Chinese Polestar Astrology
Chinese Polestar Astrology, aka Zi Wei Dou Shu or Purple Star Astrology, is a Song Dynasty Chinese method based on Daoist, Confucian, and Buddhist worldviews and mathematical calculations that help us understand our relationship to time.
This technology helps us understand our unique patterning related to ancestral rhythm and the greater, interconnected cycles of qi.
What is your placement within the larger spheres of natural cycles? How can we know when to push, when to glide? How can we relax and work with our circumstances, especially when facing a challenging edge in life? Chinese astrology teaches us about our character and fate patterns based on your own specific natal calculation.
Personal Readings
Chinese Polestar Astrology readings are available with Dr. Anne Shelton Crute by appointment.
Individual readings help us understand our unique context of character and fate, related to our ancestral rhythms and the greater, interconnected cycles of Qi in the world around us.
In your reading, we will discuss your natal chart including the four pillars, inner nature, and star placement. We will look at fate patterns in contrast with free will and understand how ancestral energy shows up in your calculation.
In this appointment, we will touch briefly on annual progressions as well, or that can be a separate session for those who want to learn more.
Couples, family, and annual progression sessions are also available.
Study Chinese Polestar Astrology!
In collaboration with Da Yuan Circle, Dr. Anne Shelton Crute is teaching ongoing classes: live, online, mixed-level classes designed for working through foundation theory and the practical application of Chinese Polestar Astrology.
Class includes lectures, Q&A sessions, and review of case studies. This material is designed to support the development of the Chinese philosophical view necessary for global interpretation as well as refining technique.
Both students new to the subject of Chinese astrology as well as those who have already studied are welcome. Our course pace moves organically from basics towards advanced topics.
—
Mondays, 2x/month, 12:30-2:00pm Pacific
January 6 & 13 | Feb 10 & 24 | March 10 & 24
April (14?) & (28?) | May 5 & 19 | ongoingly, future dates TBA
Note: members of this group qualify for discounts on Ming's astrology recordings.
Prerequisite: To have received—or plan to receive—a Chinese Polestar Astrology natal reading from Anne Shelton Crute, her teacher Liu Ming himself, or another practitioner from this lineage who has studied Polestar Astrology direct (live & in-person) with Liu Ming. (This is a standard requirement for study with Da Yuan Circle that we have chosen to uphold.)
Chinese Lunar New Year Events & Lectures!
On February 2, Dr. Anne Shelton Crute will discuss the auspices of the 2025 Yin Wood Snake Year. This year, live in person as well as streamed!
Donations for this event, as always, support the legacy of our celebrated teacher of Chinese Polestar Astrology, Daoism, and Chinese Medicine: Liu Ming!
A companion article which gives a condensed description of the quality of the year will also be available.
Watch this space for details coming soon or email us!
Chinese Lunar New Year: Links to Past Lectures!
Links to past years’ lectures here, including:
2024 Year of the Yang Wood Dragon for Da Yuan Circle
2023 Year of the Yin Water Rabbit for Five Branches University
2022 Year of the Yang Water Tiger for Qiological with Michael Max
Listening to lectures from years past is recommended for my students or anyone interested in going deeper with Chinese astrology. Not only can lectures about years past help flesh out an understanding of what the qi dynamics were in that year after having experienced it, but it also helps refine our understand of each animal image through our lived experience. Animal natives should definitely give a listen; for instance, wood dragon year draws to a close and those born in a different year of the dragon can still benefit from learning more about their animal using these recordings.
About Dr. Anne Shelton Crute
Anne Shelton Crute is a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and a licensed acupuncturist in the San Francisco Bay Area. She practices acupuncture, Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic, and Tibetan herbalism, and Chinese Polestar astrology in Berkeley, California. Anne's interest in acupuncture, plant medicine, and consciousness has led her to study all over the world: India, Japan, and around the United States. Her mentors are some of the best Chinese medicine doctors, Ayurvedic vaidyas, and Tibetan Medicine menpas that contemporary times have known. She studied Chinese Polestar astrology, Chinese medicine, and food cures directly with Liu Ming for 12 years until his death.
Anne received her Doctorate in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine from Five Branches University, prior to which she graduated magna cum laude with a Master’s of Science in Oriental Medicine from the Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College. Her acupuncture and Chinese polestar astrology practice is centered around bringing the classical texts and teachings to life, helping patients reconnect to their innate sense of spirit.
About Liu Ming and Da Yuan Circle
Liu Ming was a Euro-American who studied Asian culture, history, and religion for nearly half a century. During that time he had the great good fortune to meet, study, and practice with several accomplished Tibetan and Chinese adepts from whom he learned Tantric Buddhist and Daoist meditation, ritual, yoga, and neigong. His lifelong interest in Asia led to decades of study of traditional Chinese astrology, medicine, and divination arts. He held a degree in Asian Aesthetics from Antioch University.
About his life and work, he said: “It is important to understand that participation in any of the Asian contemplative traditions is not simply a means to achieve expertise – it is committing to a life-long path of self-cultivation. In Asian traditions, education is not only a method of gaining knowledge but also of developing empathy and a way to artfully express that empathy in the world. Empathy develops when we abandon the notion that expertise is a kind of perfection. In fact, recognizing that we are irreversibly the way we are is a truly great accomplishment. As it turns out, great accomplishment does not offer certainty.” Ming passed in 2017 and Da Yuan Circle continues his legacy.