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Zi Wei Dou Shu Q&A

This article is originally written in Traditional Chinese by Taiwanese Zi Wei Dou Shu and Feng Shui Master, Y.C.Chang. The author would like to thank Master Y.C. Chang for allowing full translation of his article. His web site (written in traditional Chinese) is http://www.lifeguide.com.tw. The original article in traditional Chinese can be found here.

1. Which calendar should one use to calculate Zi Wei Dou Shu Chart?

To calculate Zi Wei Dou Shu chart, lunar calendar should be used. Do not use the solar calendar that is used to calculate “Four Pillar of Destiny” birth dates.

2. How do one handles the lunar month that repeats (閏月)?

Use the 15th as the cut off.  Let said that February is repeated, if birth date is from the 1st to the 15th, then use February to calculate birth chart; if birth date is after the 15th, then use March to calculate birth chart.

3. Right now computer can accurately and easily calculate a birth chart, is it ok not to learn how to manually calculate a chart?

Manually calculate chart will improve ones ability to understand the relationship between the birth date and the stars’ strength and weaknesses.  This will help one learn the basics and improve one’s ability to read charts.  Many ancient texts dedicated a large portion of its contents to describe how to make a birth chart; this indicates ancient masters place high importance in such knowledge.  Using computer will help beginners avoid spending too much time calculating chart and help them get started faster in evaluating his/her own birth chart.  This does not mean learning how to manually create a chart is not important.

4. What are the benefits of using Zi Wei Dou Shu to perform life planning?

By learning Zi Wei Dou Shu, a student will be able to understand others and self, and then progress to helping others and self.  It is very normal for people to experience many negative experiences during one lifetime.  By learning Zi Wei Dou Shu, one can develop a more positive life view and can develop optimum life planning. 
During one’s life journey, the most important point to remember is this:  use the Zi Wei knowledge to fully utilize good luck during good luck periods and avoid making mistake during back luck periods.  For example, during a good luck year, take actions to create a good and successful life.  During a bad luck year, lay low and persevere, wait for better times to come; do not take high risk or actions that one will regret later, but can’t recover anymore.

5. If one has bad destiny, is it possible to change?

Because everyone has different standards and opinions, it is not easy to judge what bad destiny is and what is not.   However, Zi Wei Dou Shu does has a way to determine if one destiny is good or not, and a way to determine good luck and bad luck periods.  Can one change destiny?  Yes.  To know how to change destiny would requires more in depth studies, thus it is not possible to answer in a short Q&A session. 

6. What is “San Fang Si Zheng” (三方四正)? The parent house’s San Fang Si Zheng includes which houses?

San Fang are the three houses that aspect the current house.  Counting from the current house, the fifth houses counted clock wise and counter-clock wise are two of them, the third one is the opposite house.  San Fang plus the current house is called Si Zheng. 
Parent house’s San Fang Si Zheng are:  The “Health” house which opposite “Parent” house, the “Friends” house which is the fifth house counted clock wise, and the “Children” house which is the fifth house counted anti-clock wise.  Including the “Parent” house, all four of them are call “San Fan Si Zheng” houses.  Those houses influence each other. 

7. What is the basic characteristic of people that has Zi Wei star in Destiny house?  How to determine if such chart is good or bad?
1. Zi Wei star special characteristics include honor, nobility, authority, prestige, force, and change.   Thus, a person that has Zi Wei star in destiny house will have a special aura around him and has a strong will to win.  The positives are that such person has charisma and leadership abilities.  The negatives are that such person tends to doubt a lot, make many changes, and could easily has bad tempers. 
2. Zi Wei star needs good stars to accompany and aspect it.  If San Fang Si Zheng houses get auspicious stars like Zou Fu You Bi, Tian Kui Tian Yue, Wen Chang Wen Qu (左輔右弼、天魁天鉞、文昌文曲), then it indicates good career, can get wealth and power.  Zi Wei also likes Hua Quan and Hua Ke (化權、化科) as those help improve leadership abilities.  However, if Zi Wei does not aspect good stars and aspect negative stars like  Hou Xing, Ling Xing, Tou Luo, Qing Yang (火星、鈴星，陀羅、擎羊), then it means such persona are more self-absorb and likely to insist on one’s own way, thus luck not as good and indicates lot of hard works ahead. 

