Bazi, also known in the West as “Four Pillars of Destiny”, is the most common form of classical Chinese astrology. It literally means Eight (Ba) Characters (Zi). The basis of this system are the 12 earthly branches and the 10 heavenly stems which form the 60 pillars. Ba Zi is a very detailed method in the evaluation since there are numerous combinations and tools for analysis.
Oriental astrology has a circular concept of time as opposed to linear like in the West. Each year, month, day and hour, has a corresponding pillar which are in assigned in perpetual cycles and form the Chinese calendar. With time we learn to recognize what each pillar or cycle of energy brings and use it to understand the past and also predict and guide us in the future.
The interpretation of a Bazi chart reveal the personality trends of each individual as well as their strengths and weaknesses in different areas of life. One of the strengths of Bazi is to provide a road map for the more favorable and difficult years ahead. All human beings go through these different phases of life and knowing what is ahead enable us to plan so we can take full advantage of the prosperous times and are less affected (or even not at all) by the hard ones. We cannot change Heaven´s luck but we can adapt accordingly.
It allows, for example, to help understand the relationship we have with our family and friends, which areas of work can bring more success, the best colors to use, when to act and when to wait, the best (and worst years) for money and investments, for relationships, etc. The understanding of energy cycles determines the recommended action in each year, month, day and period of time in order to make the most appropriate choices for our objectives on a case-by-case basis.