Sagittarius in Zi Wei Dou Shu: a free-spirited sign can have rule-keeping Tian Xiang in the Life Palace

Sagittarius has a reputation for loving freedom, staying optimistic and leaving on short notice: blunt, restless, with a suitcase half packed for the next trip. Put into Zi Wei Dou Shu (Purple Star Astrology), the picture often doesn't fit. One Sagittarius can have Tian Xiang in the Life Palace and be the one who keeps the rules and organizes everyone, another steady, old-souled Tian Liang, a third Tian Fu, happy to stay put and build things up. Which star you get comes down to the hour and the lunar day.

The short version:

• Sagittarius starts at the solar term Minor Snow, so Sagittarius birthdays fall in the tenth or eleventh lunar month, about 51% and 49%.
• Count the charts for every day and double-hour from 1950 to 2009 and each main star sits in a Sagittarius Life Palace 8.30–8.39% of the time, with about 16.5% empty. No difference from other signs shows up.
• The lunar month and double-hour decide where the Life Palace is; the stars inside are set by the lunar day and the Five Elements Bureau.
• Casting a chart is the quickest route, and the form is right above. For the main star only, there is the Life Palace star lookup.

What Sagittarius is in Zi Wei Dou Shu

Sagittarius begins at Minor Snow, the "middle" solar term of the tenth lunar month. The tenth month sits in the Hai palace and the eleventh in Zi, and Sagittarius birthdays split between them: about 51.1% in the tenth, 48.9% in the eleventh. The sun signs overview explains the general link.

That near half-and-half is an average over sixty years. Minor Snow always falls on November 22 or 23, but the lunar day it lands on moves around, so in any single year Sagittarius can sit almost entirely in one month. In 1957 Minor Snow fell on the first day of the tenth month, and every Sagittarius born from November 23 to December 20 that year was born in the tenth month, with a Zi-hour Life Palace in Hai. In 1965 it fell on the thirtieth, so that year's Sagittarius ran wholly through the eleventh month, with a Zi-hour Life Palace in Zi. Born on December 10 at the Zi hour, a 1957 Sagittarius and a 1965 Sagittarius have Life Palaces one palace apart.

One day, twelve double-hours

Now a Sagittarius birthday: December 12, 1995, the twenty-first day of the tenth lunar month. One chart for each of the twelve hours gives these Life Palaces:

Only eight main stars take a turn in the Life Palace that day. Tian Fu, Tai Yin, Wu Qu, Tian Tong, Qi Sha and Tan Lang never appear, while Tian Xiang shows up in three hours and Tian Liang, Tian Ji and Po Jun in two each. Three hours to compare:

• Yin hour: Tian Xiang. Tian Xiang is the seal star. It cares about rules and fairness and is good at smoothing things between people. This Sagittarius sorts out the route, the budget and who handles what before leaving, and cares more about the group traveling well than about going on a whim.
• Zi hour: Tian Liang. Tian Liang is the sheltering star: mature, fond of reasoning things out, used to looking after the people around it. Sagittarians get called eternal kids, yet this type is treated as the grown-up early on, the friend people go to first for advice.
• Si hour: Po Jun. Po Jun likes opening new ground, would rather start over than patch something that feels wrong, and isn't afraid to change course. This chart comes closest to the usual pack-and-go Sagittarius, but the match comes from the lunar day and the hour. A few hours earlier or later on the same day, and the resemblance disappears.

Three Sagittarians born on the same day: one who plans the trip before setting off, one who is everyone's big brother or sister, one who changes direction the moment an idea lands. Invite all three on a trip abroad, and probably only the Si-hour one books a flight that same day.

Common Zi Wei types among Sagittarians

Some Sagittarians check the weather and book every room before they leave. Their Life Palace often holds one of these.

Tian Fu in the Life Palace: the Sagittarius who stays put. Tian Fu is the treasury star, steady and accommodating, good at holding on to what it has and building it up slowly. This Sagittarius enjoys getting out too, but always keeps a home base, wants to go back once the trip is done, and looks after both savings and routine.

Wu Qu in the Life Palace: the Sagittarius who does the math first. Wu Qu is the wealth star: practical, decisive, focused on results. Sagittarians get called casual with money, yet this type is the one comparing flights, rooms and exchange rates before a trip. Adventure is fine, as long as the numbers work.

Ju Men in the Life Palace: the Sagittarius who sees the catch. Ju Men is thoughtful and full of questions, and tends to look first for whatever doesn't add up. People assume Sagittarians are optimists by nature, but this type hears good news and asks what the conditions are. The bluntness does match the sign, only it mostly goes into pointed questions.

How to find your Life Palace

The hour table tells you the two candidate palaces; which one is yours depends on whether you were born in the tenth or eleventh lunar month, and the form does that conversion for you. Once your birth chart is cast, the main star in the Life Palace is what people mean by "my star." If your hour is uncertain, older relatives or early birth records are the place to look.