- lydia@firehorsewisdom.com
Bazi – Chinese Astrology – 4 Pillars
To simply explain the difference between Western and Eastern Astrology, Western Astrology is of the sky and Eastern astrology is of the earth.
Bazi Chinese Astrology is composed of 10 Heavenly Stems and 12 Earthly Branches along with 12 Animals of the Zodiac. Your exact time of birth indicates where you fall in the 60 year cycle of the Chinese system. The Chinese calendar follows the Moon which is why Chinese New Year isn’t the same as the Gregorian Calendar nor is the beginning of each month.
So, technically if you are born on January 4, 1996 you are really born in the year 1995 and the month of December. The months change right around the 6 – 8th day.
The 5 elements are: Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, and Fire. They have an obvious relationship to each other; a cycle of nurturing, a cycling of sustaining, a cycle of weakening and a cycle of clashing.
The 12 Zodiac Animals also correspond to the 5 elements. As the cycles flow you may have a Metal Tiger Year or a Fire Tiger Year. It is all related and all relative to your personal astrology chart. Unlike Western Astrology, Eastern Astrology looks at 4 components to devise your chart; your year, month, day and hour of birth or The 4 Pillars of Divination. Your Chinese Astrology chart is a road map for your life but it in no way determines your fate, only suggests what could happen. Free will, the choices you make, the people and environment that influence your life all play a part in ultimately where your journey takes you. Also, don’t discount the Feng Shui of your home and the influences that has on your life.
I had a client who kept telling me she wanted her life back. She was in her late 50’s at the time and her husband was about 20 years her senior. When I looked at her Chinese Astrology chart, I saw where in her early 20’s she was to marry into a life of serving God by accepting a monastic life. In fact, she said she was considering that when she met her husband. There she made a choice to marry a man considerably older and a “father figure” instead of marrying “God the Father”. This changed the course of the rest of her life and her soul on some level knew it. For her, there was no way to undo the course her journey had taken her and unfortunately she suffered greatly for it. This is not the case for everyone.
So, the 12 Zodiac Animals are the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Each of them represents a month, a time of the day, specific elements and characteristics. Everyone has a barnyard of animals in their chart that determine the type of person you are inclined to be, the way you relate to your family members, the kind of work you are best suited for, what your health is like, and the destiny you could have in this lifetime.
You will tend to relate more to your Year or Day Animal or a combination of the two. We all also have 2 Animals that will be in Void for us, this is like Moon being Void of Course in Western Astrology. It shows that certain situations, relationships and events are more likely to be conflicted, restricted, and slowed down. Having Voids in your chart can show a life that is fraught with struggle and hardship. Some people have extraordinary charts like 2 clients I know – 1 woman has 3 Dragons in her chart and is a powerful person with an amazing connection to spirit, to other worlds and to God. Another woman has 3 Pigs in her chart and when I went to Feng Shui her house it was full of Water, the element of the Pig. There were aquatic pictures and sculptures everyone and a predominant influence of the color blue. So having multiples of the same animal can cause great imbalance which can be more difficult to find balance with. Ultimately that is what we are looking for, balance and wellbeing.
The 12 Zodiac Animals:
Rat –
Month December
Time 11 pm – 1 am
Element Yin Water like dew or mist
Direction North
Season Winter
Rats are intelligent, charming, innovative, financially savvy, focused on financial security, strategists, loyal and ambitious but can also be anxious, calculating, possessive, excessive, neurotic and critical.
Ox –
Month January
Time 1 – 3 am
Element Yin Earth like sand or dirt or crystals
Direction North/North West
Season Late Winter
Ox are physically the strongest people in the Zodiac, have a keen appreciation of beauty, responsible, dutiful, eloquent, industrious, persevering but can also be bossy, stubborn, biased, intolerant, depressed and proud.
Tiger –
Month February
Time 3 – 5 am
Element Yang Wood like a forest of trees
Direction East/ North East
Season Early Spring
Tigers are brave, generous, charming, idealistic, bold, passionate, independent, adventurers, leaders, freedom lovers and can also be reckless, impatient, disobedient, angry, rebellious, aggressive and overly emotional.
Rabbits –
Month March
Time 5 – 7am
Element Yin Wood like flowers and grass
Direction East
Season Spring
Rabbit people are intuitive diplomats, stylish, tasteful, sensitive, requiring harmony, peaceful, work in the background, perceptive, discreet but can also be indecisive, self indulgent, self focused, condescending, moody and detached.
Dragons-
Month April
Time 7 – 9 am
Element Yang Earth like the mountains
Direction East/ South East
Season Late Spring
Dragons are powerful, magical, other worldly, inspire wonder and admiration, colorful, confident, vibrant, easily win support, actively engaged in life, visionaries, motivated, principled, energetic, compelling and passionate but can also be demanding, dissatisfied, excessive, opinionated, intolerant, overpowering, abrupt, unpredictable and egocentric.
