About
An alidade is the sighting rule mounted on an astrolabe — and the same part, doing the same job, sits on a Chinese luopan. You sight along it to read a bearing. Two traditions, one instrument, one act of measuring.
That is the whole idea of this site. The Western chart and the Chinese Four Pillars are not competing explanations of a person. They are two instruments pointed at the same sky, from two different vantage points.
Method
A birth chart is astronomy. It is deterministic — the sky at your birth does not change, and there is exactly one correct answer. The reading is interpretation, and that is where most sites blur the line.
We keep them apart. The chart is computed, not estimated. Anything written on top of it is checked against the computed chart, so it cannot invent a planet or a pillar that isn't there.
Both are derived from the same birth moment. Only the interpretive language differs.
Where we stand
The element tool computes your Four Pillars from a stored solar-term table covering 1900–2030, and is verified against a reference implementation. Its known limits are published on the tool itself.
These readings are a cultural and reflective practice. We make no medical, psychological, legal or financial claims, and nothing here is a prediction of events.
The free element tool is live and working. Three further tools, the shop catalogue and the Learn library are still being built — we would rather ship them late than ship them thin.
Your data
The tools ask for a birth date, time and place — because that is what a chart requires — and the calculation runs entirely in your browser. There are no accounts on this site, no newsletter, and no contact form, so we hold no personal record of you to manage or delete. The details are in Privacy.