The Six Relatives, or Liu Qin, are symbolic roles assigned to the lines of a Liu Yao chart. To choose a focus line, first name what your question concerns, then identify the relevant role. The labels tell you what to examine; they do not decide the answer. You can learn this without memorizing every possible meaning.

October 7, 2026 · By Sixseer Editorial

This article was prepared with AI-assisted research and drafting under Sixseer editorial and methodology standards.

Why “Six Relatives” has five role labels

Think of a play. The same stage can hold a story about friendship, a document, or a creative project. Before reading the action, you need to know which character represents the matter you asked about.

Liu Qin (六亲) is the traditional collective name for five chart labels: Parents, Siblings, Offspring, Spouse/Wealth, and Official/Ghost. The Self line, Shi (世), is a separate positional marker. Adding Self to the five labels is not how the elemental role system is defined.

Your focus, Yong Shen (用神), is the person or matter represented by the relevant line or relation. English translations include “useful spirit,” “useful line,” and “focal relation.” Here, “focus line” is beginner shorthand.

How each line gets its role

Compare a line’s element with the hexagram’s palace element, not the Self line’s element. The five relationships produce these labels:

  • Generates the palace element → Parents.
  • Matches the palace element → Siblings.
  • Is generated by the palace element → Offspring.
  • Is controlled by the palace element → Spouse/Wealth.
  • Controls the palace element → Official/Ghost.

For example, in a Wood palace, Water is Parents, Wood is Siblings, Fire is Offspring, Earth is Wealth, and Metal is Official/Ghost. This is an isolated assignment example, not a cast or prediction. For the whole structure, read Sixseer’s beginner guide to the Liu Yao chart.

Five everyday objects act as memory aids for protection, peers, growth, resources, and authority
The objects are memory aids; the palace element determines the chart labels.

The five roles in plain English

Parents (父母, fu mu): parents or elders, and in relevant questions documents, letters, learning materials, or shelter. The specific subject matters more than the broad idea of “support.”

Siblings (兄弟, xiong di): siblings, peers, friends, or competitors. Cooperation and rivalry are possibilities to examine, not automatic meanings.

Offspring (子孙, zi sun): children and descendants, with other associations depending on the topic and tradition. It should not become a universal label for anything you nurture.

Spouse/Wealth (妻财, qi cai): resources or possessions in relevant questions, and a wife in conventional historical marriage readings. The old terminology reflects an older social model; it is not a claim about a partner’s worth or ownership.

Official/Ghost (官鬼, guan gui): authority, office, or pressure in relevant contexts. “Ghost” is a traditional label, not evidence of a supernatural presence. A role can be relevant without being inherently good or bad.

Sixseer brings focused-question framing, coin casting, Liu Yao interpretation, and AI-assisted plain-language guidance together. Explore one clearly framed question in Sixseer rather than trying to read every label as a separate message.

Choose with Subject–Role–Reason

  1. Subject: What exactly am I asking about? A friend, a letter, and my own response are different subjects.
  2. Role: Which traditional relation fits that subject? State the interpretive convention you are using.
  3. Reason: Can I explain the choice before examining whether the line looks favorable?

Do not default to Self just because you cannot decide. Clarify the question first. Self represents the asker; Ying (应), the Response line, marks the other side. These markers add context alongside the chosen focus.

A reader selects one blank question card for closer attention instead of examining every card at once
Choose the subject and explain the role before judging the line.

Three questions, three different subjects

Imagine a friend sends you a letter after an awkward conversation. You could ask about the friend’s situation, the meaning of the letter, or your own readiness to reply. The same scene contains several possible subjects.

  • The friend: Siblings is a conventional starting relation for a peer.
  • The letter: Parents is a conventional document association.
  • Your response: Self becomes relevant, with Response and the wider chart adding context.

No chart is supplied, so none of these choices implies reconciliation or rejection. Write what you want to understand before casting. If you need the broader distinction between the classic and chart method, read I Ching and Liu Yao in simple terms.

What comes after choosing the focus?

Examine month and day influences, moving lines, transformations, and interactions. A strong line is not an automatic yes; a hidden focus is not automatically weak or slow. Hidden relations require attention to their own conditions and the visible line above them.

Notes, a plant, and changing garden weather illustrate reading a role alongside its conditions
Role identifies the subject; timing and movement help interpret its conditions.

Try This Question in Sixseer

What should I understand about replying to this friend’s letter this week, including the pattern between us and the next step that supports a clearer conversation?

Keep one question in view. Assign coin faces values of 2 and 3 consistently, toss three coins six times, and record the lines bottom-up. Reading quality depends on focused framing, steady casting, correct construction, contextual interpretation, and comparison with real circumstances. Sixseer’s ask–cast–reflect methodology explains its guided process.

Beginner questions

What if two lines have the same role?

Do not automatically discard one. Selection depends on the question, positions, movement, and the interpretive rules being used.

Can I change the focus halfway through?

Avoid switching to obtain a preferred answer. If the original selection was mistaken, explain the correction openly.

Are partner roles determined only by gender?

Historical marriage conventions often use Wealth for a wife and Official for a husband. They are not a universal modern relationship rule; clarify the subject and convention.

What if I still feel lost?

Return to the original question. Use the guide to interpreting without collecting conflicting meanings to keep one coherent thread.

You do not need every role to answer every question. Start with one subject, one reasoned focus, and one observation. Begin a free Sixseer reading with a question you can actually follow.

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