Snakes –
Month May
Time 9 – 11am
Element Yang Fire like a volcano
Direction South/ South East
Season Early Summer
Snakes are beautiful, wise, serene, conceal their feelings, more thinkers than doers, sought out as counselors and negotiators, intelligent, refined, sensual, instinctive, shrewd, perceptive, intuitive, and discreet but can also be calculating, vengeful, lazy, suspicious, jealous, unapproachable, possessive and contradictory.
Horses –
Month of June
Time 11 am – 1pm
Element Yin Fire like a candle flame or incense
Direction South
Season Summer
Horse people are restless adventurers, energetic, active, on the move, independent, commitment phobic, make great personal coaches, social butterflies, age slower and more gracefully than the other Zodiac animals, youthful, gregarious, generous, chatty, brave but also impatient, hot tempered, irresponsible, opportunistic, and deceitful.
Sheep –
Month of July
Time 1 – 3 pm
Element Yin Earth like sand, crystals, or dirt
Direction South/ South West
Season Late Summer
Sheep people are the peacemakers of the Zodiac, calm, avoid confrontation, quiet, adaptable, considerate, compassionate, creative, easy going, artistic/musical, gentle, and sincere but can also be eccentric, vulnerable, sensitive, pessimistic, naïve, gullible, and careless.
Monkeys –
Month August
Time 3 – 5pm
Element Yang Metal like a train or skyscraper
Direction West/ South West
Season Early Autumn
Monkeys are confident, funny, problem solvers, inventive, get bored easily, like a job that changes with risks and challenges, clever, vibrant, motivating, sociable, sexual and versatile but can also be risky, restless, manipulative, tricksters, immature, trouble makers, unpredictable and erratic.
Roosters –
Month September
Time 5 – 7pm
Element Yin Metal like jewelry
Direction West
Season Autumn
Rooster people are alert, cultivated, direct, entertaining, love to be the center of attention as they strut around the barn yard, expressive, knowledgeable, meticulous, demand to be seen and heard, love the spotlight, resourceful and resilient but can also be cocky, vulnerable, critical, proud, argumentative, impulsive, vain, selfish and pompous.
Dogs –
Month October
Time 7 – 9pm
Element Yang Earth like the mountains
Direction West/ North West
Season Late Autumn
Dogs are the most loyal, principled humanitarians of the Zodiac. They are concerned, compassionate, driven, principled, protective, responsible, and trustworthy but can also be anxious, pessimistic, judgmental, distrustful, discouraging, cynical and introverted.
Pig –
Month November
Time 9 – 11pm
Element Yang Water like a tsunami or downpour
Direction North/ North West
Season Early Winter
Pigs are calm, contented, the easiest people to get along with, fun to be with, undemanding, love to shop and live a luxurious life paid for by someone else, outgoing, merry, sensual, warm hearted, stress free and positive but can also be self indulgent, hot tempered, excessive, spendthrifts, gullible, corrupt, naïve and materialistic.
Just like in the relation of the 5 elements, so do the animals have friends and arch enemies.
Rats LOVE Dogs, make best friends with Pigs, create a trine with Monkey and Dragon but DISLIKE Horse
Ox LOVES Rooster and Snake, Ox creates a trinity with Snake and Rooster, DISLIKE Sheep and Dog
People with Ox, Sheep and Dog in their charts has serious obstacles and problems throughout their life.
Tiger LOVES Rabbit, DISLIKE Monkey, trines with Dog and Horse
Rabbit LOVES Tiger, Trines with Sheep and Pig, Dislikes Rooster
Dragon fights with Dragon, DISLIKES Dog, trines with Rat and Monkey and LOVES Rat, Monkey and Tiger.
Snake LOVES Horse, DISLIKEs Pig, trines with Ox and Rooster
Horse fights with Horse, LOVES Snake, trines with Horse and Tiger, DISLIKEs Rat.
Sheep DISLIKEs Ox, fights with Dog, trines with Rabbit and Pig, LOVES Rabbit and Pig.
Monkey LOVES Rooster, DISLIKEs Tiger, trines with Dragon and Rat
Rooster fights with Rooster, LOVES Monkey, DISLIKEs Rabbit, trines with Snake and Ox
Dog DISLIKEs Dragon, Ox and Sheep, trines with Tiger and Horse, LOVES Tiger, Horse and Ox.
Pig LOVES Rat, DISLIKEs Snake, fights with Pig and trines with Sheep and Rabbit.
These elemental and Zodiacal interactions are complex and unique to each Bazi astrology.
Every year a new Zodiac Animal moves in affecting your astrology chart. For instance this year of the Dragon brought much hardship to people born on the Day of or in the year of the Dog. Next Year of the Snake will not benefit Pigs but Horses, Ox and Rooster will do exceptionally well.
The beauty in knowing your astrology chart is that you can see what is up ahead, that way you can take advantage of the most auspicious times and prepare for the setbacks with more wisdom and understanding.
