The palace element is the chart’s reference element for deriving the five line roles. Copy it from the palace lookup; do not guess it from the visible upper or lower trigram.

The lookup rule

PalacePalace element
QianMetal
DuiMetal
KanWater
GenEarth
KunEarth
ZhenWood
XunWood
LiFire

The duplicate elements are intentional. Eight palaces map into five phases, so Metal, Earth, and Wood each serve two palaces. Water and Fire each serve one palace.

Worked annotation: Case 00035

The previous lesson established:

FieldValue
Primary hexagram3
PalaceKan
Palace positionSecond generation

Kan’s palace element is Water. Add one line to the chart header:

Palace: Kan · Position: second generation · Reference element: Water

Water remains the reference element even though the visible hexagram contains Thunder below and Water above. The palace classification, not either visible trigram by itself, supplies the role reference.

Why this field comes before line roles

The same line element can receive a different role in a different palace. A Wood line is:

  • the same element in a Wood palace;
  • generated by a Water palace;
  • controlled by a Metal palace;
  • controlling in an Earth palace;
  • generating in a Fire palace.

Those directions will receive stable role names after Najia supplies each line’s branch and element. For now, record only the reference element.

Exercise

Look up each primary hexagram, then add its palace element:

HexagramPalaceElement
35QianMetal
19KunEarth
29KanWater
57XunWood
30LiFire

Failure control: if you used Hexagram 19’s Earth element for Case 00035’s primary line roles, you switched to the changed chart too early. Return to the primary Hexagram 3 and use Kan / Water.

Source note

The complete palace-to-element table is the course lookup. Its job is deterministic chart construction only.

Next: Continue to Stem-Branch Assignment (Najia) and install the fixed labels on all six lines.