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Mayi Shenxiang · The Mayi Art of Physiognomy
The Twelve Palaces
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1. Palace of Life
Life Palace lies between the brows, above Mountain Root. Mirror-like brightness means understanding in learning. A level, full Mountain Root governs fortune and longevity; a high, upright Earth Star supports the Wealth Star. Distinct eyes mean ample wealth. River-character forehead lines meet the source's Shi Horse. If the Official Star is thus formed, complete wealth and rank are promised. Hollowness means poverty, joined brows low standing, confused markings departure from home and harm to the wife. Narrow forehead and withered brows bring lost wealth and a damaged dun-tan ending.
Verse:
The center of brows and eyes is Life Palace;
Bright, lustrous and clean, it promises learning.
Many confused lines bring obstruction,
Exhausting family wealth and the ancestors' estate.
Life Palace commentary: Seal Hall should be bright and moist for long life. Joined brows mean early loss of life. A Hanging Needle means ruin and harm to wife and children. Mountain regions should not be dark; river-character lines mean generals or ministers. Level, upright brightness and moistness mean favorable circumstances and help from a noble person. Blue-green/yellow qi and color mean false alarm, scarlet punishment and injury, white mourning clothes and tears, black death, red/yellow peaceful longevity and lifelong favorable signs.
Note: Shi Horse and the dun-tan ending follow this source rather than a silently corrected conventional reading.
2. Palace of Wealth
The nose is Wealth Star in the Earth station. A cut-tube or suspended-gallbladder form is linked with the source's gan-storehouses phrase and ten thousand chests. Upright fullness means lifelong flourishing wealth; centered alignment without slant endless abundance. An eagle-beak pointed peak means ruined wealth and poverty. Upturned openings leave no grain for a second night; empty Kitchens and Stoves no household accumulation.
Verse:
The nose governs Wealth Star, lustrous and full;
If Kitchens and Stoves on both sides are empty,
Upturned exposure leaves neither wealth nor chestnuts;
A chin attending it fills the Armor Cabinet.
Wealth Palace commentary: Heavenly Storehouse, Earth Storehouse, Gold Armor Cabinet, Wells and Stoves together are called the Wealth Office. Fullness, brightness and moistness mean surplus wealth; sudden withering and paring its exhaustion. Heaven without Earth means wealth first, poverty later; thin Heaven with full Earth poverty first, wealth later. High Heaven and thick Earth bring complete wealth and rank sheltering descendants. A pointed, narrow forehead means lifelong poverty; broken, exposed Wells and Stoves no food kept overnight. A full Gold Armor Cabinet means enduring riches.
Dim black qi and color mean lost wealth and stipend; red and yellow increased wealth and stipend; blue-green/yellow running through the nose unexpected wealth. Two thick, full Cabinets, bright, moist and harmonious, bring rewards while in office. Scarlet means disputes.
Note: The opening gan-storehouses wording is irregular. The verse's chestnut graph remains distinct from a silently substituted grain graph.
3. Palace of Siblings
Siblings occupy the two brows, belonging to Luo and Ji. Brows beyond the eyes mean three or four brothers without harmful restraint. Elegant, sparse brows have naturally upright branches and trunk. A new-moon form brings harmony and the source's damaged water/far-distinction wording. Short, coarse brows separate those of shared qi and branches. Brows enclosing and blocking the eyes leave the goose-flight row sparse. Different brows mean different mothers; joined, yellow, thin brows death elsewhere; returning whorls and knots brothers likened to snakes and rats.
Verse:
Brows for brothers should be soft, clear and long;
Four or five brothers are said to grow strong.
Unequal corners mean different mothers;
Joined, yellow, thin brows send one elsewhere.
Siblings Palace commentary: Luo and Ji should be full and flourishing, not deficient or sunken. Long, elegant brows mean harmony; short, cramped, insufficient brows separation and solitude. Whorled brow hairs mean many brothers, followed by an unclear wolf/item/inconstancy phrase. Scattered brows do not gather wealth; reverse-growing brows hate the elder brother and injure the younger. Mutual envy and harm, or people of different surnames living together, are mentioned. Clear, colorful brows mark a loftily rising scholar. Brows beyond the eyes mean harmony, interrupted brows scattered siblings; fullness in density and lightness righteous friends and brothers.
Blue-green qi and color mean sibling conflict and disputes. The black/white clause ends in a damaged sibling-harm/writing word. Red and yellow mean glory, rank and celebration.
