top of page

MAKE LEARNING

Zi Wei Dou Shu

PURPLE STAR ASTROLOGY

EASIER

OVERVIEW

2020.Feb / Personal Project / Data Visualization / Interaction Design / Multimedia

BACKGROUND

Zi Wei Dou Shu (Purple Star Astrology) is a form of fortune-telling in Chinese culture. Zi Wei means a purple star, which is the symbol of the emperor or governor of an ancient Chinese dynasty. Dou means  Pole Stars of the north and the south part of the sky, and Shu means calculations. It is similar to the horoscope in western culture and it has been used to predict fates of individuals or even a nation since the Tang Dynasty. 

The basic astrological elements in this system are:

ZiWei

TianJi

TaiYang

WuQu

Tian

Tong

Lian

Zhen

14 major stars, among which 6 are located in the north part of the sky, and the other 8 are in the south;

More than 100 other supplementary stars;

TianFu

QiSha

TaiYin

TanLang

JuMen

Tian

Xiang

PoJun

Tian

Liang

12 Palaces named

Self, Siblings, Spouse, Children, Wealth, Health, Travel, Subordinates, Career, Property, Karma, and Parents.

fate.png

Self

Parents

Karma

karma.png
parnts.png
property.png

Property

health.png
subordinate.png
spouse.png

Siblings

Spouse

Wealth

Children

Health

wealth.png
children.png

​Career

career.png

Subordinate

siblings.png

Travel

travel.png

Zi Wei Dou Shu

​Chart Sample

Each star is unique in its characteristics. In a real chart of a person, the stars combined as sets and fall into different Palaces. Accordingly, the fate of this person can be read by a chart with these unique combinations of stars on it.

Problems

As a learner for Zi for more than 4 years, I find it a pity that the majority of the society regards it as superstition meanwhile the learners find it too ambitious to digest the whole theories word for word. To me, however, it can be seen as a theoretical system scientifically organized with permutations and combinations of the stars and there must be certain rules and principles behind its recondite appearance.

​For example:

fate.png

Self

ZiWei

PoJun

spouse.png

Spouse

property.png

Property

+

strong leadership but aggressive;

stronger desire for lust;

​opportunities for a good education;

More possibilities for being controlled by his/her spouse;

Spouse is more talented in his/her career, personality or wealth status;

Chances for good properties but the equivalent risk of losing them;

The properties come late in one's middle ages;

Rote memorization is not the optimal way to learn huge amounts of content.

solutions

Unlike other platforms that concentrate on the analysis of certain samples, my design is trying to figure out the basic principles or rules of the whole theories and visualize the database of the system, so that learners could find it easier to understand and memorize these theories.

​To illustrate,

First, list all the possible combinations of star couples;

Next, figure out the unique characteristics of every single star or star couples.

ZiWei

PoJun

+

ZiWei

JuMen

+

ZiWei

PoJun

+

=?

Authority,

Power,

Aggressiveness,

Social status

......

Revolution,

Damage,

Rebellion,

.....

Design-Phase1

I collected more than 120 real samples and found that all of the charts (currently exclusive of factors of the Palaces) could be induced to 6 types:

20.png

2 couples

50.png

4 couples-1

60.png

4 couples-2

30.png

4 couples-3

10.png

4 couples-4

40.png

6 couples

After that,  I found all the possible couples of the stars, figured out the rules and visualized the basic connection between them in the p5.js editor:

Design-Phase2

Now all the charts will not jump out of the 48 sets of star couples and single stars. This is huge progress!

The next step is to visualize the contents of each set. While the mouse is hovering on a specific line, this line will be highlighted, the content of the star couple on this line will be presented and the other stars of this set will be highlighted together.

This endeavor is still in process. Stay tuned! 

bottom of page