8. What are borrowed star(s)?  If one’s Destiny house only has Wen Chang star, can we describe the chart as “Wen Chang sits Destiny house” chart?
1. The meaning of borrowed star(s): When the Destiny house or any house has no main star(s) (no 14 main stars), then one must use the opposite house’s star(s) as the current house main star(s).  Those opposite house’s star(s) are called borrowed star(s).
2. When Destiny house has no main star(s), then one must use opposite house (s) as the main stars and use Wen Chang as secondary star.  As a result, we should not describe the chart as “Wen Chang sits Destiny House”. 

9. Destiny house has Tian Ku (天哭) and Tian Xu (天虛) bad stars, does this mean one has bad destiny?

Although these two stars are negative stars that signify sadness and worry, since those are not six main negative stars (Hou Xing, Ling Xing, Tou Luo, Qing Ynag, Di Kong, Di Jie), it is not as bad.  These two stars must be aspected by those six main negative stars or Hua Ji to be truly bad.  If a person’s luck year chart contains these two stars, then it mostly symbolizes negative views and worry, and will only turn really bad when aspect by other main negative stars. 

10. Tian Ji (天機) and Tai Yin (太陰) cab be together in which house? If Destiny house has these two stars, what are some special characteristic of such house?
1. They are together in Yin/Shen (寅申) houses.
2. When they are together in Destiny House, because Tian Ji symbolized quick mind and Ti Yin symbolizes gentleness, it means such person will be astute, tactical, and good at planning.  If aspect by positive star(s), that means one will has high level job/position and wealth.  If aspect by many negative stars, it means the person will be concealing one’s true feeling and may have insidious intends and likely lead a toiling life.

11. What are six auspicious stars?  What is the best configuration for a life chart?
1. Six auspicious stars are Zou Fu, You Bi, Tian Kui, Tian Yue, Wen Chang, and Wen Qu. 
2.  The best configuration is when the stars aspect a house, together in a house, or located in both the right and left neighboring houses. Any house that has such configuration will have the ability to develop its positive energies.   

12. What are the basic characteristics of a person with Tai Yang and Tai Yin in Destiny House?

Tai Yang is the sun.  Tai Yin is the moon.  If aspect by six auspicious stars, then they can both exhibits their positive energies.  For example, if aspect by Wen Chang and Wen Qu, ancient texts indicate such person is born in a magnificent family.  If aspect by many negative stars, then such person does not has a stable character, does not normally see things through, likely to make empty promises, and life normally has many obstacles.

13. To examine one’s love life and marriage, is it enough to just look at Spouse House?

Spouse House can provide information about marriage condition, how one gets along with the opposite sex and the spouse, and the importance of one’s spouse to the person.   Other than this house, one still needs to examine the Spouse House’s “San Fang” houses, which are the Career House, Happiness House, and Travel house. This is because marriage life has effects on career, love life and marriage effect ones happiness, and travelling would indicate how often the spouses are together. 

14.  If yearly luck is not good but monthly luck is very good, can one still have good achievements?

Yearly luck is the most important factor.  If current year is not good, then all twelve months’ lucks are limited.  At most one will see very brief good luck period; but this brief period has no ability to improve the overall yearly luck. 

15. If chart has Lian Zhen (廉貞) Huo Lu (化祿) in Wealth House, does this mean one can be very wealthy?

Basically when Wealth House has Huo Lu, it means the person has steady income.  However, since Lian Zhen is not wealth star, even if Huo Lu in Wealth House, its benefit is limited.  Unless it is also aspect by another Lu, like Lu Chun in the opposite house, then this formation provide the potential to be very wealthy.     

16. Should one consider the four transformations when examine daily luck?  If so, then when one adds destiny’s, 10 year luck’s, one year luck’s, and monthly luck’s four transformations to the daily luck’s transformation, there will be five group of four transformations in total.  How does one determine luck with so many transformations?

Yes, one should consider daily luck’s four transformations.  However, one needs to pick and choose which group’s transformations to use.  Normally, using three levels of transformation is good enough.  For example, for daily luck, one would consult the daily luck’s, monthly luck’s, and yearly luck’s four transformations.

17. To determine career type and career development possibility, can one only look at Career House and the three aspect Houses?

Other than those Houses, one should still consult Travel House and Real Estate House (plus its aspect Houses).  Destiny House is very important since a good or bad formation has major effect on one’s career quality and development. 

