Four Pillars, the basics

What the four pillars are

The year, month, day and hour of birth are each written as a pair of characters — one for the heavenly stem, one for the earthly branch. Four pairs make the four pillars (Saju, or BaZi); eight characters in all. What matters is not the calendar date but the solar terms: the year turns at the Start of Spring, not on 1 January, and each month turns at the computed instant its term begins.

The ten heavenly stems

The twelve earthly branches and the hours

The hours are shifted by thirty minutes because Korean standard time is set to 135°E. Seoul (about 127°E) sees the sun roughly 32 minutes later, and we apply this true solar time correction by default.

The ten gods — reading by relationship

Each other character is named by how it relates to your day master, the stem of the day you were born.

• Friend

  Independence, competitiveness, peers. Pushing forward on your own strength

• Rob Wealth

  Drive and the will to win. Collaboration and conflict grow together

• Eating God

  Expression, appetite, steadiness. Results made while enjoying the work

• Hurting Officer

  Talent, eloquence, change. Breaking the mould and showing it

• Indirect Wealth

  Business sense and circulation. Wealth earned big and spent big

• Direct Wealth

  Diligent accumulation. Wealth managed steadily

• Seven Killings

  Breakthrough and charisma. Growth under pressure

• Direct Officer

  Honour, order, career. Recognition within the rules

• Indirect Resource

  Intuition, expertise, inquiry. Learning in an unusual way

• Direct Resource

  Documents, credentials, benefactors. Being taught and protected

Decade cycles — the flow in ten-year steps

The decade cycles start from the month pillar and move one step every ten years, changing the environment around the chart. A man born in a yang year, or a woman born in a yin year, moves forward through the sequence; the others move backward. The starting age is the number of days from birth to the next (or previous) solar term, divided by three. The same chart feels entirely different depending on which cycle it is passing through.