A chart begins with a time

The birth hour sets the Life Palace, and the Life Palace sets the coordinate system for the whole chart. If you were born outside China, one more layer applies: the time zone of your birthplace, and whether daylight saving was in force that day.

1. 01

   Enter the birth data

   Gregorian date, the clock reading on the birth certificate, and the city of birth. The city matters — it determines the time zone.

2. 02

   Restore true solar time

   We resolve the zone and DST rule for that city and year, convert to an absolute instant, then apply longitude and the equation of time.

3. 03

   Read the chart

   Twelve palaces, star distribution, the four transformations of the birth year, and the gap between clock time and true solar time.

If you only know the two-hour period, choose “period only”. When the restored time lands within ten minutes of a boundary, cast both and compare.