How to read a Bazi chart

The example chart

Male, 15 March 1984, 19:29, standard time, longitude about 103.76 degrees east. The pillars are Jia Zi, Ding Mao, Wu Shen and Ren Xu. The figures below are produced by this site's engine when the page loads. They are not typed in by hand.

Step 1: find the Day Master

The day stem is Wu, yang Earth. The ten stems run: Jia and Yi wood, Bing and Ding fire, Wu and Ji earth, Geng and Xin metal, Ren and Gui water. In each pair the yang stem comes first. The Day Master is the reference point of the chart.

Step 2: count the elements

Count the visible stems, then the main element of each branch, then add the hidden stems. Metal is absent from the visible stems of this example, which is not the same as absent from the chart, because a branch can hide it. The three count lines are filled by the engine.

Step 3: strong or weak

The month carries the most weight. A Mao month is spring, when wood is in season, and wood controls earth, so this yang Earth Day Master is not strong just because earth appears. Support is fire and earth. Drain and control are metal, water and wood. The engine's support and drain numbers are a count. A reader also weighs season and combinations.

Step 4: the ten gods

Companion and Rob Wealth are the same element as the Day Master. Eating God and Hurting Officer are what the Day Master produces. Direct and Indirect Wealth are what it controls. Direct Officer and Seven Killings control it. Direct and Indirect Resource produce it. In plain words: peers, expression, resources, authority and support. The engine labels each pillar of the example.

Step 5: luck pillars and the year

Luck pillars run ten years each. The starting age is the days to the next or previous solar term, divided by three. Direction depends on the year stem and gender. This example has a yang year stem and is male, so the pillars run forward. The engine also gives the 2026 annual pillar. A fire year meets the structure of the chart. That is not a prediction of events.

What you can read yourself

Counts and names are readable on your own. Seasonal strength, combinations and clashes, and which element helps this person with a real decision, are where a reading starts. That is the innate Bazi analysis.

Plot your own birth data in the free Bazi calculator. Colour choices are on five element colours, the balance is the five elements calculator, and a reading is innate Bazi analysis.

Related pages

• free Bazi calculator
• five element colours
• five elements calculator
• innate Bazi analysis
• Five elements
• Metaphysics

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