Zi Wei Dou Shu in Depth

Zi Wei Dou Shu uses the same birth year, month, day, and time as BaZi, but draws a very different picture. BaZi reads relationships among eight characters; Zi Wei Dou Shu builds a twelve-palace chart and places symbolic stars across it. Each life area has a room before interpretation begins.

Across 22 chapters, you'll first build the chart: fix the twelve cells, place the Life Palace, find the Five-Element Bureau, and seat Zi Wei so the other major stars can follow. Then you'll learn the twelve palaces, the fourteen major stars, brightness, transformations, and supporting stars. The final stretch teaches the Four Directions, empty palaces, recurring patterns, and the ten-year and annual timing layers.

Glowy follows the general-school method used by the chart engine. Entering a birth time lets each chapter show the same rule directly on your own chart. No sign-up is required.

Start from Chapter 1
What Is Zi Wei Dou Shu? — How It Differs from BaZi
Start
1
What Is Zi Wei Dou Shu? — How It Differs from BaZi
They use the same birth data, so why do they draw completely different pictures?
Building the Chart
2
Reading the Chart — Twelve Cells and Earthly Branches
The branches fix the cells in place; which palace lands where changes from person to person.
3
Placing the Life Palace — Forward by Month, Back by Birth Hour
Start at Yin, move forward by the lunar month, then step back by the birth hour.
4
Five-Element Bureau — The Chart's Base and Its First Decade
The number inside the bureau's name is the age when the first ten-year period opens.
5
Placing Zi Wei — The Moment the Fourteen Major Stars Take Their Seats
Divide the lunar birth day by the bureau number. Once Zi Wei lands, the other thirteen follow.
Two Centers
6
Life Palace and Body Palace — Inborn Self, Lived Self
The Life Palace is your starting pattern; the Body Palace is where life gathers weight over time.
7
Life Ruler and Body Ruler — Two Stars Assigned to You
One star elsewhere in the twelve palaces is given a separate role in your chart.
Twelve Palaces
8
The Four Core Palaces — Self, Money, Partner, Work
Life, Wealth, Spouse, and Career are the first four places to read.
9
Palaces of People — Siblings, Children, Friends, Parents
Four places that show who stands beside you and how you form those bonds.
10
Palaces of Living — Health, Travel, Property, Well-Being
The body, your outward self, where you settle, and where your mind comes to rest.
Fourteen Major Stars
11
The Fourteen Major Stars (1) — Six in the Zi Wei Group
Zi Wei, Tian Ji, Tai Yang, Wu Qu, Tian Tong, and Lian Zhen.
12
The Fourteen Major Stars (2) — Eight in the Tian Fu Group
Tian Fu, Tai Yin, Tan Lang, Ju Men, Tian Xiang, Tian Liang, Qi Sha, and Po Jun.
13
Star Families — Major Stars Move in Groups
Sha-Po-Lang, Ji-Yue-Tong-Liang, and Zi-Fu-Lian-Wu-Xiang: read the stars as families.
Planetary Condition
14
Brightness — The Same Star Changes by Seat
Miao, Wang, Li, and Xian measure how comfortably a star sits in its palace.
15
The Four Transformations — Lu, Quan, Ke, and Ji
The birth-year stem marks four stars with different directions of emphasis, not simple good and bad.
16
Supporting Stars — Six Assistants and Six Challengers
They explain why two people with the same major star can still read differently.
How to Read
17
The Four Directions — Never Read One Palace Alone
Read the opposite palace and two trine palaces together as a four-part structure.
18
Empty Palaces — Empty Does Not Mean Absent
Fourteen stars across twelve cells naturally leave some palaces without a major star.
19
Flying Transformations — What One Palace Sends to Another
Every palace carries a stem, and that stem launches another set of transformations.
20
Named Patterns — Recurring Chart Structures
Old readers named familiar arrangements; the important part is not being overawed by the name.
The Flow of Time
21
Decades and Annual Flow — Ten Years and One Year
The twelve palaces take turns governing ten-year stretches, much like BaZi's major luck cycles.
Wrap-Up
22
A Six-Step Order for Reading the Whole Chart
Stitch the pieces into one person without getting lost among the twelve palaces.
View My Zi Wei Dou Shu Report
Check what you just learned directly against your own twelve-palace chart.

For reference and entertainment, based on traditional astrology.

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