Your four pillars, and the one that is you.
BaZi is the Chinese birth chart. The year, month, day and hour you were born each become a pillar of two characters, and the top character of your day pillar, your Day Master, is you.
Read left to right: year, month, day, hour. The top character of each pillar is the Heavenly Stem, the bottom the Earthly Branch. This is the moment you are in, by your own clock.
Four pillars, five elements, one Day Master.
BaZi means eight characters. It is the form of Chinese astrology that reads the exact moment of birth, and it has been practised for more than a thousand years. Where the Chinese zodiac gives you one animal for your year, a BaZi chart gives you four pillars: year, month, day and hour. Each pillar pairs a Heavenly Stem with an Earthly Branch, and every one of those eight characters belongs to one of the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water.
Year, month, day, hour
The year pillar speaks of family and early life, the month of career and the prime of life, the day of you and your partner, the hour of children and later years.
The one that is you
The stem of your day pillar is your Day Master. There are ten: Yang Wood the tall tree, Yin Fire the candle flame, Yang Water the ocean. Everything else in the chart is read in relation to it.
What is strong, what is scarce
Wood feeds fire, fire makes earth, earth bears metal, metal carries water, water grows wood. A chart shows which elements crowd you and which you are short of, and what brings it into balance.
A full BaZi reading, tab by tab.
Enter a birth date, time and place and Stellar BaZi lays out the whole chart in plain English, with the Chinese characters beside their names so you can learn them as you go.
Pillars and your Day Master
The four pillars drawn clearly, the hidden stems inside each branch, and a full portrait of your Day Master: its gifts, its shadow and what it needs.
Five elements
The balance of wood, fire, earth, metal and water in your chart, which elements favour you, which to take care with, and the seasons, directions and colours that go with them.
Ten Gods
Every stem in the chart is one of ten relationships to your Day Master. Grouped into five families, they show where the weight of your chart sits: companions, output, wealth, power and resource.
Luck cycles
Your ten-year luck pillars, the Da Yun, laid out as a timeline from childhood on, with every year inside each decade read against your natal chart.
Compare two people
Put two charts side by side: how each of you reads the other, the day pillars and partner palaces, the year animals, and every link between the two charts.
Copy it, print it
Take a plain summary of any chart with you, or print it on paper. If the birth hour is unknown the reading still works, with the hour pillar left open until you find it.
The same birth moment, a completely different reading.
A Western birth chart and a BaZi chart ask for the same four things: the date, the time, the place and you. Western astrology maps the planets through signs and houses. BaZi reads the same moment as stems, branches and elements, and adds a lifetime of ten-year cycles. Neither replaces the other, and reading both is like hearing two good witnesses describe one event.
Your Stellar account carries your birth details across, so a chart you cast in Stellar astrology is already waiting in Stellar BaZi. For the question on your mind today, there is Stellar Tarot, where the Major Arcana are the planets and signs of that same sky.
The whole reading is free.
Pillars, elements, Ten Gods, luck cycles and compare are all open to everyone, with no account. Two charts live free on your device. Any Stellar plan lifts that to as many as you like, and brings the charts you already keep in Stellar across.
We do not sell your data, to anyone.
New to BaZi?
What is BaZi?
BaZi, or the Four Pillars of Destiny, is a traditional form of Chinese astrology. It reads the year, month, day and hour of your birth as eight characters, each belonging to one of five elements, and follows them through ten-year luck cycles.
What is a Day Master?
The Day Master is the Heavenly Stem of your day pillar, and it stands for you. There are ten, from Yang Wood, the tall tree, to Yin Water, rain and mist. The rest of the chart is read by how it helps or tests your Day Master.
Do I need my birth hour?
No. Without it you still get the year, month and day pillars and your Day Master, which is most of the reading. The hour pillar is left open, and you can add the time later.
How is this different from the Chinese zodiac animal?
The zodiac animal is only the branch of your year pillar, one character of eight. A BaZi chart reads all four pillars, and the most personal one is the day, not the year. Two people born in the same animal year can have very different charts.
Is it free?
Yes. The full reading is free with no account: pillars, elements, Ten Gods, luck cycles and compare. Two charts are kept free on your device, and any Stellar plan lifts that limit.
Can I compare two people?
Yes. The Compare tab sets two BaZi charts side by side and reads how each person sees the other, the two day pillars, the year animals and every link between the charts.