The foundation of the Six Relatives system rests on the generating and controlling cycles of the Five Elements. In Six Lines Nà Jiǎ, the diviner first determines the Five Element nature of the hexagram's 'World Line' (shì yáo) or the matter being asked about. Using this as the central 'self,' five relationships are derived through the Five Elements' interactions, plus the self, to form the Six Relatives. What generates me is 'Parents,' what controls me is 'Officials,' what I control is 'Wealth,' what I generate is 'Children,' and what shares my element is 'Siblings.' This naming borrows traditional social order, making abstract Element interactions intuitive and easy to remember. Importantly, the Six Relatives are relative—they shift depending on the chosen Usage God, not fixed to a single line. Understanding this relativity is your first step to reading them correctly.

Each Relative represents a different domain. 'Parents' (fù mǔ) covers elders, documents, houses, vehicles, and protection. 'Siblings' (xiōng dì) points to peers, friends, competition, and financial loss. 'Children' (zǐ sūn) represents juniors, pets, blessings, healing, and disaster relief—considered an auspicious god. 'Wealth' (qī cái) rules money, female partners, goods, and practical gains. 'Officials' (guān guǐ) governs career, authority, illness, misfortune, and male partners. During a reading, you first lock onto the corresponding Usage God based on your question—e.g., Wealth for money matters, Officials for career or exams, Children for offspring. The strength or weakness of each Relative on its line, whether it moves, and whether it is generated or controlled all affect the outcome. This symbolic layer is the beauty of the Six Lines method.

To assign the Six Relatives to a hexagram, you first complete the 'line-setting' (zhuāng guà) process. The diviner matches each of the eight trigrams to its corresponding Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch (Nà Jiǎ), assigning an Earthly Branch and Five Element to each line. Then, using the Five Element of the hexagram's 'original palace' (běn gōng) as the 'self,' they compare each line's Element to determine the generating/controlling relationship, filling in Parents, Siblings, Children, Wealth, and Officials across the six lines. Sometimes a Relative is missing in a hexagram—called a 'Hidden God' (fú shén)—which must be retrieved from the palace's first hexagram. The process may seem complex, but there are fixed formulas and lookup tables. For beginners, memorizing the Nà Jiǎ and Five Elements of the eight palaces, plus the derivation formula, will get you fluent with practice, helping you see the overall layout of the Six Relatives.