Free BaZi Calculator

Enter your birth details and instantly plot your Four Pillars natal chart. See your Day Master element, Five Elements balance, and favorable gods. Free Chinese astrology tool, no signup required.

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What is BaZi (Four Pillars of Destiny)?

The year, month, day, and hour you were born form a pattern that Chinese scholars have read for over a thousand years. BaZi, the Four Pillars of Destiny, pairs ten Heavenly Stems (甲 Jiǎ through 癸 Guǐ) with twelve Earthly Branches (子 Zǐ through 亥 Hài) in a 60-unit sexagenary cycle to identify your Day Master element, Five Elements balance, and chart structure.

This system was first codified by Xu Ziping in Yuanhai Ziping (Song dynasty) and later systematized by Wan Minying in Sanming Tonghui (Ming dynasty), with 60 stem-branch pairs each behaving differently depending on pillar position and season. Practitioners mapped four pillars by hand and checked classical texts for Ten Gods relationships. This calculator builds the four pillars the same way, with true solar time correction for accurate pillar placement, and reads Day Master strength by the Wang-Shuai (strength-based) method. Want more than just the chart? Try our AI fortune telling readings or our Ziwei Doushu calculator for a 12-palace breakdown.

How to Read Your BaZi Chart: The Four Pillars

A BaZi chart has four pillars (Year, Month, Day, and Hour), each with a Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch. Your Day Pillar's Heavenly Stem is your Day Master, the element that represents you. Reading the chart means figuring out how the other seven characters help or clash with your Day Master through the Five Elements cycles.

Check if your Day Master is strong or weak by counting the four branches — year, month, day and hour: how many have a main qi that is your own element or the element feeding it, reading any San He (三合) or San Hui (三會) combination as its combined element. Two or more reads strong and handles competition well, with exactly two strong but close to balance; one or none reads weak and does better with support and partnerships. The four branches count equally in this test. The month branch still sets the season, which decides whether the chart needs warming or cooling. For full interpretation and life forecasts, try our AI destiny reading or compare with your Ziwei Doushu chart.

BaZi Five Elements & Ten Gods Explained

The Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) are the core of BaZi. Wood feeds Fire, Fire creates Earth, Earth bears Metal, Metal collects Water, and Water nourishes Wood. In the other direction: Water extinguishes Fire, Fire melts Metal, Metal chops Wood, Wood penetrates Earth, and Earth absorbs Water. How these elements stack up in your chart tells you where you're naturally strong, where you're not, and what conditions work for you.

The Ten Gods come from comparing each pillar's element to your Day Master. Wealth Stars deal with money, Officer Stars with career authority, Resource Stars with education and mentors, Output Stars with creative work, and Companion Stars with peers. Where each God sits in your chart, and how strong it is, determines a lot about how your career, finances, and relationships play out.

BaZi Luck Cycles: 10-Year Luck Pillars (Da Yun) & Annual Forecasts

BaZi splits life into Da Yun, 10-year Major Luck Periods, each with its own Stem-Branch pair. Every decade shifts your elemental balance. Some decades open doors for career moves, money, or relationships; others shut them. That's why the same person can coast through one decade and hit walls in the next.

Annual Pillars layer on top of your Major Luck Period with year-specific effects. A Fire-dominant year pumps up Fire and drains Water, challenging for Water Day Masters but productive for Wood Day Masters who feed off Fire's warmth. A Metal-heavy year does the opposite. Your natal chart, current Major Luck Period, and the annual pillar all interact to shape what you face that year. Our Fortune Cloud full reading maps every Major Luck Period and annual forecast through age 90. Curious about today's stem and branch? See today's BaZi calendar.

Four Pillars Chart Example: A BaZi Walkthrough

Take someone born March 2, 1990 at the Wu hour (11am–1pm). Their Four Pillars: Geng-Wu year, Wu-Yin month, Bing-Yin day, Jia-Wu hour. The Day Master is Bing Fire (yang Fire, the sun). With Wood feeding Fire throughout the chart, this is a strong Day Master configuration.

The main qi of the four branches is Fire, Wood, Wood and Fire, and all four support this Bing Fire Day Master, so it is strong. Earth, Metal and Water point the way to balance, but the chart holds no Water. So Earth, found in both stems and branches, is the Useful God, Metal is favorable, and Water is idle. Career-wise, fields requiring patience and planning (Earth) or finance (Metal) suit this chart. The Direct Wealth star is weak, meaning income comes from steady effort rather than windfalls. Earth and Metal Major Luck Periods bring smoother career and finances; Wood and Fire periods add pressure.

Want to see the actual chart for this example? View the example chart →

This is just the surface reading from the chart layout. A full interpretation needs Ten Gods positioning, hidden stems, and punishment-clash-combination analysis. For the complete picture, try our AI destiny reading.

Frequently Asked Questions

It uses traditional BaZi rules with true solar time correction, so the chart itself is precise. For deeper interpretation, our AI destiny reading cross-checks BaZi against Ziwei Doushu, two systems, one reading.
Yes. BaZi (eight characters) and Four Pillars of Destiny are two names for the same system, so a BaZi calculator, a Four Pillars calculator, and a 4 pillars chart generator all produce the same result: your Year, Month, Day, and Hour pillars, each a Heavenly Stem plus Earthly Branch, eight characters in total. This tool plots the full Four Pillars chart with true solar time correction.
Your BaZi is your birth year, month, day and hour written as Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, eight characters in all. Enter your Gregorian birth date, time and birthplace above; the calculator converts solar terms and stem-branch pairs, applies true solar time correction, and plots your BaZi chart, so you never need to consult a ten-thousand-year calendar.
Yes. BaZi reads your Wealth Star, Officer Star, and Resource Star positions to gauge career fit and financial tendencies. Major Luck Periods and yearly forecasts point to better and worse windows for career moves and investments.
Yes. The basic check looks at whether Year Pillar branches harmonize or clash. Deeper analysis compares both partners' Day Master elements, the strength of Marriage Stars (Direct Wealth / Direct Officer), and how marriage palaces shift across Major Luck Periods. You really need both full charts for a proper reading.
Each year carries its own Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch, shifting the Five Elements balance for everyone. A Fire-heavy year pumps up Fire Day Masters and pressures Water Day Masters; a Metal year boosts Metal but challenges Wood. How any given year hits you depends on your Day Master element, your natal chart's balance, and which Major Luck Period you're in. Generate your chart above to see your Day Master, then check which elements support or challenge it.
BaZi uses Four Pillars of Stems and Branches to read Five Elements balance and Ten Gods relationships, focusing on personality foundations and decade-long luck cycles. Ziwei Doushu uses twelve life palaces and star placements to map specific life areas (career palace, wealth palace, marriage palace). In short: BaZi tells you "who you are" (Day Master element, strong or weak), Ziwei tells you "where your life goes" (career, wealth, marriage palaces). Each system has blind spots; cross-referencing both gives the most accurate picture. After your BaZi chart, try our free Ziwei Doushu calculator.
Traditional Chinese hours are based on the sun's actual position, but modern time zones assign one clock time across wide longitudes, and the real solar position can differ by over an hour between the east and west edges of a time zone. True solar time correction converts your birth city's longitude back to the sun's real position, ensuring the Hour Pillar is accurate. A wrong Hour Pillar throws off Ten Gods and favorable element analysis.

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