Note: The water/far, wolf/item and final writing-word clauses are irregular as supplied. A definite missing event or death prediction is not inserted.
4. Palace of Fields and Houses
Fields and houses occupy the eyes. Red vessels invading the pupils are most feared, exhausting the estate early and leaving no grain to dip into in old age. Lacquer-like pupils mean flourishing property; the source's wind/sun and high-brow wording tax estates in three prefectures and five counties. Withered yin–yang bones do not preserve fields; Fire eyes and Water rims exhaust household wealth.
Verse:
The eyes govern the Fields and Houses Palace;
Clear and elegant, the pair should be alike.
With yin and yang withered and exposed,
Parents' household wealth comes to nothing.
Commentary: The source calls Ten Stars fields and houses and requires the chin to attend them. Full, bright, moist Heavenly Court increases property; low, collapsed, dark and the damaged tilting phrase ruin it. Flying away without attendance is followed by an unfinished residence clause. Blue-green means official disputes and uncompleted property, black beating with the staff, white mourning leave for a parent, red completion and repeated property joys. Bright yellow is auspicious, followed by an unclear plan/yuan-not-fulfilled phrase. A gentleman receives office and promotion that day, a lesser person favor, and seeing a noble person is profitable.
A military officer may command troops and, with flourishing killing qi, immediately campaign. Management of finance and taxation, or the office named Eight Transport Office, is mentioned, then fifth to third rank and third to second. Sixth rank and below require a separate disposition.
Note: Wind/sun, Ten Stars, the unfinished residence and plan clauses, and Eight Transport Office follow this source. No corrected office, star or missing condition is invented.
5. Palace of Sons and Daughters
Sons and daughters occupy the area beneath both eyes, called Tear Hall. Level, full Three Yang mean flourishing fortune and stipend for descendants. Subtle Sleeping Silkworms require children to be refined and noble. Deep Tear Halls deny sons and daughters their stipend; dark moles and slanting lines harm descendants in old age. A mouth like blowing fire means sitting alone in the women's chamber; a level, filled philtrum makes descendants attending one's old age difficult to obtain.
Verse:
For sons and daughters, Three Yang raise Sleeping Silkworms;
Clear radiance promises good sons.
Hanging Needles and confused lines invading the place
Bring old debts in life that cannot be borne.
Commentary: The source's Wang Yin and Three Yang may be full and thick but must not be withered or sunken. Left Three Yang withered harms sons, right Three Yin withered daughters. A Sleeping Silkworm line below the left eye means noble sons. No flesh beneath the eyes harms children. Sunken Sleeping Silkworms mean little of the uncertain yin-jia quality and an ending lineage. Confused invading lines mean adopted sons and daughters. Yellow circling Fish Tail and Dragon Palace is called yin-jia markings, linked with former hidden virtue and helping people, which must bear recompense.
Another statement links cold essence, exhausted blood and unflourishing color with men not prospering and women not conceiving. Harmonized yin–yang and freely extending essence and blood allow men and women to unite so generation does not cease. The author urges reasoning beyond outward shapes to see the subtle principle. Blue-green qi and color mean childbirth peril, black and white sorrow concerning children, red and yellow coming joy. Red at Three Yang means a boy, blue-green at Three Yin a girl.
Note: Wang Yin and yin-jia remain the source's irregular terms. Its reproductive and fetal-sex claims are historical assertions, not validated tests.
6. Palace of Servants
Servants occupy the chin, connecting again with Water Star. Round, full cheeks mean attendants in groups; Assistant and Supporter stars attending a hundred responses to one call. A mouth shaped like the character for four means power to gather by calling and disperse by shouting. A pointed, slanted chin means deep favors turning to resentment. Broken, sunken lines mean insufficient servants; low, tilting Walls gratitude becoming enmity.
Verse:
For servants the chin must be full;
The Water Star's two corners do not accommodate one another.
If all three places fail to respond,
Tilts, hollows and line scars are all different.
Commentary: An unbroken Suspended Wall means plentiful servants; withering and sinking no servants or horses. Blue-green means injury to servants and horses, white/black their falling or loss and disfavored distant travel. Scarlet means disputes involving servants and horses, loss of horses and wealth. Prevailing yellow means thriving cattle, horses and servants, lined in rows at left gate and right entrance.
Note: The verse's non-accommodating corners and differing final line remain as supplied rather than being replaced with a more familiar version.