18. Career House and its aspect houses has no auspicious stars, does it mean one has no good career?

If the houses have no auspicious stars, that means the Career House must aspect by negative stars.  This normally mean a career that requires specialize skills or manual labor.  If one could obtain specialized skill or work in a rare industry, one can still have career achievements.   

19. If you are a business owner, you will hire a person with which star in the Destiny House for the following position:  a. Director,  b. Assistant Secretary, c. R&D, d. PR, e. General business affairs, f. Accounting and auditing
1. Zi Wei
2. Tian Xiang
3. Tian Ji
4. Tan Lang
5. Qi Sha or Po Jun
6. Tian Liang

20. If Zhou Fu and Yu Bi in Spouse House, does this mean potential for more than one marriage?

If only one of the stars is in the Spouse house, then this would symbolize potential for a third party involvement, thus means potential for more than one marriage.  However, if only aspect by one of the stars and not in the same house, then it is not going to have big influence.  If both stars are involve at the same time, like both in Spouse House, both aspect the house, or each in the house next to Spouse House, then it actually promote good marriage life. 

21. How does one know if a certain year would bring love?

Normally, the Destiny House for the yearly luck chart should be aspect by stars that symbolize love luck like Tian Xi, Hong Luan, Tian Yao, Xian Chi, and Mu Yu (天喜、紅鸞、天姚、咸池、沐浴) and the luck year’s Destiny House or Spouse House should be aspect by Huo Lu.  If also aspect by negative stars or Hua Ji, then it may means one has the opportunity to meet someone, but not able to go further than that. 

22. To determine love and marriage, should one only examine Spouse House and the aspect houses?

Spouse House and related aspect houses are the main houses to examine.  However, one should still examine the Destiny House.  Destiny House symbolize one’s characters and behaviors, thus is closely related to ones love and marriage’s luck.  Actually, no matter which House one is examining, one needs to examine the Destiny House at the same time in order to correctly judge the quality of the House. 

23. During a luck year, when aspect by Hua Lu star, how does one determine if Hua Lu symbolizes wealth or love luck?

This depends on which House has Hua Lu.  If Wealth House has many Lu, then it means wealth luck.  If Spouse House has many Lu, then it means love luck.  Also, one should check if a house is aspect by Tian Xi, Hong Luan, Tian Yao, Xian Chi, and Mu Yu or not before determine if one has wealth luck or love luck or both.

24. Which stars in Destiny House symbolize windfall income (like lottery winnings) luck?
1.  Destiny or Wealth House has Tan Lang Hua Lu aspect by Hua Xing or Ling Xing.
2.  Destiny or Wealth House has Tian Liang Hua Lu aspect by negative star.
3. Destiny or Wealth House has Lian Zhen Hua Lu aspect by negative star.

25. How to determine what year is a good year to invest?

During a luck year, if the luck year’s Destiny House, aspect Houses, and Happiness House does not aspect by Hua Ji, then it is normally ok to invest.  If aspect by Wen Chang or Wen Qu Hua Ji, or aspect by both Hua Lu and Hua Ji, or Lu Chen and Hua Lu in the same House, then one should be very careful when investing.

26. What are the most important characteristic of Zi Wei Dou Shu life planning?

Zi Wei Dou Shu can help ones fully understands one’s special characteristic, good and bad points and character changes.  The most important characteristic of Zi Wei is the ability to predict the future.  This is where Zi Wei Dou Shu life planning differs from other normal life planning methods.  Zi Wei help one understands one’s characters and luck periods, thus help one to fully take advantage of good luck periods and avoid bad luck periods. 

27. What type of people should do life planning?
1. Life chart has some houses that have major shortcomings.
2. Coming 10 year luck and 1 year luck periods have major shortcomings.
3. Anyone who wishes to improve oneself to create a better future.

28. We are the ones who control our luck.  So I can skip Zi Wei life planning, right?

When one has good luck periods, as long as one has self confident, everything can be accomplished.  However, most people have many up and downs in life.  Zi Wei Dou Shu aims to predict the future for you so that you can plan your life accordingly.  Normally those who encounter major disasters or losses are those who do not understand their bad luck periods.  When one does not understand luck periods, it is easy to misjudge time of actions and thus one can suffer losses that can even affect the coming years’ luck.