Free Zi Wei Dou Shu chart Twelve life areas, Four Transformations, and ten-year periods

Start with the chart summary, then the twelve-palace diagram, the Life Palace's four-palace group, and the birth-year Four Transformations:

1. Life Palace 命宮: look at its major stars and their traditional states. If there is no major star, the opposite Travel Palace is used as a reference. The position depends only on lunar birth month and hour.
2. Body Palace 身宮: marked “Body Palace” in the diagram. It depends on birth hour and can occupy one of six palace areas: Zi 子 (Rat) or Wu 午 (Horse) period shares the Life Palace; Chou 丑 (Ox) or Wei 未 (Goat) period: Inner Life Palace 福德宮; Yin 寅 (Tiger) or Shen 申 (Monkey) period: Career Palace 官祿宮; Mao 卯 (Rabbit) or You 酉 (Rooster) period: Travel Palace 遷移宮; Chen 辰 (Dragon) or Xu 戌 (Dog) period: Wealth Palace 財帛宮; Si 巳 (Snake) or Hai 亥 (Pig) period: Partnership Palace 夫妻宮. The Life Palace describes innate tendencies; the Body Palace describes later emphasis. They can share a position.
3. Four-palace group 三方四正: the Life, opposite Travel, Wealth, and Career Palaces are considered together. The related card lists their major, supportive, and challenging stars side by side.
4. Four Transformations and current ten-year period: the transformations card shows where the four birth-year emphases fall. The chart summary marks the palace for the current ten-year period.

For the twelve life areas and a quick reference for Life and Body Palace placement, read Twelve Zi Wei palaces. For the major stars' traditional qualities, see The fourteen major Zi Wei stars。

Chart calculation is free, without registration. Optional automated readings consider the Life and Body Palaces, four-palace group, birth-year transformations, and ten-year periods. Prices are on the Pricing page。

Zi Wei Dou Shu is a traditional system that arranges birth details into twelve palace areas. Lunar birth month and hour locate the Life Palace; lunar day and the Five Element configuration locate Zi Wei. The other major stars and supporting or challenging stars are then placed by fixed rules.

Its distinctive feature is the division into life areas, such as relationships, money, work, well-being, and home. Those areas offer a different perspective from BaZi's emphasis on the overall Five Element structure.

Once the Life Palace is located, the other eleven follow in a fixed counterclockwise order. Each person's life areas can therefore occupy different branch positions.

Life Palace 命宮

Character, tendencies, and the chart's central reference point

Siblings Palace 兄弟宮

Siblings, peers, and patterns in working alongside others

Partnership Palace 夫妻宮

Marriage, close relationships, and patterns of attraction

Children Palace 子女宮

Children and parenting, with traditional links to creativity

Wealth Palace 財帛宮

Approaches to earning, spending, and managing money

Well-being Palace 疾厄宮

Traditional well-being and stress themes; not a medical diagnosis

Travel Palace 遷移宮

Life away from home, outside opportunities, and how others may see you

Friends Palace 僕役宮

Friends, colleagues, and social support

Career Palace 官祿宮

Work patterns, professional roles, and career themes

Home Palace 田宅宮

Home, property, and the family environment

Inner Life Palace 福德宮

Rest, enjoyment, mental life, and sources of stress

Parents Palace 父母宮

Relationships with parents, elders, and authority figures

Palaces are usually interpreted together. The Life, opposite Travel, Wealth, and Career Palaces form the four-palace group. A palace without a major star uses its opposite palace as a reference; it does not mean that area is absent from life.

For palace order, placement references, and this calculator's date and leap-month conventions, see Twelve Zi Wei palaces。

The fourteen major stars form two groups. One follows Zi Wei and the other follows Tian Fu:

• Zi Wei star group：Zi Wei 紫微, Tian Ji 天機, Tai Yang 太陽, Wu Qu 武曲, Tian Tong 天同, Lian Zhen 廉貞
• Tian Fu star group：Tian Fu 天府, Tai Yin 太陰, Tan Lang 貪狼, Ju Men 巨門, Tian Xiang 天相, Tian Liang 天梁, Qi Sha 七殺, Po Jun 破軍

Each major star has a traditional state that changes with its branch location. This calculator shows seven states, from exalted to fallen. The star's name alone is therefore not a complete interpretation; its position and surrounding structure matter.

