The Destiny Chart (DC)

The moment of birth is described by a date and an hour which means 4 components: Year, Month, Day, and Hour and each one of them has a cyclic evolution with a period of 60. Based on the Chinese Calendar we can convert the date of birth into 3 pairs of characters from the Cycle of 60 described in this article. The hour of birth is also associated with a pair from the same Cycle of 60. The algorithm is fully described in many books and nowadays it is the work for computers to apply it.

Each pair contains a Heavenly Stem, an Earthly Branch, and the Hidden Stems which are only the Qi energies of the Earthly Branch. These three elements are traditionally drawn as Pillars, that's why the Destiny Chart is also called The Four Pillars of Destiny. The entire information about the Personality and the Destiny of somebody is contained in this map, based on the Qi energies at the time of the first breath. Each Pillar (Either Year, Month, Day, or Hour) has encoded an equal part of information 25%.

Sometimes the Celestial Stems and Earthly Branches are called for convenience Palaces. There are 8 Palaces in a Destiny Chart. The table below shows the significance of each Palace and what other meanings could be associated with the Four Pillars and Eight Palaces.

Check what is in the Palaces of your Destiny Chart in the Profile Analysis module.

Heavenly Stems

One says that the 10 polar elements cycle appeared during the reign of the Yellow Emperor (2698–2598 BC) who has asked for a system to record the time during one year. The proposed system is based on the 5 elements-generating cycle. Each element is first in a growing phase - yang, followed by a destruction phase - Yin. The 10 resulting polar elements are in order: yang wood, yin wood, yang fire, yin fire, yang earth, yin earth, yang metal, yin metal, yang water, and yin water.

The 10 polar elements are also called the Heavenly Stems because they appeared as a measure of time and the time is associated with Heaven in the Chinese metaphysics. The details of all 10 Heavenly Stems including their type of Qi energy are shown below.

Earthly Branches

The 12 animals cycle started to be used in China around the year 100 A.D. for recording the years. 12 was a very important number in the past when people observed 12 full moons in a year and 12 equal parts in a day. They have also grouped the years in periods of 12, associating the same animal signs, which served as a kind of shorthand for the influences.

The legend says that before Buddha's passing and entry into Nirvana, he called a meeting of all the world’s animals to determine how to restore order to the world, but only 12 animals came. The first animal to arrive was the rat, and it was given its name in the first year. All the animals in the order of arrival are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, and rat. The animal signs are used purely as a memory aid and carry no inherent meaning. The characteristics of a person cannot be inferred from the animal signs.

The 12 animals are also called the Earthly Branches because they are associated with the cardinal points in space, and the space (Rat - North, Rabbit - East, Horse - South, and Rooster - West) is equivalent to Earth.

The directions of the 12 animals on the Luo Pan

The 12 solar months of the year are also called using the 12 animals cycle. A year is divided into 4 seasons of 3 months each. A season is associated with the Qi energy of an element as follows: Spring - Wood, Summer - Fire, Autumn - Metal, and Winter - Water. The last month of each season is the transition between elements, one element disappears to let the place for the new one. The old element is transforming into the new one, passing through the element Earth. That's why the last month of each season is represented by the element Earth.

Because the Qi energy is in a continued movement and transformation, the first month of each Season is considered to be Growing because the Qi is new, and its energy increases. In the second month, the Qi energy reaches its maximum, and that's why each second month of every season is called Cardinal. The third and last month of the seasons is called Graveyard because the Qi energy decreases before it is transformed into the energy of another element.

Connecting the 10 Heavenly Stems with the 12 Earthly Branches to create the Cycle of 60, it's an illustration of the universal principle of Correspondence, which says "As above, so below; as below so above". An entire system was created based on the Cycle of 60 to explain all events.

The Cycle of 60 pairs of Heavenly Stems combined with Earthly Branches starts with the pair Yang Wood - Rat (Yang Water) and ends with the pair Yin Water - Pig (Yin Water). The cycle of years starts with the year 2697 BC, which is associated with the first pair.
A pair can be either Yang-Yang or Yin-Yin, but never a mixed Yang-Yin or Yin-Yang.

Each such pair is also called a pillar. The Year, Month, Day, and Hour of birth are associated with a pillar, and the Destiny Chart will be, in fact, the Four Pillars of Destiny.

Hidden Stems

The Heavenly component of Qi of a Pillar is considered pure. The Earthly component is more complicated because it can contain one, two, or three Heavenly components (polar elements) called Hidden Stems, which are drawn in each Pillar under the Earthly Branch. One of these components is dominant, and it is considered to be the Main Qi of the Earthly Branch. The Cardinal months are the only ones with pure energy (just one hidden stem) because the Qi energy reaches its maximum during the second month of each season. The Hidden Stems for the 12 Earthly Branches are shown in the table below.

The Luck Pillars (LP)

Most dictionaries define luck as the force that causes good things to happen by chance and not as a consequence of some actions. For us, this force is the Qi energy. We consider that somebody's luck has two components: a static one given by the Destiny Chart (the initial Qi energy) and a dynamic one that varies at any moment in life. We can report the luck at any time interval but very important in Ba Zi's study is the luck of each decade of life.

Starting from the Destiny Chart, we can divide somebody's life into decades. The beginning of the first decade is not the time of birth but can be computed using an algorithm based on the data from the Destiny Chart. We associate a pair from the Cycle of 60 to each decade, and we plot the decades like pillars as well. The computation of Luck Pillars is the first and only place where gender is taken into account.

Your Luck Pillars are analyzed as part of the Profile Analysis module.

For each decade, we have, of course, a Heavenly Stem and an Earthly Branch like any other pillar. They can be represented by different elements. Generally speaking, the Earthly Branch Qi energy acts faster at the beginning of the period, and the Heavenly Stem represents the relevant Qi for the entire period.

Whether the decade is a lucky one or not can be found in analyzing its elements in relation to the Destiny Chart, but this will be a subject of the next chapter.

Before going any further is important to read and understand the article Theory of Five Elements. A good understanding of the principles of elements and their interactions is mandatory for a good understanding of Ba Zi.