學 · The six chapters

Learn BaZi, one chapter at a time

Six short chapters, in plain language, assuming you have never met any of this before. Read them here as they are, or cast your chart and read them against your own pillars — that happens on your device, and nothing about you is sent anywhere.

Cast your chart

Every term, in a sentence or two

八字BaZi: BaZi, the “eight characters,” is a Chinese system for reading a person, over a thousand years old. Your birth year, month, day, and hour each give two characters; those eight describe the energies you were born with. It does not predict events; it describes your nature so you can work with it.
四柱The Four Pillars: The four pillars are the year, month, day, and hour of your birth. Each is written as two characters: a heavenly stem above and an earthly branch below. Year speaks of your roots, Month of your growth, Day of you yourself, and Hour of your inner world.
日主Day Master: The Day Master is the stem of your day pillar: the heart of your chart and your elemental signature. Everything else in BaZi is read in relation to it. It is not who you must be; it is the energy you naturally carry.
用神Useful Element: The useful element is the one that best rebalances your chart: the energy you benefit from inviting into your life. If your chart runs strong, it is what drains the excess; if it runs weak, it is what feeds you. Small daily doses beat grand gestures.
五行The Five Elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water are five qualities of energy, not substances. They feed each other in one circle (Wood feeds Fire, Fire makes Earth…) and keep each other in check in another (Water quenches Fire, Metal cuts Wood…). Your chart is a particular mixture of all five.
陰陽Yin & Yang: Every stem and branch carries a polarity. Yang expresses outward: initiative, visibility, momentum. Yin works inward: receptivity, subtlety, depth. Neither is stronger; they are two halves of one movement.
干支Stems & Branches: The ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches are the alphabet of BaZi. A stem is a pure element with a polarity; a branch is richer: it carries a zodiac animal and hides one to three stems inside it. Stems show what is visible in a life; branches show what runs underneath.
藏干Hidden Stems: Each earthly branch conceals one to three stems within it, like minerals inside rock. They count toward your element balance and explain why two charts that look alike on the surface can feel completely different.
十神The Ten Gods: The Ten Gods name the role each stem plays relative to your Day Master: companion, wealth, officer, resource, and so on. They turn a chart from a list of elements into a cast of characters: who supports you, who challenges you, what you produce, and what you command.
大運Luck Pillars: Beyond the birth chart, BaZi reads life in ten-year chapters called luck pillars. Each decade carries its own pair of characters, its own elemental weather. The weather does not choose your steps; it colors the landscape you walk through.
生肖Zodiac Animals: The twelve animals, Rat through Pig, are the friendly faces of the twelve earthly branches. Your birth year’s branch gives the animal most people know, but in BaZi every pillar has one: you also have a month, day, and hour animal.
Solar Time: BaZi uses the sun’s true position, not the clock. Clock time is standardized across whole time zones, so depending on where you were born the sun may be ahead of or behind your birth certificate by many minutes. Entering your birth city lets the app correct for this.
流月The Year Ahead: Just as your birth month has a pillar, every month of the calendar carries one: the “flowing months.” Reading them against your Day Master shows which months feed you, which press on you, and which carry your useful element. Months follow the sun, so each begins at a solar term (around the 4th–8th), not on the 1st.
Insight: Insight is earned by checking in on the day’s pillars, one per day. Spend it to complete chapters of your journey. The pacing is the point: BaZi is absorbed in days, not minutes.
木Wood: Wood rises: the energy of growth, vision, and compassion. It is fed by Water, feeds Fire, shapes Earth, and is shaped by Metal. In a person it shows as the urge to learn, begin, and reach upward.
火Fire: Fire radiates: the energy of charisma, clarity, and warmth. It is fed by Wood, makes Earth, melts Metal, and is quenched by Water. In a person it shows as expressiveness, joy, and the power to illuminate others.
土Earth: Earth settles: the energy of reliability, patience, and care. It is made by Fire, bears Metal, dams Water, and is broken by Wood. In a person it shows as steadiness, trustworthiness, and the instinct to nourish.
金Metal: Metal contracts: the energy of precision, integrity, and discernment. It is born of Earth, carries Water, cuts Wood, and is melted by Fire. In a person it shows as clarity of judgment and the courage to refine.
水Water: Water flows: the energy of wisdom, adaptability, and depth. It is carried by Metal, grows Wood, quenches Fire, and is dammed by Earth. In a person it shows as intuition, empathy, and the patience to find a way around any obstacle.