All the traditions · Chinese · BaZi
Chinese · BaZi
The Four Pillars — Saju (사주) in Korea, Shichū Suimei in Japan. Not planetary at all: a sexagenary calendar whose only astronomy is the Sun crossing each fifteenth degree.
Chinese astrology, no planets
BaZi, the Four Pillars
BaZi — Saju in Korea, Shichū Suimei in Japan — is not planetary at all. It is a calendar: the year, month, day and hour of birth each written as a pair of characters, a Heavenly Stem and an Earthly Branch, from a cycle of sixty. The only astronomy in it is the Sun crossing each fifteenth degree, which sets the months and turns the year at Lichun in early February — so a birth in late January belongs to the year before.
The day stem is you, the day master, and everything else is read against it: each other stem is one of the ten gods (Friend, Rob Wealth, Eating God, Hurting Officer, the two Wealths, Seven Killings, Direct Officer, the two Resources), and the five elements are weighed to say whether the day master is strong or weak and which elements help it. The luck pillars run ten years each from the month pillar, forward or backward depending on sex and the year's polarity.
In the app, the Four Pillars chart shows the gods above each stem and the hidden stems below each branch, the branch clashes and combinations, and this year's pillar against the chart — including the Tai Sui question. Set sex in the birth details: the luck pillars turn on it.
Twelve palaces
Zi Wei Dou Shu, Purple Star astrology
Zi Wei Dou Shu — Tử Vi in Vietnam — is the other Chinese system, and it is built on the lunar calendar: the lunar month and day, the hour, and the year stem place fourteen major stars and a set of assistants into twelve palaces (Life, Siblings, Spouse, Children, Wealth, Health, Travel, Friends, Career, Property, Fortune, Parents). The stars are not planets; they are names with characters, and their placement is pure rule.
The chart is drawn as a square with the palaces around the edge and the birth in the middle. The Life palace and the Body palace anchor it; the four transformations of the birth year (prosperity, power, recognition, trouble) mark four stars; and each palace governs a decade in turn, counted from the bureau number, which is how the system times a life. This year's stem lays a second set of transformations over the chart.
In the app, tap any palace for its stars and what they mean; the decade running now is shaded and this year's palace marked 流年.
What the app draws for it
Purple Star · 3
Zi Wei Dou Shu — Purple Star astrology — Tử Vi in Vietnam. Twelve palaces and the stars placed in them by rule from the lunar month, day, hour and year.
Zi Wei · this decade — The decade chart (大限盤): the twelve palaces counted afresh from the palace whose ten years are running now.
Zi Wei · this year — The annual chart (流年盤): the twelve palaces counted afresh from this year's branch, with this year's four transformations on top of the birth chart.
BaZi · 3
Symbolic stars — Your four animals, and the 神煞 — Peach Blossom, the Travelling Horse, the Canopy, the Nobleman and the rest — with the pillar each stands on.
Coming years — The next ten years' pillars against the chart: each year's stem as a ten god, its branch against yours, and the Tai Sui question.
Four Pillars — Year, month, day and hour as stem-and-branch pairs, with the five elements they weigh out to.
Feng shui · 1
Eight Mansions — Your Kua number from the year and sex, the East or West group, and the four directions that help and four that harm.
I Ching · 1
Birth hexagram — The Plum Blossom hexagram of birth: year branch, lunar month and day for the upper trigram, the hour added for the lower, the whole sum for the moving line.
Western Modern
The tropical zodiac with quadrant houses: the psychological tradition most of this century is written in.
Vedic · Jyotiṣa
The sidereal zodiac on the Lahiri ayanamsha, read in whole signs.
Western Traditional
Hellenistic and medieval judgement: sect, the five dignities, and the timing those feed. Seven planets, whole signs.
Uranian · Cosmobiology
The Hamburg school: midpoints on a 90° dial rather than aspects on a wheel.
Mayan · Tzolk'in
The counts of days: thirteen numbers against twenty signs, the Haab, the Long Count. No planets at all, and the hour never enters into it.
Japanese · Nine Star Ki
Nine stars on the Lo Shu square: a principal star from the year, a character star from the month, and the house each year puts you in.
Burmese · Mahabote
The little key: seven planets and Rahu in seven houses, from the weekday of birth and the Burmese year. No sky at all.