TRIPODTERRA
Zi Wei Dou Shu (紫微斗数, "Purple Star Astrology") is the other great Chinese charting system alongside BaZi — and for many readers, the one that feels most like Western astrology: a map of stars over your life.
The 12 palaces
A Zi Wei chart places stars onto a wheel of 12 palaces (宫), each governing a life domain:
- 命宫 Life — self, temperament, direction
- 兄弟 Siblings — siblings and peers
- 夫妻 Spouse — marriage and partnership
- 子女 Children — children and creative output
- 财帛 Wealth — money and income patterns
- 疾厄 Health — body and constitution
- 迁移 Travel — movement, abroad, public life
- 交友 Friends — allies, subordinates, social circle
- 官禄 Career — work and office
- 田宅 Property — home, real estate, roots
- 福德 Fortune — inner state, blessings, enjoyment
- 父母 Parents — parents and elders
The stars
The chart's 14 major stars (主星) include the emperor star 紫微 (Zi Wei itself), 天府 (Treasury), 天相, 太阳, 武曲, 天同, 廉贞, 太阴, 贪狼, 巨门, 天梁, 七杀, 破军, 天机. Each star has a temperament — Zi Wei is command, 天府 is vault-like stability, 贪狼 is appetite and charm, 七杀 is decisive force. Where each star falls in your 12 palaces shapes that life area's flavor; the palace of 命宫 with its resident star is read first, as your baseline self.
Combinations matter more than single stars: 紫微 + 天府 in Life is classically a "steady sovereign" pattern; 太阳 + 太阴 in Career can mean public-facing work.
Reading a free chart
You need your birth year, month, day, and hour. The lunar date and 紫微's star positions are computed from it (like BaZi, true solar time matters — the site corrects for it). Beginners should read in this order:
- Find your Life palace star — that's your operating system.
- Check Wealth and Career palaces — your engines.
- Look at the Spouse palace — partnership patterns.
- Then the 4 "transformation" stars (四化: 化禄/化权/化科/化忌) — these four mark where your chart gains, controls, refines, and leaks energy this decade.
Zi Wei is a language, not a verdict — its value is naming patterns you already half-suspect. Generate your free Zi Wei Dou Shu chart on TripodTerra, or get the full interpretation with the AI Zi Wei reading.