Eastern Astrology
Eastern astrology isn't a single method but several systems that grew out of the Chinese tradition: the animal-year horoscope, full Chinese astrology (BaZi), the Zi Wei Dou Shu star system, Korean Saju, and Japanese Kyusei Kigaku. Here you'll find calculators for the year horoscope, BaZi, Saju and Kyusei Kigaku, plus a breakdown of Zi Wei Dou Shu.
Where to start
Start with the Chinese zodiac by birth year: the calculator determines your animal, element, and polarity, taking the Lichun year boundary into account. This matters — if you were born in January, your sign isn't the one usually given for that calendar year.
Next: 12 signs with profiles, 5 elements, and the 60-year table.
Methods in this section
Chinese Zodiac by Year — twelve animals and five elements. The best-known and most simplified part of the tradition: it uses only the year of birth.
BaZi — the “Four Pillars of Destiny”: year, month, day and hour, each with its own animal and element. This is Chinese astrology proper; the calculator builds a full chart corrected for solar time.
Zi Wei Dou Shu — the "Purple Star": a system of twelve palaces and more than a hundred stars, second in influence only to BaZi.
Saju — the Korean version of the Four Pillars, a living, mainstream practice; the calculator shows the chart with Korean terms.
Kyusei Kigaku — the Japanese nine-star system, related to feng shui flying stars: your year star and the favorable directions for the year.
How It Differs from Western Astrology
Western astrology calculates the positions of the planets at the moment of birth and requires an exact time and place. Eastern astrology works with calendar cycles: the year, month, day, and hour each have their own signs regardless of where a person was born.
Hence the practical difference: an Eastern chart can be built without a birthplace, and the time zone is needed only to determine the hour. And one more: the twelve animals aren't constellations but units for counting time, tied to Jupiter's twelve-year cycle.
What you need for the calculation
For the year horoscope and Kyusei Kigaku you need only your date of birth. For BaZi and Saju you also need the time and place of birth, which are used to calculate true solar time. The Chinese calendar for any day is in the calendars section.
Calculations run in your browser and aren't sent anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my sign different from the one I knew?
Most likely you were born in January or early February. The Chinese year begins at Lichun, around February 4, not on January 1.
Which year is based on the lunar calendar and which on the solar one?
Chinese New Year is a lunisolar holiday that floats between January 21 and February 21. The astrological year in BaZi, however, is usually counted from Lichun, around February 4, though some schools count it from Chinese New Year. Our calculators count from Lichun, and in BaZi you can switch to the lunar calendar.
Are the element of the year and the element of the sign the same thing?
No. Each animal has a fixed element (the Tiger is always Wood), and separately there is the element of the year, which changes every two years.
Does it work?
No testable predictive power has been found for Eastern astrology — just as for Western astrology. We provide accurate calculations and honest descriptions of the tradition without passing them off as forecasts.