First introduction to Chinese Astrology,
The Four Pillars of Destiny (Ba Zi)
How to interpret the Chinese birth date calculator?
By Anette Halfon
The Chinese describe time as a combination of 2 kinds of energies: the energies from heaven and the energies from earth.
The energies from heaven are the 5 elements: water, wood, fire, earth and metal, each of them in a yang and yin phase. The yang is usually stronger and more calculated and energetic, the yin more subtle, delicate and emotional.
The energies from earth are the 12 zodiac animals: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar (Pig).
In the calculator you will see the combination of these energies written under the year of your birth, the month, the day and the hour. Because they are written one on top of the other it is called “pillars”.
The Four Pillars of Destiny are the Year pillar, the Month pillar, the Day pillar and the Hour pillar. There are some more pillars, but these are the most important ones.
All you have to do now is: to insert your date of birth into the calculator and choose the time zone and press “calculate”.
| One of the 5 | Day pillar | Month pillar | Year pillar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One of the 5
elements |
One of the 5
elements |
One of the 5
elements |
One of the 5
elements |
Heavenly energies |
| One of the Zodiac animals | One of the Zodiac animals | One of the Zodiac animals | One of the Zodiac animals | Earthly energies |
| Your children | Yourself &
Your spouse |
Your parents | Your career | Refers to |
Most important information we get from the year and the day pillar.
| One of the 5 | Day pillar | Month pillar | Year pillar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One of the 5
elements |
Yourself | One of the 5
elements |
One of the 5
elements |
Heavenly energies |
| One of the Zodiac animals | Your spouse | One of the Zodiac animals | Your year animal | Earthly energies |
The animal written in the Year pillar (your main or year animal) shows your behavior in public and how people see you.
Your character will be shown as one of the 5 elements in the Day pillar. For more details about the main element you may look into my article: “My character” under my Feng Shui articles here on my website.
In the Day pillar in the earthly energies you will find a zodiac animal which represents your spouse or what qualities your spouse should have or rather what qualities you are expecting from her or him. Are you looking for an energetic horse or a rather family minded rabbit?
Of course this is only a very rough and simple introduction into the subject and there are a lot of interactions and relations between the energies and a lot more details to be considered to get the whole picture.
In my next article, next month hopefully, I will tell you a bit more about the characteristics of the zodiac animals. Then you will know what it means when your year animal is a monkey or an ox?
