How to Choose Your Ideal Career Using Bazi Part 1: The Modern School

A popular way of using bazi is to identify the best jobs and careers for you. By analyzing your natal chart, this ancient method of Chinese astrology reveals your strengths, weaknesses and affinities. You can discover what jobs suit you best, allowing you to bring out your full potential, and to create a rewarding career.

The question is how to do it.

Broadly speaking, there are two schools of bazi. The traditional school applies a strict interpretation of bazi theory according to the classics. The modern school attempts to update these theories for the modern era. There are of course different schools within these schools, but the general principle is the same. The traditionalists follow the classics, the modernists forge their own path.

Both schools have different (and contentious) approaches to working out your career path. In this series of posts, we will explore the differences between the traditional and the modern schools, and explain how we apply bazi in the modern world. For our first post, we shall look at the modern school.

The modern school of bazi has a simple and straightforward approach to using bazi to choose your ideal career. All you have to do is to look at your month pillar.

The month pillar governs your career. By analysing the hidden stems of your month pillar, you can tell right away what kind of jobs and industries you are best suited for.

Here’s an example:

This is a straightforward month pillar. There is only one element in the hidden stem: metal. Thus, this person has a natural affinity for metal-related industries. He could explore careers in the military, police and finance sectors, as these are metal industries.

For a detailed list of careers associated with the five elements, check out Dougles Chan’s post here.

With that said, we don’t hold rigidly to the notion of classifying careers by elements. There are many careers today that embody multiple elemental energies, and those who compile such lists of careers may not be aware of the true nature of a job. It is simply a heuristic. It should not be considered perfectly accurately.

To narrow down what kind of job the chart holder should take on within a metal industry, we will look at the heavenly stem. Yi indicates flexibility and multitasking. This is someone who is well-suited for a cross-disciplinary role that requires juggling different tasks at once.

Kevin Chan gives a fuller description of elements and job roles here.

We could go even deeper and examine the configuration of the ten gods as well. Here we see Friend and Seven Killings. Friend suggests charisma, partnerships, negotiation skills, and leadership abilities. Seven Killings implies risk, discipline, and competition. The heavenly stems reveal how a person shows himself to the world, while the hidden stem shows who he is inside. Job recommendations based on analysing the ten gods would include relationship banker, human resources, or a leadership position in military and law enforcement.

This forum thread suggests job roles according to the ten gods.

You can also look at the heavenly stem to gain insights into the chart holder’s ideal profession.

For someone whose hidden stems contain different elements, then he has an affinity for other industries. Consider this:

This person has an affinity with three elements. The main qi of the Dragon is Earth, so he has the most affinity with it. The other two elements, water and wood, make up the sub-qi of the Dragon. His affinity with these elements are not as great as earth, but present nonetheless.

The strength of the elemental qi in the natal palace determines the chart holder’s career prospects. Assuming that earth is the strongest element in his chart, then earth industries present great opportunities to make money—but it also presents great challenges to overcome. The chart holder will find it easier to work in the water and wood industries, but the income potential of these industries is not as great. The chart holder will have to decide what he wants out of his career. Does he simply want a comfortable life, or does he want a challenging but rewarding career? That is the decision he has to make for himself.

The modern school offers a simple and straightforward way of using bazi to identify your ideal job. Most of the time, it will be enough. Even a newcomer to bazi will be able to use this approach. However, when dealing with certain extreme charts, the modern approach breaks down.

Let’s reveal the full chart of the first example:

This is a highly imbalanced chart. There is no fire at all. There is only one measly drop of water and one handful of earth. The rest  of the chart is dominated by wood and metal.  And not just any metal either: the dreaded Seven Killings.

Seven Killings is the star that controls the Day Master. It is the only star with the ability to destroy the Day Master. The chart holder may appear warm and friendly on the surface, but deep inside, he is aggressive, driven and relentless. With three Roosters in his chart, he will easily attract a lot of female attention—but also set him up for Rooster-Rooster self-punishment. This self-punishment manifests as self-sabotage and bad habits, such as substance abuse, poor judgment and self-doubt.

The chart holder was born in late summer, on the edge of autumn. His day master is terribly weak. He has two wood elements to support him, but they are outnumbered by five metal elements. More metal is going to weaken him even further.

What does this mean in practice?

Suppose he goes into banking. Banking demands long hours and difficult work. He has to deal with difficult customers, demanding bosses, a volatile market. The crazy world of high finance is filled with drug abuse, alcohol-fuelled parties and orgies. It is very easy for this chart holder to fall into self-destructive cycles, leading to disease and overwork. 

Let’s say he goes into the military or police instead. Where others run away from danger, they run towards danger. Should the chart holder become addicted to the adrenaline rush, he will lead from the front, charging headlong into combat. He will be the first to face the threat—and therefore be the first to die.

Can a bazi practitioner in good conscience advise a client to take on a job that could kill him?

Some people are willing to take the risk. Someone motivated by glory, by status, or simply the thrill of working in a dangerous profession will gladly take on those roles. But if that someone has dependents, or is a little less careless with his life, a strict interpretation of the modern school won’t help him in the long run.

To balance his chart, this chart holder needs wood and water. Water is almost completely absent from his chart. He doesn’t have any natural affinity for it. Yet he must exhaust the metal and feed his wood, or risk self-sabotage, disease and worse.

He could try to make a jump into a water-related industry. Such an industry will have something to do with water, travel, moving, or creative and strategic thinking. He could time his career move when water elements appear in his luck cycle, or during a water year. However, given that he has little affinity for water, he may not possess the right qualifications to do so. He may not even have considered going into such industries, and has no desire to do so.

If you’re in an unfavourable industry and lack the qualifications to change to another industry, change your job position instead so that it takes on the qualities of a favourable element.

In the banking sector, this could mean working as a consultant, a trader, or a specialist who interfaces with maritime, transport or tourism industries. It may not necessarily be as lucrative as serving ultra-high-net-worth individuals, but it could be less demanding and presents fewer opportunities for self-destructive behaviours. It would give him greater control over his life.

In military and law enforcement, this could mean transferring to maritime units, becoming a crisis negotiator, serving as a liaison officer to other agencies, or managing logistics. These positions make use of his Friend and Seven Killings stars, but are less likely to expose him to life-threatening danger.

As you can see, the modern school offers a simple way of providing career advice—but it isn’t always the most useful advice. As tempting as it may be to simply look at the month pillar and be done with it, you must read the entirety of the chart and consider the client’s circumstances to give actionable advice. Especially if you don’t want to lead someone into an early grave.

You don’t want to gamble on your destiny. Make the wrong choice and you could lose years of hard work, acquire preventable lifestyle illnesses, or worse. You need a professional to help you. Book a reading with us now to discover your life path.

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