No. Tu vi is a traditional divination system that has not been verified by science. It should be treated as reference knowledge, not an exact predictive formula.

What information is needed to read a tu vi chart?

You need the birth hour, day, month and year in the lunar calendar, plus gender. The more accurate the birth hour, the more reliable the chart, since a wrong hour can shift the Menh palace and many key stars.

Can a tu vi chart change over time?

The base chart is fixed, but fortune analysis changes by year and by major cycle. So from the same chart, a reader can interpret different life periods.

Should one fully trust predictions of bad fortune?

No. Bad fortune predictions in tu vi are largely warnings and cultural in nature, not fixed verdicts. What matters is staying clear-headed and proactive in real decisions.

Are tu vi and feng shui related?

Both are based on yin yang, Five Elements and Stem-Branch cycles, but their scope differs. Tu vi focuses on a person's chart, while feng shui concerns living space and environment. Some concepts like Thái Tuế appear in both.

Should beginners learn tu vi or Bát Tự first?

It depends on your goal. If you want a visual overview of life domains, tu vi is more approachable thanks to its 12 palaces and star system. If you want a deeper grasp of Five Elements, Bát Tự is helpful. Many study both in parallel for mutual support.

What Is Tử Vi (Vietnamese Astrology)?

What is Tử Vi? An overview of how to read a chart and its foundational concepts

What is Tử Vi? In short, Tử Vi (Vietnamese astrology) is a traditional esoteric system that uses the hour, day, month and year of birth to construct a chart, and from that chart draws inferences about personality, life tendencies and the phases of one's fortunes. The fundamental difference from Western astrology is that Tử Vi does not use the actual positions of the planets at the moment of birth: every star is placed into the 12 palaces by fixed rules, calculated from the hour, day, month and year of birth according to the lunar calendar. This is traditional knowledge meant for reference, not verified by science, and the results of any reading are always relative rather than a fixed verdict.

This article serves as a gateway: it helps you grasp the overall map of the subject, understand where you currently stand, and know which branch to explore next.

How do Tử Vi and Bát Tự differ?

Many people confuse the two systems. Tử Vi đẩu số constructs a chart based on the hour, day, month and year of birth, places the stars into the 12 palaces, and then interprets them through the network of stars and palaces. Bát Tự (BaZi, the Four Pillars) instead converts the hour, day, month and year of birth into Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, forming four pillars with eight characters, from which it analyses the relationships of the Five Elements, strength and weakness, and the Useful God. The two systems share the same foundation of yin-yang, the Five Elements and the Stems and Branches, but their approaches differ. Beginners often start with Tử Vi because the chart is more visual, then expand into Bát Tự to understand the Five Elements more deeply.

Table comparing the two systems, Tử Vi đẩu số and Bát Tự, according to the characteristics discussed in the article.

Criterion	Tử Vi đẩu số	Bát Tự (Four Pillars)
Basis of construction	hour, day, month and year of birth	hour, day, month and year of birth
How the data is handled	stars placed into the 12 palaces	converted into Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, forming four pillars and eight characters
Method of interpretation	through the network of stars and palaces	analysis of the relationships of the Five Elements, strength and weakness, and the Useful God
Shared foundation	yin-yang, the Five Elements and the Stems and Branches	yin-yang, the Five Elements and the Stems and Branches
Why beginners choose it	the chart is more visual	expanded to understand the Five Elements more deeply

How does Tử Vi differ from numerology?

Tử Vi uses the hour, day, month and year of birth in the lunar calendar to place stars into the 12 palaces by fixed rules, while Pythagorean-style numerology uses one's full name and solar-calendar date of birth to derive core numbers. In other words, Tử Vi builds a map of stars and palaces and interprets the interactions between them, while numerology reduces everything to numbers and the meaning of each number. The two systems share neither their input data nor their method of interpretation, so their results cannot be compared directly with one another.

How is a Tử Vi chart constructed?

Constructing a chart involves these basic steps: determine the hour, day, month and year of birth according to the lunar calendar, find the Mệnh (Life) palace and the Thân (Body) palace, place the principal stars and secondary stars by fixed rules, and then arrange them into the 12 palaces. Each step has its own rules, and a small error in one step can throw off the entire chart. Understanding how a chart is constructed is therefore a mandatory foundation before discussing interpretation. This is also the part most prone to confusion for beginners, especially at the stage of converting the birth hour and determining palace positions.

