The Northeast Zone: Eight Family Placements

A son's or daughter's placement lasts only while they are unmarried and living at home; when one marries, the younger brothers or sisters move up a place. For how the zones are found and family members ranked, see How to Read Your Home Map.

Father: Retreat (天山遁)

A married man who sleeps in the Northeast forms Retreat. The wife who shares his room forms Modesty. When a head of the household sighs and groans all day, has lost his drive by middle age, works hard while the credit often goes to others, and makes no progress at all in his career in office, this placement is what holds him back.

Career and money: He is not promoted when he should be; he feels powerless and starts thinking of stepping down. Everything returns to where it started, and he must begin again.

Health: His body declines too; in middle age he gets the illnesses of old age.

Marriage: The bond between husband and wife wears away until they divorce.

Mother: Modesty (地山谦)

A married woman who sleeps in the Northeast forms Modesty. After sixty-five, the placement no longer forms. The third line of Modesty is the image of toiling modesty: hardworking and yielding, the same from beginning to end. A woman who bears hardship and blame without complaint, never finds it bitter, yields to others in modesty, and keeps her virtue unchanged to the end is in this placement; she is beyond doubt a good wife and a loving mother.

Career and money: In public office she handles every matter fairly and with meticulous care. In business she is sure to earn income, but the partners often fall out, and the partnership breaks up over an unequal split of profits. The placement carries the image of office: a woman whose destiny is public service leans, in this placement, toward elected office; a woman in business leans this way too, and takes a seat in the legislature.

Health: Minor ailments never stop; most come from long overwork.

Marriage: Her husband forms Retreat, which is unfavorable for the couple, and their bond wears away. The virtuous wife gives everything to caring for the family, yet she cannot save the marriage.

Eldest son: Small Exceeding (雷山小过)

The Eldest son who sleeps in the Northeast forms Small Exceeding. The placement is very common, and people are often caught in it without knowing. A man born in the Year of the Monkey need not avoid it.

Character: He gives up everything for love, and his conduct sinks into pettiness: this is the “small” in Small Exceeding.

Career and money: He is so infatuated that he cannot work.

Marriage: He is troubled in love and cannot free himself. He often hurts others through his faults, and so his marriage does not happen.

Second son: Obstruction (水山蹇)

The Second son who sleeps in the Northeast forms Obstruction. The placement favors military officials, that is, people working in the military, the police, diplomacy or law; a family that wants a son to enter this kind of public service can set up the placement on purpose.

Character: He has no hunger for gain or reputation, and goes his own way.

Career and money: Seeking money goes smoothly for him. In public office he is posted away from home, far from his relatives.

Study and exams: Academic honors are favored, and he is sure to pass his qualifying exams.

Marriage: He marries seven years later than others born at the same time.

Third son: Mountain (艮为山)

The Third son who sleeps in the Northeast forms Mountain.

Character: He knows when to step forward and when to step back, and he is likable.

Career and money: The placement greatly favors him in public service.

Study and exams: Academic honors come smoothly, and he is sure to get into the school he wants.

Health: He stays healthy and safe.

Marriage: His marriage goes smoothly: in the year the Red Phoenix star stirs in his birth chart, he is sure to marry.

Family: He is a filial son.

Eldest daughter: Gradual Progress (风山渐)

The Eldest daughter who sleeps in the Northeast forms Gradual Progress.

Career and money: Her mind is unsettled at work, and she often wants a change. Public service and teaching greatly favor her.

Study and exams: Academic honors do not come; she always falls just short at the final step.

Health: She is in good health and meets few mishaps.

Marriage: She takes no initiative toward marriage, and a match is hard to make.

Second daughter: The Wanderer (火山旅)

The Second daughter who sleeps in the Northeast forms The Wanderer. The placement is unusual.

Character: She presents some masculine inclinations. She is guarded and calculating, and in the end she brings the blame on herself.

Study and exams: She wins academic honors.

Marriage: Her marriage does not happen; she marries only if she meets a partner born in the Year of the Goat or the Monkey, or in a Goat or Monkey year.

Third daughter: Influence (泽山咸)

The Third daughter who sleeps in the Northeast forms Influence. The placement was common in the past but is rare today.

Career and money: Her income and career go smoothly, and she is highly ambitious at work.

Study and exams: Academic honors do not come to her.

Marriage: Her marriage is made through a matchmaker, not by free choice in love. Her match is sure to come from a wealthy, distinguished family; she marries one year earlier than others born at the same time, and at an odd-numbered age. The marriage first forms and then breaks; it bodes ill.

Source: The Way of the Earth's Veins (天纪：地脉道)