How to Use the BaZi Chart

Gender

Gender is not used to "calculate fortune for men versus women"; it determinesAre the Luck Pillars cast forward or in reverse: Combined with the yin or yang polarity of the birth year's Heavenly Stem, this determines whether the Luck Pillars count forward or backward through the solar terms. Choosing incorrectly will reverse the entire Luck Pillar timeline.

• There is no default; you must choose
• Enter the gender recorded at birth

Birth date and time

Default byGregorian CalendarEnter your Gregorian (solar) calendar birthday, i.e., the date on your ID. If you only remember your lunar birthday, first switch "Calendar" to Lunar before entering it; if there is a leap month, also check "Lunar Leap Month" below.

There are two ways to enter the time: if you know the exact hour and minute, use "By Time"; if you only remember something like "around noon" or "early evening", switch to "By Double-Hour" and select a two-hour interval, and the system will use the midpoint of that double-hour for the calculation.

• Be as precise as possible to the minute; the Hour Pillar is the most sensitive
• Birth certificates, maternity permits, and hospital records are the most reliable sources

Place of Birth

Many people think the location is just a note, but it actually feeds directly into the calculation:The location determines the time zone, historical daylight saving time, and longitude, and these three together convert clock time into true solar time.

If the correction crosses a two-hour boundary, The Hour Pillar will change; if it crosses the day-change boundary, The Day Pillar will also change. That's why someone born in Ürümqi and someone born in Shanghai at the same clock time may produce completely different charts.

• Select the province first, then the city
• For births abroad, select "Enter Overseas Location Manually" and fill in the longitude and time zone

Only remember the approximate time period

Switch to "By Two-Hour Period" and select the corresponding two-hour interval. The system calculates using the midpoint of that period, preventing you from casually entering a boundary value.

The time falls exactly on a boundary

For example, "around three in the afternoon," when the boundary between the Wei and Shen hours falls exactly at 15:00. In this case, it's best toCast one chart before and one after, compare which one better matches what has already happened in life, then decide which to use.

Completely unknown

the Year, Month, and Day Pillars can still be plotted, butThe Hour Pillar will be missing. Judgments involving children, later life, and specific timing of events will be noticeably inaccurate, so only rely on the parts that do not depend on the Hour Pillar. Asking your elders or checking your birth certificate first is still the most worthwhile approach.

Use True Solar Time

This corrects clock time to the actual local solar time based on the longitude of the birthplace. All of China uses Beijing time uniformly, but the actual solar time in western regions may be one to two hours behind the clock, and without correction the Hour Pillar may be calculated incorrectly.Keep it checked.

Day Change at Zi Hour

Whether the hour from 23:00 to 24:00 counts as today or tomorrow is a long-standing point of dispute in Ziping method. Choosing 23:00 means this hour already counts as the next day (the Early Zi Hour school); choosing 00:00 means it still counts as the current day (the Late Zi Hour school).Only people born in the hour after 23:00 are affected.

Luck Start Algorithm

This is the method for converting the number of days from birth to the nearest solar term into the starting age of the Luck Pillars. The "Exact Minutes" method converts based on the actual minutes, while the "Traditional Double-Hour" method rounds using the old rule of three days equaling one year. The two usually differ by a few months.It affects the year a Luck Pillar begins, not the chart itself.

Lunar Leap Month

Check this only when the calendar is set to "Lunar" and your lunar birthday actually falls in a leap month. It is disabled when entering Gregorian dates.

Four Pillars Natal Chart

First locateDay Master（the Heavenly Stem of the Day Pillar）, which represents you. The relationships between the remaining seven characters and the Day Master are the Ten Gods. Then look at the count of the Five Elements to get a general sense of which element is abundant and which is lacking.

Luck Pillars

Each pillar spans ten years and marks a major chapter of life. First locateThe pillar you are currently in, then examine its generating and overcoming relationships with the natal chart. Luck Pillar transition dates often fall in the middle of an annual luck year, so don't count them as whole years.

Annual Luck

One pillar per year, based onStart of Springswitches, not Lunar New Year. Only after selecting a Luck Pillar and opening a specific year can you see the result of that Luck Pillar combined with the annual luck.

Monthly Luck and Symbolic Stars

Monthly luck switches at the twelve "Nodes," running from the Yin month to the Chou month of the following year. Spirit Stars work best as a supplementary index,A single Spirit Star cannot independently determine good or bad fortune, and must be read together with the Four Pillars configuration and the positions of the Luck Pillars and annual luck.