THE 4 PILLARS is a way of studying and interpreting the past, present and future of people, according to the solar calendar.
The method is similar to a meteorological forecast.
According to the date of birth, an arrangement of elements is obtained for each person.
The diagram or chart obtained forms the basis that gives us the information for its interpretation.
Ancient Chinese used the combinations of two sets of words to denote time. A year is represented by two words. So is a month, a day or an hour.
The first set of words is the set of the “Ten Heavenly Stems”. They are the yin and yang components of the Five Elements: Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire, Yang Earth, Yin Earth, Yang Metal, Yin Metal, Yang Water, and Yin Water.
The second set of words is the set of the “Twelve Earthly Branches”. They are more popularly represented by the twelve animals of the Zodiac: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.
In the beginning, the Year Branch was used to represent the person. This is the animal sign of the person. Even today, when people talk about Chinese Astrology, they talk about your animal sign and describe your character according to the behavior of the animal. This is the primitive level of Chinese Astrology.
In the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), Xu Zi Ping made a revolutionary improvement on this method of reading lives. He used the Day Stem to represent the person. His work was collected in the book [Yuan Hai Zi Ping] compiled by Xu Xing.