The Three Marvels and Six Rites of Qimen Dunjia
The Three Marvels (乙丙丁) and Six Rites (戊己庚辛壬癸) are the stems that go into the nine palaces. This guide explains what each group means, how they are placed, and how to read them.
Ten symbols holding up the whole chart
These stem groups are fundamental to every reading. Understanding them makes it possible to interpret the chart in a structured way.
There are ten heavenly stems, and Qimen Dunjia does not use Jia (甲). The other nine split into two groups: the Six Rites (六儀) — Wu (戊), Ji (己), Geng (庚), Xin (辛), Ren (壬), Gui (癸) — and the Three Marvels (三奇) — Yi (乙), Bing (丙), Ding (丁).
Jia is the commander, and it never shows up on the chart directly. It hides inside the Six Rites — and that is the origin of the two characters in Dunjia (遁甲, "hidden Jia").
The Six Rites: six Jia hidden in six rites
These stem groups are fundamental to every reading. Understanding them makes it possible to interpret the chart in a structured way.
The sixty-Jiazi cycle (六十甲子) is divided into six xun (旬, ten-day periods), each headed by one Jia. Every Jia has its own corresponding rite:
| Xun head | Corresponding rite |
|---|---|
| Jiazi (甲子) | Wu (戊) |
| Jiaxu (甲戌) | Ji (己) |
| Jiashen (甲申) | Geng (庚) |
| Jiawu (甲午) | Xin (辛) |
| Jiachen (甲辰) | Ren (壬) |
| Jiayin (甲寅) | Gui (癸) |
So when you see Wu on the chart, it actually means the commander of Jiazi is hidden in that palace; seeing Geng means Jiashen. This pairing is the basis for later working out the xun head (旬首) and the Chief (值符).
The Three Marvels: Yi, Bing, Ding
These stem groups are fundamental to every reading. Understanding them makes it possible to interpret the chart in a structured way.
- Yi is the Sun Marvel (日奇): gentle in nature, governing the soft, the feminine and the hidden. Use Yi for questions about women, a spouse, or quiet support.
- Bing is the Moon Marvel (月奇): governs brightness, authority, openness, documents and celebration — and also impatience.
- Ding is the Star Marvel (星奇): governs documents, messages and cleverness. Traditionally it is also called the Jade Maiden (玉女), governing delicacy and dealings carried on in private.
The Three Marvels are treated as the chart's auspicious stems: when Yi, Bing or Ding land well in their palace, they mostly signal support. But remember — Qimen reads generation, control and pattern, and no single symbol is absolutely lucky or unlucky.
Laying them into the Nine Palaces: start Wu from the ju-number palace
These stem groups are fundamental to every reading. Understanding them makes it possible to interpret the chart in a structured way.
The Earth Plate (地盤) layout in one sentence: start Wu from the palace matching the ju number (局數), then lay Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui, Ding, Bing, Yi across the nine palaces in that order — forward for Yang Dun (陽遁), backward for Yin Dun (陰遁).
Note the Three Marvels run Ding, Bing, Yi, not Yi, Bing, Ding. The tradition calls this "six rites laid forward, three marvels laid backward", and it is a fixed rule, not a typo.
Two real examples, straight from this site's engine:
- Yin Dun 6: Wu lands in palace 6 and flies backward — palace 6 Wu, palace 5 Ji, palace 4 Geng, palace 3 Xin, palace 2 Ren, palace 1 Gui, palace 9 Ding, palace 8 Bing, palace 7 Yi.
- Yang Dun 7: Wu lands in palace 7 and flies forward — palace 7 Wu, palace 8 Ji, palace 9 Geng, palace 1 Xin, palace 2 Ren, palace 3 Gui, palace 4 Ding, palace 5 Bing, palace 6 Yi.
You can cast a chart and check it yourself: the nine cells of the Earth Plate must hold exactly these nine symbols — never one more, never one fewer. If you have not cast one before, How to Cast a Qimen Dunjia Chart walks through the full sequence.
Heaven-plate stem over earth-plate stem = a pattern
These stem groups are fundamental to every reading. Understanding them makes it possible to interpret the chart in a structured way.
Once the Earth Plate is laid, the heaven-plate stems (天盤) rotate with the Chief, so every palace becomes a heaven-plate stem sitting on an earth-plate stem. The tradition names the patterns from this combination — Green Dragon Fleeing, White Tiger Rampant, and so on.
As a beginner you do not need to memorize dozens of pattern names. Remember three things:
- The five-element relationship between the two stems. Whether the heaven-plate stem generates or controls the earth-plate stem directly shapes how smoothly the matter runs.
- Which stem stands for you, and which for the matter. The day stem (日干) usually represents the asker; the hour stem (時干) represents the matter or the counterpart.
- Whether the palace a stem lands in carries generation, control, or strength. The same Yi means one thing in the Kan palace (坎宮) and another in the Li palace (離宮).
This site's chart page lists the heaven-plate stem, the earth-plate stem and the pattern hint together, so you can practice straight from that overview line.
A small exercise
These stem groups are fundamental to every reading. Understanding them makes it possible to interpret the chart in a structured way.
Take a chart and read "heaven-plate stem + earth-plate stem" palace by palace, then answer three questions: what are the two elements? Which controls which? Which palace does the significator (用神) land in? Do this ten times and you will find you can already read the gist of most charts, without leaning on a memorized pattern table.