How Readings and Historical Figure Matches Work

Updated: October 13, 2026

Moirapedia converts inputs such as a birth date into divination categories and introduces historical figures who share those categories as starting points for learning. Sharing a calculated category does not establish a shared personality or future. This page explains the calculations, selection rules, editorial interpretations, and limitations.

Contents

• From inputs to results
• How the methods work
• Matching rules and ranking
• Daily figures and destiny twins
• Action suggestions and scores
• Data limitations and sources

From inputs to results

1. Receive a birth date, optional birth time, and a name or target date where required.
2. Calculate the categories used by that feature, such as stems and branches, numbers, or a zodiac sign.
3. Display stored interpretations and editorial scores associated with those categories.
4. For figure recommendations, compare the categories with those calculated for the figure data.

This is not a trained AI inferring a user's personality from a figure's achievements. Sharing a birth number does not guarantee similar abilities or success. See the Privacy Policy for how inputs are transmitted and stored.

How the methods work

Four Pillars / BaZi

The birth date and, when known, birth time determine the year, month, day, and hour stems and branches. The Day Master is the heavenly stem of the birth day, classified by Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, or Water and yin or yang. The Ten Gods describe the relationships of other stems to the Day Master's element and polarity. In this implementation, a chart is labeled strong when supporting elements account for at least 40% of the total counted elements; otherwise it is labeled weak. These labels do not diagnose physical strength or health.

The year pillar changes at Start of Spring; month pillars change at the corresponding solar-term boundaries. The implementation uses National Astronomical Observatory of Japan tables for 1900–2100, with minute boundaries in Japan Standard Time (UTC+9). Birthplace time zones and apparent solar time are not applied. The day pillar changes with the entered calendar date; the convention that moves 23:00 into the next day is not used. Hour pillars use two-hour intervals and are omitted when the time is unknown.

For example, Start of Spring on February 4, 2024 is 17:27 JST. At 17:26 the year and month pillars are 癸卯 and 乙丑; at 17:27 they are 甲辰 and 丙寅. If the time that day is unknown, both boundary candidates are shown. Unsupported years or unresolved boundaries do not produce a definitive approximate chart. Calendar verification does not establish predictive accuracy.

Numerology, zodiac, year animals, and Nine Star Ki

• Numerology: Sum the digits of the birth date and reduce to one digit, retaining 11, 22, and 33. June 15, 1990 gives 1+9+9+0+0+6+1+5=31, then 3+1=4. Name numbers map Roman letters to stored numeric values; interpretations come from stored mappings.
• Zodiac: Assign one of 12 signs using month-and-day date ranges. This is not a precise horoscope using birthplace and planetary positions.
• Year animals: Map the year to a cyclical category and its stored interpretation. Sharing an animal category does not establish an identical personality.
• Nine Star Ki: Calculate the principal star from the birth year. Figure matching treats January and February 1–3 as part of the preceding year, using a fixed February 4 boundary. This is separate from minute-accurate BaZi solar terms; the month-star calculation also contains simplifications.

I Ching and tarot

Date-based I Ching uses numbers derived from the birth date and target date to determine upper and lower trigrams and a changing line, then displays associated interpretations. The method includes calendar month-and-day values and a date-derived hour category rather than fully reproducing the lunar date and actual moment of consultation. The question-text method uses pseudorandom values determined by the input text.

Tarot derives a seed from the birth date, target date, and spread, shuffles 78 cards, and selects cards and upright or reversed positions. The same inputs, date, and spread produce the same result. It does not draw physical cards or read the user's psychological state. Readings are assembled from stored text.

Name stroke analysis and Zi Wei Dou Shu

Name stroke analysis counts the family and given name strokes, calculates five grids, and assigns labels using stored stroke-count tables. An unknown CJK character is estimated as eight strokes and other unknown characters as one, so the count may differ from an authoritative character dictionary. The total combines favorable=80, neutral=60, and unfavorable=40 with weights of 10%, 35%, 20%, 15%, and 20% for the heaven, person, earth, outer, and total grids respectively. It does not measure a person's worth or ability.

Zi Wei Dou Shu converts the date to a lunar date and uses the birth-hour category to calculate life and body palaces and an elemental bureau, placing 14 principal stars across 12 palaces. It does not cover every school's auxiliary stars or interpretive rules. Features requiring a time may be unavailable when it is unknown.