7. Palace of Wives and Concubines
Wives and concubines occupy Fish Tail, called Jian Gate. Radiant moistness without lines preserves a wife complete in the Four Virtues. Fullness and levelness mean marrying a wife with chests full of wealth. Cheekbone Star invading Heaven brings stipend through the wife. Deep Jian Gate means repeatedly becoming a bridegroom; many Fish Tail lines fear a wife's ill death. Dark misery there means separation in life. Dark moles and slanting lines combine favorable outward affections with much sexual desire within.
Verse:
A lustrous Jian Gate protects the wife's palace;
Chests full of wealth endure from beginning to end.
Dark misery arising at that gate,
Slanting lines and dark moles mean wandering sexual conduct.
Commentary: Fish Tail should be level and full, not restrained or sunken. Fullness brings husband rank, wife glory and rows of servants. A woman's bright, moist Fish Tail and Jian Gate obtain a noble husband; a suspended-gallbladder nose wealth and rank. Deficiency means guarding against harm to the husband, sexual disorder, household ruin and failure to prosper him. A full-moon face and full lower jaw can reach mother-of-the-realm rank.
Blue-green qi and color mean worry involving wives and concubines; scarlet marital disputes; black and white sorrow among spouses and children; red and yellow harmonious joy. Obscurity means separation, otherwise the source's broken-corner/little-affection phrase.
Note: The closing broken-corner phrase is incomplete; no definite marital event is supplied.
8. Palace of Illness and Adversity
Illness and Adversity lies below Seal Hall at Mountain Root. Raised fullness means boundless fortune and stipend; connection with the Reclining Rhinoceros literary attainment. Lustrous radiance means complete Five Blessings. High, level Year and Longevity are joined with the unclear he-wu/keeping-company phrase. Low, sunken line scars mean years of chronic illness, pointed or slanted withered bones lifelong suffering, mist-like qi persistent adversity.
Verse:
The Mountain Root illness palace should rise level;
Life then has no disaster or misfortune.
With line scars and withered bones,
Lifelong toil is said to accomplish little.
Commentary: Bright, moist Year and Longevity mean health and peace, darkness disease. Blue-green means worry and fright, scarlet grave disaster, white grief involving wife and children, black death, red, yellow and purple coming joy.
Note: The he-wu phrase is retained as damaged wording. These health and lifespan judgments are historical assertions.
9. Palace of Travel and Relocation
Travel occupies brow corners, called Heavenly Storehouse. Abundant, raised fullness and brilliant color mean freedom from worry. A level position described with the source's Fish-Layer word brings admiration in old age. A rising Traveling Horse means distinguished travel and official service in every direction. Low, sunken forehead corners make a residence difficult to find in old age; joined brows mean ruined ancestral property and departure from home. Slanted Heaven and Earth change nine residences out of ten. Such a form must move its gate or alter its grave.
Verse:
The Travel Palace lies at Heavenly Storehouse;
Low sinking means few settled residences.
If Fish Tail does not respond in later years,
Traveling office instead remains ordinary.
Commentary: Borderland, Traveling Horse, Forests and hairline are places of coming and going. Bright, moist cleanliness favors distant travel; dark, defective regions and dark moles reject it and bring fright from tigers and wolves. Blue-green means fright and lost wealth afar, white loss of horses or servants, black death on the road, red, yellow and purple wealth and joy.
Note: Fish-Layer and the verse's negative response follow this source, not a substituted familiar version.
10. Palace of Official Stipend
Official Stipend occupies Upright Center, joining Li Palace above, with Reclining Rhinoceros reaching the crown. This is said to avoid litigation throughout life. Traveling Horse facing home is then followed by a lawsuits/patrol-harassment phrase. Clear, clean radiance brings distinction. Stately forehead corners resolve even lawsuits through a noble person. Broken palace lines invite unexpected affairs; red-carp eyes are linked with the source's death/penal-servitude wording.
Verse:
Examine the glorious Official Stipend Palace closely;
Mountain Root and storehouses should correspond.
Clear cleanliness without scars or dots
Promises enduring official glory and rank.
Commentary: Dawn-star spiritual radiance in both eyes, dragon eyes and phoenix pupils mean rank. Bright, moist Seal Hall and ears whiter than the face mean worldwide fame, fortune, stipend and distinction. Sunken, deficient, flying-away regions mean no reputation. Blue-green means worry and doubt, scarlet disputes, white mourning clothes, red and yellow above and below an edict of promotion.
Note: The lawsuit/patrol clause and death/servitude wording are irregular as supplied, not silently replaced with clearer favorable or punitive claims.
