Lo Shu Grid Calculator

The square and where each number lives

The traditional layout puts 4, 9 and 2 across the top, 3, 5 and 7 through the middle, and 8, 1 and 6 along the bottom. Each line of three adds to fifteen, and 5 sits at the centre. The top of the square is south, following the old Chinese convention, so 9 is the southern cell, 1 the northern, 3 the eastern and 7 the western, with the even numbers in the four corners. Feng Shui gives every cell an element as well: water for 1, wood for 3 and 4, fire for 9, metal for 6 and 7, and earth for 2, 5 and 8.

Indian practice layers its own planetary scheme on top of the cells, the same one used for the Mulank: 1 the Sun, 2 the Moon, 3 Jupiter, 4 Rahu, 5 Mercury, 6 Venus, 7 Ketu, 8 Saturn and 9 Mars. The calculator shows each cell's number, how many times it occurs, and its direction.

Filling the grid from a date of birth

Write the date as day, month and year — 14 08 1990 — and place every digit in its cell. Zeros are skipped, because the square has no cell for zero. A digit that occurs twice is written twice in the same cell, so a grid cell can hold 1, 11 or 111. For the worked example the date alone supplies 1, 4, 8, 1, 9 and 9: two ones, two nines, a four and an eight.

With at most eight digits in a date, and zeros dropped, almost every grid has empty cells. The calendar also shapes the result in ways that have nothing to do with the individual. Anyone born in the 1900s has a 1 and a 9 from the year, and anyone born from 2000 onwards has a 2 and at least two zeros, which is why grids from the same generation often look alike.

The driver and conductor numbers

Most Indian practitioners add two more numbers to the grid. The conductor number, which is the Bhagyank, is the whole date reduced to one digit, and it is always added. For 14 08 1990 the digits sum to 32, which reduces to 5, so a 5 goes in the centre cell.

The driver number, which is the Mulank, is the day reduced to one digit. This calculator adds it only when the day has two non-zero digits: the 11th to the 19th, the 21st to the 29th, and the 31st. For a day from the 1st to the 9th, or the 10th, 20th or 30th, the driver is the day's only non-zero digit and is already in the grid, so adding it again would count it twice. In the example the 14th gives a driver of 5, which is added, and the centre cell ends up holding 55. Some practitioners add the driver in every case; if yours does, add one more of the driver number to the result.

The optional Kua number

Some charts also include the Kua number from the Eight Mansions school of Feng Shui. It is calculated from the year of birth with separate formulas for men and women: reduce the year's digits to one number, then subtract it from 11 for a man or add it to 4 for a woman, and reduce again. The number 5 has no place in that school's eight directions, so a man's 5 becomes 2 and a woman's becomes 8. For 1990 the year reduces to 1, giving a Kua of 1 for a man and 8 for a woman.

Because the formula needs a choice of sex, and because not every practitioner uses it, the Kua is off unless you choose to add it. The calculator also uses the calendar year as written. Feng Shui practice counts births before about the fourth of February as belonging to the previous year, so for a January or early-February birth a Feng Shui consultant may quote a different Kua from the one shown here.

Reading the eight planes

The three rows, three columns and two diagonals are read as planes, each traditionally linked with one area of life. The rows are the Mental plane (4, 9, 2), the Emotional plane (3, 5, 7) and the Practical plane (8, 1, 6). The columns are the Thought plane (4, 3, 8), the Will plane (9, 5, 1) and the Action plane (2, 7, 6). The diagonals are the Golden plane (4, 5, 6) and the Silver plane (2, 5, 8). Names vary from one practitioner to another, and these are the most widespread in Indian use.

A plane is complete when all three of its numbers are present, empty when none is, and partial otherwise. Tradition describes a complete plane as an area of natural ease and an empty one as an area that may call for more conscious effort. In the example the 9, 5 and 1 are all present, so the Will plane is complete, while 2, 7 and 6 are all absent, leaving the Action plane empty; the other six planes are partial.

Missing and repeated numbers

Missing numbers draw the most attention, and they are also where commercial remedies are most often sold — coloured stones, bracelets and objects said to supply an absent number. This page recommends none of them. A missing number is a feature of how the digits of a date happen to fall, and, as the calendar effect above shows, many people of the same age share it. Repeated numbers are traditionally read as a strong emphasis on that number's qualities, described in terms of balance rather than danger.

If you have also seen a Pythagorean birth chart, note that it arranges the same nine numbers in a different square, with 3, 6 and 9 on top, and reads its lines as arrows. The counts of each number are the same in both; the layouts and the names of the lines are not, so the two charts cannot be compared cell by cell.

What is a Lo Shu grid in numerology?

It is the three-by-three magic square — 4 9 2, 3 5 7, 8 1 6 — filled in with the digits of a date of birth. Each digit goes in its fixed cell as many times as it occurs, showing which numbers the date has and which it lacks.

Should the driver and conductor numbers be added to the Lo Shu grid?

In common Indian practice the conductor (Bhagyank) is always added. This calculator adds the driver (Mulank) only for days with two non-zero digits, because for other days it is already in the grid. Some practitioners always add the driver.

What do missing numbers in a Lo Shu grid mean?

Tradition reads a missing number as a quality that may need more conscious effort. It is very common — most grids have several — and is partly a matter of the calendar, so it is not a defect and needs no purchased remedy.

What is the Kua number, and do I need it?

The Kua number comes from Feng Shui and uses the birth year with separate formulas for men and women. Only some practitioners add it to the Lo Shu grid, so the calculator leaves it out unless you choose to include it.

What are the planes, or arrows, of the Lo Shu grid?

They are the eight lines through the square: three rows, three columns and two diagonals. Each is linked with an area of life, such as the Will plane of 9, 5 and 1. A plane is complete, partial or empty depending on how many of its numbers are present.

Why do grids for people born after 2000 look so similar?

Every year from 2000 onwards begins with 2 and 0, so those dates share a 2 and drop at least two zeros. That leaves fewer digits to spread across the grid, and the same cells tend to stay empty for a whole generation.