Ba Zi, Or The 4 Pillars Of Destiny, A type of Chinese astrology Options

Hey, everyone, I'm wondering if anyone here knows how to interpret the Four Pillars charts.

My Ba Zi chart looks like this :

(IMG:http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c264/Fixerkitty/bazichart.jpg)

Metal - Wealth, Financial Success
Earth - Intelligence, Creativity
Wood - Resource, Support, Authority
Fire - Friends, Foes, Colleagues, Competition
Water - Recognition, Power, Rank

I've been told I'm a Strong Fire Tiger because my Day Master is Fire, however I've also been told that I'm a Weak Fire Tiger because my Month Stem is Yin Wood.

Also, Metal is my money Star. I'm wondering if I'm in a money period because it sure as hell doesn't look like it. :/

Fire and Metal are supposed to be my Lucky Elements, but every place I've looked gives me different advice on interpretations and how to best use this chart to enhance good fortune and eliminate the bad. It doesn't help most of the websites are either in Chinese, which I don't understand, or very broken English. :/

Halp? Anyone? I'm curious to see what the Metal Tiger Year holds for me.

I know that this posting will not be of much use to you...but, perhaps, it may give you an idea about divination(s).

It has been my experience that most every time I perform a divination for myself it comes up with alot of contradiction and/or useless directions. There are any number of reasons or suppositions that can apply to this.
1. We are too close to the 'problem' and lose objectivity. We end up actually 'coloring/muddying' the results with our hopes, fears or whatnot.
2. We did not or can not form the question properly. (see above) Unless we have the discipline to quell the inner turmoil/dialogue we won't be able to assess the situation clearly.
3. Quite often, we use divinatory methods/systems that we are unfamiliar with...relying on printed general meanings that were made as a universal answer.

As in Tarot, the meanings of the cards are really only a guide. The real interpretive meanings come from within and our connection with the archtypal images used in the divinatory method. ie Death doesn't always mean dying, it can mean change, etc.) Our connection with the system used is instrumental in our interpretations. Sometimes these boxed systems are merely windowdressing and are thought up to appeal to the mass market! I've found that having someone else perform the divination helps in establishing the objectivity required for an unblemished view. This practice has been used for millenia. Now, alot of you will protest this and to them I wish good luck! Objectivity and a clearness of mind is necessary to perform divinations! Yes, you CAN do your own...but much depends on you maintaining your 'distance' from the problem (ie objectivity)

On that note, I have absolutely no idea or experience with this form of divination...and I hope that the members here might have a clue. Good Luck! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Bym, thanks for the advice, but no offence, I've heard it all before. That having been said, your posts are usually pretty enlightening to read and also usually fun to read as well. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I started studying Tarot when I was still in elementary school, so I'm all too familiar with the 'too close therefore no objectivity' problem. It's one of the reasons I don't read cards much for myself anymore. The issue I'm having is that this is a relatively new system to me, although books that explain really basic Chinese astrology (year only) are available in any bookshop. Finding ones that go into detail, however, is a royal PITA as most of them are not in English and the few that are usually are imports and therefore expensive.

Ba Zi charts are more like consulting an almanac that begins on the day you were born. Much like a Western astrological chart, the almanac begins at the time you're born, except instead of using planets and houses, it uses the five Elements of Chinese thought and the animals of the Chinese zodiac. The elements can change meaning depending on what animal they're assigned to for that hour, day, month, or year, unlike Western astrology where they're always fixed. In Chinese astrology, the animals have certain fixed qualities which are greatly modified by what elemental slot they occupy at any given time. So a Metal Tiger will have the same qualities of leadership as a Wood Tiger, say, but go about obtaining their goals in radically different ways. And Metal represents money to me, but depending on how your Four Pillars shake out, your money element may be Water, Wood, or something else.

If some of this sounds familiar it's because a lot of Feng Shui is based on the same philosophy. Thing is, I'm not looking to Feng Shui my house, although most good Feng Shui practitioners will also consult the client's Ba Zi chart as a base for determining the Feng Shui of the house as they need to complement and reinforce each other instead of working at odds.

So yeah, that's what I know, and I'd really like more information on this subject.

This post has been edited by Darkmage: Jan 15 2010, 03:52 PM

Yes...I understand that! *grin* My point was that applying the meanings to the recipient varies because of the users intimate/in-tune-edness with the system. Anybody can create a list. I'm familiar with the five Chinese elements but not your divination system/method. Hence the 'hidden' of Occult 'Science'. I'm very certain of your familiarity of other systems! LOL! My articulation leaves alot to be desired! Mayhap Kinjo is familiar with this? Again, I wasn't trying to instruct you, rather, trying to bring to light some of the reasons for peoples frustration when it comes to divining. Forgive what you perceive as obvious reiteration...it was meant for others sake as well!

I figured that after I wrote it. *facepalm*

Ba Zi is not well known in the West. I've lived in Phoenix's version of Little Asia most of my life, so I've come across references to it in various places. The problem is if I go into a shop and ask about it, little old redhaired grey-eyed cracker me gets looked at as though I've suddenly grown a third eye or a second head. :/ I'm of the opinion cultural traditions are meant to be shared, not hidden, and seeing as Ba Zi calculators are all over the web, it's hardly 'occult.' The best sites tend to be Malaysian but even there they assume that the reader is Asian and can either a) do a rough interpretation of a chart themselves, much as we'd expect most people to be able to do that with a Western chart here, or b) shell out a great deal of money (usually a few hundred USD) to have a professional give us a Life Reading including our Four Pillars, the Feng Shui of our houses, etc.

One would think that with the popularity now of things like Feng Shui, Qi Gong, martial arts, and the like, it'd be better known, but nope!

*sigh*

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