Millennia-old Zi Ping astrology meets AI casting — an in-depth Four Pillars × Ten Gods × Five Elements reading
What is Ba Zi (Four Pillars)?
- Ba Zi (Four Pillars) — also called Zi Ping astrology or Four Pillars of Destiny — is one of the two great schools of Chinese astrology (the other being Zi Wei Dou Shu / Purple Star Astrology). Your birth year, month, day and hour are each converted into a pillar of one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch — four pillars, eight characters in all, hence "Ba Zi" (literally "eight characters"). Starting from the Day Master (the Heavenly Stem of the day pillar) and reading it alongside the Ten Gods, hidden stems and the strength of the Five Elements, the chart maps your character, career, relationships, wealth and the direction of your life.
What are the Four Pillars, Ten Gods and Five Elements?
- The Four Pillars are: the year pillar (ancestors / early years), the month pillar (parents / career foundation), the day pillar (yourself / spouse) and the hour pillar (children / later years). Each pillar has a Heavenly Stem and an Earthly Branch, and each branch in turn holds 1–3 hidden stems. The Ten Gods (Direct Officer, Seven Killings, Direct Wealth, Indirect Wealth, Eating God, Hurting Officer, Direct Resource, Indirect Resource, Friend, Rob Wealth) describe how each character relates to the Day Master. The Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) are weighed for strength to determine the Useful God and the favourable / unfavourable elements — the key to balancing the chart.
How is Ba Zi different from Zi Wei?
- Ba Zi reads the year's flow through the Five Elements and the Stems and Branches — a more dynamic lens, strong at gauging strength, the Useful God, timing and short-to-medium-term fortune. Zi Wei Dou Shu (Purple Star Astrology) fixes the structure through stars and palaces — a more structural lens, strong at the big picture and the balance across 12 life domains. Traditional masters often run both side by side to cross-check each other. Xuanzhang offers both: Ba Zi and Zi Wei each unlock a full AI reading for HK$18.
Why is AI-cast Ba Zi better than casting by hand?
- Casting Ba Zi is itself a mechanical computation — Xuanzhang uses the open-source lunar-javascript casting engine, following traditional Zi Ping rules strictly (including the late-Zi-hour school's handling), so the result is identical for every user with zero memorisation slips. The AI then translates Day Master strength + the Ten Gods + the chart structure into grounded, real-life insight, generating a structured report in about 30 seconds. A traditional master charging for casting plus interpretation easily runs HK$500–2000 per session; AI is more consistent than doing it by hand and over 90% cheaper.
What if I don't know my birth hour?
- That's fine. Pick "Hour unknown" and the chart is cast mainly from the year, month and day (three pillars) — it won't fabricate an hour pillar. Three pillars are already enough to read the Day Master, the chart structure, the strength of the Five Elements and most of the personality and career analysis; only the hour pillar (children / later years / some career detail) is skipped. If you find your birth hour later, you can update and re-cast anytime.
What's included in the HK$18 Ba Zi report?
- An overall chart overview (anchored on the Day Master), Day Master strength plus the Useful God / favourable / unfavourable elements, a Five Elements balance analysis, a structure assessment, your natural strengths matched against your life lessons, life guidance grounded in the chart, plus an in-depth reading of 4 areas (personality / career / relationships / wealth & health) and one shareable line. Pay once for permanent access, regenerate anytime, and screenshot a 9:16 Ba Zi card to share.