The 14 Major Stars of Zi Wei Dou Shu

The fourteen stars

The glosses in the fourth column are the ones kaucim.ai prints in readings; other English sources use different words for the same star (Greedy Wolf is also Hungry Wolf, Army Breaker is also Destroyer, and so on). The Chinese name is the stable identifier.

How the two series are placed

Zi Wei's own cell is found from the Five-Element Bureau and the lunar day of birth. Once Zi Wei is placed, five stars follow it counter-clockwise at fixed distances: Tian Ji one cell behind, Tai Yang three, Wu Qu four, Tian Tong five, Lian Zhen eight.

Tian Fu sits in the cell that mirrors Zi Wei across the line joining 寅 and 申 (when Zi Wei is at 寅 or 申, the two coincide). Seven stars then follow Tian Fu clockwise: Tai Yin one cell ahead, Tan Lang two, Ju Men three, Tian Xiang four, Tian Liang five, Qi Sha six, and Po Jun ten.

Because the offsets are fixed, only twelve distinct layouts of the fourteen stars exist, one for each cell Zi Wei can occupy. Frequent pairings such as Zi Wei with Tian Fu, Wu Qu with Tian Xiang, or Tian Tong with Ju Men are consequences of the geometry, which is why classical texts treat those pairs as units.

Brightness table: each star at each branch

Brightness (廟旺利陷) is the star's strength at the branch it occupies. It is fixed by table, not calculated, and it changes how a star reads: Tai Yang at 卯 (sunrise) is at its brightest and expresses its giving, visible nature fully; Tai Yang at 亥 (late night) is fallen and reads as effort with little recognition. The column headers are the twelve branches; the cells are the engine's values.

Worked example

Birth: 6 February 1995, 15:00 to 17:00 (Shen hour), male. Zi Wei falls at 午, so Tian Ji is at 巳, Tai Yang at 卯, Wu Qu at 寅, Tian Tong at 丑, and Lian Zhen at 戌. Tian Fu mirrors Zi Wei to 戌, so Tai Yin is at 亥, Tan Lang at 子, Ju Men at 丑, Tian Xiang at 寅, Tian Liang at 卯, Qi Sha at 辰, and Po Jun at 申. Reading the brightness table: Zi Wei at 午 is 廟, Tian Ji at 巳 is 平, Tian Tong and Ju Men at 丑 are both 不.

Ten cells are occupied and two are empty (酉 and 未), which is typical. The pairs in this chart are Wu Qu with Tian Xiang, Tai Yang with Tian Liang, Tian Tong with Ju Men, and Lian Zhen with Tian Fu.

Where texts and calculators differ

• Brightness tables vary at the margins. Different classical editions mark a few cells one step apart (得 against 利, 平 against 不). The table above is the one kaucim.ai's engine uses; a calculator built on a different edition can show a different label in those cells without either being wrong.
• Element and polarity attributions vary more. Whether Tan Lang is Wood or Water, or Qi Sha is Metal or Fire, depends on the text. This page leaves those columns out rather than pick one.
• Zhongzhou-style engines move a small number of auxiliary stars and use a different transformation row for 庚, which changes what is attached to the major stars, not where the fourteen sit.

Common mistakes

• Reading a star's keyword without its brightness and palace. Po Jun in a bright cell in the Career Palace and Po Jun fallen in the Spouse Palace are not the same statement.
• Assuming a chart with Zi Wei in the Life Palace is superior. Zi Wei is one of fourteen; the layout guarantees it sits somewhere, and its reading depends on what accompanies it.
• Treating the auxiliary stars (Wen Chang, Zuo Fu, Huo Xing and the rest) as part of the fourteen. They are placed by other rules and modify the major stars.

Questions people ask

Related concepts

• The 12 palacesThe cells the stars are placed into
• The Four TransformationsLabels that attach to specific stars
• How a chart is calculatedWhere the Zi Wei cell comes from
• What is Zi Wei Dou Shu?Definition and structure
• Chart archetypesThe star groupings kaucim.ai reads as patterns

Sources and calculation version

• iztro source, data/stars · brightness rows copied and re-indexed to start at 子; a test re-derives them
• Calculation assumptions on kaucim.ai

Last checked against the chart engine on 2026-09-14.