What you get
- Life Palace, Body Palace and all twelve palaces
- Major stars, supporting stars and transformations
- Major periods and yearly timing layers
How it works
- Inputs
- Birth date, time and traditional gender category. Check the calendar and birth time zone; place and longitude are optional.
- Method
- Normalize the birth details, calculate the palaces and stars, and keep recorded school differences visible before reading the result. A chart does not establish future events.
How to read it
Check the calendar, birth hour and school-convention notices before reading the Life and Body Palaces. Compare the relevant palace and major-period alternatives for your question; the chart does not establish what will happen.
Before comparing charts: check the conventions
This calculator displays a traditional chart, not a prediction of an event. Different schools can place stars or major periods differently. Read the convention notices in your result before interpreting a palace.
Recorded differences include leap months, the Hua Ke star for Ren years and the first major-period palace. For that first palace, the result keeps the Life-Palace-first and adjacent-palace-first alternatives separate rather than declaring one correct. Do not compare charts from different calculators until their calendar, birth-hour and school settings match.
Create a Zi Wei Dou Shu chart step by step
1. Enter the birth date and select the correct calendar. For a lunar date, check the leap-month setting. Enter the recorded birth time and the male or female category required by this traditional calculation.
2. Check the birth time zone and any place or longitude correction you use. A clock time without its time zone is not enough to compare results reliably. If the birth time is uncertain or close to a boundary, keep the possible times separate; do not invent a precise time.
3. Calculate the chart, then verify the normalized birth details and convention notices in the result. The calculator lays out the Life Palace, Body Palace, twelve palaces and stars automatically. The calculation is free and does not require an account.
Read the twelve-palace chart without skipping the limits
This is the site’s reading workflow, not an additional classical rule. Start with the Life Palace and Body Palace to orient yourself, then locate the palace connected with your question. Keep a star’s placement separate from the site’s modern explanation of it.
Read the relevant major-period information with its stated starting-palace convention. Where alternatives are shown, keep both visible rather than choosing whichever sounds more appealing. One star or palace is not evidence of a future job, relationship or financial outcome.
Use the chart to organize questions you can check against real circumstances. This guide explains how to use and read the calculator; it is not a full hand-calculation course or a guarantee that every school will produce the same chart.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need for a free Zi Wei Dou Shu chart?＋
Enter the birth date, birth time and the male or female category used by the traditional calculation. Check the calendar, leap-month setting where relevant, time zone and any location correction. You can calculate without an account.
Why can two Zi Wei Dou Shu calculators show different charts?＋
Check the same birth details first, then compare school conventions. Leap-month handling, Ren-year Hua Ke and the first major-period palace are recorded differences here. The result preserves the major-period alternatives rather than silently choosing one.
Does this guide teach me to calculate the whole chart by hand?＋
No. The calculator lays out the chart automatically; the guide explains the inputs and a reading order. It is not a complete manual for placing every star by hand. An uncertain birth time or a school difference remains a limit, not something the guide resolves.