Traditional glossary
Short cultural definitions for Four Pillars terms used across Born Hour.
Four Pillars (BaZi)
Year, Month, Day, and Hour pillars organize birth time through heavenly stems and earthly branches. Born Hour requires the birth hour so the Hour Pillar is never estimated.
Day Master
The Day stem is the reference element of the chart. Strength, Ten Gods, and balancing candidates are read relative to it — not as a fixed personality label.
Celestial Time
Wall-clock time is converted via IANA zones to UTC, then adjusted for longitude and the Equation of Time to celestial time before pillars are cast.
Ten Gods
Classical categories relating other stems to the Day Master: Friend, Rob Wealth, Eating God, Hurting Officer, Wealth, Officer, and Resource pairs.
Five Elements
Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water describe generating and restraining relationships. Scores are rule maps for harmony, not medical measures.
Combination & Clash
Stem and branch combinations, clashes, harms, punishments, and breaks describe structural links among pillars — not event forecasts.
Da Yun
Decennial luck cycles overlay the natal chart with multi-year seasonal tones. Direction depends on gender and month stem polarity.
Liu Nian
The annual pillar is a one-year cultural overlay. Compare it with the Day Master without treating it as a script.
Balancing Candidates (Yong Shen)
Likely favorable elements are rule-based candidates for balancing Day Master qi. They are cultural suggestions, not shopping advice.