four-pillars
Four Pillars
The year, month, day, and hour pillars convert a birth moment into eight characters. Each pillar has a Heavenly Stem and an Earthly Branch.
BaZi guide
BaZi Meanings
Use this as a plain-language reference before or after a Four Pillars calculation. BaZi becomes easier to read when you separate the chart structure, the Day Master reference point, and the relationships around it.
How to read it
Start with the four pillars and Day Master. Then read Five Elements as balance signals, Ten Gods as relationship labels, and Da Yun as changing context. Treat the chart as a structure for reflection, not a fixed verdict.
Generate a free BaZi chartEssentials
The core words that make a BaZi chart readable before any interpretation begins.
5 meanings
day-master
Day Master
The Day Master is the Heavenly Stem of the day pillar. It is the reference point used to read elements, Ten Gods, and the rest of the chart.
five-elements
Five Elements
Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water describe movement and balance in the chart. They are read as relationships, not personality labels.
ten-gods
Ten Gods
Ten Gods are labels created by comparing other stems and branches to the Day Master. They organize support, output, resources, pressure, and peers.
da-yun
Da Yun
Da Yun is the ten-year timing cycle. It changes the surrounding context while the natal chart remains the same.
Four Pillars
The pillars place the same chart into different layers of time and life context.
4 meanings
year
Year Pillar
The year pillar gives broad background: lineage, early environment, and the wider field around the person.
month
Month Pillar
The month pillar is tied to season and social environment. It often has strong weight because seasonal qi shapes element strength.
day
Day Pillar
The day pillar holds the Day Master and the closest personal reference point. Many readings return here before making a judgment.
hour
Hour Pillar
The hour pillar adds later-life, legacy, children, projects, and what develops after the core pattern is already formed.
Five Elements
Elements show how chart energies support, drain, control, or transform one another.
5 meanings
wood
Wood
Wood points to growth, planning, flexibility, and the push to extend. In relationships, Wood generates Fire and is controlled by Metal.
fire
Fire
Fire points to visibility, warmth, expression, and speed. It generates Earth and is controlled by Water.
earth
Earth
Earth points to containment, stability, digestion, and practical ground. It generates Metal and is controlled by Wood.
metal
Metal
Metal points to structure, precision, boundaries, and decision. It generates Water and is controlled by Fire.
water
Water
Water points to flow, memory, adaptation, and depth. It generates Wood and is controlled by Earth.
Ten Gods
Ten Gods are not literal gods. They are relationship names around the Day Master.
10 meanings
friend
Friend
Friend describes same-element peer energy: independence, equality, self-reliance, and direct comparison.
rob-wealth
Rob Wealth
Rob Wealth describes same-element competitive energy: urgency, alliance, rivalry, and shared resources under pressure.
eating-god
Eating God
Eating God describes expressive output that flows smoothly from the Day Master: craft, ease, nourishment, and relaxed creation.
hurting-officer
Hurting Officer
Hurting Officer describes sharper output: critique, display, disruption, and the need to speak in one's own way.
direct-wealth
Direct Wealth
Direct Wealth describes tangible resource management: consistency, responsibility, practical value, and visible returns.
indirect-wealth
Indirect Wealth
Indirect Wealth describes opportunity resources: networks, timing, side channels, and gains that require judgment.
direct-officer
Direct Officer
Direct Officer describes orderly pressure: rules, responsibility, reputation, and structures that ask for discipline.
seven-killings
Seven Killings
Seven Killings describes intense pressure: challenge, speed, risk, confrontation, and the need to channel force well.
direct-resource
Direct Resource
Direct Resource describes supportive input: learning, protection, care, and the systems that help the Day Master recover.
indirect-resource
Indirect Resource
Indirect Resource describes unconventional input: intuition, unusual study, solitude, and patterns that do not arrive through obvious channels.
Timing
Timing layers help compare the same natal structure with changing yearly and ten-year contexts.
2 meanings
da-yun-cycle
Da Yun cycle
A Da Yun cycle usually spans ten years. It is read as a background climate, not as a single event prediction.
annual-pillar
Annual pillar
The annual pillar adds the year's stem and branch to the natal chart. It is useful for checking which natal themes become easier to notice.