Eight Gates

Every Qimen Dunjia chart is drawn on the same frame: nine palaces arranged in a three-by-three square, and eight gates that travel around them hour by hour. The stars, stems and deities stacked on top all depend on that frame, so it is the first thing to learn — and the first thing English-language material tends to blur, because the gates go by half a dozen different translations. This article lays out the nine palaces and their numbers, gives a full table of the eight gates with every common English name, and explains the two relationships a reader checks first: which palace a gate lands in, and whether gate and palace support or fight each other. For the system as a whole, start with What Is Qi Men Dun Jia?.