I have touched a lot on compatibility tests and 8 characters,but have yet to explain clearly what are the 8 characters and why are they important.

By the end of this article,you should have gained some basic knowledge on 8 characters and understand how the 8 characters affect you.

In chinese astrology,the 8 characters actually refer to a person's date and hour of birth.There are 4 pillars,namely...

1.The Year Pillar

2.The Month Pillar

3.The Day Pillar

4.The Hour Pillar

These 4 pillars form the 8 characters as each pillar is made up of one heavenly stem and one earthly branch.

I can hear you asking,what is a heavenly stem and an earthly branch?And what are their uses?

The heavenly stems and earthly branches are used to represent each year.As you probably know that there are 12 animals in the chinese zodiac and for each element,there is a different element.The 5 elements and 12 animals form 60 combinations.

After every 60 years,the cycle repeats itself.

The 5 elements actually represent the 10 heavenly stems.There are 2 heavenly stems for each element.One for the "yin" version of that element and the other for the "yang" version.

There are 12 earthly branches,which represents each of the 12 animals in the chinese zodiac.

For each year,there is one heavenly stem and one earthly branch.Similarly,for each month,each day and each hour,there is also a heavenly stem and an earthly branch.

That is how the 8 characters are derived.

Next,there is something called the luck pillars.The luck pillars are derived from your month pillar,either going backwards or forwards.Depending on whether you are male or female and the year you are born in.

The luck pillar is very important as it determines your luck cycle for a period of 5 to 10 years.

So how do you determine whether your luck cycle is good?

From you 8 characters,you will be able to determine which elements are favorable to you and which are not.

When you encounter favourable elements in your luck pillar,your luck cycles becomes good and vice versa.

From your day pillar,you will determine which element represents you.The next thing is your month of birth.Is the month you are born in favourable to your element?

I will simplify the process here for you.Let's say you are born on a Wood day,Metal month.

You probably know that Metal destroys Wood.Therefore your Wood is weak.You will need more Wood or Water(Water produces Wood) for your luck cycle to be good.

Whenever you encounter Wood or Water in your luck pillars,your luck cycle becomes good.If you encounter Metal or Fire,your luck cycle becomes bad.As Metal destroys Wood and Fire burns up Wood.

Do you know why people die?

Basing on 8 characters,you can determine if a person will survive through a major illness.Let me explain with a real life story.

I have a friend whose relative was suffering from cancer.I was curious,so I asked for the relative's 8 characters.

This relative's element was Water,and he was born in Summer,a Fire month.Now,when Water is born in a Fire month,what happens?

The Water gets evaporated right?

Therefore this relative must have Water and Metal(Metal produces Water) in his luck pillars to have a smooth luck cycle.I checked his luck pillars to see if he would survive from the illness.

I was shocked.

He was going through a Fire period for 5 years.From 2003 to 2007,it was all Fire in his luck pillars.He found out that he had cancer in 2006,(Fire Dog year,a double Fire year).I somehow knew that he would not survive because of the "intense Fire" he was going through.

But I kept quiet about it because I did not want my friend to get upset.

Indeed,he passed away in June 2007,which happened to be a Fire Horse month(Double Fire again).

Before that,I actually tried to advise my friend to help his relative improve his luck cycle.But my friend,being a Christian,did not believe in all these.

Things could have improved if he increased Water and Metal in his daily life.But this is where destiny comes into play.As much as I would like to "save him",but I am unable to.It saddens me.

Let me share another case study.This time it is my brother.

My brother is Earth born in a Metal month.His favourable elements are Fire(Fire produces Earth) and Earth.

I checked out his luck pillars,he was going through a Fire luck pillar.In fact,he started going through the Fire period since the age of 16,and he had 25 years of Fire luck pillar.Before the age of 16,he did not do well in his studies.

Age 16 was his turning point.He has been doing well in every area of his life ever since then.

Therefore from here,you can see that by knowing your 8 characters,you are able to know when are your good times and bad times.You will not be taken by surprise and you can take measures to reduce the effect of the unfavorable elements.

I will share with you how to do it in another article.

About the Author

Marco Chong is a practioner of Indian Numerology,Chinese Astrology and Feng Shui. He has 15 years of experience behind him. His strong points are analysing compatibility using Indian Numerology and Analyzing Birth Charts using Chinese Astrology.

For more information visit http://www.determineyourloverbynumbers.com