The Four Pillars (四柱)

The Four Pillars are the foundation of a BaZi chart. Each pillar represents one component of your birth moment:

• Year Pillar (年柱): ancestry, early environment, and societal context.
• Month Pillar (月柱): the most important pillar — it defines the season of your birth and your core pattern (格局).
• Day Pillar (日柱): the Day Master (日主) — the essence of who you are.
• Hour Pillar (时柱): your aspirations, late life, and children.

Each pillar contains a Heavenly Stem (天干) and an Earthly Branch (地支), making eight characters total — hence "BaZi" (八字, "eight characters").