The calculator also places six supporting stars and Lu Cun, four challenging stars, and the void stars Di Kong and Di Jie. Their combinations contribute to the traditional interpretation of the four-palace group.

For the fourteen stars, twelve basic Zi Wei layouts, and palaces without a major star, see The fourteen major Zi Wei stars.

The birth-year heavenly stem assigns prosperity, authority, recognition, and tension transformations to four stars. Their palace locations highlight different themes in otherwise similar star layouts.

• Prosperity 化祿：Traditionally associated with resources, ease, and opportunities in that palace area.
• Authority 化權：Traditionally associated with initiative and influence, with possible pressure or conflict when overused.
• Recognition 化科：Traditionally associated with visibility, reputation, learning, and support from others.
• Tension 化忌：Traditionally associated with attachment and recurring difficulty: a theme to examine, rather than a prediction of disaster.

Birth-year Four Transformations table

Both chart calculation and reading use this table:

Traditions differ, particularly for the recognition transformation of the Wu, Geng, and Ren stems. This calculator uses You Bi, Tai Yin, and Zuo Fu respectively, following a common modern Zhongzhou table. Other tables use different stars; this can explain a difference without either tool having a calculation error.

For the meaning of each transformation, the disputed entries, and a worked example, see Four Transformations explained. For the Ding Wei year's annual transformations, see 2027 annual transformations。

Each Zi Wei period covers ten years in one palace. The starting age follows the configuration number: Water 2, Wood 3, Metal 4, Earth 5, or Fire 6. The first period starts in the Life Palace. Birth-year polarity and the traditional sex rule determine forward or backward movement.

To explore a current period, look at its palace, major stars and states, birth-year transformations, and four-palace group. The chart directly shows this sequence of life areas.

For configuration calculation, Zi Wei placement, and forward and backward examples, see The Five Element configurations。

This natal chart shows the twelve palaces, natal stars, birth-year transformations and ten-year major periods. To explore a particular year, add its yearly layer to the natal chart. Yearly transformations do not replace natal transformations or move the original stars.

Find your yearly Life Palace and transformation placements for free : Check the tool's displayed year, then enter your birth details to see the yearly Life Palace's natal position, transformation placements and twelve yearly palace mappings. The year updates automatically. No account is needed. Personal placements require a birth time; without it, only the year's transformation star names are shown.

For your first yearly reading, follow the steps and public example in 2027 annual transformations , then compare the yearly results with your natal transformations and current major period.

Both use the same birth details. BaZi represents them as four stem–branch pairs and examines the Five Elements, Day Master, and supportive relationships. Zi Wei arranges stars into twelve life areas. They offer different traditional perspectives rather than guaranteed accounts of future events.

The calendars and timelines also differ. BaZi months follow solar terms; Zi Wei placement uses lunar month and day plus the hour. Their ten-year periods have independent starting-age rules and do not need to begin in the same year.

Using both can reveal agreement or tension between traditional interpretations. Agreement does not establish a prediction as fact, and conflicting signals call for caution. The BaZi calculator uses the same birth details so you can compare the two structures.

The chart includes twelve palaces and palace stems, fourteen major stars, supporting and challenging stars, void stars, major-star states, Life and Body rulers, the Five Element configuration, Body Palace, birth-year Four Transformations, and ten-year periods. Solar-time correction is applied before conversion to the lunar calendar. For the adjustment calculation, see How apparent solar time is calculated。

This page's natal result does not overlay the yearly Life Palace or yearly transformations; use Annual Influences above for those placements. Natal readings use major-period palaces and natal transformations for timing themes. They do not invent uncalculated minor periods, annual auxiliary stars, major-period transformations, self-transformations, a full flying-star system or miscellaneous stars such as Tian Ma, Hong Luan, Tian Xi, San Tai and Ba Zuo.

Zi Wei always needs a birth hour. Without it the Life Palace cannot be located. Use the BaZi calculator's three-pillar option if the time is unknown.

For a preview of the reading, explore the Sample reading, using fictional people and public birth details that you can recalculate. Our checks and known limitations are described in Methods and accuracy。

Readings are for reflection, not medical, legal, or financial advice. The chart is calculated by fixed rules; the reading does not add or remove stars or palaces.