Your four pillars, explained in English.
BaZi is a traditional Chinese birth chart. Its four pillars are pairs of symbols for your birth year, month, day and hour. Your chart uses your birth time and place. Explore its symbols in plain English.
What the Four Pillars are
Each pillar pairs a heavenly stem with an earthly branch — ten stems and twelve branches, drawn from the traditional calendar. The year pillar speaks of roots and early surroundings, the month pillar of work and the season you were born into, the day pillar of the self, and the hour pillar of aims and later years. The stem of your day pillar is your Day Master: the element at the centre of the chart, the one every other symbol is read in relation to.
New to the idea? Meet the ten Day Masters — the oak, the candle, the ocean and the rest — then come back and find yours.
How to run your chart
Enter your birth details
Your birth date, the exact time, and your birth place. The place sets the timezone used in the calculation.
See your Four Pillars
Your chart is calculated on the spot and laid out in plain English, with your Day Master named.
Read your first reflection
A free first reflection comes with every chart. Deeper readings are there when you want them.
What is free, and what goes deeper
Your BaZi chart and its first reflection are free, with no account. If you choose to go further, deeper readings are unlocked with coins: career, wealth and relationships reflections (20 coins each), the BaZi detailed reading (30 coins), the two-person comparison (40 coins) and the Purple Star (Zi Wei Dou Shu) reading with its twelve palaces (50 coins).
Cultural interpretation and emotional support, for reflection only. Not medical, legal, or financial advice.
If you don't know your birth time
The hour pillar — and with it the full chart — needs an exact birth time. Harborlight does not build a partial three-pillar chart and does not guess. If your birth time is uncertain, the guide to recovering your birth time lists ways to find or confirm it. In the meantime, the Question Oracle and the other free tools need no birth details at all.
Your privacy
Birth details and reading text are never saved to an account. Charts are calculated when you ask, and the details you enter are not kept.
Questions people ask
What do I need to run my BaZi chart?
Your birth date, your exact birth time and your birth place. The place sets the timezone and clock conventions used in the traditional calculation.
What is a Day Master?
Your Day Master is the heavenly stem of your day pillar — the element at the centre of your chart. Readings describe the other symbols in relation to it: the oak, the candle, the ocean and seven more.
What if I don't know my birth time?
Without an exact birth time the hour pillar cannot be set, and Harborlight will not guess or build a partial chart. You can look for ways to recover or confirm the time, or use the free tools that need no birth details.
Is the BaZi chart free?
Yes. The chart and its first reflection are free and need no account. Deeper readings are unlocked with coins.
Are my birth details stored?
No. Birth details and reading text are never saved. Charts are calculated when you ask.