BAZI KNOWLEDGE BASE
What are the Six Family Roles in BaZi? Parents, siblings, partners and children
The Six Family Roles, or Liu Qin, are traditional terms for close family relationships, usually covering parents, siblings, partners and children. “Six” does not limit the number of relatives or suggest that a chart contains a household register. Two references matter: Ten Gods (traditional labels for relationships to the birth-day element) describe symbolic roles, while palaces supply the positions where a family question is discussed.
Which Ten Gods usually represent each family role?
This table distinguishes the familiar family explanation in Ziping Zhenquan from the female-chart convention in Sanming Tonghui. They are historical interpretive frameworks; each Ten God retains other meanings.
| Relationship | Common correspondence | Rationale or convention |
|---|---|---|
| Mother | Direct Resource; some readings include Resource generally | Generation of the Day Master, extended to nurturing |
| Father | Indirect Wealth | Derived as the Direct Officer of the mother-role Resource |
| Siblings | Friend and Rob Wealth | The Day Master’s own element, extended to peers |
| Wife: historical male chart | Primarily Direct Wealth; sometimes Wealth generally | The controlled element extended to partnership |
| Husband: historical female chart | Primarily Direct Officer, with Seven Killings also considered | The controlling element extended to partnership |
| Children: historical male chart | Officer and Seven Killings | Wealth as wife generates the Officer family |
| Children: historical female chart | Eating God and Hurting Officer | What the Day Master generates; some passages emphasize Eating God |
Why is the father not simply another Resource star?
Ziping Zhenquan starts with Direct Resource as mother and derives father through that symbol’s partner relationship. Jia Wood has Gui Water as Direct Resource. Relative to Gui, Wu Earth is Direct Officer; back in Jia’s reference, Wu is Indirect Wealth.
This is an analogy inside the text, not a requirement that fathers manage money or mothers provide care. The original also contains historical marital hierarchy; understanding the term does not require adopting that division of family life.
What family context do the four positions provide?
A common reading order moves from wider origins toward close shared life and later development. Palace meanings do not change a pillar’s Ten Gods, seasonal function or hidden stems (the additional element symbols traditionally assigned inside each lower chart symbol).
Direct Resource in the Hour Stem (the upper symbol in the birth-hour column) remains Direct Resource. The hour’s association with children does not rename it Eating God. A star in a palace connects a role with a position.
| Position | Common context |
|---|---|
| Year | Ancestry, origins and wider early surroundings |
| Month | Parents or siblings and immediate formative surroundings |
| Day Stem and Branch | Self-reference in the stem; partnership context in the branch |
| Hour | Descendants, later outcomes and later life |
Why can two family tables disagree?
Identify the layer of disagreement. One table separates Direct and Indirect Resource; another groups them. Children may use male-chart Officers and female-chart Output, or a separate elemental-polarity subdivision. Parent palaces can emphasize Year or Month. Ten-God calculation, family assignment and palace assignment are distinct.
The children chapter of Ziping Zhenquan itself discusses a difference between Officer-polarity subdivisions and fixing Geng/Xin for Wood Day Masters. This guide explains the broad male-Officer and female-Output categories, without treating son/daughter tables as predictions. Ask which rule a report uses before comparing it.
How does this apply to single-parent, adoptive, blended or same-gender families?
Begin with the person and relationship you actually mean. Care can be shared by parents, grandparents or other caregivers, and one person may supply support, resources and rules. A historical table should not erase or reassign these relationships.
When wife-star or husband-star labels do not fit, shared support, responsibility and exchange can still be discussed as modern interpretation. This does not calculate a newly validated same-gender-partner or adoptive-parent star. When information is missing, keep the uncertainty rather than invent a relative’s story.
Does a mother-star symbol tell us a mother’s history?
Take the partial condition of a Jia Day Master sitting on Zi. Zi hides Gui, Direct Resource for Jia; the traditional table here permits a mother-role reading. Zi also occupies the Day Branch (the lower symbol in the birth-day column), often called the spouse palace. This places a role in a position; it neither identifies the mother as a spouse nor establishes relations between family members.
A Jia-Zi Day alone supplies no Year, Month, Hour or timing context for a complete strength or interaction judgment. If someone reports being raised mainly by grandparents, preserve that fact instead of rewriting the family to fit the table. A chart does not authorize disclosing relatives’ private information or establish parentage, fidelity or health.