Top row: the Heavenly Stem 天干 tiān gān, what shows on the surface.Bottom row: the Earthly Branch 地支 dì zhī, the ground beneath it, one of the twelve animals.
Year年 nián
庚GēngYang Metal
午WǔHorse · Fire
Roots and early life
Month月 yuè
壬RénYang Water
午WǔHorse · Fire
Parents, work, surroundings
Day日 rì
辛XīnYin MetalYou
亥HàiPig · Water
You and your partner
Hour時 shí
乙YǐYin Wood
未WèiGoat · Earth
Children and later life
An example chart: born 15 June 1990 at 14:30 in Singapore. Its Day Master is 辛 Xīn, Yin Metal. Press “Try an example” above to see its full reading.
01 · 天干 tiān gān · 地支 dì zhīEight characters
Each pillar is one of ten Heavenly Stems over one of twelve Earthly Branches. The branches are the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. Paired in turn, stems and branches make a cycle of sixty that counts the years, months, days and hours.
02 · 五行 wǔ xíngFive Elements
Every character is Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal or Water, and either Yin or Yang. Each element feeds the next: Wood feeds Fire, Fire makes Earth, Earth bears Metal, Metal gathers Water, Water nourishes Wood. Each also controls another, the way Water puts out Fire. Your chart counts how much of each you carry.
03 · 日主 rì zhǔYour Day Master
The top character of your day pillar stands for you. Everything else in the chart is read against it: what supports you, what you give out, what presses on you. Your reading starts there.
04 · 大運 dà yùnLuck pillars
Life runs in ten-year seasons, each with its own pillar. They do not change who you are; they change the conditions around you. That is why two people with similar charts can have very different decades.
05 · 立春 lì chūnWhy the exact moment matters
The Chinese solar calendar starts the year at Li Chun, around 4 February, and turns the month at fixed points of the sun, not at the new moon. The hour pillar changes every two hours. So the calculator corrects your clock time to the sun at your birthplace. No birth time? You still get three pillars, six characters.
06What it is, and what it is not
Ba Zi shows tendency and timing: what you were born with and the weather you move through. It is not fortune-telling and it is not a medical diagnosis. In White Tiger Qigong it is one of four lenses, read together with your face, the I-Ching and your Five Element assessment.
