Six relatives
Definition
The six relatives (common labels): brothers, children (descendants), wife/wealth, officer/ghost, and parents (other chart tags such as “shi” vary by school). They are derived from the palace’s Five Phases versus each line’s Five Phases, mapping abstract line positions onto the useful spirit for human affairs.
How to take the useful spirit
- One matter, one cast—first decide which relative is the useful spirit.
- See whether that spirit appears on the chart, its strength, motion, and emptiness (if used).
- Once its line is fixed, open that hexagram’s matching line text—for example useful spirit on a hexagram’s Jiu Wu → that hexagram’s “Jiu Wu” chapter.
- Cross-check with Shi and Ying and Moving line.
Affinity / multitudes imagery at the hexagram-name layer may be compared with Bi and Shi, but six relatives still follow Five-Phases charting.
Boundaries
- Six relatives are practice deduction, not fields listed directly in the classic.
- Schools differ slightly on choosing the useful spirit; after a line is fixed, still match that line’s source wording—do not rewrite it from memory.