The Minister (Tian Xiang, 天相) in the Spouse palace (Fu Qi, 夫妻)
The Spouse palace is about marriage and close partnership. Trusted with authority — the seal of office. Plain-spoken; does not fake things.
What the classic says, Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu (紫微斗数全书), volume two
A handsome and virtuous partner; an older one suits. Marriage between families already close. With the Emperor star (紫微), growing old together; with the Iron (武曲), little harmony; with the Mystic (廉贞) well placed, harm is spared. With the six malefics, harm.
天相貌美贤淑夫宜年长，亲上成亲，紫微同谐老，武曲少和，廉贞同入庙免刑，加羊陀火铃空劫刑克。
“Well placed” and “badly placed” refer to the star’s brightness in the branch the palace falls on: the same star in the same palace reads differently bright and dim, and the clause says how.
How this placement actually turns up
- Well placed (exalted or strong) in 41% of those charts, badly placed (fallen) in 16%, in between the rest.
- Alone in the palace in 50%; sharing it with The Mystic (廉贞) 18%, The Emperor (紫微) 17%, The Iron (武曲) 15%.
- How often the conditions the classic’s line names actually occur — one of the four difficult stars (擎羊陀罗火星铃星) in the palace with it: 31%; Earth Void or Earth Robbery (地空地劫) with it: 15%; one of the six helper stars (左辅右弼文昌文曲天魁天钺) with it: 40%.
Counted by casting every day from 1950 to 2009 at each of the twelve hours — 262,980 charts, 8.3% of which have The Minister here (every main star sits in every palace in about one chart in twelve). A count, not a reading.
Never read alone
Zi Wei reads a palace together with the one opposite it and the two in trine. For the Spouse palace those are Career (官禄) opposite, and Travel (迁移) and Wellbeing (福德) in trine. Whatever stars sit there change what The Minister means here — which is why a page like this one can only give the classic’s line, and your own chart has to give the rest.
If a transformation lands on it
- Fortune (化禄): eases it and finds gain inside it — the star still does what it does, but smoothly and to some profit
- Power (化权): intensifies it and puts you in charge of it — more of the star, and more of it under your hand
- Merit (化科): makes it visible and gives it a name — the star's workings become something you are known for
- Trouble (化忌): sharpens it and makes it cost — the star's difficulty is where the chart puts its weight
What each transformation does to a star is this site’s reading, not a line from the classic.
Which star is in your own Spouse palace?
That needs your birth hour and place. The hour is corrected to true solar time, using the clock your birthplace actually kept that year.
The Minister in other palaces: Self · Career · Wealth · Property · Parents · Siblings · all twelve
Other stars in the Spouse palace: The Emperor · The Strategist · The Sun · The Iron · The Blessing · The Mystic · The Treasury · The Moon · The Wolf · The Voice · The Elder · The General · The Disruptor