Horoscope object

The data structures of the six scopes, the three whole-scope lists, plus palace lookups that need not be handed the astrolabe again.

A horoscope projects the natal chart onto a point in time. The same chart shows a different palace layout in different years — which is exactly what "the decadal scope has moved to that palace" means.

h = chart.horoscope("2025-6-1", 0)

Horoscope holds the natal chart that produced it, so none of the query methods need the astrolabe passed in again. The trailing astrolabe=None parameter on every query method is there for the case where you hold horoscope data but keep the chart elsewhere; day to day you never pass it.

The examples on this page all start from an en-US natal chart, so the display values in the output are the English translations.

Fields

Field	Type	Description
`solar_date`	`str`	The target solar date, as passed in
`lunar_date`	`str`	The target date as a Chinese lunar date string
`decadal` `age` `yearly` `monthly` `daily` `hourly`	See below	The six horoscope scopes

solar_date is the target date, not the birth date; the birth date is on the natal chart, reachable as h.astrolabe().solar_date.

The six scopes

Field	Type	Span	Description
`decadal`	`HoroscopeItem`	Ten years	The decadal scope; the childhood scope for the years before it begins
`age`	`AgeItem`	One year	The age scope, moving one palace per nominal year
`yearly`	`HoroscopeYearly`	One year	The yearly scope, its palace fixed by the year's pillar
`monthly`	`HoroscopeItem`	One month	The monthly scope
`daily`	`HoroscopeItem`	One day	The daily scope
`hourly`	`HoroscopeItem`	One double-hour	The hourly scope

The age scope versus the yearly scope

Both advance once per year, but they start differently: the age scope starts from the birth-year branch and steps forward with the nominal age, while the yearly scope simply asks which palace that year's pillar falls in. The two lines are independent, and Zi Wei practice usually reads them together.

HoroscopeItem

Field	Type	Description
`index`	`int`	Which palace this scope lands on (a palace index)
`name`	`str`	Display name of the scope, translated into the output language
`name_key`	`str`	Scope key: `decadal` / `childhood` (before the decadals begin) / `turn` (age fortune) / `yearly` / `monthly` / `daily` / `hourly`. Predicate on this, never on the translation
`heavenly_stem` / `heavenly_stem_key`	`str`	Stem of the scope, which determines the mutagens it flies
`earthly_branch` / `earthly_branch_key`	`str`	Branch of the scope
`palace_names` / `palace_name_keys`	`list[str]`	The twelve palace names re-derived with this scope's palace as the Soul palace, indexed by palace index
`mutagen` / `mutagen_star_keys`	`list[str]`	The stars this scope's stem transforms, in the order lu, quan, ke, ji; `mutagen_star_keys` holds the mutated stars' star keys, synonymous with the palace field of the same name
`stars`	`list[list[Star]] \| None`	The scope stars of this layer; `None` for layers that have none

AgeItem and HoroscopeYearly both inherit HoroscopeItem and each add one field:

Type	Extra field	Description
`AgeItem`	`nominal_age: int`	The nominal age at that date
`HoroscopeYearly`	`yearly_dec_star: YearlyDecStar`	The yearly Sui-qian and Jiang-qian gods

class YearlyDecStar:
    jiangqian12: list[str]        # translated yearly Jiang-qian gods, indexed by palace index
    jiangqian12_keys: list[str]   # the matching keys
    suiqian12: list[str]          # translated yearly Sui-qian gods
    suiqian12_keys: list[str]     # the matching keys

Because this is inheritance rather than wrapping, the shared fields are reached directly: write h.yearly.heavenly_stem, with no .base layer as on the Rust side.

h = chart.horoscope("2025-6-1", 0)

print(h.yearly.heavenly_stem, h.yearly.earthly_branch, h.age.nominal_age)
print(h.yearly.yearly_dec_star.suiqian12[:3])
print(h.yearly.yearly_dec_star.jiangqian12_keys[:3])

Output

yi si 26
['blessed', 'sorrowing', 'illness']
['jiesha', 'zhaisha', 'tiansha']

Example

h = chart.horoscope("2025-6-1", 0)

for item in (h.decadal, h.monthly, h.daily, h.hourly):
    print(f"{item.name} lands on palace {item.index} with pillar {item.heavenly_stem}{item.earthly_branch}")

print("age scope nominal age", h.age.nominal_age)
print("decadal mutagens", h.decadal.mutagen)

