BaZi Luck Terms: Luck Pillars, Annual Pillars, Monthly Pillars and Tai Sui

The natal chart is the ground; luck is the weather along the way. This group holds the terms for reading change over time, from luck pillars that turn every ten years to each year’s annual pillar and Tai Sui.

Index of this group

• Luck pillars
• Luck pillar start age
• Ten God luck pillar
• Sui yun bing lin
• Minor luck
• Annual pillar
• Ten God year
• Annual clashes and combinations
• Monthly pillar
• Offending Tai Sui
• Sharing the branch of Tai Sui
• Clashing Tai Sui
• Punishing Tai Sui
• Breaking Tai Sui
• Harming Tai Sui
• An Tai Sui
• San Yuan Jiu Yun
• Date selection
• Twelve Day Officers

19 terms

Luck pillars 大運

Luck pillars (da yun) are a sequence of stem-branch pairs counted forward or backward from the month pillar, by sex and the yin or yang of the year stem; each governs ten years of life. Read more →

Luck pillar start age 起運

The luck pillar start age (qi yun) is when the first luck pillar begins: count forward to the next solar term or back to the previous one, then convert at three days to one year. Read more →

Ten God luck pillar 十神大運

A Ten God luck pillar names a decade by the Ten God its stem and branch are to the Day Master, such as a Wealth, Officer or Resource pillar; whether it helps still depends on strength and favorable elements. Read more →

Sui yun bing lin 歲運並臨

Sui yun bing lin is a year whose stem and branch exactly match the current luck pillar, so that set of elements is doubled that year: a tailwind if favorable, a time for caution if unfavorable. Read more →

Minor luck 小運

Minor luck (小運, xiao yun) is the yearly pillar that stands in for luck pillars before they begin. It counts from the hour pillar, forward for a boy born in a yang year or a girl in a yin year, backward otherwise. Read more →

Annual pillar 流年

The annual pillar (liu nian) is the stem-branch pair of each year, changing at Li Chun; reading it means asking which Ten God it is to the Day Master, whether it is favorable, and what it clashes or combines with. Read more →

Ten God year 流年十神

A Ten God year names a year by the Ten God its stem and branch are to the Day Master, such as a Wealth, Officer or Resource year; whether it helps you still depends on strength and favorable elements. Read more →

Annual clashes and combinations 流年沖合

Annual clashes and combinations are the relations, such as clash, combination, punishment, harm and break, between a year's stem and branch and the four natal pillars; the pillar touched shows which area of life is stirred. Read more →

Monthly pillar 流月

The monthly pillar (liu yue) is the stem-branch pair of each month within a year, bounded by the twelve jie solar terms from Li Chun; its stem follows from the year stem by the Five Tigers rule. Read more →

Offending Tai Sui 犯太歲

Offending Tai Sui (fan tai sui) means your zodiac branch, the branch of your birth year, is the same as, clashes, punishes, breaks or harms the branch of the current year; it signals movement and friction, not misfortune. Read more →

Sharing the branch of Tai Sui 值太歲

Sharing the branch of Tai Sui (zhi tai sui) means your zodiac branch is the same as the year's branch, your zodiac year; the year overlays your own branch, so the themes connected to it are amplified. Read more →

Clashing Tai Sui 沖太歲

Clashing Tai Sui (chong tai sui) means your zodiac branch forms one of the Six Clashes with the year's branch, six places apart and directly opposite; it points to movement and structural change in the areas involved. Read more →

Punishing Tai Sui 刑太歲

Punishing Tai Sui (xing tai sui) means your zodiac branch forms a punishment with the year's branch: Zi-Mao, Yin-Si, Si-Shen, Chou-Xu, Xu-Wei, or Chen, Wu, You or Hai meeting itself; it often reads as friction, rules and responsibility. Read more →

Breaking Tai Sui 破太歲

Breaking Tai Sui (po tai sui) means your zodiac branch forms one of the Six Breaks with the year's branch: Zi-You, Wu-Mao, Si-Shen, Yin-Hai, Chen-Chou or Xu-Wei; it often reads as existing arrangements being taken apart and reorganized. Read more →

Harming Tai Sui 害太歲

Harming Tai Sui (hai tai sui) means your zodiac branch forms one of the Six Harms, also called chuan, with the year's branch: Zi-Wei, Chou-Wu, Yin-Si, Mao-Chen, Shen-Hai or You-Xu; it often reads as hidden wear and misunderstanding. Read more →

An Tai Sui 安太歲

An Tai Sui is a folk religious ritual in which people, often those offending Tai Sui, register at a temple early in the year to pray to that year's Tai Sui, giving thanks at year end; it is religious practice, not a BaZi conclusion. Read more →

San Yuan Jiu Yun 三元九運

San Yuan Jiu Yun is a system that divides time into a repeating 180-year cycle of nine twenty-year periods, each carrying one Luoshu star and trigram, used to describe the character of an era. Read more →

Date selection 擇日

Date selection (ze ri) is the traditional practice of choosing dates and hours for weddings, moves, openings and other key events, using the Chinese almanac's favorable activities, day officers, Yellow Path days and zodiac clashes. Read more →

Twelve Day Officers 建除十二神

The Twelve Day Officers (jian chu) are the almanac's daily duty stars counted from the month branch: Establish, Remove, Full, Balance, Stable, Hold, Destruction, Danger, Success, Receive, Open and Close, cycling every twelve days. Read more →

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