Bazi for beginners

How to read a Bazi chart for beginners: the Four Pillars step by step

By Inti Foundation · updated 1 October 2026

Reading a Bazi chart as a beginner takes four steps in a fixed order: build the year, month, day and hour pillars correctly from your Gregorian birth date and time; find the Day Master, the Heavenly Stem of the day pillar; see which elements are strong or missing and whether the Day Master is strong or weak; and only then place the chart in its ten-year luck cycles and yearly pillars. Reading out of order — seeing one missing element and concluding at once — is the most common mistake. Each step below says what to look at and where to stop; the chart is material for self-observation, not a verdict about the future.

Try it now: Bazi chart online by birth time

Build the pillars first

A wrong birth hour or solar-term month skews every later step.

The Day Master is the anchor

Every generating and controlling relation is read from the day's Heavenly Stem.

Whole chart before details

A missing element is not automatically bad; read the whole chart.

Step 1 — Build the four pillars correctly

Bazi uses your Gregorian birth date; the tool converts it to stems and branches. The Bazi month does not change on the first day of the lunar month but at the solar terms, so people born near the start of a month are easily given the wrong month pillar when they look it up in a lunar calendar. The birth hour sets the hour pillar; Inti Soul converts it to true solar time for your birthplace before building the pillars.

Have your Gregorian birth date, the hour and minute if known, and your birthplace ready.
Without a birth hour the chart has only the six characters of the year, month and day pillars — read it as an incomplete chart rather than inventing an hour.
If you were born near the boundary between two hours, compare both possibilities before reading deeply.

Step 2 — Find the Day Master

The Day Master is the Heavenly Stem of the day pillar, such as Jia Wood or Ding Fire. It is where the whole chart stands: every other character is named by its relation to the Day Master — same element, generating it, generated by it, controlled by it or controlling it — which gives the ten gods such as Direct Officer, Eating God and Indirect Wealth.

Step 3 — Weigh the Five Elements and the Day Master's strength

Counting elements across the eight characters is only a rough first pass. A closer reading also counts the hidden stems inside the branches and gives the month pillar extra weight, because the birth season decides which element is in command. Only then do you conclude whether the Day Master is strong, weak or balanced, and which element could be strengthened — called the useful god.

Strong or weak describes an energy relationship, not good or bad.
An element absent from the eight characters may still be present among the hidden stems.
The useful god is a balancing suggestion for reflection, not a talisman.

Step 4 — Place the chart in its luck cycles and years

Luck cycles are ten-year stages, each with its own stem and branch; the annual pillar is the stem and branch of each year. Only once you understand the natal chart should you ask whether the current stage strengthens or unbalances it. Reading this year before understanding the natal chart is the fastest way to be led by a single verdict.

How far should Bazi be used?

Bazi can provide a language for self-understanding and observing cycles. It does not replace medical diagnosis, legal advice, financial planning, or evidence-based decisions in daily life.

Build your chart and read it in four steps

Create a free account so Inti Soul can calculate your Four Pillars, Day Master, elements and luck cycles from your birth date and time, then read them in the order on this page.

Build my Bazi chart

For self-understanding and reflection — not a verdict.

Frequently asked questions

Does Bazi interpretation require birth time?

Birth time creates the Hour Pillar and makes the chart more complete. If the time is uncertain, the interpretation must state that uncertainty.

Is a missing element bad?

Element counts alone cannot support that conclusion. Birth season, rooted energy, Stem-and-Branch relationships, and the whole structure must be examined.

Is Bazi the same as Tử Vi?

No. Bazi uses Four Pillars of Stems and Branches and the Five Elements; Tử Vi uses 12 palaces and stars. They can be compared without mixing formulas.

Does Bazi use the lunar or the Gregorian birth date?

Enter your Gregorian birth date as it appears on your birth certificate; the system converts it to stems and branches. Remember that the Bazi month changes at the solar terms rather than on the first day of the lunar month, so do not look up the month pillar in a lunar calendar yourself.