Output

decadal lands on palace 2 with pillar gengchen
monthly lands on palace 3 with pillar renwoo
daily lands on palace 8 with pillar xinchou
hourly lands on palace 8 with pillar wuzi
age scope nominal age 26
decadal mutagens ['sun', 'warrior', 'moon', 'fortunate']

The three lists

decadal_list / yearly_list / monthly_list are methods on Astrolabe, not on the horoscope object: they return a whole scope in one call, sparing you from looping over dates with horoscope and assembling the result yourself. All three item types inherit HoroscopeItem, so the shared fields are read directly; each adds its own time coordinates:

Type	Extra fields	Description
`DecadalListItem`	`palace_name` / `palace_name_key`: `str`	The natal palace this decadal sits in
	`age_range`: `tuple[int, int]`	First and last nominal age, both inclusive
	`year_range`: `tuple[int, int]`	First and last lunar year, both inclusive
`YearlyListItem`	`age`: `int`	The nominal age this year corresponds to
	`year`: `int`	Lunar year
`MonthlyListItem`	`age`: `int`	The nominal age this month falls in
	`year`: `int`	Lunar year
	`month`: `int`	Lunar month, 1 for the first; a leap month shares its number
	`is_leap_month`: `bool`	Whether this item is the leap month
	`part`: `str`	Segment marker; values are in the `MonthPart` enum
	`day_range`: `tuple[int, int]`	The lunar days this segment covers, both inclusive

MonthPart has three values: NORMAL for a whole month, FIRST for a leap month's first half and SECOND for its second half.

The lists use the hour pillar's branch

Every item in the three lists is computed from the hour matching the hour pillar's earthly branch, not the time_index passed at charting time. The two differ only for the late zi hour: on a chart built with index 12, the hour pillar's branch is zi, so the lists use hour index 0.

decadal_list

Purpose Get all twelve decadals of this chart at once, ordered by when they begin.

Zi Wei meaning A decadal is a ten-year step walking the twelve palaces from the starting palace. Laid out flat, the line tells you which palace a given stretch of life falls in and which ten years it covers.

Signature

def decadal_list(self) -> list[DecadalListItem]

Return value Always 12 items; index 0 is the first decadal. The order follows the starting nominal age, not the palace index — decadals run forwards or backwards depending on yin/yang and gender.

Example

for d in chart.decadal_list()[:3]:
    print(d.palace_name, d.heavenly_stem, d.earthly_branch, d.age_range, d.year_range)

print(len(chart.decadal_list()))

Output

soul ren woo (3, 12) (2002, 2011)
siblings xin si (13, 22) (2012, 2021)
spouse geng chen (23, 32) (2022, 2031)
12

This chart starts its decadals at nominal age 3, with the first one in the Soul palace.

Edge cases and pitfalls

Childhood is not in the list

The years before the first decadal begins are the childhood scope, which only appears when you query horoscope for a specific date (name_key is childhood). decadal_list lists the twelve decadals themselves, so every item's name_key is decadal.

yearly_list

Purpose Get every yearly scope inside one decadal.

Zi Wei meaning Fix the decadal, then read year by year — the usual order in which a reading advances. A decadal spans ten years, and these are those ten.

Signature

def yearly_list(self, decadal: int | PalaceName | str | None = None) -> list[YearlyListItem]

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`decadal`	`int \| PalaceName \| str \| None`	Yes	`None`	The decadal's ordinal (`int`, 0 for the first) or the key of the natal palace it sits in

When both forms address the same decadal they return identical results; pick whichever you already hold.

Return value 10 items ordered by nominal age.

Raises IztroError when no addressing is given, the ordinal is out of range, or the palace name cannot be matched.

Example

years = chart.yearly_list(2)

for y in years[:3]:
    print(y.age, y.year, y.heavenly_stem, y.earthly_branch, "->", y.index)

print(len(years), len(chart.yearly_list("spousePalace")))

Output

23 2022 ren yin -> 0
24 2023 gui mao -> 1
25 2024 jia chen -> 2
10 10

Decadal 2 sits in the spouse palace, so yearly_list(2) and yearly_list("spousePalace") name the same one.

Edge cases and pitfalls

The parameter has a default, but omitting it raises

decadal=None does not mean "the current decadal" — it raises IztroError. Silently picking a default would turn a forgotten argument into a plausible-looking wrong answer.

monthly_list

Purpose Get every monthly scope of one lunar year.

