BaZi Life Planning and Coaching

About Bazi

BaZi, which in Chinese means eight characters, is calculated from the Year, Month, Day and Hour of a person’s birth. In each of these Four Pillars there is an upper and lower character, each of which carries different meanings – hence, BaZi. BaZi is also sometimes called Four Pillars of Destiny - it is exactly the same system, just two different names.

BaZi was first formalised in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) and further developed over time. It drew on pre-existing understandings of the world that had already informed Chinese thinking for over a thousand years. The core of the theory is Yin and Yang and the relationships between Five Elements – Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. All Chinese physical and metaphysical practices are based on the same theory but used for different applications. Thus whether a practitioner is using Traditional Chinese Medicine, Feng Shui, Chinese martial arts or Bazi, the same underlying theory informs their practice. The Five Elements interact in three main ways. Most simply, the elements produce each other: Wood feeds Fire which in turn creates Earth (ashes). Metal eventually forms in compressed Earth and Water is created when Metal is heated and cooled (condensation). Water then nourishes Wood and so the cycle begins again. All the effort involved in producing the child (which is how we refer to the element that is produced) can be tiring, hence the second cycle, in which Elements are weakened. Wood weakens Water, Water weakens Metal, Metal weakens Earth, Earth weakens Fire which in turn weakens Wood and the cycle begins again. The third cycle is countering, sometimes called controlling or clashing. Wood controls Earth by setting down roots to prevent erosion. Fire melts Metal. Earth controls water by containing it in lakes, rivers and oceans. Metal chops Wood and water puts out Fire. The theory is simple but ever so complex in practice – in BaZi, there are nearly 13 million possible combinations of elements across Year, Month, Day and Hour alone. Add to that influences that come from what we call ten year Luck Cycles and specific years. And then of course our upbringing, culture and life experiences will influence how we react to different situations we face through life. We really are all different!

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