Zi Wei Dou Shu Charting Tutorial | Practitioner Charting Guide

## Zi Wei Dou Shu Charting Tutorial: From Star Placement to Flying Stars This tutorial assumes you already understand the basics of the **Purple Star Astrology** system — the 14 main stars, the 12 palaces, and the concept of Ming Gong (命宮). Here, we focus on the precise technical steps required to construct a chart from scratch, including the often-neglected **flying star (飛星)** techniques that separate competent practitioners from novices. ### Step 1: Confirm the Lunar Date and Hour Pillar Before any star placement, verify the **lunar calendar conversion**. A common mistake is using the solar date directly. For Zi Wei Dou Shu, all dates must be converted to the **Chinese lunar calendar**, including the leap month handling. - **Important Note:** If the client was born in a leap month, the stars for that month are placed in the palace corresponding to the leap month’s number, but the **Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch** of the month pillar must still follow the normal solar month sequence. Do not double-count the leap month for the monthly pillar. - **Hour Pillar Check:** The hour pillar is determined by the **Day Stem** (日干). Use the formula: `Hour Heavenly Stem = (Day Stem number × 2 + Hour Branch number) mod 10` If the result is 0, it corresponds to **Gui (癸)**. A frequent error here is forgetting that the **Zi hour (23:00-00:59)** belongs to the *next day’s* Earthly Branch — treat 23:00-23:59 as **Zi hour of the next day**, not the current day. ### Step 2: Locate the Ming Gong (命宮) and Shen Gong (身宮) This is the structural backbone of the chart. Use the **lunar month number** and **hour branch**: - **Ming Gong Placement:** Count from **Yin (寅)** palace. Move forward by the month number, then backward by the hour branch number. *Example:* Born in 3rd lunar month, Shen hour (branch 9). Start at Yin (1), +3 months = Chen (5), then –9 hours = Wei (8). Ming Gong is at Wei. - **Shen Gong Placement:** Same starting point (Yin), count forward by month number, then *forward* by hour branch number. *Example:* Same data: Yin (1) +3 = Chen (5), +9 = Chou (2). Shen Gong is at Chou. **Common Mistake:** Mixing the direction of counting for Ming Gong (backward for hour) and Shen Gong (forward for hour). Always double-check the direction — Ming Gong is **counter-clockwise** for hour, Shen Gong is **clockwise** for hour. ### Step 3: Assign the 12 Palaces and the Heavenly Stems Once Ming Gong is fixed, the 12 palaces are arranged **counter-clockwise** starting from Ming Gong as Palace 1. The sequence is: 命宮 → 兄弟宮 → 夫妻宮 → 子女宮 → 財帛宮 → 疾厄宮 → 遷移宮 → 交友宮 → 官祿宮 → 田宅宮 → 福德宮 → 父母宮 Now, assign the **Heavenly Stems** to each palace. This is done using the **Five Tigers Escape** (五虎遁) based on the **Year Stem**: - For Yang years (甲丙戊庚壬), the first month (Yin) stem is **丙**. - For Yin years (乙丁己辛癸), the first month (Yin) stem is **戊**. Then cycle through the 12 Heavenly Stems in order: 丙寅, 丁卯, 戊辰, etc. **Technical Detail:** The Heavenly Stems of the palaces are critical for **flying star** calculations and for determining the **Four Transformations** (四化) of the stars. A single stem error cascades into wrong flying star placements. ### Step 4: Place the 14 Main Stars The 14 main stars are placed by **palace number** relative to the **Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch** of the **Ming Gong** and the **Year Branch**. The key formula: - **Zi Wei Star (紫微星):** Use the **Five Elements Bureau** (五行局) derived from the Ming Gong’s Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch. - First, find the **Na Yin Five Elements** of the Ming Gong’s branch (e.g., 甲子 = 海中金). - Then, determine the **Bureau number** (金四局, 木三局, 水二局, 火六局, 土五局). - The Zi Wei Star is placed at a palace number equal to: `(Bureau number + (lunar day - 1) / 5) mod 12`. *Simplified method:* Most practitioners use the **Zi Wei Star Placement Table** based on the Five Elements Bureau and the lunar day. Memorize the table for speed. - **Remaining 13 Stars:** Once Zi Wei is placed, the other stars follow a fixed sequence: Zi Wei → 天機 → 太陽 → 武曲 → 天同 → 廉貞 (these are the **Zi Wei series**). Then the **Fu Bi series**: 天府 → 太陰 → 貪狼 → 巨門 → 天相 → 天梁 → 七殺 → 破軍. The positions are determined by the **Zi Wei Star’s palace number** and the **Year Branch** of the birth year. **Critical Note:** The **Left Assistant (左輔)** and **Right Assistant (右弼)** are placed based on the **lunar month**, not the day. Left Assistant is at the palace number equal to the month number (starting from Chen). Right Assistant is at the palace number equal to (14 – month number). Many practitioners mistakenly use the day for these stars. ### Step 5: Place the Auxiliary Stars and Transformed Stars Auxiliary stars (e.g., 文昌, 文曲, 天魁, 天鉞, 祿存, 擎羊, 陀羅, 火星, 鈴星, 地空, 地劫) are placed using the **Year Stem**, **Year Branch**, **Month**, **Hour**, or **Day** depending on the star: - **文昌 (Wen Chang):** Based on the **Hour Branch** — use the table: 子時 = 戌, 丑時 = 酉, etc. - **文曲 (Wen Qu):** Based on the **Hour Branch** — opposite direction to Wen Chang. - **天魁 (Tian Kui):** Based on **Year Stem** — e.g., 甲年 = 丑, 乙年 = 子, etc. - **天鉞 (Tian Yue):** Based on **Year Stem** — e.g., 甲年 = 未, 乙年 = 申, etc. - **祿存 (Lu Cun):** Based on **Year Stem** — placed at the palace corresponding to the stem’s Earthly Branch (e.g., 甲 = 寅, 乙 = 卯). - **擎羊 (Qing Yang):** One palace **before** Lu Cun. - **陀羅 (Tuo Luo):** One palace **after** Lu Cun. - **火星 (Huo Xing) and 鈴星 (Ling Xing):** Based on **Year Branch** and **Hour Branch** — use the specific lookup tables. Common error: Confusing the starting branch for Huo Xing (巳) with Ling Xing (午). **Transformations (四化):** The **Hua Lu, Hua Quan, Hua Ke, Hua Ji** are applied to the 14 main stars based on the **Year Stem** or **Heavenly Stem of the palace** (depending on the school). For the **Zi Wei series**, use the Year Stem. For the **Fu Bi series**, use the Heavenly Stem of the palace where the star resides. This is a frequent point of confusion — remember: **Year Stem for Zi Wei series, Palace Stem for Fu Bi series**. ### Step 6: Flying Stars (飛星) — The Advanced Layer Flying stars are not merely about the 14 main stars. They involve **moving stars between palaces** using the **Heavenly Stems** and **Earthly Branches** of the palaces. This is where most practitioners make errors. - **Self-Flying (自化):** A star in a palace can “fly” to another palace if the **Heavenly Stem** of the source palace triggers a transformation in the target palace. *Example:* If the 財帛宮 has a **Heavenly Stem of 甲**, and the 命宮 has a star that transforms when triggered by 甲 (e.g., 廉貞 transforms to Hua Ji when encountering 甲), then that star flies from 命宮 to 財帛宮. **Key Rule:** The transformation is always from the **source palace’s stem** to the **star in another palace**. Do not reverse the direction. - **External Flying (他化):** This occurs when a star in one palace is transformed by the **