Zi Wei meaning The monthly scope sits below the yearly one and advances month by month. How to treat a leap month is a point where schools disagree, so whether to split it is the caller's decision.

Signature

def monthly_list(self, year: int, fix_leap: bool = True) -> list[MonthlyListItem]

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`year`	`int`	Yes	—	The lunar year
`fix_leap`	`bool`	No	`True`	Whether to split a leap month into two half-month items

Return value The length depends on whether the year has a leap month and on fix_leap:

That lunar year	`fix_leap`	Items	How the leap month is laid out
No leap month	either	12	—
Has a leap month	`True`	14	Split into `first` (days 1-15) and `second` (day 16 to month end)
Has a leap month	`False`	13	One whole-month item with `part` set to `normal`

The leap month follows the ordinary month of the same number. Each item is computed from the first day of its segment (day 16 for a second half).

Raises IztroError when that lunar year does not exist, or a segment's target date falls outside the supported range.

Example

months = chart.monthly_list(2020)

print(len(months))
for m in months[3:7]:
    print(m.month, m.is_leap_month, m.part, m.day_range, m.heavenly_stem, m.earthly_branch)

print(len(chart.monthly_list(2020, fix_leap=False)), len(chart.monthly_list(2021)))

Output

14
4 False normal (1, 30) xin si
4 True first (1, 15) xin si
4 True second (16, 29) ren woo
5 False normal (1, 30) ren woo
13 12

Lunar 2020 has a leap fourth month. Split apart, its first half shares the pillar of the fourth month (xin si) and its second half shares the fifth month's (ren woo) — which is what "the second half of a leap month counts as the next month" means. Lunar 2021 has no leap month, so it is always 12 items.

Edge cases and pitfalls

This fix_leap is unrelated to the charting fix_leap

The fix_leap on the charting entry decides whether someone born in the second half of a leap month is placed by the next month's stars — it changes the natal layout. This one only decides whether this list splits the leap month. The two may differ and do not affect each other.

A leap month shares its number

The leap fourth month also has month == 4; is_leap_month is what tells them apart. Deduplicating by month drops the leap month.

age_palace

Purpose Get the palace the age scope occupies this year.

Zi Wei meaning The age scope is a line advancing year by year; whichever palace it lands on becomes the focus for that year.

Signature

def age_palace(self, astrolabe: Astrolabe | None = None) -> Palace | None

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`astrolabe`	`Astrolabe \| None`	No	`None`	Usually omitted; the horoscope already holds the natal chart

Return value Palace | None — a palace on the natal chart. The horoscope already holds the natal chart, so in practice this is never None; only a hand-built horoscope object bound to no chart and given no astrolabe comes up empty.

Example

h = chart.horoscope("2025-6-1", 0)
print(h.age_palace().name)

Output

property

palace

Purpose Get one of the twelve palaces as re-derived under a given horoscope scope.

Zi Wei meaning Once the decadal scope reaches a palace, the twelve palaces are re-anchored with that palace as the "decadal Soul palace". "The decadal Spouse palace" refers to that re-anchored naming, and it is usually not the same palace as the natal Spouse palace.

Signature

def palace(
    self,
    name: PalaceName | str,
    scope: Scope | ScopeLiteral,
    astrolabe: Astrolabe | None = None,
) -> Palace | None

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`name`	`str`	Yes	—	The palace-name key to fetch
`scope`	`str`	Yes	—	Which scope's twelve palaces to search
`astrolabe`	`Astrolabe \| None`	No	`None`	Usually omitted

Return value Palace | None — a palace on the natal chart (the same cell carries different names under different scopes). With "origin" as the scope, these are the natal twelve palaces. A misspelled palace name or scope key returns None rather than raising.

Example

from x_iztro import PalaceName, Scope

h = chart.horoscope("2025-6-1", 0)

print("the decadal Soul palace is the natal", h.palace(PalaceName.SOUL, Scope.DECADAL).name)
print("the natal Soul palace is", h.palace(PalaceName.SOUL, Scope.ORIGIN).name)

Output

the decadal Soul palace is the natal spouse
the natal Soul palace is soul

Edge cases and pitfalls

What comes back is the cell on the natal chart

On the palace object returned by palace("soulPalace", "decadal"), name is still the natal palace name (Spouse in the example), because it is that cell on the natal chart. To see what the cell is called at the decadal layer, read h.decadal.palace_names[index].

surround_palaces

Purpose Get the surrounded palaces of a palace under a given horoscope scope.

