The Northwest 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: Heaven (乾为天)

A married man who sleeps in the Northwest forms Heaven; the placement forms only if he is also the rightful head of the household.

Character: He is resolute, knows when to step forward and when to step back, and never oversteps his place.

Career and money: In public office he rises swiftly to high rank and gets what he sets out to achieve; he is promoted faster than others and skips ranks on the way up. In business he is usually the owner, with plenty of money and income. He is a born leader who decides on the spot and seizes the moment, and there is no limit to what he achieves. If he holds this position and stays on one path from start to finish, he achieves great things.

Family: He has a strong sense of duty to his family; he is a good husband and a wise, capable father.

Mother: Peace (地天泰)

A married woman who sleeps in the Northwest forms Peace, the image of good times following the worst, and of ease and comfort. It is an excellent placement: she does well in marriage, career, health and raising her children, a good wife and a loving mother. A woman whose destiny is good moves into this placement naturally; as the saying goes, a blessed place is home to blessed people. A woman whose destiny is thin, even knowing the placement is good, is often held back by her circumstances and cannot make the change.

Career and money: Supporting her husband and raising her children at home is also a career. In a job outside the home she knows when to advance and when to hold back, is given important work, and gets what she sets out to achieve. A woman who sets up this placement on purpose, whether acting or waiting, seizes the first advantage and stays a step ahead in everything, and in the end she achieves great things.

Health: She lives safely into old age, with no serious illness all her life.

Marriage: The couple stay married for life and grow old together.

Eldest son: Great Power (雷天大壮)

The Eldest son who sleeps in the Northwest forms Great Power. The placement is common.

Character: He is firm.

Career and money: He works independently and runs his own affairs. In self-employment he can be master of his own field, and his reputation spreads far.

Marriage: Unlike others born at the same time, he does not marry in this placement. If he does marry, his wife is born in the Year of the Monkey, the Rabbit or the Dog, but the marriage often breaks within three months.

Family: He sees himself as head of the household, with the image of taking over his father’s seat. He feels a heavy duty to his family.

Second son: Waiting (水天需)

The Second son who sleeps in the Northwest forms Waiting. When his elder brother marries, from the wedding day on, the placement turns at once into Great Power.

Character: His mind matures quickly, far ahead of others his age and others born at the same time. He is fiery and does not listen to advice.

Career and money: His career succeeds greatly. He holds power young, is given important work, and knows when to advance and when to hold back.

Marriage: His marriage comes seven years late, and he marries at an odd-numbered age. If his birth chart puts marriage under an ill influence, he enters religious life or never marries. When he does marry, his wife has been married before.

Third son: Great Taming (山天大畜)

The Third son who sleeps in the Northwest forms Great Taming. A son who works for his family at any cost, even giving up marriage, is not always a third son, but the Great Taming placement forms only in a third son.

Character: He is frugal to the extreme and will never spend money on luxuries, so he has sizable savings.

Career and money: The placement does not favor a career in public service. He is bogged down in his work, with paperwork piled mountain high.

Marriage: He marries two years earlier than others born at the same time, but the marriage is short and breaks within three months: he forces his habit of saving on his wife and cannot stand her spending.

Family: He takes over his father’s role and supports the whole family.

Eldest daughter: Small Taming (风天小畜)

The Eldest daughter who sleeps in the Northwest forms Small Taming. The placement is common in families with daughters. It puts career first and marriage second.

Character: She is more capable than a man, independent, and relies on no one.

Career and money: She is driven in her career, becomes a business owner young, and succeeds.

Marriage: Her wedding date must be read together with her destiny: where others born at the same time marry at twenty-eight, she marries two years earlier. Where the destiny of others born at the same time denies them marriage, or breaks any marriage that forms, she never marries; she puts everything into her career and becomes a formidable career woman. The placement greatly favors women born in the Year of the Goat or the Horse. Even if she marries, her husband cannot help her, and she carries everything alone.

Family: She takes on her father’s role in the family.

Second daughter: Great Possession (火天大有)

The Second daughter who sleeps in the Northwest forms Great Possession. An unmarried woman who is beautiful and has made a name in her career, but fares poorly in marriage, is in this placement.

Character: She has more masculine vigor than most, and her stubborn, headstrong nature is plain to see.

Career and money: If her destiny gives her a strong career and a large family business, this placement makes her take over her father’s business, and her brothers are not equal to it.

Marriage: She neither values nor cares about marriage. If her destiny makes marriage smooth, she marries three years earlier than others born at the same time.

Family: She cares for nothing so much as her children. There is the image of a child born outside marriage, and she does not care what people say. She has two sons. For a woman born in the Year of the Dog the placement works the opposite way and is highly favorable: she is very intelligent, her marriage goes well, her career runs smoothly, and after marriage there is the image of twin sons.

Third daughter: Breakthrough (泽天夬)

The Third daughter who sleeps in the Northwest forms Breakthrough.

Character: If she is firm by nature, she takes a military path; if gentle, a religious one. Her birth chart shows which.

Career and money: Her career goes badly first and well later; she makes her own way.

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

Health: Her health is poor.

Marriage: Her marriage is put off and does not happen.

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