Zi Wei Dou Shu

How to use & guide

Zi Wei Dou Shu casts a chart from the lunar year, month, day and hour of birth. It places the fourteen main stars such as Zi Wei and Tian Fu, the auxiliary stars and the Four Transformations into twelve palaces (Life, Siblings, Spouse…); their combinations describe character and tendencies in each area of life, and the decade and annual cycles show how things change over time. This tool converts your Gregorian date to the lunar calendar and places the stars automatically, entirely in your browser.

How to use

1. Enter your Gregorian birth year, month, day, hour and minute (24-hour clock) and your sex. Sex sets the direction of the decade cycles; the name is optional.
2. If you were born in a leap lunar month, choose whether to count it as that month, the next month, or split it at mid-month (schools differ).
3. Press "Cast the chart". Each palace lists its main and auxiliary stars, brightness, transformations, decade ages, the twelve stages and the palace stem and branch; the centre holds your basic data.
4. Tap any palace for its reading below, including its star combination and three-and-four alignment. Under the chart you can show minor stars, download an image, copy a link, copy the chart for AI or print.
5. In "Decade and Year", pick a ten-year decade or enter a year: the transformations for that period are marked on the chart and listed by palace.
6. "Patterns" lists the traditional patterns the chart meets.

Zi Wei Dou Shu AI reading: ask an AI to read your chart

Once the chart is cast, you can hand the whole chart to an AI chat service such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and ask it for a reading or a specific question.

1. Press "Copy for AI" under the chart. The stars in all twelve palaces with their brightness and transformations, the birth-year transformations, the three-and-four alignment, patterns, and the decade and year are copied as text.
2. To ask about a particular year, first choose that decade or year in "Decade and Year" and then press the button; the decade and annual transformations in the text will be for that year (this year by default).
3. Open any AI chat and paste into the message box (Ctrl+V or ⌘V on a computer; on a phone, press and hold the box and choose Paste).
4. Write what you want to ask after "My question:" on the last line and send it. If you have no particular question, write "Please give an overall reading".
5. Ask follow-up questions as you like; within the same conversation the AI keeps the chart in mind.

Specific questions get more useful answers. For example: "Is this a good year to change jobs? Please explain from the Career palace and this year's transformations." "What patterns do I tend to have in relationships?" "Explain the main stars of my Life palace in plain words."

The copied text already asks the AI to work only from the chart data, not to calculate anything itself, and to answer in the language of this page; for another language, just say so after your question. AI readings can be wrong and may differ from what other practitioners would say, so do not rely on them alone for important decisions.

A reading order

1. Start with the main stars of the Life and Body palaces for the basic character.
2. Then the Life palace's three-and-four alignment: Wealth, Career and Travel.
3. Find where the birth-year transformations (Lu, Quan, Ke, Ji) fall.
4. Look at the palace for your question: Spouse for love, Career for work, Wealth for money.
5. Finally use the decade and annual cycles for timing.

Common questions

Not sure of your birth time?

Zi Wei works by two-hour periods; a different period gives a different Life palace and a different chart. Cast each possible period and see which fits you best.

Born after 11 pm?

23:00–00:59 is the Zi hour. This tool keeps the same lunar date after 23:00; if you follow the convention that the day changes at the Zi hour, also try the next day's date.

Born abroad or during daylight saving time?

Enter the local clock time of your birthplace. If daylight saving was in force, the traditional practice is to subtract one hour first.

Is my data uploaded?

No. The chart is calculated in your browser, and it is stored on this device only if you tick "Remember my birth details". "Copy for AI" only copies text on your device; once you paste it into an AI service, it is handled under that service's privacy policy.

Learn more: Zi Wei guide · The 14 main stars · The 12 palaces · Four Transformations · Star brightness · Patterns · Minor stars