Signature

def surround_palaces(
    self,
    name: PalaceName | str,
    scope: Scope | ScopeLiteral,
    astrolabe: Astrolabe | None = None,
) -> SurroundedPalaces | None

Parameters Same as palace.

Return value SurroundedPalaces | None; its predicates are on Surrounded palaces.

Example

h = chart.horoscope("2025-6-1", 0)
sp = h.surround_palaces(PalaceName.WEALTH, Scope.YEARLY)

print("the surrounded set of the yearly Wealth palace is anchored on the natal", sp.target.name)

Output

the surrounded set of the yearly Wealth palace is anchored on the natal health

has_horoscope_stars / has_one_of_horoscope_stars / not_have_horoscope_stars

Purpose Test whether a palace under a given scope holds the given scope stars.

Zi Wei meaning Scope stars are a group produced by each horoscope layer: Tiankui, Tianyue, Wenchang, Wenqu, Lucun, Qingyang, Tuoluo, Tianma, Hongluan and Tianxi. They carry different names in different layers — Yunkui and Yunyue at the decadal layer, Liukui and Liuyue at the yearly layer — with the same meaning applied to their own time span.

Signature

def has_horoscope_stars(self, name, scope, stars: list[str], astrolabe=None) -> bool
def has_one_of_horoscope_stars(self, name, scope, stars: list[str], astrolabe=None) -> bool
def not_have_horoscope_stars(self, name, scope, stars: list[str], astrolabe=None) -> bool

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`name`	`str`	Yes	—	The palace-name key under that scope
`scope`	`str`	Yes	—	The horoscope scope
`stars`	`list[str]`	Yes	—	Scope star keys, which must use that layer's names
`astrolabe`	`Astrolabe \| None`	No	`None`	Usually omitted

Return value

Method	Meaning
`has_horoscope_stars`	All of them are present
`has_one_of_horoscope_stars`	At least one is present
`not_have_horoscope_stars`	None is present

Example

h = chart.horoscope("2025-6-1", 0)

print(h.has_horoscope_stars(PalaceName.SOUL, Scope.DECADAL, ["yunlu"]))
print(h.has_one_of_horoscope_stars(PalaceName.SOUL, Scope.DECADAL, ["yunlu", "yunyang"]))
print(h.not_have_horoscope_stars(PalaceName.SOUL, Scope.DECADAL, ["yuntuo"]))

Output

False
False
True

Edge cases and pitfalls

has_horoscope_mutagen

Purpose Test whether a palace under a given scope carries a mutagen flown by that scope's stem.

Zi Wei meaning Every horoscope layer has a stem of its own, and it transforms four stars just as the birth-year stem does. A question like "does the decadal lu land in the decadal Wealth palace?" is asking about this.

Signature

def has_horoscope_mutagen(self, name, scope, mutagen: Mutagen, astrolabe=None) -> bool

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`name`	`str`	Yes	—	The palace-name key under that scope
`scope`	`str`	Yes	—	The horoscope scope
`mutagen`	`str`	Yes	—	A mutagen key
`astrolabe`	`Astrolabe \| None`	No	`None`	Usually omitted

Return value bool.

Example

from x_iztro import Mutagen

h = chart.horoscope("2025-6-1", 0)

print(h.has_horoscope_mutagen(PalaceName.SOUL, Scope.DECADAL, Mutagen.LU))
print(h.decadal.mutagen)

Output

False
['sun', 'warrior', 'moon', 'fortunate']

The decadal stem is geng, and geng sends lu to Taiyang, quan to Wuqu, ke to Taiyin and ji to Tiantong.

Edge cases and pitfalls

Always False when scope is origin

The natal layer has no "layer stem" — the birth-year mutagens are already stamped on the stars' own mutagen_key. has_horoscope_mutagen(name, "origin", m) therefore returns False outright, which does not mean the natal chart lacks that mutagen. For natal mutagens use the palace's has_mutagen.

Only the major and minor stars of the target palace are checked; adjective stars are not.

scope_item / astrolabe

Purpose Get the HoroscopeItem for a scope key, or get back to the natal chart.

