So you have heard about BaZi — the
ancient art of Four Pillars of Destiny
— and you want to know how to read
your own chart. You have come to
the right place.
In this complete beginner’s guide,
we will walk you through everything
you need to know to understand your
BaZi chart — from generating it for
the first time to understanding what
each part means.
What You Need to Get Started
To generate your BaZi chart, you
will need:
- Your exact date of birth
(day, month, year) - Your exact time of birth
(as precise as possible) - Your place of birth
(for time zone adjustment)
The time of birth is particularly
important in BaZi, as it determines
your Hour Pillar — one of the four
key pillars of your chart. If you
do not know your exact birth time,
you can still read a partial chart
using only your year, month, and
day of birth.
Step 1: Generate Your BaZi Chart
The first step is to calculate your
Four Pillars chart. You can do this
using a BaZi calculator — simply
enter your date and time of birth
to generate your eight characters.
Your chart will display four pillars,
each consisting of two characters:
Year Pillar (年柱)
- Top character: Year Heavenly Stem
- Bottom character: Year Earthly Branch
→ Represents your ancestry, early
childhood, and social environment
Month Pillar (月柱)
- Top character: Month Heavenly Stem
- Bottom character: Month Earthly Branch
→ Represents your career, education,
and middle years of life
Day Pillar (日柱)
- Top character: Day Heavenly Stem ← YOUR DAY MASTER
- Bottom character: Day Earthly Branch
→ Represents your adult self, marriage,
and core identity
Hour Pillar (時柱)
- Top character: Hour Heavenly Stem
- Bottom character: Hour Earthly Branch
→ Represents your later years, children,
and deepest aspirations
Step 2: Identify Your Day Master
The single most important character
in your entire BaZi chart is your
Day Master — the Heavenly Stem of
your Day Pillar.
Your Day Master represents your
core identity — who you are at
your deepest level. It is the
lens through which all other
elements in your chart are
interpreted.
There are ten possible Day Masters,
one for each of the Ten Heavenly Stems:
Yang Wood (甲) — The Oak Tree
Yin Wood (乙) — The Vine
Yang Fire (丙) — The Sun
Yin Fire (丁) — The Candle
Yang Earth (戊) — The Mountain
Yin Earth (己) — The Soil
Yang Metal (庚) — The Sword
Yin Metal (辛) — The Jewel
Yang Water (壬) — The Ocean
Yin Water (癸) — The Rain
Once you know your Day Master,
you have the foundation for
understanding your entire chart.
Step 3: Identify Your Elements
The next step is to identify which
of the Five Elements appear in your
chart — and in what quantity.
Count how many times each element
appears across all eight characters
of your chart:
- Wood (木): Count all Wood characters
- Fire (火): Count all Fire characters
- Earth (土): Count all Earth characters
- Metal (金): Count all Metal characters
- Water (水): Count all Water characters
This gives you your elemental profile —
your unique combination of the
Five Elements.
What Does Your Elemental Balance Mean?
Strong elements (appearing 3+ times)
represent your natural strengths,
dominant personality traits, and
areas where energy flows easily.
Weak or absent elements represent
areas of challenge, blind spots,
or qualities you may need to
consciously develop.
Step 4: Find Your Useful God (用神)
In BaZi, the Useful God (Yong Shen)
is the element that your Day Master
needs most — the element that brings
your chart into balance.
Finding your Useful God is one of
the most important steps in BaZi
reading, as it reveals:
- The types of environments where
you naturally thrive - The careers and industries best
suited to your chart - The qualities to cultivate in
yourself and seek in others - The colors, directions, and
activities that support your
energy
Step 5: Read Your Ten Gods (十神)
The Ten Gods are the relationships
between your Day Master and every
other character in your chart.
They reveal how different energies
function within your specific chart.
The Ten Gods include:
- Friends (比肩) and Rob Wealth (劫財)
— your peers and competitors - Eating God (食神) and Hurting Officer (傷官)
— your creative expression - Indirect Wealth (偏財) and Direct Wealth (正財)
— your relationship with money - Seven Killings (七殺) and Officer (正官)
— your authority and discipline - Indirect Resource (偏印) and Direct Resource (正印)
— your wisdom and support
Each of these gods plays a different
role in your life depending on where
they appear in your chart and how
strong they are.
Step 6: Understand Your Luck Pillars
Your BaZi chart is not static —
it unfolds through time via your
Luck Pillars (大運), which change
every ten years throughout your life.
Each Luck Pillar introduces a new
set of elemental energies that
interact with your natal chart,
creating different opportunities
and challenges during that decade.
Understanding your current Luck
Pillar is essential for timing
major life decisions — career
changes, relationships, investments,
and personal growth.
Step 7: Consider the Annual Luck
In addition to your ten-year
Luck Pillars, each calendar year
brings its own energy that
interacts with your natal chart.
This is why BaZi readers produce
annual forecasts — to help you
understand how the energy of
each year will specifically
affect your unique chart.
How Deep Does BaZi Go?
The seven steps above are just
the beginning. A complete BaZi
reading can take years of study
to master fully.
Advanced BaZi analysis includes:
- Special structures and formations
- Clash, combination, and punishment
interactions between branches - The hidden stems within each branch
- Month and day luck interactions
- Chart strength assessment
But you do not need to master all
of this to begin your BaZi journey.
Start with your Day Master, explore
your elemental balance, and let
your understanding deepen naturally
over time.
Your BaZi Calculator is Coming
Stay tuned to Ondo Destiny — our
free BaZi calculator is coming
soon, where you will be able to
generate your complete Four Pillars
chart instantly, identify your
Day Master, and begin exploring
your unique destiny blueprint.
Conclusion
Reading your BaZi chart is one of
the most profound journeys of
self-discovery you can undertake.
Each layer you uncover reveals
something new about who you are,
why you are the way you are, and
what your unique path in life
may look like.
The chart does not define you.
It simply reflects you — and
in that reflection, you may
find a deeper understanding
of yourself than you ever
thought possible.
Your destiny is not written
in stone. It is written in
the stars — and it is yours
to explore.