Nine Star Ki
Find your main star (one of nine) by your birth year and explore your innate temperament and flow.
Nine Star Ki is an East Asian astrology that sorts your birth year into nine stars (One White Water Star to Nine Purple Fire Star) to read your innate temperament and flow. Besides the main star of your birth year, it reads the month star of your birth month and looks at personality, love, work, health and how the current year runs for you. In this count a new year begins only at Lichun, the day that opens spring. The nine stars assign the nine palaces of the Luoshu magic square to the energies of the sky: read as directions, those same nine cells give the Kua number of feng shui, and read as the energy of a year, they give Nine Star Ki. Each star moves through the palaces in a fixed order and returns to its own after nine years, which is why people who share a main star are nine years apart.
How it works
Enter your birth date and your main star is worked out for you, along with a month star from your birth month. Nine Star Ki treats the start of spring in early February as the turn of the year and the solar terms as the turn of each month, so earlier birthdays count as the previous year. If you were born on the day a solar term begins and do not know the time, we calculate from noon and show both outcomes whenever the time would change your star.
What you'll get
First it names in one line which of the nine stars you sit under and the element of that seat, then adds the month star of your birth month. Below come your born temperament, love and the line of work that suits you, money and health, and the flow of this year. That flow also notes whether your star carries the Dark Sword or the Year Breaker in the year’s chart, a reading of the year’s luck rather than of bearings. It does not fix a direction for you or pick a moving date.
What the nine-year return means
The nine stars move to a set position each year, and after nine years they come back to where they started. So a person born under your star is nine years older or younger, and your own flow runs in a nine-year turn. When you read the outlook for this year, reckoning at the same time where in that turn you now stand makes it natural to see that busy years and quiet ones come round in alternation.
The fifth star sits at the centre and has no direction
The fifth star, which sits at the middle of the nine squares, does not hold a compass direction as the other eight do. That is why feng shui, which reads the same nine squares as directions, cannot use the fifth as it stands and substitutes the second for men and the eighth for women. Nine-star astrology, which reads them instead as the energy of a year, leaves the fifth at the centre as it is. Where results from the two look different despite the same source, this is usually the point where they part.
There are month stars and day stars as well
Beyond the birth star settled by the year, some branches of this tradition also read a month star settled by the month of birth and a day star settled by the day. If the birth star is the groundwork, the month star sits closer to the grain of disposition and the day star to the energy of a particular day. This page works out the birth star and the month star, and leaves aside the day star, which changes daily. People born in the same year share a birth star, yet a different month gives a different month star, so if the details of the reading feel off, read the month star alongside it.
Why the year turns at the start of spring
Cutting years and months by the solar terms is not peculiar to this tradition but the general practice across Chinese astrology, Saju included. Lichun, midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox when spring first sets in, was taken as the opening of the year, and reckoning the first of January as the first day of the year settled in much later. So for anyone born before early February, the calendar year and the star year differ. That is not an error but a different starting line.
Do not choose people by their star
A star comes round once every nine years, so hundreds of millions of people share yours. That many cannot possibly suit one person alike. We would not suggest calling off a meeting or being reluctant to work with someone because the stars are said not to match. If you are already close, using it to know in advance where the two of you run at different speeds suits this reading better than settling anything with it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is a birthday in early February counted as the previous year?
Nine Star Ki treats the start of spring, not January 1, as the turn of the year, so the star changes at that boundary.
Is this the same as the five elements in Saju?
The elements are the same idea, but the method differs. Saju reads all eight characters, while Nine Star Ki works from the star set by your birth year.
How is my star number decided?
The digits of your birth year are summed down to a single digit, and that value is subtracted from eleven, with a result of 10 counted as 1. The star moves back by one each year, so the same star returns every nine years.
What are the month and day used for?
Two things. The year turns at the start of spring, so a birthday before early February counts as the previous year, and your birth month sets your month star. Months also turn at the solar terms rather than on the 1st, so if you were born in the first few days of a month you may get the previous month’s star.
Does a lunar birthday change my star?
Choose lunar and the date is converted to solar before anything is worked out. Your main star only diverges for birthdays between mid-December and early February (around Lichun), but the month star usually differs, since the two calendars sit nearly a month apart. So pick the calendar your birthday is actually recorded in.