The Fourteen Major Stars of Zi Wei Dou Shu
Full star natures, the complete brightness table, transformation years, and palace-by-palace readings — one full entry per star, with brightness data drawn from the same table as our chart engine.
✨ What Are the Fourteen Major Stars?
Over a hundred stars populate a Zi Wei chart, but fourteen major stars form its skeleton. Zi Wei, Tian Ji, Tai Yang, Wu Qu, Tian Tong and Lian Zhen make up the Zi Wei series, placed counterclockwise from Zi Wei; Tian Fu, Tai Yin, Tan Lang, Ju Men, Tian Xiang, Tian Liang, Qi Sha and Po Jun form the Tian Fu series, placed clockwise. Which palace a major star lands in — and how bright it sits — sets the basic character of that life domain.
Every major star has an "essence" (hua qi), a one-word distillation of its nature: Zi Wei is the Sovereign, Wu Qu is Wealth, Tan Lang is Romance, Tian Liang is Shelter. Learn the essence and you know half the star already. Read the palace first, then the star: the palace is the stage, the major star its lead actor.
🌗 The Complete Brightness Table
The same star varies enormously by earthly branch: in temple its strengths lead, fallen its flaws take over. The table below gives all fourteen stars across the twelve branches — the very table our chart engine uses, verified against authoritative charts. Cast your chart, then check each star here. Click a star name for its full entry.
Seven levels: Temple (brightest) → Bright → Favorable → Mild → Neutral → Weak → Fallen (dark)
| Zi | Chou | Yin | Mao | Chen | Si | Wu | Wei | Shen | You | Xu | Hai | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 👑 Zi Wei | Bright | Temple | Bright | Bright | Favorable | Bright | Temple | Temple | Bright | Bright | Favorable | Bright |
| 🧠 Tian Ji | Temple | Fallen | Favorable | Bright | Mild | Neutral | Temple | Fallen | Favorable | Bright | Mild | Neutral |
| ☀️ Tai Yang | Fallen | Weak | Bright | Temple | Bright | Bright | Bright | Favorable | Favorable | Neutral | Weak | Fallen |
| ⚔️ Wu Qu | Bright | Temple | Favorable | Mild | Temple | Neutral | Bright | Temple | Favorable | Mild | Temple | Neutral |
| 🍀 Tian Tong | Bright | Weak | Mild | Neutral | Neutral | Temple | Fallen | Fallen | Bright | Neutral | Neutral | Temple |
| 🔥 Lian Zhen | Neutral | Mild | Temple | Neutral | Mild | Fallen | Neutral | Mild | Temple | Neutral | Mild | Fallen |
| 🏛️ Tian Fu | Temple | Temple | Temple | Favorable | Temple | Favorable | Favorable | Temple | Favorable | Bright | Temple | Favorable |
| 🌙 Tai Yin | Temple | Temple | Bright | Fallen | Fallen | Fallen | Weak | Weak | Mild | Bright | Bright | Temple |
| 🦊 Tan Lang | Bright | Temple | Neutral | Mild | Temple | Fallen | Bright | Temple | Neutral | Mild | Temple | Fallen |
| 🗣️ Ju Men | Bright | Weak | Temple | Temple | Fallen | Bright | Bright | Weak | Temple | Temple | Fallen | Bright |
| 📜 Tian Xiang | Temple | Temple | Temple | Fallen | Favorable | Favorable | Temple | Favorable | Temple | Fallen | Favorable | Favorable |
| 🛡️ Tian Liang | Temple | Bright | Temple | Temple | Temple | Favorable | Temple | Bright | Fallen | Fallen | Temple | Fallen |
| 🗡️ Qi Sha | Bright | Temple | Temple | Bright | Temple | Neutral | Bright | Temple | Temple | Bright | Temple | Neutral |
| 💥 Po Jun | Temple | Bright | Favorable | Fallen | Bright | Neutral | Temple | Bright | Favorable | Fallen | Bright | Neutral |
📚 All Fourteen Stars, Explained
One full entry per star: nature, career and love, auspicious and malefic interplay, named patterns, and readings in each of the twelve palaces.
Zi Wei is the master of the whole chart — the Emperor's Throne of the Northern Dipper. Its essence is nobility: it governs leadership, stature, and self-respect, and the other thirteen major stars all take their bearings from it.
Tian Ji is the strategist of the chart. Its essence is benevolence; it governs intelligence, strategy, and change — the quickest-turning mind among the fourteen major stars.
Tai Yang's essence is distinction: it governs light, magnanimity, and renown, and is strongest in the charts of daytime births. It shines on others — and defines itself by what it gives.
Wu Qu is the proper wealth star; its essence is wealth itself. It governs action, decisiveness, and the execution that turns effort into money — no star earns hard-won income better, or bears more weight without breaking.
Tian Tong is the fortune star; its essence is blessing. It governs ease, warmth, and contentment — hard first, easy later, building from nothing, with the luck hidden inside the calm.
Lian Zhen's essence is confinement — secondary romance star and political star at once. It governs the tug-of-war between principle and desire: the most complex of the fourteen, and the most dramatic.
Tian Fu is the chief star of the Southern Dipper and the treasury star whose essence is command. It governs stability, consolidation, and the management of resources — the steadiest vault in the chart.
Tai Yin's essence is richness: it governs quiet reserve, accumulation, and a mothering tenderness, and is strongest in the charts of night births. Its wealth and its feelings alike collect where still waters run deep.
Tan Lang is the foremost romance star; its essence is romance itself. It governs desire, talent, and social magnetism — the most versatile of the fourteen, and the one that best knows how to live.
Ju Men's essence is shadow: it governs speech, deep inquiry, and dispute. The mouth is at once its weapon and its lifelong examination hall.
Tian Xiang's essence is the seal — the star that keeps it. It governs support, fairness, and propriety: the orders are not its to sign, yet nothing is valid without its stamp.
Tian Liang's essence is shelter — star of protection and of longevity. It governs shielding, deliverance, and a clean name: in disaster it is the roof beam; in peacetime, the family elder.
Qi Sha is the general's star: it governs severity, risk, and conquest. Once it fixes on a goal it does not turn back — and its life script comes pre-written with great rises and great falls.
Po Jun's essence is expenditure — the vanguard demolisher. Break first, build after; no breaking, no building. Every teardown and restart is how it evolves.
💬 FAQ
No. Fallen only means the star operates at reduced strength here, with its weaknesses closer to the surface. Outcomes still depend on the trinity structure, supporting stars, and transformations. Plenty of remarkable charts run on fallen stars — the classics even celebrate them as late bloomers.
That is the "empty Life Palace" case: you read the major stars borrowed from the opposite palace (Travel). It is a normal chart state, not a defect — see "Empty Palaces and Borrowed Stars" in our Twelve Palaces guide.
Pairs are common — Zi Wei with Tian Fu in Yin or Shen, Wu Qu with Tan Lang in Chou or Wei. The two natures stack and interact, often forming named patterns of their own. Read both star entries, then the pattern.
The Four Transformations are yearly modifiers: in different stem years, specific stars turn Lu, Quan, Ke or Ji. Each star entry lists its transformation years. Note that Tian Fu, Tian Xiang and Qi Sha never transform — their stability is the point.
Brightness tables genuinely differ across lineages. Ours is the same table our chart engine uses, verified palace by palace against authoritative charts — so the entry you read and the chart you cast can never contradict each other.
Now meet these stars in your own chart