The Complexity of Chinese Astrology

In China, we call astrology BaZi  (8 characters) or MingLi  (principle of your destiny or karma), but only a small amount of people actually understand how to put together and interpret a chart.  Most Chinese have to find an expert to help them, and finding someone really qualified and skillful can be challenging.  Of course, you may easily find a fortuneteller on the street, but they are usually not very accurate. The Chinese astrology system is extremely complicated, and the deep intricacies of the system is difficult for most people to understand.

The yearly animal sign is a small percentage of what influences your entire chart.  In my book, The 12 Chinese Animals, I also discuss the monthly and daily animal sign, which will help people develop a fuller understanding of their chart.  Most people do not realize that the 12 animals also relate to the 12 tidal hexagrams of the Yijing.  The Yijing, of course, is a method of understanding the rhythms of nature and of life. When I wrote this book, I wanted people to get a little taste for the complexity behind the Chinese astrological system. It is important to realize that the 12 animals is just one aspect of Chinese astrology — creating and understanding a whole chart for the sake of prediction is a much more complicated process.