Zi Wei Dou Shu

conspiracy theorist

Well-known member
To no ones surprise, the knowledge that most westerners have available on Chinese astrology is the equivalent of which sign your sun is located at your birth - but worse because instead of a differentiation of people according to months, a whole swath of people are said to have the same characteristics according to a whole year.

Obviously, this couldn't be the extent of Chinese astrology, and it turns out that this kind of sun-sign facsimile is a truncated version of BaZi Chinese Astrology - which is the Chinese Four Pillars of Destiny - a short introduction can be read on it here - https://thepeoplesoracle.com/a-bazi-chinese-astrology-primer/. Master Tsai's astrological website and predictions are predicated on this type of astrology.

But there is another variant of Chinese astrology, which is called Zi Wei Dou Shu - "Purple Star Astrology":

Zi Wei (紫薇) - purple Rosa Multiflora(薔薇), also known as Baby Rose, Rambler Rose. In the astrological world, this majestic color is related to spiritual aspiration. 微 is used for 薇 in ancient/simplifed Chinese writing. Noble rose referred to the North Star, the most prominent star in the sky.
Dou (斗) - 北斗星 Big Dipper constellation, North Star, Pole star. A prominent star that is approximately aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation. It is used as the coordinate to chart the sky.
Shu (数) - calculation.

According to one website - "Unlike BaZi which looks at the position of Earth around the Sun, Zi Wei Dou Shu observes the position of the stars instead, with the major stars coming from that of the Big Dipper and 6 from the Sagittarius constellation."

A graphical comparison is then made between Zi Wei Dou Shu (first image) and BaZi (second image):

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The Zi Wei Dou Shu chart has a familiar look to it, doesn't it?

Is there anyone who has more knowledge of Zi Wei Dou Shu, especially regarding how it is used in practice? In what ways does it differ from Indian and Western horoscopic astrology? Unsurprisingly, the information that gets passed the great firewall of China is from those entrepreneurial spirits who keep a lot of their knowledge behind a paywall, and who could blame them?

For those folks who are encountering Purple Star Astrology for the first time, here are some links to get you started:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zi_wei_dou_shu
https://www.masterseanchan.com/blog/assessing-wealth-loss-with-bazi-and-zi-wei-dou-shu/
https://www.liu-fengshui.com/services/life-map/12-sectors-of-zi-wei-dou-shu

And here's a free Zi Wei Dou Shu chart report and analysis, although I suspect it has the same efficacy as other automated astrology programs. https://fate.windada.com/cgi-bin/fate_en
 

Suzette

Member
I have my Zi Wei Dou Shu and Bazi chart read one month ago (coincidenlly by one of the blog you posted). Unfortunately I didn't feel I got too much information but that I got is quite interesting. I got a report for me and my partner, unfortunately there wasn't so much technical details and I were not allowed to ask about that because it was to hard to explain but I saw similarities between the Eastern and Western astrology.

I reacted on following:
- Even though it is 5 elements I see similaries in the Western's 4 elements and I can see the correlations. I got much water in Western astrology and also in Eastern
- Eastern astrology talks a lot about harmony and you want all five elements in your chart to be equally strong and harmonise with each other and that is the same in Western chart in the way that you want the benefic planets to balance the malefic planet, in Western astrology if one planet is too strong for example Jupiter then it can lead to overindulgence, laziness etc. so you want another aspect to limit that
- There are twelve houses in Western and twelve palaces in Eastern, they have the same "opposition thinking" the palaces opposite one have direct influences on the end
- There are 10 Gods that resides inside the palaces, sounds just like the planets in the houses but I haven't found more information that they exist
- The Eastern astrology start with how strong a natal chart is which hold the same with Western, then you either have to strenghten or weaken the chart by adding or lessen an element. The reading I got corresponded good with our Western chart


That's all righ now from the little I've come in contact with. I would like to dig deeper to understand more but it is hard to find any books on it in english. The information is so limited so I understand the struggle. It throw new light on Western astrology after I saw some correlations.
 

Andrea_

Well-known member
I liked freehoro the most out of all free ones i tried, because i can't read chinese and google translate is not the best: http://freehoro.net/ZWDS_EN/index.php

I haven't checked many of my friends charts, just because I didn't feel fine doing it. But for one of them it was shockingly (at least for me, was not expecting it) accurate. Generated it on a whim. He's had a more unusual life, nothing inherently bad, it's just the way it was. But without going into many details, what was in his family palace (adoption, lots of travelling, being very attached to mother and having to take care of her because of health issues) all matched his irl. Weirdly enough. His planets are also almost all in the so-called karmic degrees. Sun Mercury 29th. Moon pluto 0 saggi. Venus, uranus, neptune, mars, NN, asc all over 23. I've always felt like he was very special as a person, to or for me, before i even learned about his situation or birth place.

So at the moment I am pleasantly impressed with ZWDS and I wish there was more info on internet, but indeed, you can't really blame them much.

