Temporal Dynamics in BaZi and Taoist Thought
Understanding Your BaZi Chart
A BaZi chart is like a photograph of the moment of birth: a flash that captures temporality. Taoism, which can be described as a chrono-spirituality, places essential importance on time within its practices and systems. This is structured through ten Heavenly Stems and twelve Earthly Branches, which together form the sexagenary cycle. Thus, there are 60 temporal modalities, each carrying a particular energy — 60 energetic potentialities.
Each pillar of a BaZi chart combines a Heavenly Stem and an Earthly Branch. These are expressed through the Five Elements — Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, Wood — each in their Yin or Yang polarity.
The term BaZi means “Eight Characters” in Chinese, since the chart is composed of four pillars, each containing two characters. The reading goes from right to left:
the Year Pillar, connected to social life,
the Month Pillar, related to professional life,
the Day Pillar, which defines personality, self-esteem, and romantic life (marriage palace),
finally, the Hour Pillar, linked to intimacy and creativity.
The reading also goes from top to bottom: above, the Heavenly Stem embodies the energy received from Heaven, perfect because it is celestial; below, the Earthly Branch expresses how the Earth responds to Heaven, an imperfect energy because it is incarnated, containing hidden stems. These hidden stems reveal their potential around one’s forties, like resources awaiting emergence.
Individual and Collective Temporality
Time also plays a crucial role. Beyond our personal BaZi configuration, there is a collective temporality that unfolds over days, months, and years. Each of these cycles also consists of a Heavenly Stem and an Earthly Branch, which color the energy of the moment.
For example, the year 2025 falls under the sign of the Wood Snake, formed by the Earthly Branch Si (Yin Wood) and the Heavenly Stem Yi (Yin Wood). This collective energy does not affect everyone in the same way: it may support some BaZi charts — for instance, a person lacking Yin Fire, who struggles to form intimate bonds — but may prove more challenging for others, such as those marked by an excess of Fire or weakened Metal.
These so-called “challenging” periods should not be seen as negative. In the Taoist view, they are simply stages to cross, forces to tame in order to progress on the path. Trials, far from being obstacles, thus become opportunities to evolve, adjust, and draw closer to the Tao.
Relationships Between the Characters
The interactions among the “Eight Characters” (Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches) are not arbitrary: they follow the laws of the Five Elements. One element may nourish another, control it, deplete it, or transform it; and these movements are concretely expressed through the chart’s characters. Reading a BaZi chart therefore means observing how these elemental dynamics interlace to shape a unique energetic landscape [1].
A Living and Dynamic Chart
Interpreting a BaZi chart is about understanding the relationships between these energies and discerning the overall atmosphere they create. Each element is a potentiality that it is up to each person to activate or not.
The BaZi chart is dynamic: it does not dictate an immutable destiny, but instead offers a field of possibilities. As a Chinese saying goes: “My destiny belongs to me; it does not belong to Heaven.” The elements are activated through the person’s choices and actions.
To strengthen the Water element, no grand gestures are needed: small regular practices suffice. Swimming, drinking mindfully, setting an intention under the shower… These simple rituals nourish both our energetic chart and our unconscious. Jung demonstrated the power of symbols and archetypes on the psyche, something Taoists had already intuited by connecting their models to natural elements, deeply evocative for human beings.
Living in harmony with the Tao does not mean achieving spectacular feats — like retreating for thirty years in the mountains — but rather performing small daily actions with awareness.
Thus, to activate Fire, one might travel south, practice primitive pottery firing, or express oneself through theater. To awaken Wood, one can spend time in forests, cultivate creativity, or practice at sunrise facing east. Each action must first and foremost resonate with the person practicing it. It is not about mechanically reproducing rituals, but about giving them meaning — the beauty of an analogical system [2].
It is in this alignment that one attunes to the flow of life. Then, step by step, existence becomes more fluid, more natural.
An Inner Compass
A BaZi chart is not “the territory”: it does not define the being in their entirety but serves as an inner compass. It is a tool for self-knowledge that helps one draw closer to their essence and harmonize their life. For Taoists, happiness arises from this intimacy with one’s true nature.
Exploring one’s energetic chart means giving oneself the means to recognize potentialities, resonate with the elements, and carry out simple, meaningful daily gestures. By cultivating this living relationship between our energy and that of the world, we advance more serenely along our path and discover, step by step, the freedom to fully inhabit our destiny.
[1] For more infos about the 5 elements theory https://www.clayandtao.com/clay-and-tao-blog/ridingthewaveofthetao[2] For more infos about the analogical ontology https://www.clayandtao.com/clay-and-tao-blog/shouldireallyplacemybednorth