Almanac, lunar mansions, and other classical methods

Rokuyo uses lunar month-and-day categories, but its lunar conversion here approximates months from February 17, 2026 using a mean synodic month. The separate almanac feature uses sxtwl lunar dates and stem-branch data alongside fixed cycles; it is a different calculation path. Sukuyo approximates lunar longitude for the date, assigns one of 27 sectors, and derives compatibility from category distance. It is not a precise lunar chart incorporating birthplace and birth time.

Da Liu Ren uses the specified date and hour to calculate the month general, four lessons, and three transmissions, with some detailed rules simplified. Qi Men Dun Jia calculates a configuration and nine-palace placements from a specified date and hour. Geomancy uses input-seeded pseudorandom values to generate base figures and combines them into a judgment chart. Interpretations vary with the adopted method and school. Not every feature listed here contributes points to the standard figure ranking.

Matching rules and ranking

Standard figure recommendations sort by number of matching criteria first, then total points. Ties preserve source-data order. The weights are site-specific selection rules, not probabilities or evidence of predictive accuracy.

A shared Day Master and life-path number give two criteria and nine points. A figure with three criteria and eight points ranks ahead because criterion count takes precedence. Several criteria come from BaZi, so five matching criteria do not mean five independent divination systems agree. Any category labeled “perfect match” uses a threshold of at least five criteria; it does not mean complete agreement in destiny or life. Per-method recommendation groups take up to three matching figures in data order, separately from the overall ranking.

Daily figures and destiny twins

Daily figures have a month-pillar Ten God matching the user's Ten God for the target day. Candidates are collected in data order up to three times the display limit; a value derived from the user's birth date and target date determines the starting position. The selection repeats for identical inputs and dates and is not a uniform draw from all figures.

Destiny twins share three categories: Day Master, month-pillar Ten God, and strong/weak classification. The name does not establish identical personalities, achievements, or life outcomes. It is an invitation to explore another person's experiences through a shared classification.

The purpose of figure recommendations is to explore experiences, decisions, failures, and lessons. A figure's achievements are not evidence that a divination method is correct. Figure pages progressively link to verified official and public resources.

Action suggestions and scores

Daily actions combine classifications from the Ten Gods, Twelve Life Stages, Rokuyo, and Sukuyo with stored, work-oriented suggestions. Meeting and negotiation text also comes from site-edited mappings. This production feature does not randomly generate new wording on each request.

The daily score adds a Twelve Life Stages modifier to a Ten Gods base score and clamps the result to 10–100. Base scores are 比肩65, 劫財60, 食神85, 傷官55, 偏財75, 正財80, 偏官50, 正官70, 偏印60, and 印綬80. Modifiers are 長生+10, 沐浴−5, 冠帯+8, 建禄+12, 帝旺+15, 衰−3, 病−8, 死−12, 墓−5, 絶−10, 胎+2, and 養+5. For example, 食神 with 病 gives 85−8=77. The lucky direction chooses one of eight directions from a birth-date-and-target-date value, rather than a precise Nine Star Ki directional chart.

Love and career scores apply relationship modifiers to stored category values, then clamp “55 + total modifier × 5” to 10–100. Talent, skill, and book recommendations map chart categories to registered categories or candidates. Scores are editorial indicators: 77 points does not mean a 77% chance of success. Use concrete facts and personal circumstances when making real-world decisions.

Data limitations and sources

Historical birth dates can be disputed, and birth times are often unknown. Matching does not imply agreement in an unverified hour pillar. Records marked with an uncertain birth date are not precomputed for classification; unresolved BaZi records are not used for BaZi matches. A date outside BaZi coverage may still participate in other methods such as numerology. When no candidate is found, no matching figure is offered.

Total records, public records, and records usable for a particular comparison are different quantities. English matching combines English and Japanese figure datasets, so candidates and ordering may differ between languages. The collection is not exhaustive, and not every record has the same degree of verification.

• Calendar source: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Calendar and Ephemeris Office. Solar-term times for 1900–2100 are used.
• Figure information: see Wikipedia and the sources identified on individual figure pages. Operators of official resources and videos are identified separately.
• Methods and weights: this explanation describes the production implementation checked on October 13, 2026. This page will be updated when the methods change.

Return to readings / Browse historical figures / Report a correction