The Ten Gods divide the relations between the Day Master and the other seven characters of a BaZi chart into ten categories. This article explains how the ten names are derived, why a name such as Qi Sha describes a relation rather than good or bad fortune, and the order in which they are properly read.
A BaZi chart is a birth year, month, day and hour turned into four pairs of stems and branches: eight characters in all. This article explains what each pillar is read for, why the day stem is the pivot of the whole chart, and why the popular instruction to top up whatever element is missing is not a rule of the tradition.
Fate calculation keeps time in three layers: the ten-year major fortune cycle, the annual fortune that turns over each year, and Da Xian in Zi Wei Dou Shu. This article explains how the starting point of a cycle is derived from the birth moment and the solar terms, and why the saying that a changeover year brings major events is mostly narrative told after the fact.
A single birth time produces a BaZi chart and a Zi Wei Dou Shu chart, and the two are often mistaken for two contradictory answers. This article sets out what each system cuts, three places where they most often corroborate each other, and three misreadings to avoid.
