Understanding each pillar - quick overview

(An example of Four Pillars from Joey Yap's Ba Zi Ming Pan calculator)

Your Four pillars (Bazi) are usually laid out as above.

Starting from rightmost column, it is actually the pillar that represents the year that you are born in. In this example, this person is born in the year of "戊寅" or literally yang earthTiger.

The second pillar from the right represents that month of your birth.

The third pillar with the Chinese character "元日" represents the day of your birth. Note that the right reading of the Chinese character should be "日元" meaning day element. The heavenly stem of this day pillar represents your self-element. Remember your self-element and the cycle of birth and destruction. The self-element represents you. All the other 7 Chinese Characters are related and used to decipher their relations with your self-element. In this example, it is "乙" or yin wood under the day heavenly stem (日元).

The last pillar on the left represents your time of birth.

Henceforth, the Four Pillars are also known as Year Pillar, Month Pillar, Day Pillar and Time (or Hour) Pillar.

If you have consulted a Bazi Master or fortune teller before, you are probably given the Eight Chinese Characters in a row, like 卯寅 乙丑 乙丑 壬午. You can now confidently lay them out as above and at least understand your self-element.