Glossary

Chinese astrology (BaZi & Zi Wei)

BaZi (八字). The Chinese 'Four Pillars of Destiny' — your birth date and time converted into four pillars of element pairings. Literally 'eight characters'.

Four Pillars. The year, month, day, and hour pillars of a BaZi chart; each has a heavenly stem and an earthly branch.

Day Master. The heavenly stem of your day pillar — the single element that represents you. Everything else in the chart is read in relation to it.

Strong / weak (day master). Whether the rest of the chart supports your Day Master (strong) or outnumbers it (weak). Not good or bad — each runs best in different conditions.

Five elements (Wu Xing, 五行). Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water — five phases of energy that generate and control each other; the grammar of Chinese astrology.

Favourable elements (用神). The elements that bring your chart into balance — what nourishes or strengthens you. Used to guide remedies, colours, and directions.

Heavenly stems / earthly branches. The two cycles (10 stems, 12 branches) that combine to label each pillar; the branches map to the 12 Chinese zodiac animals.

Ten Gods (十神). The ten roles other elements play relative to your Day Master — resource, peer, output, wealth, and officer (each in two forms).

Luck pillars (大運). Ten-year cycles that flavour each stretch of your life as more or less favourable.

Zi Wei Dou Shu (紫微斗数). 'Purple Star' astrology — a Chinese system that maps your life into twelve palaces, each lit by specific stars.

Palaces. The twelve life domains of a Zi Wei chart: self, siblings, spouse, children, wealth, health, travel, friends, career, property, fortune, and parents.

Soul lord / body lord. In Zi Wei, the stars governing your core nature (soul lord, 命主) and the self you grow into (body lord, 身主).

Four Transformations (四化). Yearly activations of certain stars into prosperity (禄), power (权), fame (科), or trouble (忌) — how Zi Wei reads timing and turning points.

Western astrology

Sun sign. Your core identity and life direction — the sign the Sun was in at your birth.

Moon sign. Your emotional inner world — how you feel and what you need to feel safe.

Rising sign (Ascendant). The sign on the eastern horizon at your birth; how you come across and approach the world. Changes about every two hours, so it needs your birth time.

Houses. Twelve life areas in a birth chart (career, relationships, etc.) that the planets fall into.

Synastry. The comparison of two birth charts to read relationship compatibility.

North / South Node. The lunar nodes — the South Node is a familiar past pattern; the North Node is the growth direction for this life.

Numerology

Life Path number. The sum of your birth date reduced to a single digit (1–9) — your core numerological theme.

Master numbers. 11, 22 and 33 — numbers kept un-reduced because they carry intensified energy and a higher calling.

Karmic debt numbers. 13, 14, 16 and 19 in numerology — patterns thought to carry a lesson to work through.

Our method

Synthesis. Reading all four systems together as one integrated picture, rather than four separate horoscopes.

Triangulation. Cross-checking independent systems: where they agree, an insight is high-confidence; where they differ, that tension is the nuance.

Deterministic. Computed from fixed astronomy and calendar math — the same birth data always produces the same chart.