The journal · The systems
BaZi
Chinese Four Pillars in depth, the system the twelve animals are one eighth of.
12 articles.
Missing BaZi elements: what an absent element means
When one of the five elements is absent from your Four Pillars: what it means, what it does not, and how a reader supplies it. A missing element is a talking point, not a diagnosis.
5 min read
The BaZi Peach Blossom star, explained
The romance-and-charm star of BaZi, found from the animal branches, and always landing on a cardinal one. Half my clients have it.
4 min read
BaZi vs Chinese zodiac: why they're not the same thing
The animal is one of eight characters. The other seven are the system, and they turn the year on a different day.
4 min read
Why BaZi needs your exact birth hour
A quarter of the chart, and often the quarter that changes the answer. I will not read without it.
5 min read
Clashes, combinations and harms between branches
Six clashes, six combinations, four trines, and the arithmetic that means almost everyone has some. Count only the ones that touch the day pillar.
11 min read
Day Master: the single most important element in your chart
One of ten characters, and every other thing in your chart is described by what it does to it. Start here or don't start.
4 min read
Luck Pillars: how BaZi handles timing
Ten-year periods with their own characters, and the timing structure Western astrology has no equivalent for. I read them last, always.
5 min read
How to read your Four Pillars chart
Eight characters in a grid, and the reading order I teach, because the order is most of the skill.
4 min read
Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches: the building blocks
Ten and twelve, turning together into sixty, the oldest calendar still in daily use. The hidden stems are where I earn my fee.
4 min read
The Ten Gods explained
Five relationships, split by yin and yang, and the whole interpretive layer of BaZi. Learn the polarity rule and half the mistakes disappear.
5 min read
Favourable God and element balance
The element a chart most needs, by one method or another, and the most disputed judgement in the whole system. Two teachers, two answers, one chart.
5 min read
What is BaZi? The Chinese system that isn't the zodiac
Eight characters, four pillars, and about twelve times more information than the animal on your placemat. This is the system I read in Hong Kong every week.
4 min read
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