Lo Shu grid: how to read your numbers, planes and Kua number

Updated October 2026

The Lo Shu grid is a three by three square of the numbers 1 to 9, filled in from your date of birth. Once the digits are placed, some numbers appear more than once, some do not appear at all, and certain rows and diagonals are complete or empty. Numerology reads meaning into each of those patterns. The square came into Indian numerology from Chinese tradition, and practitioners here commonly add the driver number and the conductor number to the digits of the date. Ask My Astro also adds the Kua number. This guide explains how the grid is built, what missing and repeated numbers are taken to describe, how the planes and arrows work, and how the Kua number is calculated.

Where the Lo Shu square comes from

Lo Shu means the scroll of the river Luo. Chinese legend tells of a turtle rising from the river with a pattern of dots on its shell, arranged as a square of the numbers 1 to 9. The arrangement is a magic square: every row, every column and both diagonals add up to 15.

The standard layout reads 4, 9, 2 across the top row, 3, 5, 7 across the middle and 8, 1, 6 across the bottom. The 5 sits at the centre, and each pair of numbers facing each other through the centre adds up to 10. This is the Chinese layout, and the plane and arrow names below come from it. Some Indian numerologists use a different arrangement, and Western grids order the numbers differently again.

The square was long used in Chinese cosmology and in feng shui. Indian numerology adopted it as a way of seeing a birth date at a glance, and it now sits comfortably beside the Chaldean and Pythagorean name numbers. Each digit keeps the planetary ruler it has in Indian numerology: 1 the Sun, 2 the Moon, 3 Jupiter, 4 Rahu, 5 Mercury, 6 Venus, 7 Ketu, 8 Saturn and 9 Mars.

How the grid is filled from your birth date

Write out your full date of birth, including all four digits of the year, and place each digit in its cell of the square. Zeros are skipped, because the square has no cell for them. If a digit occurs twice, it is written twice in its cell.

Most Indian practitioners then add a few derived numbers. The driver number, or mulank, is the day of birth reduced to a single digit. The conductor number, or bhagyank, is the whole date added up and reduced to a single digit. Ask My Astro also adds the Kua number, which comes from the year of birth and gender. Some teachers leave out one or more of these and fill the grid from the date alone, so two grids for the same person can differ depending on the method.

Take 15 June 1990. The digits 1, 9, 9, 0, 0, 6, 1 and 5 give two 1s, two 9s, a 6 and a 5, with the zeros skipped. The driver is 1 plus 5, which is 6. The conductor is the whole date, 31, reduced to 4. The finished grid holds 1 twice, 4 once, 5 once, 6 twice and 9 twice, and 2, 3, 7 and 8 are missing.

Ask My Astro fills the grid the same way: every non-zero digit of your date of birth, plus your driver and conductor numbers, plus your Kua number when your profile has a gender of male or female.

Missing and repeated numbers

A missing number is read as a quality that does not come naturally and may take conscious effort to build. Because each number carries its planet, a missing 5 is read through Mercury, as communication or adaptability that has to be practised, and a missing 8 through Saturn, as discipline or patience that grows with time.

A repeated number is read as an emphasis. One appearance is the ordinary expression of that number. Two is taken as a strength, and three or more as so much of the quality that it can tip into excess. Repeated 1s, for instance, add to the Sun's self-expression and confidence; a heavy cluster can be read as stubbornness.

Neither is a verdict. The tradition treats missing numbers as areas for growth and repeated numbers as tendencies to be aware of, and it reads them together with the core numbers rather than as a standalone judgement.

On the Numerology tab in Ask My Astro, your grid is drawn with each digit repeated in its cell as many times as it was placed, and an empty cell shows a dot. Under it you see which numbers are missing and which are repeated, where a number counts as repeated once it appears two or more times.

