Zi Wei Dou Shu Glossary: Palaces, Stars, Transformations and Time Cycles

How to use this glossary

Begin with the chart and palace terms, then move to stars, relationships, transformations and time cycles. A single label should never be read in isolation. Zi Wei Dou Shu works through combinations: a palace, its opposing and related palaces, the stars present, the transformations involved and the time layer being examined.

Romanisation and English translations vary between books. Chinese terms are included so readers can recognise the same idea across different sources.

The chart and its basic structure

命盘 — natal chart

The diagram calculated from a person’s birth date and time. It places the twelve palaces, stars and other indicators into a fixed structure. The natal chart is the foundation; later time cycles are read in relation to it.

十二宫 — the twelve palaces

Twelve fields representing areas of experience, including self, siblings, partnership, children, wealth, health, travel, associates, career, property, inner fulfilment and parents. A palace is a field of enquiry, not a promise that a particular event will occur.

命宫 — Life Palace

The main reference point for the chart. It is traditionally used to discuss temperament, orientation and the way a person meets the world. It must be read together with its related palaces rather than treated as a complete personality label.

身宫 — Body Palace

A secondary focal point associated with how a life becomes expressed through conduct, effort and lived circumstances. Its meaning develops through the palace in which it is placed and the stars that accompany it.

五行局 — Five-Phase Bureau

A chart classification expressed through Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal or Water and a numerical bureau. It helps determine the starting age and sequence of major periods. It is a technical part of chart construction, not a simple elemental personality type.

命主与身主 — Life Ruler and Body Ruler

Two auxiliary reference stars derived from birth data. Some methods give them substantial interpretive weight; others use them as supporting context. Wudang.Org identifies the convention being used whenever these terms materially affect a reading method.

Palace relationships

对宫 — opposing palace

The palace directly across the chart. It supplies a complementary perspective and is especially important when the palace being examined has few or no major stars.

三方四正 — three directions and four cardinal positions

The palace under study, its opposite and the two palaces connected through the traditional three-harmony relationship. This four-palace field is one of the main structures used to understand how a theme is supported, redirected or complicated elsewhere in the chart.

夹宫 — flanking palaces

The two palaces immediately beside a palace. Certain combinations use these neighbours as supporting context, although they do not replace the primary three-directions-and-four-positions structure.

空宫 — palace without a major star

A palace containing none of the fourteen major stars. It is not empty of meaning. Readers examine its minor stars, transformations, opposing palace and wider relationships. Some traditions describe this as “borrowing” the opposing stars; the term refers to a reading procedure, not to moving the stars themselves.

Stars and combinations

十四主星 — the fourteen major stars

The central interpretive stars: Zi Wei, Tian Ji, Tai Yang, Wu Qu, Tian Tong, Lian Zhen, Tian Fu, Tai Yin, Tan Lang, Ju Men, Tian Xiang, Tian Liang, Qi Sha and Po Jun. Their meanings change with palace position, companions, transformations and the wider chart.

辅曜、佐曜、煞曜与杂曜 — supporting, assisting, challenging and miscellaneous stars

Different books organise the smaller stars in slightly different groups. Broadly, they refine the major-star picture by indicating resources, visibility, friction, delay, movement or special circumstances. “Challenging” does not mean permanently bad; it describes a kind of pressure that must be read in context.

星曜组合 — star combination

The pattern formed when stars share a palace or connect across related palaces. Traditional names for combinations are shorthand for recurring structures, not independent verdicts. Their effect depends on the full configuration.

庙、旺、得、利、平、不、陷 — strength classifications

Conventional labels describing how readily a star is thought to express its qualities in a particular Earthly Branch position. Tables vary across lineages and software. These grades are supporting information and should not be turned into a simple score of good or bad.

The Four Transformations

四化 — the Four Transformations

Four functional changes called Lu, Quan, Ke and Ji. They describe how attention and activity are organised: toward resources and attraction, authority and momentum, recognition and order, or concentration and entanglement. None should be interpreted alone.

化禄 — Transformation of Lu

Often associated with increase, access, affinity and the circulation of resources. It may show what is welcomed or readily developed, depending on the star and palace involved.

化权 — Transformation of Quan

Associated with initiative, responsibility, influence and pressure to act. Its constructive expression is capacity and leadership; its difficult expression can be over-control or strain.

化科 — Transformation of Ke

Associated with order, visibility, learning, reputation and the ability to clarify. It can moderate a situation, but it does not automatically remove every difficulty shown elsewhere.

化忌 — Transformation of Ji

Associated with attachment, obstruction, recurring concern or a point that demands careful attention. It is not a sentence of misfortune. In a responsible reading it identifies complexity, consequence and the need for greater awareness.

生年四化、宫干四化与自化 — natal, palace-stem and self-transformations

The birth-year transformations form a stable layer of the natal chart. Some methods also derive transformations from palace stems and examine transformations that return to or depart from their palace of origin. These are complementary ways of tracing movement; the site names the method before applying its terminology.

Time cycles

大限 — major period

A ten-year layer that shifts the palace used as the period’s reference point. It is read with the natal chart, not as a replacement for it.

小限 — minor annual period

An age-based yearly indicator used by some traditions as an additional reference. Its calculation and interpretive priority should be stated clearly because methods vary.

流年 — annual chart or annual influence

The layer for a particular year. It shows which natal themes become more prominent within that time frame. Shorter layers may include 流月, 流日 and 流时 for month, day and hour.

叠宫 — overlapping palaces

When a time-cycle palace falls over a natal palace, the two sets of meanings are read together. The overlap focuses attention; it does not erase the original natal structure.

Casting conventions

时辰 — double hour

The traditional two-hour birth-time division used to construct the chart. A change of double hour can alter the palace arrangement, so uncertain birth times should be acknowledged rather than silently treated as exact.

农历、节气与闰月 — lunar calendar, solar terms and leap months

Chart calculators may handle calendar conversion and leap months differently. The rule used should be recorded, especially when comparing charts produced by different systems.

子初、子正与换日 — the Zi hour and change of day

Methods vary on whether the new day begins at 11 p.m., midnight or through another convention within the Zi double hour. This is one reason two competent calculators may produce different charts near midnight.

真太阳时 — true solar time

A correction based on geographic longitude and the apparent movement of the Sun. Some practitioners apply it and others retain standard clock time. The important principle is consistency and disclosure.

A final reading principle

Terms are tools for organising observation. They gain meaning through relationships, sequence and context. Wudang.Org therefore separates the calculable structure of a chart from the judgement used to interpret it, presents different conventions as clearly named frameworks, and avoids turning symbolic language into fixed predictions about health, lifespan or fate.