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.
Self
Parents
Karma
Property
Siblings
Spouse
Wealth
Children
Health
Career
Subordinate
Travel
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:
Self
ZiWei
PoJun
Spouse
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:
2 couples
4 couples-1
4 couples-2
4 couples-3
4 couples-4
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!