I tried drawing some parallels between the western and zwds system too;

Main star in my life palace (Qi Sha) and Po jun in Career palace (the warrior/commander, or wanting reform) resemble the nature of my Pluto on the 10th/11th cusp. He's also the handle/cutting planet of a bowl type chart, and transiting everything.

2 artistry stars in life palace remind me of the definition of neptune quintile MC, although it could be venus moon in the 1st.

Emperor star (Zi Wei) in travelling palace along with another good star fits my NN in the 9th on Spica.

My asc in zwds (Dragon -Body) is the sign of my Wealth palace, and made me think of how Saturn (the planet of my Asc and sun - both capricorn) is my chart's final dispositor in the 2nd House (same meaning of wealth and money, more or less).

Not much but it's always fun to think about these. Had some other things in mind but i'm too lazy to write them.

Basic ideas: https://ziwei.asia/ZWDS/Zi_Wei_Interpretation_Analysis.php

Blog that comes with some more explanations: www.ziwei-doushu.com/about-2/basic-rules-of-chart-analysis/
 
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Boyer

New member
Hi, just came across searching for people sharing same interest in zwds. I have some knowledge of zwds, but note that i am a learner as well.

Any question feel free to ask, as it also benefits me in my learning process. Though sometimes there's no real answer to certain question or not up to my level.

Most books are in chinese, even i understand chinese still having tough time learning. Haha.
 

Andrea_

Well-known member
When drawing parallels between different systems, it is also worth noticing how the 12 animals cycle corresponds to Jupiter's (around the Sun). What has been suggested is that the lunar system and 12 years cycle came into China from India, and that the chinese attributed the cycles a name, the animals so well known or important to them in their daily lives back then.
Fun thought: you know how we see the "Dragon" as mythical. No worries! Soon our grandchildren will also only know tigers as Zoo animals and pets since they have no place in the wild anymore, even less so in industrial China :D So fun.

So in short, it would be worth seeing how one's Vedic and ZWDS coincide. Mine does in terms of Sagittarius Jup. influences etc, and NN or dragon's head.

On history: http://www.lascartasdelavida.com/chinese_horoscope/jupiter.php
 
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Bunraku

Well-known member
but worse because instead of a differentiation of people according to months, a whole swath of people are said to have the same characteristics according to a whole year.


With a culture that values conformity, drilled into their collective minds for the past thousand years, it wouldn't surprise me if a year was accurate enough to describe a portion of the population. Anything else would warrant an execution warrant from the leader. Actually, no, they go "missing" thanks to the government ;)
 

Astroboi

Member
Is anyone else struggling to find more information on Chinese astrology in regards to Zi Wei Dou Shu?

Who else here has tried reading their own chart?
 

shinrie

Well-known member
I did have my chart read and analyzed by an astrologer in my country. I was quite impressed by the accuracy of the reading and thus tried to study the principles myself, but it's been quite difficult to grasp. All materials related to Eastern astrology that I've read so far are rather vague and abstract, which further adds to my struggle.
 

Ace

Well-known member
I have been studying a little on this type of astrology and have found it to be difficult to learn due to the flying stars and how it affects different palaces, however it can be uncannily accurate and does a good job in forecasting. There is a lot of information to study on it and a few forums that offer quite a bit of good knowledge and analysis on the subject. You can join as a free member but they encourage activity in their forums and may have to post on the boards to see some hidden posts that offer information on Zi Wei as well as other forms of divination. A paying member unlocks all the hidden posts and some really do offer a wealth of information on how to analyze your chart. Here is the link below:

https://fivearts.info/fivearts/index.php?PHPSESSID=h1svimjpur26bo0lkkutcloja2&board=67.0


An excellent calculator I have found is:

https://zwds-calculator.com/

Just plug in your birth details (optional fields for longitude and latitude and GMT). You may have to manually adjust those parameters yourself as it used to be automated, but once you plot the chart it gives a brief analysis on all the 12 palaces which is nice. But I have found the following link to be the best so far for an English interpretation as stated earlier by another astrology member here:

http://www.freehoro.net/ZWDS_EN/
 

codynguyen

New member
I did have my chart read and analyzed by an astrologer in my country. I was quite impressed by the accuracy of the reading and thus tried to study the principles myself, but it's been quite difficult to grasp. All materials related to Eastern astrology that I've read so far are rather vague and abstract, which further adds to my struggle.

I am Vietnamese practicing Zi wei dou shu (Tử vi đẩu số). It quite popular in vietnam more than bazi (Bát tự). Honesty saying, learning this art is hard, because in history, a lot of knowledge was kept hidden. For the thoudsand of years, this art was used widely to the masses but this was only a piece of it. Fully knowledge was kept for the emperor it self.

Fortunately, from 1960-1980, in Taiwan, some of the ancient textook was leak out to public and the reviving of Zi wei dou shu began. Flying start is a advanced technic was known and practice widely. You shouldn't learn it if you still struggle with the basic concept of Zi wei dou shu.

Strickly seaking, Zi wei dou shu and Bazi are not astrology, because it based on I ching and a lot of chinese art, not only astrology or astrology. You should not consider star in Zi wei dou shu as true star on the sky becase it isn't.
 
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