Pu Yi) | Same idea, softer wording | Chart labels |
| Friends (Jiao You) | Widened to friends and network | Modern books and articles |
Face reading uses the same old name for something else, in a separate system.
How Is the Friends Palace Different from the Siblings Palace?
The Siblings Palace covers the few people closest to you, while this palace covers your wider network. The two sit directly opposite each other on the chart.
| Compare | Siblings Palace | Friends Palace |
|---|---|---|
| Example | A sibling, an old best friend | Coworkers, club friends, clients |
| Who | Siblings and confidants | Friends, colleagues, staff, partners |
| Closeness | Few, close like family | Many, some close, some not |
| Working together | Close business partners | Wider partners and teams |
Read it together with the Siblings, Children and Parents palaces. These four are its Three Directions and Four Squares (San Fang Si Zheng).
| Role | Palace | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| This palace | Friends Palace | Friends, colleagues, staff and network |
| Opposite | Siblings Palace | Siblings, mother, close friends and partners |
| Trine | Parents Palace | Parents, elders and bosses, and luck with study and paperwork |
| Trine | Children Palace | Your bond with children, fertility, creative output, and juniors |
The Children Palace also covers juniors, and the Parents Palace covers bosses. When you lead a team or answer to a manager, it helps to read all three together.
The 14 Major Stars in the Friends Palace: Who Gathers Around You
The major star in this palace hints at the kind of people who tend to be around you. When two major stars share the palace, read both rows together.
| Star | Your circle | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Ziwei | Capable friends with standing | Strong friends; hold your own ground |
| Tianji | Clever friends, many ideas; circles change | Trade ideas, but make big calls yourself |
| Taiyang | Warm friends, a wide circle | You may give more than you get back |
| Wuqu | Practical friends; give and take | Keep money dealings clearly accounted |
| Tiantong | Kind friends, plenty of company | Too much socializing scatters your energy |
| Lianzhen | Distinctive, magnetic friends | Friendship and romance can blur |
| Tianfu | Steady friends who bring resources | Staying in one circle slows new contacts |
| Taiyin | Attentive friends; bonds run on feeling | Calm on the surface, other thoughts beneath |
| Tanlang | Friends in every line of work | Tell real contacts from social rounds |
| Jumen | Few true friends; trust lasts once built | Prone to gossip and misunderstandings |
| Tianxiang | Loyal friends who help each other | Think twice before guaranteeing a loan |
| Tianliang | Older friends, or people who look after you | You may become everyone's caretaker |
| Qisha | Bold friends who act fast | Friendships start fast and can end fast |
| Pojun | Your circle changes with each life stage | Be careful with loans and partnerships |
Empty Friends Palace: Borrowing from the Siblings Palace
With no major star, this palace borrows the major stars of the Siblings Palace opposite. That palace then always holds two major stars.
Empty palaces are common; most charts have two to four of them. An empty one does not mean you will struggle to make friends.
The borrowed stars first describe how you treat the people closest to you. So you tend to make friends the way you treat siblings and confidants. The borrowing rules are the same as for an empty Life Palace.
The Four Transformations in the Friends Palace and Partnerships
Hua Lu (wealth) here tends to turn your network into opportunities, while Hua Ji (obstacle) makes you more likely to worry over friends. Both are among the Four Transformations, four tags a star can carry. Each one makes its star run smoother, stronger or more orderly, or gets it stuck.
Three kinds matter here, each active for a different span:
- Birth yearset by your birth year, active for life.
- Decadechanges every ten years and covers only that decade.
- Annual Fortunechanges every year and covers only that year.
| Transformation | Tendency in the Friends Palace |
|---|---|
| Hua Lu | Well liked; friends and colleagues bring chances |
| Hua Quan (power) | Strong-willed friends, or you lead the group |
| Hua Ke (fame) | Friends who value reputation and fairness |
| Hua Ji | You give more; partnerships risk friction |
While Hua Ji sits here, agree on who does what before you work together. For a partnership with someone close, look at the siblings side instead.
