What is Zi Wei Dou Shu?

Zi Wei (紫微) is the pole star — the fixed point the northern sky turns around — and in Chinese cosmology the seat of the celestial emperor. Dou Shu (斗数) means “the reckoning of the Dipper”: the counting of stars around that pole. Purple Star astrology is the plain English rendering, and it is the name this site carries.

The system is traditionally attributed to Chen Tuan (陈抟), a Daoist of the tenth century, with the surviving texts dating from the Ming dynasty. It grew up alongside BaZi八字 'Eight Characters', also called Four Pillars — and in Korea, Saju (사주) — your birth year, month, day and hour each written as two characters, revealing your elemental makeup., the Four Pillars, and the two are still read together.

Everything starts from three facts: the date you were born, the hour, and your sex. The date is converted to the Chinese lunar calendar; the month and hour fix the Life palace命宫 Ming Gong — the most important palace: your core character, talents and the overall shape of your life., the master palace; and from it the other eleven are counted out around a ring of twelve. The 14 main stars are then placed by rule — the Emperor first, and the rest in fixed relation to it — followed by the supporting stars and the Four Transformations四化 Si Hua — four stars in your chart receive a special charge from your birth-year stem: Flow 禄 (ease), Power 权 (control), Merit 科 (recognition), Obstacle 忌 (friction). that your birth year switches on.

None of this is interpretation. It is arithmetic on a calendar, and it is what this site computes for you. If you want the working shown — what we do about solar time, the Zi hour, leap months and an unknown birth hour — it is set out in how we compute your chart.

The ring of twelve is the map of a life. Each palace is one domain, and each has a page explaining what it governs and how to read a star sitting there:

• Life palace 命宫
• Siblings palace 兄弟
• Marriage palace 夫妻
• Children palace 子女
• Wealth palace 财帛
• Health palace 疾厄
• Travel palace 迁移
• Friends palace 仆役
• Career palace 官禄
• Property palace 田宅
• Wellbeing palace 福德
• Parents palace 父母

The stars are the characters; the palaces are where they act. The same star reads differently in each palace, which is why the encyclopedia has a page for every one of the 168 combinations. Meet the fourteen:

• The Emperor 紫微
• The Strategist 天机
• The Sun 太阳
• The General 武曲
• The Peacemaker 天同
• The Maverick 廉贞
• The Treasurer 天府
• The Moon 太阴
• The Charmer 贪狼
• The Advocate 巨门
• The Minister 天相
• The Mentor 天梁
• The Warrior 七杀
• The Pioneer 破军

BaZi八字 'Eight Characters', also called Four Pillars — and in Korea, Saju (사주) — your birth year, month, day and hour each written as two characters, revealing your elemental makeup. (八字, the Four Pillars) writes the same birth moment as eight characters and reads your elemental makeup from them. The two systems share a calendar and an origin and answer different questions: BaZi is strongest on the elements, the ten-year luck cycles and timing; Zi Wei Dou Shu on the shape of each life area and the people in it. A serious reading uses both, and a chart here shows both.

Western astrology reads the actual positions of planets at your birth. Zi Wei Dou Shu’s stars are not astronomical: they are named positions in a calendar system, placed by rule rather than observed. The two share a twelve-fold division of life and the idea that a birth moment carries a pattern, and share little else — a Zi Wei chart has no sun sign, and reads nothing from the planets.

Do I need my birth hour?

For the full chart, yes: the hour fixes the Life palace, and with it every other palace. Without it a chart can still be cast — this site casts it at noon and says so throughout — but the palaces are an approximation.

Is Purple Star astrology the same thing?

Yes. Purple Star astrology is the English name for Zi Wei Dou Shu — 紫微, the purple star, is the pole star the system is named after. One system, two names.

Is it a prediction?

It is a pattern, read as guidance. The chart describes tendencies — where a life runs easily and where it needs care — not a fixed script. Nothing on this site is medical, legal or financial advice.