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The terms, explained
riffos lays five systems out on one bagua. These short guides explain what each one works out, how, and how to read it. The Chinese terms stay, each explained where it first appears.
BaZi basics
The four pillars, five elements, ten gods and day master: the frame of a BaZi chart.
BaZi and the four pillars
BaZi (八字, "eight characters") writes your birth moment as four pillars, year, month, day and hour, each a heavenly stem over an earthly branch. The year starts at 立春 and the hour uses true solar time.
Read →Five elements
The five elements (五行) are wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Each one feeds another and restrains another. A chart "missing" an element is not bad in itself; what matters is the balance around your day master.
Read →Ten gods
The ten gods (十神) name how each character in a BaZi chart relates to your day master. Friend and Rob Wealth, Eating God and Hurting Officer, Direct and Indirect Wealth, Direct Officer and Seven Killings, Direct and Indirect Resource.
Read →Day master
Your day master (日主) is the heavenly stem of the day you were born, and it stands for you. Wood 甲 乙, fire 丙 丁, earth 戊 己, metal 庚 辛, water 壬 癸. A reading starts from it, then asks whether it is strong or weak.
Read →
Tai Sui and the year ahead
How a chart moves through the years and months.
Tai Sui
The Tai Sui is the year's earthly branch. Your animal can share it (值, your own year), clash with it (冲), or punish, harm or break it (刑, 害, 破). In the 2027 丁未 year, Goat 值, Ox 冲, Ox and Dog 刑, Rat 害, Dog 破.
Read →Luck pillars, years and months
Luck pillars (大运) change every ten years, the year (流年) every year, the month (流月) at each solar term. Laid over your four pillars, the luck pillar sets the backdrop, the year the theme and the month the timing.
Read →2027, the Year of the Fire Goat
These terms at work in 2027: the twelve animals, the ten day masters and the twelve months.
2027 →
Kua and Zi Wei
Directions, and a second chart drawn from the lunar calendar.
Kua and the Eight Mansions
Your Kua number (命卦) comes from your birth year, counted from 立春, and your gender. It puts you in the East group (坎, 离, 震, 巽) or the West group (乾, 坤, 艮, 兑), each with four good directions and four less supportive ones.
Read →Zi Wei Dou Shu
Zi Wei Dou Shu (紫微斗数) uses your lunar birthday and birth hour to draw twelve palaces, from Life and Siblings to Wealth, Career and Parents, and places fourteen main stars, led by 紫微 and 天府, among them.
Read →
Signs, numbers and type
Western astrology, the life path number and the 16 personality types.
Sun, moon and rising
Your sun sign comes from your birth date and describes your core self. Your moon sign, where the moon was, describes feelings and needs. Your rising sign is the sign on the eastern horizon at birth, and needs an exact time and place.
Read →Life path number
Add every digit of your birth date until one digit is left: that is your life path number. Born 15 June 1990? 1+9+9+0+0+6+1+5 = 31, and 3+1 = 4, written 31/4.
Read →16 personality types
The 16 personality types combine four preferences, Extraverted or Introverted, Sensing or Intuitive, Thinking or Feeling, Judging or Perceiving, into four letters such as INFJ or ENTP. The -A or -T after them means Assertive or Turbulent.
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See your own 2027
Your animal and day master are two of the eight characters in your chart. Enter your birth date to see your own bagua for free: your strongest directions in 2027, your year ten god, your Tai Sui and your luck pillar.
The full 2027 Year Ahead report, every direction month by month, opens before Chinese New Year.