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At times around the Chinese New Year each year, it is very common for you to hear some discussions about the yearly fortune forecasts for the 12 Chinese Zodiacs (十二生肖). However, Bazi (八字) can also be used to forecast the yearly fortune. So, what is the difference between the two forecasting methods?
Bazi (八字)
Before discussing the difference between the two forecasting methods, we need to have a basic understanding of Bazi and its structure. The literal meaning of the word, Bazi, in Chinese is Eight Words. Basically, Bazi is a person's birthday with the time of birth. However, Bazi is using the ancient China's Stem-Branch system (天干地支) to record the birthday. The year, month, day, and time of the birthday is recorded separately by four pillars. That's why Bazi is also called the Four Pillars (四柱). For each pillar, it is formed by a pair of one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch. As a result, the structure of a Bazi consists of eight words among the Four Pillars.
It is not difficult to find out the first three pillars of your Bazi by yourself since the Year Pillar, Month Pillar, and Day Pillar can easily be found in the Chinese perpetual calendar. The Earthly Branch of the Time Pillar is just simply the time of birth. However, the Heavenly Stem of the Time Pillar needs to be calculated from Heavenly Stem of the Day Pillar. Since the calculation for the Heavenly Stem of the Time Pillar is quite complicated, this calculation will be discussed further in other articles in the future.
After finding out your Bazi, you can now calculate the Luck Pillars and the Ages for each luck periods based on the information from your Bazi. Each Luck Pillar represents a period of 10-year, and is formed by a pair of one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch. Since the calculations for the Luck Pillars and the Ages for each luck periods are very complicated, these calculations will be discussed further in other articles in the future.
Below is an example of a Bazi and its Luck Pillars:
10 Heavenly Stems (十天干)
The 10 Heavenly Stems (甲Jia 、乙Yi、丙Bing、丁Ding、戊Wu、己Ji、庚Geng、辛Xin、壬Ren、癸Gui) is a system in ancient China to record numbers. It represents a set of numbers from one to ten written in Chinese words. Other than its numerical meaning, the 10 Heavenly Stems represent a wide range of information including: direction (East, South, West, North); Yang (陽) Yin (陰); and five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water).
When one Heavenly Stem interacts with another Heavenly Stem, it could combine with each other and convert to another five element. This process is called in union (相合) and convert (化). However, being in union with each other does not necessarily results in conversion of the five element. To be able to convert to another five element, certain conditions must be met. These conditions will be discussed further in other articles in the future.
Below is a table of the 10 Heavenly Stems:
12 Earthly Branches (十二地支)
The 12 Earthly Branches (子Zi, 丑Chou, 寅Yin, 卯Mao, 辰Chen, 巳Si, 午Wu, 未Wei, 申Shen, 酉You, 戌Xu, 亥Hai) is a system in ancient China to record numbers. It represents a set of numbers from one to twelve written in Chinese words. Other than its numerical meaning, the 12 Earthly Branches represent a wide range of information including: direction (East, South, West, North); months (January to December); time; Yang (陽) Yin (陰); five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water); and four seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter).
12 Zodiacs (十二生肖)
However, the 12 Earthly Branches do not represent the 12 Zodiacs. Instead, the 12 Zodiacs (Rat鼠, Ox牛, Tiger虎, Rabbit兔, Dragon龍, Snake蛇, Horse馬, Goat羊, Monkey猴, Rooster雞, Dog狗, Pig豬) are used to represent and substitute the 12 Earthly Branches. For example, Dog is used to represent Xu (戌) and Dragon is used to represent Chen (辰). The main purpose of the 12 Zodiacs is to symbolize the 12 Earthly Branches to become the 12 animals. Accordingly, assisting the people who have no knowledge of Chinese metaphysics and Chinese words to memorize the 12 Earthly Branches.
Below is a table of the 12 Earthly Branches:
Interactions of the 12 Earthly Branches
When one Earthly Branch interacts with another Earthly Branch, it could generate the effects of: offending (伏刑), conflicting (相沖), torturing (相刑), harming/poking (相害/穿), breaking (相破) and in union (相合).