Note that it is not only the birth hour: being off by a single lunar day is enough to make the whole chart wrong. Cases where the birth date falls in a leap month, or where solar-to-lunar conversion is done with an approximate lookup table, are two common sources of error. Books do not fully agree on how to handle leap months: according to the book Đẩu số tinh thành (Volume 1, part 1), when constructing a chart for a person born in a leap month one takes the following month for the placement, while when calculating Đẩu Quân lưu nguyệt one splits the leap month in half, with the first half belonging to the previous month and the second half to the following month; the book holds that the first method is more reasonable and that people born in a leap month tend to have lower accuracy. Meanwhile, the book Tử vi đẩu số Mệnh vận phân tích (Từ Tăng Sinh) records that Tử Vi practitioners commonly take the 15th of the leap month as the dividing line, counting before the 15th according to the previous month and after the 15th according to the following month, but also notes that every master says it differently and that the question of calendar method has not been clearly defined. A lookup tool should therefore convert using a verified calendar algorithm rather than approximation. You can also read the article Why two calendars give two different lunar dates to understand why time zones and calendar tables affect a chart.

What do the 12 palaces in a Tử Vi chart mean?

The 12 palaces are the framework of the chart, each representing an area of life: Mệnh (Life), Phụ Mẫu (Parents), Phúc Đức (Fortune and Virtue), Điền Trạch (Property), Quan Lộc (Career), Nô Bộc (Servants and Friends), Thiên Di (Travel), Tật Ách (Health), Tài Bạch (Wealth), Tử Tức (Children), Phu Thê (Spouse), Huynh Đệ (Siblings). The Mệnh palace shows the core of the person, the Quan Lộc palace reflects attitude and working style, the Tài Bạch palace relates to money, the Phu Thê palace speaks of marriage and partner, the Tử Tức palace relates to children, and the Tật Ách palace reflects health and hidden mental matters. No palace stands alone; a correct reading must place each palace in relation to the whole chart. This is the branch with the largest number of detailed articles in this subject.

The twelve palaces sit on the 12 fixed Earthly Branch cells of the board (Tý, Sửu, Dần, Mão... in clockwise order). The palace names rotate according to the position of the Mệnh palace, and the Mệnh palace is calculated from the birth month and birth hour. So two people born in different months or at different hours share the same board, but their Mệnh palace falls on a different cell, and the names of all 12 palaces rotate accordingly.

Tử Vi board: the twelve branches stand fixed, in clockwise order.

What are the most important principal and secondary stars?

The system of stars in Tử Vi is divided into several groups. There are exactly 14 principal stars, split into two constellations. The Tử Vi constellation has 6 stars: Tử Vi, Thiên Cơ, Thái Dương, Vũ Khúc, Thiên Đồng, Liêm Trinh. The Thiên Phủ constellation has 8 stars: Thiên Phủ, Thái Âm, Tham Lang, Cự Môn, Thiên Tướng, Thiên Lương, Thất Sát, Phá Quân. According to the book Đẩu số tinh thành, all 14 stars have their positions determined on the basis of the Tử Vi star: once Tử Vi is placed, the stars in the same constellation are set in forward or reverse order, sometimes skipping one palace or two depending on the star; for the Thiên Phủ constellation, the forward order runs Thiên Phủ, Thái Âm, Tham Lang, Cự Môn, Thiên Tướng, Thiên Lương, Thất Sát, Phá Quân. You can read about each star in detail in the articles Tử Vi (Emperor Star) in Purple Star Astrology: Meaning and Interpretation, Thiên Cơ (Heavenly Mechanism Star) in Purple Star Astrology: Meaning and Interpretation, Thái Dương (Sun Star) in Purple Star Astrology: Meaning and Interpretation, Vũ Khúc in Purple Star Astrology: Meaning and Interpretation, Thiên Đồng in Purple Star Astrology: Meaning and Interpretation, Sao Liêm Trinh, Thiên Phủ (Heavenly Treasury Star) in Purple Star Astrology: Meaning and Interpretation, Sao Thái Âm, Sao Tham Lang, Cự Môn (Giant Gate Star) in Purple Star Astrology: Meaning and Interpretation, Thiên Tướng (Heavenly General Star) in Purple Star Astrology: Meaning and Interpretation, Thiên Lương (Heavenly Beam Star) in Purple Star Astrology: Meaning and Interpretation, Thất Sát (Seven Killings Star) in Purple Star Astrology: Meaning and Interpretation, Sao Phá Quân.

Secondary stars include the Six Auspicious Stars such as Tả Phù, Hữu Bật, Văn Xương, Thiên Khôi, along with the Six Malefic Stars such as Kình Dương, Hỏa Tinh, Địa Không, Địa Kiếp. There are also specialised star sets such as the Four Peach Blossom Stars (Hồng Loan, Thiên Hỉ, Hàm Trì, Thiên Diêu), the pair Long Trì and Phượng Các, and stars such as Thiên Hình, Thiên Diêu, Cô Thần, Quả Tú. Each star has its own Five Element phase, its bright or dimmed quality, and its own ways of combining; no star is entirely good or entirely bad.

