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Zi Wei Dou Shu system guide

Zi Wei Dou Shu Knowledge Base

Learn what Zi Wei Dou Shu is and how to read a chart through its construction, twelve palaces, fourteen major stars, Four Transformations, timing, and schools.

English name
Zi Wei Dou Shu
Pinyin
Zǐ Wēi Dǒu Shù
Simplified Chinese
紫微斗数
Traditional Chinese
紫微斗數
Also called
Ziwei Doushu · Zi Wei Astrology

Editorially reviewed: · Reviewed by OpenFate · Editorial Methodology

Overview

Zi Wei Dou Shu is a traditional Chinese chart system that organizes birth data into twelve moving palace roles, stars, relational geometry, Four Transformations, and timing layers. A calculated chart establishes placements under declared rules; it does not prove an event. Beginners should learn how the chart is calculated, then read palaces, stars, relationships, and timing as one structure. Unlike Bazi, Zi Wei Dou Shu uses a palace-and-star chart rather than four stem-branch pillars.

At a glance

Core chart
Twelve palaces arranged on a fixed Earthly Branch grid
Core entities
Fourteen major stars plus supporting and auxiliary stars
Reading geometry
Focal palace, triad palaces, and opposite palace
Dynamic layer
Lu, Quan, Ke, and Ji transformations across natal and timing layers
OpenFate policy
Versioned product calculation rules with visible provenance
Learning order
Calculate → locate → relate → qualify → time → apply

Explore concepts

What is Zi Wei Dou Shu?

Zi Wei Dou Shu, also called Purple Star Astrology, is a traditional Chinese chart system. Under a declared calculation rulebook, birth data is organized into twelve palaces, major and supporting stars, Four Transformations, and timing layers.

A calculated chart can establish where a palace, star, or transformation was placed under those rules. Its symbolic meaning remains an interpretation, so a responsible reading keeps the placement evidence, school variant, uncertainty, and real-life context visible. Zi Wei Dou Shu differs from Bazi: the former centers a palace-and-star chart, while the latter centers four stem-branch pillars.

  • Verify the birth data and calculation policy before reading the chart.
  • Read a focal palace with its resident stars, triad, opposite palace, and transformations.
  • Use timing and symbolic themes as bounded context, not guaranteed events.

Start with the chart grammar

A Zi Wei Dou Shu chart is not a list of independent star meanings. It is a structured map: palace-role names move over a fixed branch grid, stars occupy specific palaces, and each focal palace must be read with its triad and opposite palace.

Choose the task you need: learn the chart grammar, calculate a reproducible chart, read a named palace with its relationships, or compare school rules. Begin with chart structure and inputs, then the twelve palaces and fourteen major stars; only afterward add Four Transformations, supporting stars, brightness, combinations, and timing layers.

  • Learn: identify the fixed branch grid, moving palace roles, and major-star system.
  • Calculate: verify birth data and every rule that can change placement.
  • Read: combine the focal palace, resident stars, triad, opposite palace, and Four Transformations.
  • Compare: keep each school version separate and distinguish chart facts from interpretation.

Why the calculation policy is visible

Zi Wei Dou Shu schools can differ on year boundaries, leap months, true solar time, Four-Transformation tables, brightness, and some placement rules. Two calculators can therefore produce different charts from the same apparent input.

OpenFate records its engine revision, school lineage, boundary policy, leap-month handling, time policy, and transformation table. A rule page explains each material choice so a chart can be reproduced and compared instead of accepted as a black box.

  • Confirm date, clock time, birthplace, time zone, and time precision before comparing charts.
  • Compare rulebook metadata before deciding that one chart is wrong.
  • Treat school-specific rules as named variants, not universal facts.

A beginner-safe reading order

First identify the question and its focal palace. Next inspect the resident stars, the full San Fang Si Zheng group, Four Transformations, brightness, and relevant supporting or challenging stars. Add natal and timing layers only after the base structure is clear.

A useful interpretation explains which chart facts support it, which conditions would weaken it, and which alternatives remain possible. It does not convert one symbol into a fixed personality label or guaranteed life event.

  • Locate: identify the exact palace, star, transformation, and timing layer.
  • Relate: inspect the triad, opposite palace, co-stars, and transformation edges.
  • Qualify: state school scope, missing inputs, counter-evidence, and uncertainty.

From a definition to personal evidence and back

Every canonical Wiki page links to the chart tool and to the definitions needed for the next reading step. The tool supplies deterministic evidence such as the actual palace, resident stars, transformation source, and timing layer; interpretation remains a separate, bounded step.

After inspecting a personal chart, return to the exact Wiki pages for the rules that produced the evidence. This creates a checkable loop: query, definition, calculation, evidence, interpretation boundary, and related rule.

  • Use the chart tool to verify whether a symbol is actually present.
  • Use related definitions to check the whole relational context.
  • Use sources and variant notes when calculators or schools disagree.

Sources and editorial basis

  1. 《紫微斗數全書》 (Ziwei Doushu Quanshu)
    全覽目錄：卷一至卷三；卷一「諸星問答論」與卷二「安身命例」至十二宮各篇A searchable transcription of the transmitted three-volume text, used for named rules, palace chapters, and historical star descriptions—not as scientific validation.
  2. 趙翊吾〈紫微斗數之起源與發展〉
    趙翊吾〈紫微斗數之起源與發展〉，頁81–82「貳、紫微斗數的起源」及頁95「肆、結論」An academic-journal article used to frame historical development and attribution cautiously; its philosophical claims are not treated as empirical proof.
  3. iztro 紫微鬥數星盤
    「認識星盤」：十二宮格、中宮資料、三方四正連線與初學判讀順序An open-source project guide describing the chart, twelve surrounding palaces, calculation inputs, and a beginner reading sequence.
  4. iztro 紫微鬥數安星訣
    「安星訣」第1–18項：命身宮、十二宮、五行局、主星系、四化與流派註記A public rule catalogue for placing the Life and Body Palaces, the twelve roles, Zi Wei, major-star systems, and Four Transformations, with explicit variant notes.
  5. OpenFate Ziwei Calculation Rulebook
    app/modules/ziwei/logic/rulebook.ts:69–125,167–180 — versioned engine, school, boundary, leap-month, time, and 四化 policiesThe product-owned calculation policy for engine version, boundaries, leap months, true solar time, placement rules, and Four Transformations. It proves configured behavior, not lineage.

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