The BaZi Guide

BaZi (八字), the "Four Pillars of Destiny", is Chinese astrology read from the exact moment of your birth — four pairs of characters (year, month, day, hour) that map your temperament, strengths and timing. Here's everything you need to read yours, in plain English.

Start here: your day master

The single most important character in your chart is your day master — the stem of your day of birth, the "you" everything else is measured against. There are ten.

• Find your day master (free calculator) →
• All ten day masters and what they mean →
• What is your BaZi day master?

Strong or weak?

A day master is read as strong or weak depending on how much the rest of the chart supports it. Neither is "good" or "bad" — they just mean you run best in different ways (channelling energy out vs. being supported and replenished).

• Strong vs weak day master, explained

The five elements

Every chart is a balance of five elements — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water — that generate and control one another. The ones you have a lot of, and the ones you lack, shape you and point to what brings you back into balance.

• See your element balance (free) →
• The five elements, one by one →
• The Five Elements (Wu Xing) explained

Why birth time matters

BaZi uses your hour of birth (in true solar time) for the hour pillar — which is why an accurate birth time changes the reading.

• Why your birth time matters
• The full BaZi / Four Pillars calculator →

BaZi in context

BaZi is one of five traditions a Fortune Synthesis reading combines. See how it compares to Western astrology and Zi Wei Dou Shu, and why reading them together is more reliable than any one alone.

• Western astrology vs BaZi vs Zi Wei Dou Shu
• Why we read five systems together →