Chinese zodiac · Four Pillars · 八字
Your year animal is only the beginning.
Chinese astrology reads four pillars of destiny: the year, the month, the day and the hour you were born. Eight characters, five elements, and three animals that tell three different stories about you.
丙午This is the year of the Fire Horse
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The Four Pillars
For a thousand years, Chinese astrologers have written the moment of birth as eight characters in four columns, and read a life from the way they meet. Below are the pillars of today at noon; yours are calculated from your own birth.
Fire Horse
Year pillar
Your ancestors and the face you show the world. Its animal is the one everybody knows.
Earth Dog
Month pillar
Your parents, your youth and your inner life. Its animal is your inner animal, the heart.
Wood Pig
Day pillar
You and your partner. Its heavenly stem is your Day Master, the self at the centre.
Water Horse
Hour pillar
Your children, your later years and your hidden self. Its animal is your secret animal.
The twelve animals
In the legend of the Great Race, the Jade Emperor gave the twelve years to the first animals to cross the river. Their order is the order of the zodiac to this day.
Rat 鼠1984, 1996, 2008…
Ox 牛1985, 1997, 2009…
Tiger 虎1986, 1998, 2010…
Rabbit 兔1987, 1999, 2011…
Dragon 龍1988, 2000, 2012…
Snake 蛇1989, 2001, 2013…Horse 馬1990, 2002, 2014…
Goat 羊1991, 2003, 2015…
Monkey 猴1992, 2004, 2016…
Rooster 雞1993, 2005, 2017…
Dog 狗1994, 2006, 2018…
Pig 豬1995, 2007, 2019…Free questionnaire and preview
The five elements
Every character of your chart carries one of five elements. How many of each you have, and which are missing, shapes your nature and what brings you balance.
Bazi · 八字
“Eight characters”: the Four Pillars of Destiny. The year, month, day and hour of birth, each written as a pair of characters, a heavenly stem above an earthly branch.
Heavenly stems · 天干
Ten signs that pair the five elements with yin and yang: Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire and so on. The stem of your birth day is your Day Master.
Earthly branches · 地支
Twelve signs, one for each animal of the zodiac, which also mark the months of the year and the double hours of the day.
The sixty-year cycle · 甲子
Stems and branches turn together and return to the same pair every sixty years. Each year, month, day and hour has its place in the cycle.
Day Master · 日主
The stem of the day you were born: the self at the centre of the chart. Everything else in the Four Pillars is read by how it treats the Day Master.
The five elements · 五行
Wood, fire, earth, metal and water, which feed and restrain one another in two great cycles. A chart's balance between them is the key to its reading.
Solar terms · 節氣
Twenty-four points of the sun's yearly path. The Four Pillars year begins at Lichun, the start of spring, around 4 February, and each month at a solar term.
Inner and secret animals
Your year animal is the face you show the world. The animal of your birth month is your inner animal, the heart; the animal of your birth hour is your secret animal, your true self.
Na Yin · 纳音
“Received sound”: a poetic image given to each pair of years in the sixty-cycle, such as Gold in the Sea or Fire on the Mountain.
Tai Sui · 太歲
The general of the year, who takes the seat of each year's animal. Whether your animal is in harmony or in clash with him colours the year ahead.
How it works
You tell us a first name, a birth date and, if you know it, the time. We find the solar terms of your birth year, raise the four pillars, count the five elements, find your Day Master and your three animals, and write them into your personal reading.
Four Pillars reading
Mei
Born Friday, 18 September 1992
Yang Water Monkey
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What you receive
- ◆Your zodiac animal and its element, read in depth
- ◆Your complete Four Pillars chart, all eight characters
- ◆Your Day Master, the self at the centre of the chart
- ◆The balance of the five elements and your favourable elements
- ◆The Ten Gods of your chart and your ten-year Luck Pillars
- ◆Your inner animal and your secret animal
- ◆The Na Yin sound of your birth year
- ◆Love and your matches among the twelve animals
- ◆Work, money, health and the year ahead
- ◆Lucky numbers, colours, directions and flower
- ◆A printable scroll with your chart
Questions
Is it free?
The questionnaire and your preview are free. The full Four Pillars reading is an optional one-off purchase, with no subscription.
What do I need?
A first name and a birth date. The time of birth is optional but recommended: it raises the fourth pillar and your secret animal.
I was born in January or early February. Which animal am I?
Your zodiac animal follows the Lunar New Year, as most people know it. The Four Pillars follow the solar calendar, which starts the year at Lichun around 4 February. If you were born between the two, your reading explains both.
How accurate is it?
The solar terms and the Lunar New Year are calculated astronomically for your birth year and dated in China time, as in the traditional almanac. The day pillar follows the unbroken sixty-day cycle.
Can I make one for my child or partner?
Yes. Choose who it is for at the start and the reading is written for them.
Eight characters are waiting to be read.
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