Signature

def scope_item(self, scope: Scope | ScopeLiteral) -> HoroscopeItem | None
def astrolabe(self) -> Astrolabe | None

Return value scope_item returns None for the scope "origin" — the natal chart is not a horoscope layer.

Example

h = chart.horoscope("2025-6-1", 0)

print(h.scope_item(Scope.DECADAL).name)
print(h.scope_item(Scope.ORIGIN))
print(h.astrolabe().solar_date)

Output

decadal
None
2000-8-16

Edge cases and pitfalls

scope_item is for writing generic logic parameterized by scope, which is tidier than a chain of if scope == .... HoroscopeItem also carries palace_index_by_name(name), which turns a palace name into a palace index within that layer's twelve palaces, returning None when there is no match:

h = chart.horoscope("2025-6-1", 0)
item = h.scope_item(Scope.DECADAL)

print(item.palace_index_by_name(PalaceName.SOUL))
print(item.palace_index_by_name(PalaceName.WEALTH))
print(item.palace_index_by_name("nosuch"))

Output

2
10
None

to_text

Purpose The horoscope's semantic text: a complete description for language models and people; str(h) is equivalent.

Signature

def to_text(
    self,
    *,
    knowledge: bool | KnowledgePack | None = None,
    config: PatternConfig | None = None,
) -> str

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`knowledge`	`bool \| KnowledgePack \| None`	no	`None`	Reading material: `True` takes the bundled default pack for the charting language, a `KnowledgePack` uses that pack; when given, each scope's facts are followed by readings of that scope's flowing stars and of the patterns hit from its perspective (deduplicated across scopes) — natal stars are not repeated
`config`	`PatternConfig \| None`	no	`None`	Pattern criteria, the same argument as `patterns(config)`; acts on both the text's pattern section and the pattern readings. `None` takes the default criteria

Return value str — a Markdown subset in the chart's charting language: a # Horoscope <date> (<lunar>) title, then one ## section each for the decadal (childhood before the decadals start), age fortune, yearly, monthly, daily and hourly scopes; the decadal and yearly sections expand into a twelve-palace table, and every scope carries its mutagen, flowing-star and pattern lines from its own perspective. The full format is on Semantic text; where readings are inserted is on Text with readings.

Example

h = chart.horoscope("2025-1-1", 0)

print("\n".join(l for l in h.to_text().splitlines() if l.startswith("#")))

zh = astro.by_solar("2000-8-16", 2, "female").horoscope("2025-1-1", 0)   # the bundled pack is zh-CN
print(len(zh.to_text()), len(zh.to_text(knowledge=True)))

Output

# Horoscope 2025-1-1 (二〇二四年腊月初二)
## Decadal Fortune · Soul Palace: Natal spouse (geng chen)
## Age Fortune · Soul Palace: Natal career · Nominal Age 25
## Yearly · Soul Palace: Natal spouse (jia chen)
## Monthly · Soul Palace: Natal friends (ding chou)
## Daily · Soul Palace: Natal surface (geng woo)
## Hourly · Soul Palace: Natal surface (bing zi)
2457 8458

Edge cases and pitfalls

A horoscope constructed detached from a chart (outside horoscope()) has no charting context and raises ValueError. For the pattern hits as text, see patterns_to_text on Patterns. knowledge=True on a chart whose language has no bundled pack (only zh-CN has one) raises IztroError (invalid_argument).

to_dict / to_json

Purpose Export the horoscope as JSON matching the field contract of JS iztro.

Signature

def to_dict(self) -> dict[str, Any]
def to_json(self, **kwargs: Any) -> str

Shape and usage are the same as the astrolabe's methods of the same names: to_dict hands back a deep copy of the underlying DTO and to_json a JSON string, defaulting to ensure_ascii=False. Do not reach for dataclasses.asdict here either — the horoscope holds a reference to the natal chart and would recurse forever.

Example

h = chart.horoscope("2025-6-1", 0)
d = h.to_dict()

print(d["solarDate"], d["decadal"]["heavenlyStem"], d["age"]["nominalAge"])
print(sorted(d.keys()))

Output

2025-6-1 geng 26
['age', 'daily', 'decadal', 'hourly', 'lunarDate', 'monthly', 'solarDate', 'yearly']

Horoscope object

scope decides which palace is searched, not which stars

Scope star keys are layer-specific

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