What is BaZi?
BaZi (八字, "eight characters"), also called the Four Pillars of Destiny, is a Chinese way of reading a birth date and time.
The four pillars
Your birth year, month, day and hour each become a pillar. Every pillar has two characters: a Heavenly Stem on top and an Earthly Branch below. Four pillars with two characters each make the "eight characters".
Your Day Master
The Heavenly Stem of your day pillar is your Day Master. It's read as the core of the chart, the "you" that the other characters describe. Each Day Master is one of the five elements, in a yang or yin form, for example Yang Wood or Yin Water.
The five elements
Wood, fire, earth, metal and water feed and control one another in cycles. A chart heavy in one element and light in another is read as having a particular balance, which colours how the day's energy is interpreted.
The Chinese zodiac animal
The Earthly Branch of your year pillar gives your zodiac animal, such as the Dragon or the Rabbit. Note that the BaZi year usually starts at the beginning of spring (around 4 February), not on 1 January.
How Astrablend uses BaZi
Astrablend works out your pillars, Day Master and element balance on your phone, then blends them with your Western sign, palm and a tarot card into one daily reading. Adding your birth time completes the hour pillar.
For entertainment, wellbeing and self-reflection only. Not medical, financial, legal or psychological advice.