Below is a table which lists out the interactions between the 12 Earthly Branches:
Conflicts with the Presiding God (犯太歲)
Having conflicts with the Presiding God (犯太歲) simply means that the Earthly Branch of your birth year is having a conflict with the Earthly Branch of the current year. Such conflicts include: offending (伏刑), conflicting (相沖), torturing (相刑), harming/poking (相害/穿), breaking (相破) as discussed above. As such, having conflicts with the Presiding God can be classified into five different types according to the nature of the conflicts. Accordingly, there could be more than one Zodiac that are having conflicts with the Presiding God in each year. For more information on the Zodiacs and Presiding God, please refer to my article “Chinese Zodiacs and Presiding God" on my website.
Bazi Fortune Forecast
The Bazi Fortune Forecast is a forecast method that analyses the structure and relationship between the Four Pillars (year, month, day, hour) and Luck Pillars which are calculated from the birthday. Observing whether there are any effects of: offending, conflicting, torturing, harming/poking, breaking and in union among the Pillars. Analysing the strength and interactions of the five elements as well as the types of Luck periods. The end result of this comprehensive analysis is a lifetime forecast for a person's luck, personalities, career, wealth, health, relationship, marriage, and children which can be used for better life planning. For instance, one can fully make use of the advantages during the good luck period to boost his career or business to the highest level. On the other hand, preparing backup plans before the bad luck period arrives.
For a Yearly Bazi Fortune Forecast, an additional pillar which is the Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch of the current year will be added to the above comprehensive analysis. So, this yearly forecast will be analysing the structure and relationship of the six pillars (Four Pillars, Luck Pillar, and Year Pillar). Since the Bazi Fortune Forecast has to account for a wide range of factors and its comprehensive analysis is very complicated, it can provide very detailed and accurate results. Also, it can reflect the fact that each person's fate is different in reality.
Below is an example of the Yearly Bazi Fortune Forecast:
Zodiac Fortune Forecast
The Zodiac Fortune Forecast is a simple forecast method that is focused on analysing the relationship between the Earthly Branches of the birth year and the current year. Observing whether there are any effects of: offending, conflicting, torturing, harming/poking, breaking and in union between the two Earthly Branches. Together with the analysis of the yearly lucky stars and unlucky stars for the relevant Zodiac, a yearly forecast for a person's luck, career, wealth, health, relationship, marriage, and children can be obtained.
Limitation of Zodiac Fortune Forecast
The Zodiac Fortune Forecast method has excluded a wide range of factors for consideration in the analysis. For example, it ignored the analysis for the structure and relationship of the six pillars (Four Pillars, Luck Pillar, and Year Pillar), and the types and effects of the luck in each Luck Pillar. The biggest problem with the Zodiac Fortune Forecast method is that it assumes each Zodiac is having the same fate for that year. Thus, the Zodiac Fortune Forecast method is unable reflect the fact that each person's fate is different.
Previsouly, I have also discussed the Zodiac Fortune Forecast method in my article "Chinese Zodiacs and Presiding God" that people who are Conflicting the Presiding God are prone to have changes in relationship which could result in divorce for the married. In reality, there are cases that the Four Pillars of those Conflicting the Presiding God are in unions with each other which have strengthened the structures of their Bazi. Thus, reducing the impacts caused by the conflicts with the Presiding God. The end result is that the married only had big disputes and arguments with each other without getting divorced in that conflicting year.
On contrast, there are cases that some people are getting divorced even though they are not in the year of Conflicting the Presiding God. This is because there are conflicts between the Four Pillars within their Bazi which have weakened the Bazi structures. Also, in the year of having no conflicts with the Presiding God just simply means that the current year is not conflicting the Year Pillar in the Bazi. However, this does not stop the current year to generate conflicts with the other three pillars (month, day, hour) that are already in conflicts with each other in the Bazi.
From these two examples, you should now be able to understand that a simple Zodiac Yearly Fortune Forecast which is based on the analysis between the birth year and the current year only, will provide an inaccurate result. For the purpose of obtaining detailed and accurate forecasts, a comprehensive Bazi Fortune Forecast should be conducted.
Advantage of Zodiac Fortune Forecast
The advantage of using the Zodiac Fortune Forecast method is that its analysis and application is very simple. People with no knowledge of Chinese metaphysics and Bazi can also use this method to do a yearly forecast by themselves. More importantly, a yearly forecast can easily be conducted even without the birthday since it requires the information of the Zodiac only. However, it should be noted from the above mentioned problem and limitation that Zodiac Fortune Forecast should be used for general forecast and as a rough guide only.