What is Zi Wei Dou Shu?
Zi Wei Dou Shu (Shibi Tosū in Japanese) reads destiny by placing more than a hundred stars in twelve palaces, centered on Zi Wei, the deified Pole Star. It is said to have been founded by Chen Xiyi in the Song dynasty (the oldest surviving text is the Ming-dynasty Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu), and today it is especially popular in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The chart and the twelve palaces
From your date of birth in the lunar calendar and your time of birth, you find your Life Palace, and from there lay out the palaces of Siblings, Spouse, Children, Wealth, Health, Travel, Friends, Career, Property, Fortune and Parents in turn. Each palace stands for an area of life, much like the twelve houses of Western astrology.
The fourteen main stars
Character and fortune are read from which palaces the fourteen main stars fall in: the Zi Wei group (Zi Wei, Tian Ji, Tai Yang, Wu Qu, Tian Tong, Lian Zhen) and the Tian Fu group (Tian Fu, Tai Yin, Tan Lang, Ju Men, Tian Xiang, Tian Liang, Qi Sha, Po Jun).
How it differs from Four Pillars
Four Pillars reads from the balance of the eto and the five elements, whereas Zi Wei Dou Shu reads from where the stars fall, so its results are said to be more concrete and story-like. An exact time of birth matters even more than in most methods.
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