Planes and arrows

The eight lines through the square are read as planes. The three rows are the mental plane (4, 9, 2), the emotional plane (3, 5, 7) and the practical plane (8, 1, 6). The three columns are the thought plane (4, 3, 8), the will plane (9, 5, 1) and the action plane (2, 7, 6). Then come the two diagonals, 4, 5, 6 and 2, 5, 8.

When all three numbers of a line are present, the line is complete and is called an arrow of strength. When none of its numbers are present, it is empty and is called an arrow of weakness. A line with one or two of its numbers is partial and is read as neither.

The meaning of each line follows from the planets that rule its cells. The will plane joins Mars, Mercury and the Sun, so a complete 9, 5, 1 line is read as determination backed by intellect and a clear sense of self. The practical plane joins Saturn, the Sun and Venus: method, identity and comfort.

In the 15 June 1990 example, the will plane and the 4, 5, 6 diagonal are complete, and no line is fully empty. Ask My Astro lists your arrows of strength and arrows of weakness by name under your grid.

The Kua number

The Kua number comes from the Eight Mansions school of feng shui, where it describes a person's favourable directions. Ask My Astro also adds it to your grid as one more number, which is this app's choice rather than a common convention.

It is calculated from the year of birth and gender. Add the digits of the year and reduce the total to a single digit. For a man, subtract that digit from 11 and reduce again if needed; if the result is 5, the Kua is 2. For a woman, add 4 to the digit and reduce; if the result is 5, the Kua is 8. For someone born in 1984, the year reduces to 4, which gives a Kua of 7 for a man and 8 for a woman.

Traditions differ on one point worth knowing. Feng shui counts the year from the Chinese solar new year in early February, so some practitioners use the previous year for anyone born in January or the first days of February. Others simply use the calendar year.

Because the classical formula is defined only for male and female, Ask My Astro adds the Kua to your grid only when your profile's gender is set to one of those two. Otherwise the line under the grid notes that the Kua has been left out.

Lo Shu grids for two people

Some practitioners compare two people's grids side by side, looking at whether each supplies numbers the other is missing. In the Match tab, the Numerology section shows both grids next to each other and names which of each person's missing numbers the other one supplies, along with any repeated numbers you share.

Below that is a combined grid, with each person's digits in their own colour. It lists the lines that become complete only when the two grids are put together, with who supplies each number, and marks a diagonal completed together as a Raj Yog. All of this is labelled indicative and non-classical, and it is kept separate from the Guna Milan score.

Reading your own grid

The grid is a quick picture of the numbers in a birth date. The missing numbers point to qualities to develop, the repeated ones to strong tendencies, and the complete lines to areas where several of those strengths work together. Read it with your life path, driver and conductor numbers, not on its own.

Open the Numerology tab to see your own grid, and ask in that tab's chat what a missing number or a particular plane means for you.

Frequently asked

How is the Lo Shu grid calculated from date of birth?

Place every non-zero digit of your full date of birth in its cell of the square 4 9 2, 3 5 7, 8 1 6, repeating a digit as often as it occurs. Many Indian practitioners also add the driver number and the conductor number. Ask My Astro adds the Kua number too. Methods vary on which of these to include.

What does a missing number in the Lo Shu grid mean?

It is read as a quality that does not come naturally and may need conscious effort, described through the number's ruling planet. A missing 5, for example, points to Mercury's communication and adaptability. It describes a tendency, not a fixed outcome.

Is zero counted in the Lo Shu grid?

No. The square only has cells for 1 to 9, so zeros in a date of birth are skipped.

How do I calculate my Kua number?

Add the digits of your birth year and reduce to a single digit. For men, subtract it from 11 and reduce, and a result of 5 becomes 2. For women, add 4 and reduce, and a result of 5 becomes 8. Some practitioners use the previous year for births in January or early February.

What are arrows of strength and weakness in the Lo Shu grid?

An arrow of strength is a row, column or diagonal whose three numbers are all present. An arrow of weakness is a line with none of its numbers present. Each is read through the planets ruling its three cells.

See it for your own chart

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