China · Song dynasty, ~10th century
Zi Wei Dou Shu
Casts a map of twelve life palaces — career, wealth, bonds, travel — and places symbolic stars in them by calendar arithmetic.
Where it comes from
Zi Wei Dou Shu, “Purple Star astrology”, is traditionally credited to the Taoist sage Chen Tuan. Unlike sky-watching astrologies it is purely calendrical: a lattice of symbolic stars derived from the lunar calendar, long favored for its concrete, domain-by-domain readings.
What we compute from your birth
We convert your birth data to the Chinese lunar calendar, derive the hour branch (with the classical late-night rollover), lay out the twelve palaces, and place the fourteen major stars — anchored by Zi Wei, the Purple Star — using the traditional placement rules.
The positions and cycles are computed with real astronomy and calendar arithmetic — the interpretation never invents a number.
If it's new to you
Think of it as the floor plan to Western astrology's sky map: twelve rooms (palaces), one per life domain, each furnished by the stars that land there. Your “life palace” plays the role of a Sun sign and Ascendant combined.
Key terms
- Palaces
- Twelve life domains — self, siblings, marriage, children, wealth, health, travel, friends, career, property, fortune, parents.
- Zi Wei (Purple Star)
- The emperor star whose position anchors the whole chart — named for the celestial pole's purple enclosure.
- Major stars
- Fourteen principal stars, each a personality archetype (the General, the Pioneer…), placed by calendar rules.
- Life palace (Ming)
- The palace of the self — where your chart's core character is read.
- Hour branch
- Your birth hour mapped to one of twelve two-hour branches; ZWDS genuinely needs the birth hour.