BaZi, Feng Shui and the I Ching — explained and calculated for you

What is BaZi (八字) — the Four Pillars of Destiny?

BaZi, literally "eight characters", is better known in English as Four Pillars of Destiny. It is the mainstream system of Chinese astrology, and it works from a single piece of information: the exact moment you were born.

The Chinese calendar marks time with two cycles of characters — the ten Heavenly Stems and the twelve Earthly Branches. Because the year, month, day and hour each carry one stem and one branch, your birth moment converts into four pairs: the year pillar, the month pillar, the day pillar and the hour pillar. Four pillars, eight characters. That is BaZi.

Each character belongs to one of the five elements — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water — and each element both feeds and restrains another. Reading a chart means looking at how those eight characters balance, which of the five elements runs strong and which runs thin, and which element the chart most needs. From that come the familiar questions: what kind of temperament you have, where your strengths sit, and when the larger ten-year luck cycles shift.

The day pillar is the centre of the reading. Its stem is your Day Master — the reference point that every other character is measured against. Once you know your Day Master and how the rest of the chart supports or strains it, the rest of the analysis has somewhere to stand.

Open the free BaZi chart → (The calculator page is in Chinese, but it is a form: pick your birth year, month, day and hour, then press the button. The chart and its notes are shown in English if your browser language is set to English.)

What is the I Ching (易经) — the Book of Changes?

The I Ching, or Book of Changes, is the oldest of the Chinese classics and the root of the whole tradition. Where BaZi reads the chart fixed at your birth, the I Ching answers a question you are holding right now.

Its vocabulary is sixty-four hexagrams. A hexagram is six lines stacked from the bottom up, each line either solid (yang) or broken (yin). Split the six into two groups of three and you get two trigrams; eight trigrams are possible, and stacking any one of them over any other gives 8 × 8 = 64. That is why the book is complete rather than open-ended: it is a map of situations, not a list of omens.

For each hexagram the text gives a judgment — the overall situation and whether it favours action or patience — and a line text for each of the six stages within it. In a reading, you hold your question, cast the lines, and receive one hexagram. If any line is "changing", it points to a second hexagram: where the situation is heading.

The oldest commentaries, collectively called the Ten Wings, sit alongside this text. The Tuan Zhuan explains the judgment, the Xiang Zhuan draws the image out of the trigrams, and together they turn a bare oracle into a philosophy. Each of the 64 hexagram pages on this site translates the judgment, both commentaries and all six lines, then adds a plain-English reading and the hexagram's opposite and inverse pair for comparison.

Browse all 64 hexagrams → Start with Hexagram 1, Qian →

Feng Shui (风水) and your Kua Number

Feng Shui — literally "wind and water" — is the practice of arranging a space so that it supports the people living in it. It considers the orientation of a building, where the entrances and the main rooms sit, and how light, air and layout move through them.

The most personal branch is the Eight Mansions school, and it starts from your Kua Number (命卦). Derived from your birth year and gender, it puts you in one of eight groups, each with four favourable and four unfavourable directions. Those directions then decide small, practical things: which way the head of your bed should point, where to put a desk, which side of the door to sit on. It is the easiest entry point into Feng Shui, because it needs nothing but your birth year.

Consultations by appointment for homes, shops and offices in Singapore, Malaysia and the wider region.

What you can use here, free

• Dream readingZhou Gong dream reading — newDescribe your dream in your own words and receive a full Zhou Gong reading — symbols, omen, and guidance — powered by AI, free of charge.
• BaZi chartPersonal BaZi (Four Pillars) readingYour four pillars, five-element balance, stronger and weaker elements, key lunar months and personal notes — calculated from your birth details in the browser.
• I ChingThe 64 hexagrams, in EnglishAll 64 hexagrams with the judgment, Tuan Zhuan, Xiang Zhuan, six lines and English readings.
• Zi Wei Dou ShuPurple Star Astrology chartA second Chinese astrology system, built around the twelve palaces and the major stars.
• Tarot78-card tarot readingAll 78 Rider–Waite cards with upright and reversed meanings, and guidance for love, career and money.
• Kau CimChinese fortune-stick oracleSix deities, one hundred lots, with three jiaobei (moon blocks) thrown to confirm the draw.