Finding the Ming Palace
The Ming Palace (命宫) is computed from your lunar birth month and birth hour — no exceptions, no free choice. In a FateZiwei chart it is the palace labeled 命宫, highlighted by default. Everything else in a reading orbits this palace.
What lives in it
The major stars seated in the Ming Palace describe your default temperament: Zi Wei (紫微) reads as dignified and leadership-oriented; Tian Ji (天机) as analytical and restless; Wu Qu (武曲) as decisive and finance-minded, and so on. Star brightness (廟旺陷) matters as much as identity — a 'bright' star expresses its strengths; a 'dim' one expresses its costs.
An empty Ming Palace (no major star) is common and not a defect: tradition borrows the stars of the opposite palace (the Travel Palace) and reads the combination instead.
Never read it alone: the triangle
Classical method never judges the Ming Palace in isolation. Read it together with its three harmonies: the Wealth Palace (财帛) and Career Palace (官禄), which form a triangle with it, plus the Travel Palace (迁移) directly opposite. A strong Ming with a weak triangle reads very differently from a modest Ming with a powerful triangle.
The four transformations
Check whether any star in or pointing at the Ming Palace carries a transformation (化禄/化权/化科/化忌). Hua Ji (化忌) in or opposite the Ming is traditionally read as a life theme of friction and self-doubt — and as the chart's built-in growth edge, not a curse.