A friend of mine called and said that his teenage son had run away from home, so he asked me to examine the Qimen chart to determine whether the boy was safe and when he might return.

Date: April 16, 2004, hour of the Dog
Ba Zi: year 甲申, month 戊辰, day 乙丑, hour 丙戌

六合

☵ 1

乙

D

丁

天沖驚門

值符

☷ 2

庚

甲

丙

天心杜門

空

朱雀

☳ 3

癸

乙

天英休門

九地

☴ 4

丙

H

己

戊

禽芮

生門

 5

己

太陰

☰ 6

壬

庚

天任死門

騰蛇

☱ 7

丁

辛

天蓬景門

勾陳

☶ 8

戊

壬

天輔開門

九天

☲ 9

辛

癸

天柱傷門

空

 Open in calculator

The analysis of the chart is as follows:

1. We take the Hour Stem Bing (丙) as the acting spirit. Since the child is currently away from home, he is the “Guest”. Bing on the Heaven Plate describes his current state: we see a favorable structure (丙戊), deity, and door, and Bing itself is in a good phase — we conclude that he is fine. The Life Door (生門) indicates a living space, and the Tian Rui Star (天芮星) can represent friends — perhaps he is hanging out at a friend’s place.
2. The essence of what happened can be understood by looking at the movement of the Bing stem from the Heaven Plate to the Earth Plate (see similar example). Bing on the Heaven Plate is in Palace 4 (Wood element) and moves to Palace 2 (Earth element). This means a transition occurred into an “exhausting” palace (a controlled palace, as Wood controls Earth).