Liu Qin, the Six Relations
In a Nutshell
Five categories of lines — Parents, Siblings, Wealth, Officials, Children — assigned by how each line's element relates to the palace element.
Quick facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Branch | Six-Line Divination · classification of lines |
| The five | Fu Mu (Parents), Xiong Di (Siblings), Qi Cai (Wealth), Guan Gui (Officials), Zi Sun (Children) |
| Method | Compare each line's branch element with the palace element through generation and control |
| Mnemonic | What generates me is Parents; what I generate is Children; what controls me is Officials; what I control is Wealth; what matches me is Siblings |
What is Liu Qin?
Liu Qin — literally "the six relations" — is how Six-Line Divination sorts its lines: Parents, Siblings, Wealth, Officials, and Children, plus the line holding Shi (the Self), making six. Each line's relation is fixed by comparing its Earthly Branch element with the element of the hexagram's palace: what generates me is Parents, what I generate is Children, what controls me is Officials, what I control is Wealth, and what matches my element is Siblings.
Take the Qian palace, which belongs to Metal. Earth generates Metal, so Earth lines (Chen, Xu, Chou, Wei) become Parents; Metal generates Water, so Water lines (Zi, Hai) become Children; Fire controls Metal, so Fire lines (Si, Wu) become Officials; Metal controls Wood, so Wood lines (Yin, Mao) become Wealth; and Metal lines (Shen, You) match the palace, so they become Siblings. Change the palace and the "me" changes with it — the same branch can be a different relation in a different hexagram. Beginners usually drill on the eight pure hexagrams, like Qian and Kun, before ranging wider.
The names borrow from family roles, each carrying a traditional field of meaning: Parents suggest shelter and documents, Siblings suggest peers and rivalry, Wealth suggests money and business, Officials suggest rules and authority, Children suggest juniors and craft. In practice you first match the question to a relation and take it as the Useful Line — asking about exams points to Parents, asking about a partnership to Siblings — then read that line's strength and its web of generation and control. That sequence is the standard opening move of Six-Line analysis.
Classical sources
"What generates me is Parents; what I generate is Children; what controls me is Officials; what I control is Wealth; what matches me in element is Siblings."
Plain words: Taking the palace element as "me": whatever generates me is Parents, whatever I generate is Children, whatever controls me is Officials, whatever I control is Wealth, whatever shares my element is Siblings.
Source: Zeng Shan Bu Yi (Additions and Deletions to the Changes), the Six Relations Song [to be verified]
*For entertainment purposes only.*