Domain vs Target Line
Last updated 5/21/2026
A domain is the field of the question. The target line is the line that bears the answer.
Those are related, but they are not the same thing. “Marriage” is a domain. “Will this proposal be accepted?” may route differently from “Is this person faithful?” or “Will the relationship last?”
Keep three fields separate in your notes: the question domain, the target-selection method, and the selected line. A product category like “romance” or “career” is not itself a line in the chart.
Career, wealth, health, romance, legal, travel, documents, weather, or broad life.
The line that represents the person, object, outcome, or process the question truly asks about.
The three-field contract
Use three fields, not one label:
Career, wealth, health, romance, legal, travel, documents, weather, or broad life.
Six Relative, World, Response, hidden line, transformed carrier, or guarded domain synthesis.
The selected answer-bearing line: Parent, Officer, Sibling, Wealth, Child, World, or Response.
The hard rule: the engine never accepts a domain as a target line. There is no romance line, health line, legal line, or career line. The domain loads the right routing map; the exact question and relationship choose the actual target.
The routing workflow
Turn the ask into a concrete sentence with a subject, action, and desired outcome.
Use the domain to load the right routing map and common supporting lines.
Choose the line that carries this exact answer, not the line that merely names the topic.
The useful test is whether you can write the full route in one sentence: “This is a health question about the querent’s father, so the domain is health, the method is Six Relative routing, and the target is Parent.” If you cannot write that sentence cleanly, the target has not been selected yet.
Examples
Officer may carry the position. Parent may carry credentials. World shows the candidate.
Parent carries the father. Officer describes illness pressure, not the patient.
Brother carries the accused relative. Officer carries case pressure or penalty.
Parent carries the document. Officer can carry authority or enforcement.
Traps
The topic narrows the map. It does not always choose the exact line.
Advanced readings often have subtypes. Wealth collection and wealth investment are not the same problem.
If the question is vague, target selection will be vague. Restate first.
This distinction prevents the most common Act 9 error: inventing a target that matches the topic instead of selecting the actual line the chart gives you.