the birth day, and one of each for the double-hour period of birth. Each paired heav-
enly stem and earthly branch is referred to as a “pillar.” The four of them together give
the Four Pillars divination its name.
If one starts with heavenly stem number one (yang wood) and pairs it with
earthly branch number one (rat), and runs them through in order, one will get 60 pos-
sible combinations of heavenly stem and earthly branch. This is why the sixtieth
birthday is so important in the East. In effect, one has lived through all possible com-
binations of pillars.
The Four Pillars is unique in the astrological world for dividing up the path of
the ecliptic in two different ways, one way according to the annual rotation of the
Sun, another according to the daily rotation. Even though the path of the Sun is
divided up in two entirely different ways, the divisions are given the same names in
both rotations. Within the limits of the vastly different time periods involved, the
energies associated with those like-named periods are regarded as the same as well.
The earliest Chinese astrological reference to any part of the Four Pillars sys-
tem is a division of the year into 24 parts. If one takes the Western tropical signs and
divides them in half, the result exactly reproduces the 24 divisions of the old Chinese
year. What the Taoist Chinese do with these divisions is very different from what is
done in Western astrology. In the West, the year begins at the Spring equinox, also
called Zero Aries. The Chinese year begins halfway between the Winter solstice and
the Spring equinox, located where the Western zodiac calls 15° of Aquarius. Fifteen
degrees of Aquarius is the proper derivation of the Western ritual day of Candlemass,
or Groundhog Day. The Chinese regard 15° of Aquarius—roughly February 4—as the
beginning of Spring, and as the beginning of the astrological Chinese year.
A chart has a pillar for the year of a person’s birth. If that person were born
between 15 Aquarius 1924 and 15 Aquarius 1925, the earthly branch for that year is
rat. There are five kinds of rat years: wood/rats, fire/rats, earth/rats, metal/rats, and
water/rats. This refers to five different heavenly stems to go along with the rat earthly
branch. Because of the order of the stems and branches, rat, tiger, dragon, horse, mon-
key, and dog are always associated with yang polarity heavenly stems. Ox, rabbit,
snake, sheep, rooster, and pig are always associated with yin polarity heavenly stems.
Between 15 Aquarius 1924 to 15 Aquarius 1925 is the yang wood/rat year. Marlon
Brando, George Herbert Walker Bush, and Paul Newman were born in this period.
The yang wood/rat is their year pillar.
The Chinese year is divided up very differently from the Western zodiac:
15 Aquarius to 15 Pisces is Tiger month.
15 Pisces to 15 Aries is Rabbit month.
15 Aries to 15 Taurus is Dragon month.
15 Taurus to 15 Gemini is Snake month.
15 Gemini to 15 Cancer is Horse month.
15 Cancer to 15 Leo is Sheep month.
15 Leo to 15 Virgo is Monkey month.
15 Virgo to 15 Libra is Rooster month.
15 Libra to 15 Scorpio is Dog month.Four Pillars Divination
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