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Zi Wei Dou Shu · Method disclosure

Leap months and midnight can change palace placement

These are not translation issues. They are calculation-rule choices, so the chart should state which convention it used and show adjacent candidates when the source time is uncertain.

Updated July 2026 · About 5 minutes · Cultural research guide
What a reliable chart should disclose
  • The converted Chinese lunar date and whether the month is intercalary.
  • The selected leap-month convention.
  • The day-boundary convention used during the Zi hour.
  • Any Life Palace, Body Palace or major-star changes between candidates.

1. Why leap months create different charts

Zi Wei Dou Shu uses the Chinese lunar month in palace placement. Traditional lineages do not all handle an intercalary month in the same way. Some retain the preceding month number; others divide the leap month by day or apply a school-specific rule.

Good practice: label the rule in the calculation record. A result should not hide a lineage choice behind the word “accurate.”

2. The Zi-hour boundary

The Zi hour spans roughly 23:00 to 01:00, but schools differ on when the metaphysical day changes. A birth close to midnight may therefore change the lunar day, hour stem, Life Palace or star placement.

When the recorded minute is uncertain, both candidates should be generated and compared against known life events. The chart itself cannot restore missing historical information.

3. How to read an English chart

Lingli keeps stable names such as Zi Wei Dou Shu, Life Palace and Four Transformations. Original star names may retain Chinese characters where an English label would lose identity. Explanations describe function rather than inventing literal equivalents.

4. Questions

Does one convention have to be universally correct?

No. The responsible approach is to disclose the convention, preserve the input and make alternative outcomes reviewable.

What if I only know “around midnight”?

Generate both day-boundary candidates and lower the confidence of any conclusion that depends on the changed palace or star.