If we want to go deeper in the Yi Jing, some basic idea of the Chinese Calendar and astrology may be helpful.
So lets look at some very basic ideas from there.
We will look at BaZi and the Solar Calendar.
BaZi has many names and translations, 8 symbols, 4 Pillars of Destiny and many others.
Most often we find it using The Solar Calendar. In there we use Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.
We have combination of a Stem and a Branch for each year, month, day and 2 hour period.
When we combine both we call it a Pillar. A pillar looks like this:
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The upper Character we call Stem. We can see similar to the lower one it has element(Wood,Fire,Earth,Metal or Water) and polarity(Yin or Yang).
Earthly branches also have Animal associated to them.
In this case for Yang Metal branch that is the Monkey.
(as this is the pillar of today,24Nov2018)
In that way it may be easier to figure out how the name of the years come up. For example now is the year of the Earthly Dog. That means that the Stem will be Earth. It also means the branch is Yang Earth, as Dog is Yang Earth branch.
So the current year will look like this:
![]()
We work with Images. When enough Images gather we can say something will happen.
Branches are earthly, they are heavy influence, sometimes difficult to notice at first glance, but in general moving a lot more slowly and in a fixed way.
Stems are heavenly, they are fast, light and very surface influence. Its very easy a stem to control the branch, very difficult(more or less impossible) the other way around as it would be like trying to control a song that comes from the far distance. It can influence a lot the people that hear it, but it isn't heavy enough to grasp, before its gone far away.
Branches are much easier to get and work with,usually.
So now we know what is Pillar. It is made of a Stem and Branch. Both have their element, their polarity(always the same) and move together.
Every day the day pillar changes to the next one. Every month the month pillar will change and it is the same for Year and Hour pillars. 60 Pillars make a full cycle and the cycle starts again. So if we have the 4 pillars of someone we can never be sure if he was born today, 60 years ago or 120 years ago with that information alone.
This 4 pillars(year, month, day and hour) create the 8 symbols that we use in the BaZi styles to read someones fate.
The whole map would look similar to this(for today):
![]()
From here we just look the big Images.
So what is the difference between year, month, day or hour pillar...
Lets start with the Year.
Year pillar suggest something we have to stretch out to connect.
As a kid trying to get a jar of something it wants, far out in a higher shelf, we need to send part of us out in the distance to connect to what is in the Year Pillar(as we are far from it in the Day Stem).
That can be a childhood memories, or connection to our ancestors(as our parents and grand parents would be in the Year Pillar), international places or our connection to the world outside of the place we live in and everything else we consider far.
In that way a organization symbolized by a branch that seems to be interacting with us(so lets say a place we will work at), will be international if it is in the year. Local if it is in the month while beyond distance if it is in the hour(like online for example). Too near to our physical body all the time, if it is in the Day Pillar to be possible to represent organization.
Reason for that is that each pillar has basic Images connected to it. And to the Year Pillar all will be associated with the Image of something "far" from us.
Looking for someones Spouse, their location in the year pillar suggest it will either be older or born in far away place. Or often its both.
Looking at our physical body the four limbs are represented in the year pillar. As they are what we use to stretch far out from where we are.
Will continue with the other pillars if it seems appropriate.
So lets look at some very basic ideas from there.
We will look at BaZi and the Solar Calendar.
BaZi has many names and translations, 8 symbols, 4 Pillars of Destiny and many others.
Most often we find it using The Solar Calendar. In there we use Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.
We have combination of a Stem and a Branch for each year, month, day and 2 hour period.
When we combine both we call it a Pillar. A pillar looks like this:
The upper Character we call Stem. We can see similar to the lower one it has element(Wood,Fire,Earth,Metal or Water) and polarity(Yin or Yang).
Earthly branches also have Animal associated to them.
In this case for Yang Metal branch that is the Monkey.
(as this is the pillar of today,24Nov2018)
In that way it may be easier to figure out how the name of the years come up. For example now is the year of the Earthly Dog. That means that the Stem will be Earth. It also means the branch is Yang Earth, as Dog is Yang Earth branch.
So the current year will look like this:
We work with Images. When enough Images gather we can say something will happen.
Branches are earthly, they are heavy influence, sometimes difficult to notice at first glance, but in general moving a lot more slowly and in a fixed way.
Stems are heavenly, they are fast, light and very surface influence. Its very easy a stem to control the branch, very difficult(more or less impossible) the other way around as it would be like trying to control a song that comes from the far distance. It can influence a lot the people that hear it, but it isn't heavy enough to grasp, before its gone far away.
Branches are much easier to get and work with,usually.
So now we know what is Pillar. It is made of a Stem and Branch. Both have their element, their polarity(always the same) and move together.
Every day the day pillar changes to the next one. Every month the month pillar will change and it is the same for Year and Hour pillars. 60 Pillars make a full cycle and the cycle starts again. So if we have the 4 pillars of someone we can never be sure if he was born today, 60 years ago or 120 years ago with that information alone.
This 4 pillars(year, month, day and hour) create the 8 symbols that we use in the BaZi styles to read someones fate.
The whole map would look similar to this(for today):
From here we just look the big Images.
So what is the difference between year, month, day or hour pillar...
Lets start with the Year.
Year pillar suggest something we have to stretch out to connect.
As a kid trying to get a jar of something it wants, far out in a higher shelf, we need to send part of us out in the distance to connect to what is in the Year Pillar(as we are far from it in the Day Stem).
That can be a childhood memories, or connection to our ancestors(as our parents and grand parents would be in the Year Pillar), international places or our connection to the world outside of the place we live in and everything else we consider far.
In that way a organization symbolized by a branch that seems to be interacting with us(so lets say a place we will work at), will be international if it is in the year. Local if it is in the month while beyond distance if it is in the hour(like online for example). Too near to our physical body all the time, if it is in the Day Pillar to be possible to represent organization.
Reason for that is that each pillar has basic Images connected to it. And to the Year Pillar all will be associated with the Image of something "far" from us.
Looking for someones Spouse, their location in the year pillar suggest it will either be older or born in far away place. Or often its both.
Looking at our physical body the four limbs are represented in the year pillar. As they are what we use to stretch far out from where we are.
Will continue with the other pillars if it seems appropriate.