What is a configuration in Tử Vi?

A configuration is a special combination of stars sitting in one palace together with the palaces that trine to it, creating a meaning of its own that the individual stars alone do not have. In other words, the same star placed in two different configurations gives two different messages, so a reading cannot simply count good and bad stars. This is the single most important layer of concepts when moving from knowing star names to being able to read a chart. You can learn more in the articles Tử Vi Chart Patterns Through Diagrams: 16 Classic Patterns, How Each Forms and Why It Is Considered Noble and What Is Tam Phuong Tu Chinh in Tử Vi? Why No Palace on the Chart Is Read Alone.

What role do the Four Transformations and the Cycle of Growth play?

The Four Transformations are Hóa Lộc, Hóa Quyền, Hóa Khoa and Hóa Kỵ, a layer of energy that changes the tone of a star and a palace. Hóa Lộc governs smooth progress and growth, Hóa Kỵ governs obstacles and worries, but position and context determine the actual meaning. The Cycle of Growth consists of 12 stars describing the cycle of birth, growth, prosperity, illness and death, in the order Trường Sinh, Mộc Dục, Quan Đới, Lâm Quan, Đế Vượng, Suy, Bệnh, Tử, Mộ, Tuyệt, Thai, Dưỡng. These are two layers of information that give a chart depth, but they are also the part most easily understood mechanically if taken in isolation from the whole.

Regarding the Cycle of Growth, the book Tử Vi Khảo Luận (cited through comparative material) states that the starting position of Trường Sinh depends on both the yin-yang age and the Cục of the birth year, and that different schools may set different starting points. For instance, for a Yang Male or Yin Female age, the Cục 2 and Cục 5 groups place Trường Sinh in the Thân palace, Cục 6 places it in Dần, Cục 3 in Hợi, and Cục 4 in Tỵ. This is where the schools are not entirely alike, so when looking up a chart you need to know which school it was constructed under.

The Cycle of Growth starts according to the Cục, running forward or in reverse according to yin-yang and male-female.

How do Nạp Âm and the Sixty-Year Cycle relate to Tử Vi?

Nạp Âm is the way a Five Element name is assigned to each pair of Stems and Branches in the Sixty-Year Cycle, for example Hải Trung Kim, Lư Trung Hỏa, Đại Hải Thủy, or Dương Liễu Mộc. Nạp Âm is commonly used when speaking of the nạp âm element of the birth year, and in some cases is used as extra reference for Five Element qualities. Note that nạp âm does not replace the reading of a Tử Vi chart; it is a supplementary layer of information, not a determining factor. This is a branch with many detailed articles because each nạp âm has its own name and meaning.

Why should Tử Vi be treated only as reference knowledge?

Tử Vi is a systematic esoteric discipline with a long history, but the results of a reading depend heavily on the experience of the reader, the quality of the input data and the actual circumstances of each person. There is no absolutely perfect chart, and no formula that is accurate for every case. Concepts such as rescuing stars, fate-relieving stars or bad fortune carry cultural and cautionary meaning more than that of an unchanging prophecy. The sensible approach is to use Tử Vi as a suggestion for looking back at yourself, not as a substitute for practical decisions or as a wager on good fortune.

Where should a beginner start learning Tử Vi?

A suggested path: first grasp yin-yang, the Five Elements and the Stems and Branches, then learn how to construct a chart, next the meaning of the 12 palaces, and then the star groups and the Four Transformations. Once you have that foundation, you can move on to specialised topics such as the Phu Thê palace, the Quan Lộc palace, the Peach Blossom star or Thái Tuế. Learning Tử Vi requires patience and a clear-headed spirit, and above all avoiding absolutising any star or palace. In parallel, studying Bát Tự will help you understand more deeply the Five Element foundation shared by both systems.

What Is Vietnamese Astrology? An Overview of Reading Methods and Foundational Concepts

How do Tử Vi and Bát Tự differ?

How does Tử Vi differ from numerology?

How is a Tử Vi chart constructed?

What do the 12 palaces in a Tử Vi chart mean?

What are the most important principal and secondary stars?

What is a configuration in Tử Vi?

What role do the Four Transformations and the Cycle of Growth play?

How do Nạp Âm and the Sixty-Year Cycle relate to Tử Vi?

Why should Tử Vi be treated only as reference knowledge?

Where should a beginner start learning Tử Vi?

Articles in the Tử Vi subject

Frequently asked questions

Read next

The First Three Lines of a Tử Vi Chart: What Yin Male or Yang Female, Thủy nhị cục or Hỏa lục cục, and Bản mệnh nạp âm Mean and How They Are Calculated

Flying Transformations and Self-Transformations in Khâm Thiên Tử Vi: Reading the Direction of Hóa Lộc and Hóa Kỵ Correctly

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References