Your chart is a square of twelve palaces.
Purple Star Astrology (紫微斗數) places over a hundred stars into twelve palaces — life, love, career, wealth and more — using the year, month, day and hour you were born. Two people born on the same day get different charts.
Try it: where does your Life Palace sit?
15 June 1990 is day 23 of the 5th lunar month.
Birth hourPurple Star Astrology reads the lunar calendar: the Life Palace 命 is set by your lunar birth month and birth hour, and the other eleven palaces follow it around the square. The fourteen major stars shown here are placed from your lunar birth day; your full chart adds over a hundred more.
From birth hour to reading, in four steps
Your chart is cast the way Zi Wei Dou Shu masters have cast charts for a thousand years, then read for you.
Enter your birth details
Name, birth date, birth hour and gender. Use your ordinary calendar birth date; we convert it to the lunar calendar for you.
We cast your chart
Over a hundred stars are placed across your twelve palaces, using the classical Zi Wei Dou Shu rules.
We consult the classical texts
Passages matching your star combinations are drawn from a 427-passage index of Zi Wei Dou Shu sources.
You read your palaces
Your reading covers personality, love, career, wealth and more, one palace at a time.
Not your monthly horoscope
A horoscope is written for your sign. A Purple Star chart is cast for the hour you were born.
| Monthly horoscope | Your Purple Star chart 紫微斗數 | |
|---|---|---|
| Built from | The month you were born | The year, month, day and hour you were born |
| Shared with | About one in twelve people | Only people born on the same day, within the same two-hour window |
| What it covers | The traits of your sign | Over a hundred stars across twelve palaces: love, career, wealth, health and more |
| Your reading | Written once for everyone with your sign | Written for the stars in your palaces and how they combine |
| Sources | Varies by writer | A 427-passage index of classical Zi Wei Dou Shu texts |
What is Purple Star Astrology?
Purple Star Astrology — Zi Wei Dou Shu (紫微斗數) — is a Chinese astrology system that has been practised for roughly a thousand years. It takes your birth date and birth hour and maps them onto a grid of twelve life palaces. Each palace governs one domain of a life, and the stars that fall inside it describe how that domain tends to unfold.
It is named after the Purple Star (紫微), the emperor star of the system. Where that star sits, and which of the other stars surround it, is what distinguishes one chart from another. There is no single sign or type — a chart is read as a whole structure.
Into those twelve palaces the system places 108 stars — fourteen main stars plus dozens of minor and transformative ones. A star is read differently depending on which palace it lands in: the same star that builds a fortune in the Wealth Palace can strain a marriage from the Spouse Palace.
Your birth hour matters as much as your birth date. Chinese astrology divides the day into twelve two-hour branches, and the hour decides where the Life Palace 命宮 sits — which rotates every other palace with it. Two people born on the same day at different hours get materially different charts. The chart is then read across ten-year life phases (大限) and single years (流年 Liu Nian), which is how timing enters a reading.
Want the detail? Read the complete guide to the stars and palaces, or generate your own chart free.
The twelve palaces 十二宮
- 命宮Life Palace
- Core character and life direction
- 兄弟宮Siblings Palace
- Brothers, sisters, close peers
- 夫妻宮Spouse Palace
- Marriage and partnership
- 子女宮Children Palace
- Children and creative output
- 財帛宮Wealth Palace
- Money earned and how it moves
- 疾厄宮Health Palace
- Constitution and vulnerability
- 遷移宮Travel Palace
- Movement and life away from home
- 僕役宮Servants Palace
- Friends, colleagues, subordinates
- 官祿宮Career Palace
- Work, standing, achievement
- 田宅宮Property Palace
- Home, land, family assets
- 福德宮Fortune Palace
- Inner life and contentment
- 父母宮Parents Palace
- Parents and figures of authority
Start free. Pay only for the readings you want.
Your birth chart is always free. Readings are one-off purchases, with no subscription.
Birth chart
Everyone, no account needed
Your 12-palace chart with 100+ star placements and your ten-year cycles, calculated instantly.
FreeGet my free chartOverview reading
Registered users
A reading of your whole chart: personality and the themes that run through your life. Your charts are saved to revisit.
Freefor your first chart, then $4.99 per chartSign up freePalace readings
Registered users
An in-depth reading of one area of life, such as career, wealth, spouse or health, with passages from the classical texts.
$1.99per palace, or $9.99 for all 12 (save $13.89)See full pricing
See how a chart reads
Worked readings of real, public birth charts, plus two guides to the basics.
- Lewis Hamilton and Kim KardashianCompatibility reading
- Damiano David and Dove CameronCompatibility reading
- Tom Holland and ZendayaCompatibility reading
- Lamine YamalBirth chart reading
- Inde NavarretteBirth chart reading
- Frida KahloHistorical figure
- Purple Star Astrology vs BaZiGuide
- Does it require a birth time?Guide
Common questions
- What is Purple Star Astrology?
- Purple Star Astrology — Zi Wei Dou Shu (紫微斗數) — is a Chinese astrology system practised for roughly a thousand years. It maps your birth date and birth hour onto a grid of twelve life palaces, each governing one domain of life such as career, wealth, marriage or health. The stars that fall in each palace describe how that domain tends to unfold. It is read as a whole chart, not as a single sign.
- How is Purple Star Astrology different from Western astrology?
- They share almost nothing. Western astrology reads planets against twelve zodiac signs. Zi Wei Dou Shu places 108 stars — fourteen main stars plus dozens of minor ones — into twelve palaces derived from the Chinese lunar calendar, and reads them across ten-year life phases. There are no planets, no sun signs, and no generic horoscope columns: every reading is specific to one chart.
- Do I need my exact birth time?
- Yes. The birth hour decides where your Life Palace 命宮 sits, and that placement rotates every other palace with it — so two people born the same day at different hours get materially different charts. Chinese astrology divides the day into twelve two-hour branches. If you do not know your hour, the calculator can generate all twelve possible charts so you can find the one that matches your life.
- Is the birth chart really free?
- Yes. Generating your complete twelve-palace chart is free and needs no account. A written overview reading of your first chart is also free once you register. Deeper palace-by-palace readings and annual forecasts are paid, and are always optional.
Find out where your Life Palace sits
Your free chart takes seconds to calculate. No account, no card.
Calculate my free chart