Zi Wei Dou Shu

Zi Wei is the Purple Star, the emperor star, and Dou Shu means reckoning by the Dipper stars. In English the system is called Purple Star Astrology.

Zi Wei is the Emperor, one of the 14 main stars. It carries a commanding presence and tends to elevate the themes of the palace it occupies, though in the classical view it needs support from positive stars to realize its full potential.

The palaces are the twelve sections of a Zi Wei Dou Shu chart, and each governs several areas of life. The Life Palace is the core of the chart; the others include the Wealth, Career, Marriage and Health Palaces. Palaces also work together, such as the Life and Wealth Palaces for wealth potential.

A chart is built from the lunar birth date, the birth hour and gender. The lunar month and the birth hour fix the Life Palace, which sets where every other palace falls. The birth hour alone decides which palace holds the Body Palace. The twelve two-hour periods form six pairs, each pointing to one palace: a Zi or Wu hour puts it in the Life Palace, a Yin or Shen hour in the Career Palace, and so on. The Body Palace shows the main life theme from around age 40.

The Four Transformations are Hua Lu, Hua Quan, Hua Ke and Hua Ji. Each Heavenly Stem activates its own four stars, so the stem of each 10-year or annual phase decides which stars act. Hua Lu is associated with opportunity, Hua Quan with authority, Hua Ke with recognition, and Hua Ji with the area where problems tend to arise.

Zi Wei Dou Shu places named stars into twelve palaces from the lunar birth date and the birth hour. The Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi) reads the balance of the five elements across four pillars set by the solar calendar (the solar terms).