Life Palace

命宮

The primary natal house in Eastern Classical Astrology — the zone of light-dark convergence, distinct from the Western Ascendant.

The Life Palace (命宮) is the primary house of a natal chart in Eastern Classical Astrology — the foundation from which the entire chart is interpreted.

Calculation method (卯時定命): The Life Palace is determined by intersecting the Sun's natal zodiacal position with the birth hour, then counting forward to the hour of dawn. This algorithm identifies the zone of light-dark convergence — the house that bridges the nocturnal and diurnal halves of the day at the moment of birth.

This computation uses True Solar Time: the actual observed solar day, which varies in length throughout the year because Earth's orbit is elliptical. The Equation of Time — the difference between True and Mean Solar Time — is built into the calculation, preserving the organic variance of the astronomical solar day.