11. Palace of Fortune and Virtue
Fortune and Virtue occupies Heavenly Storehouse and connects with Earth Storehouse. When the Five Stars face and attend it, fortune and stipend flow abundantly throughout life. Heaven and Earth facing each other require virtue and conduct complete in the Five Blessings. The damaged forehead phrase, followed by a narrow forehead, places hardship in the early years. A broad forehead and pointed chin leave adversity to be determined from the later years. High brows and raised eyes are still only ordinary. Brows pressing down and ears turning up give no grounds for speaking of fortune and virtue.
Verse:
For Fortune and Virtue, Heavenly and Earth Storehouses should be round;
The Five Stars shining upon them extend blessings without end.
If instead they are deficient, sunken, pointed or broken,
Food and clothing remain ordinary and are further incomplete.
Commentary on the Palace of Fortune and Virtue: Heavenly Storehouse and Earth Treasury constitute this palace. They should be full, bright and moist, facing one another to attract layer upon layer of ancestral protection and perpetuate fortune and virtue. Defects and sinking are unfavorable. Shallowness, narrowness and obscurity mean frequent disasters, death in the family and household ruin. The text ascribes this to the heart's methods damaging the obscurely named hidden-xi; exertion is then forced, and spirits offer no protection. It next speaks of acting and feeling regret, a face full of spring breeze, and an atmosphere of harmony. Blue-green qi and color indicate worry and doubt; scarlet wine and meat, with a warning against verbal disputes; white disaster and illness; red and yellow favorable omens.
Text note: The opening forehead wording, the phrase rendered as early years, and hidden-xi are irregular in this copy. No missing moral explanation or corrected facial feature has been supplied. These are the source's historical judgments.
12. Palace of Overall Appearance
In examining overall appearance, first observe the Five Peaks, then distinguish the Three Divisions. Fullness is said to give abundant wealth, rank and glory. All three divisions being equal preserves lifelong distinction. The Five Peaks rising and facing one another bring glorious promotion in office. Dignity when walking or sitting earns others' respect. Forehead markings concern the initial fortune; the nose governs middle age. Earth Storehouse and Water Star govern the final period. Restraint and defects are judged adverse.
Verse:
Overall appearance requires upper and lower divisions;
The three should be equal and further generate one another.
If even one place lacks proportion,
Good and ill change along the way.
Commentary on the Palace of Overall Appearance: Bone structure and spirit, bone and flesh proportionate, and qi in harmony: spirit clear and refined, like a single branch from the cassia grove or a fragment of jade from Mount Kun, like a pearl concealed in the depths or jade hidden in stone. These signify distinguished persons of reputation and worthy scholars of the Hanlin Academy. Darkness, misery and thinness are adverse. Bright, moist red and yellow qi and color throughout the face are a greatly favorable omen.
General Formulas for the Twelve Palaces
Commentary on the Parents Palace: The Sun and Moon Corners should be high. Brightness and cleanliness mean parents enjoy long life, health and peace. Low, collapsed corners mean losing both parents in childhood; obscurity indicates parental illness. A displaced left corner calls for guarding against harm to the father; a displaced right corner, to the mother. The text also speaks of sharing a father but having a different mother, following one's mother into a marriage to another father, leaving the ancestral home to establish a household, and repeated disasters. Only being fostered elsewhere is said to avert punitive harm.
Another saying gives the damaged expression layered-luo, stacked-zhi, followed by paying parental homage twice. It associates this with a disorderly father or sexually unrestrained mother and illicit relations outside the household, and again warns of harm to father and mother. A slanting head and narrow forehead are said to indicate birth to a secondary consort or from an illicit union.
Another saying states: a high left brow and low right brow mean the father survives while the mother departs first. It then states: the left brow above and the right brow below mean the father dies and the mother remarries. A cut-away forehead and joined brows indicate early loss of parental care; this is called separated corners, a turned face and lack of affection. The phrase about both corners and the crown is linked to both parents' glory, further ancestral protection, and parents of renown.
Blue-green qi and color indicate worry and doubt involving parents, and harm through verbal disputes. Black and white mean parental bereavement; red and yellow, celebrations for both parents.
Text note: Although headed General Formulas for the Twelve Palaces, this supplied record contains the Parents Palace commentary. Its two left-high/right-low brow sayings give different parental outcomes; both are retained. The layered-luo/stacked-zhi phrase and the corners-and-crown phrase are unclear. The claims about family origins, conduct and fate belong to historical physiognomy, not established judgments about individuals.
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