Twelve Questions, Twelve Targets
Last updated 5/21/2026
This is the Act 4 workshop.
The job is not to predict outcomes yet. Strength, rescue, obstruction, timing, and final judgment start in the next acts. Here the only job is target selection:
Which line carries the question?
Read the subject of the question before reacting to the chart.
Six Relative, World, Response, transformed carrier, domain synthesis, or Hidden Spirit.
The rest of the reading is organized around that line.
Think of the twelve examples as drills. Each one asks: what is the question really about, and which selection method answers that?
These drills deliberately stop before full judgment. Some examples mention strength, motion, rescue, or timing because those details explain why the source cared about the case, but the workshop output stays narrower: identify the target and do not overclaim beyond the evidence.
The method map
Use the role named by the question: Parent, Wealth, Officer, Sibling, or Child.
Use the cascade when the same target role appears more than once.
Recover the missing role from the palace primary at the same line position.
For direct self-questions, the World line carries the querent.
For someone outside the fixed relative catalogue, the Response line carries the other party.
When the question bundles several subjects, split or route carefully instead of forcing one vague line.
Twelve drills
- Question
- Will I succeed in the civil service examination?
- Method
- Six Relative
- Target
- Parent line, line 4.
- Why
- The question is about the paper, essay, and examination document.
- Trap
- Do not route exam success to Officer just because exams can lead to office.
- Question
- Will I get the official promotion?
- Method
- Six Relative
- Target
- Officer line, line 6.
- Why
- The question is directly about rank, office, and authority.
- Trap
- Do not pick the moving support lines just because they are active.
- Question
- Will I obtain wealth?
- Method
- Six Relative
- Target
- Wealth line, line 2.
- Why
- A direct money question routes to Wealth.
- Trap
- Do not add complexity when the visible chart already has one clear Wealth line.
- Question
- What about my father's recent illness?
- Method
- Six Relative with Liang Xian
- Target
- Parent line, line 3.
- Why
- Father routes to Parent; multiple Parent candidates are resolved by the cascade.
- Trap
- Do not aggregate the Parent lines. The cascade picks one target.
- Question
- Will my brother recover from his illness?
- Method
- Six Relative with unresolved Liang Xian
- Target
- Sibling / Zi / Water, not source-pinned to one line.
- Why
- The source identifies the Brother Water role but does not choose between duplicate appearances.
- Trap
- Do not invent certainty the source did not claim.
- Question
- What about my illness?
- Method
- World line
- Target
- World line, line 2.
- Why
- The patient is the querent, so the self-position carries the question.
- Trap
- Do not force self-illness through a Six Relative catalogue lookup.
- Question
- Will my wife's illness be cured?
- Method
- Six Relative
- Target
- Wealth line, line 5.
- Why
- For a male querent, the spouse-as-patient routes to Wealth.
- Trap
- Do not target Officer just because Officer can describe illness as pathology.
- Question
- Will my marriage proposal be accepted?
- Method
- Six Relative
- Target
- Wealth line, line 6.
- Why
- For a male querent, the prospective spouse routes to Wealth.
- Trap
- Do not pick World just because the question is personally important.
- Question
- Will the proposed marriage succeed from the woman's side?
- Method
- Six Relative
- Target
- Officer line, line 2.
- Why
- For a female-side marriage question, the male spouse routes to Officer.
- Trap
- Do not use Wealth for every marriage question. Perspective changes the spouse role.
- Question
- What will happen to my brother in his lawsuit?
- Method
- Six Relative
- Target
- Sibling line, line 5.
- Why
- The subject is the brother. Legal is the domain, not the target.
- Trap
- Do not route legal questions automatically to Officer.
- Question
- Will my father's illness be cured?
- Method
- Hidden Spirit
- Target
- Hidden Parent line, line 2.
- Why
- Father routes to Parent, but no Parent line appears visibly.
- Trap
- Do not read the visible cover as the target. Retrieve the hidden line.
- Question
- Will my friend's illness be cured?
- Method
- Response line
- Target
- Response line, line 6.
- Why
- A friend is an unfamiliar other, not a fixed Six Relative category.
- Trap
- Do not call the friend Sibling just because the Response line happens to carry that label.
What the workshop proves
Do not let the most dramatic line on the chart choose for you.
Legal, illness, marriage, and career questions can route to different targets depending on the subject.
The line's relative label travels with the chart, but it does not create the selection.
If the source identifies a role but not a line, preserve that level of specificity.
That closes Act 4. We can now take a well-formed question and point to the line that carries it.
The deeper lesson is that selection is not drama-reading. A moving line may be support, obstacle, blocker, or background. A domain such as law, illness, or marriage is not automatically a target. A hidden role is recovered before it is judged. The target is chosen by the question, then tested by the chart.
Act 5 asks the next question: once the target is fixed, how strong is it, what supports it, and what blocks it?
-> Act 5: Strength and Interaction