What a date of birth alone can tell you — and what it cannot
updated · 5 min read
Readings that work from a date of birth belong to what is called the calculated group: the Four Pillars, Nine Star Ki, numerology, Western astrology. What they share is the idea of reading the tendencies someone was born with from the conditions at the moment of birth.
What they read is the part that does not easily change. The habits of how you meet things, where your strength comes out, what situations tire you. They deal with the ground under a person.
Which is to say they do not deal with the small events of a day. They are not a tool for guessing what happens at lunchtime. Know the ground you stand on and think about how you want to move from there — that is how these readings are used.
What is in range and what is not
| Can the calculated group handle it? | |
|---|---|
| Tendencies you were born with | Yes |
| The current over a period | Yes |
| The answer to what you are undecided about | Not readily. The chance-based methods suit better |
| Predicting specific events | No |
| Judgements about health | No. That belongs to a qualified professional |
If you want an answer to something you are weighing now, the chance-based methods suit better than the calculated ones — tarot or the I Ching, which read from the chance of the moment. This service combines both.
What changes without a time of birth
The Four Pillars properly uses four things: the year, month, day and hour of birth. Without the hour, the fourth pillar cannot be produced. This service reads with three.
We do not ask because few people remember their time of birth accurately. A half-remembered time throws every interpretation out through the wrong pillar. Not using it at all holds the accuracy better.
What is lost without the hour pillar is mainly the reading of later years and of children. Qualities, work and dealings with people read perfectly well from three pillars.
Why the name is used as well
This service asks for a name alongside the date of birth, for the name reading. A date of birth is not chosen; a name was chosen by someone. Looking at both what you were given at birth and what was given afterwards widens what can be read.
Since the name reading counts the strokes of Japanese characters, it does not apply to a name in the Latin alphabet. In that case the reading covers ten methods rather than eleven, and says so on screen rather than showing you a count of zero.
You may wonder what happens for two people with the same name and the same date of birth. They get the same result, and that is fine. A reading reads tendencies, not the particular life of a particular person.
From the date of birth come the Four Pillars, Nine Star Ki, numerology and astrology; from the name, the stroke reading. Add the chance-based four — tarot, oracle cards, the I Ching and Lenormand — and nine methods stand side by side.
Hits and misses is not the frame
There are people all over the world with your date of birth, and they are not living the same life. What the calculated methods handle is tendency, not a settled fate.
Common questions
- If I do know my time of birth, should I give it?
- There is no field for it. The service is not built to use the time, so supplying it would not change the result.
- What if I enter the wrong date of birth?
- You get someone else's result. Nothing is stored, so enter it again and read afresh. There is a daily limit on how many readings you can take.
- Should I use a date from another calendar?
- Please use the Gregorian date. The calculations assume it, and the turn of the year at the Start of Spring is handled internally.