What Element Am I? Your Birth-Year Element vs. Your Full Birth Chart

Your birth-year element comes from the last digit of the year you were born. Years ending in 0 or 1 are Metal, 2 or 3 are Water, 4 or 5 are Wood, 6 or 7 are Fire, and 8 or 9 are Earth. So if you were born in 1996, you're Fire. If you were born in January or the first days of February, use the year before.

That's the quick answer, and it's the one most zodiac sites will give you. It's also only one-eighth of the story. Below is the table, the one catch that trips people up, and why a full birth chart might hand you a different element altogether.

Find your birth-year element

Year ends in	Element	A few recent years
0 or 1	Metal	1990, 1991, 2000, 2001
2 or 3	Water	1992, 1993, 2002, 2003
4 or 5	Wood	1994, 1995, 2004, 2005
6 or 7	Fire	1986, 1987, 1996, 1997
8 or 9	Earth	1988, 1989, 1998, 1999

Each element covers two years in a row. The first, ending in an even number, is the yang version: bolder, more outward. The second, ending in an odd number, is the yin version: quieter, more inward. So 1994 is yang Wood and 1995 is yin Wood. Same element, different flavor.

If you'd like to know what each element is actually about, The Five Elements, Explained for Beginners covers all five and how they connect.

The early-February catch

The Chinese calendar doesn't start its year on January 1. For birth charts, the new year begins at the start of spring on the old solar calendar, which lands on February 3, 4 or 5 depending on the year. It isn't the same as Lunar New Year, which moves around between late January and mid-February.

So anyone born in January, or in the first few days of February, belongs to the year before:

• Born January 20, 1990? Your year is 1989, which makes you Earth, not Metal.
• Born January 20, 1995? You're still in 1994, so yang Wood rather than yin Wood.
• Born February 2, 2000? That's still 1999, Earth. A week later, on February 10, you'd be Metal.

If your birthday is within a day or so of the switch, the exact time and place you were born decide which side you land on. The Element Reading works that out when you add your birth time and the time zone you were born in.

Why your year element is only one of eight

The birth-year element is real, and it's a fair place to start. But in BaZi, the traditional Chinese birth chart, it's one character out of eight. The chart also has a character for your month, your day and your hour of birth, each with its own element. (If you want to see how the eight fit together, we walk through one chart slowly in What Is BaZi?)

Here's what that looks like in practice. Three people, all born in 1994, all yang Wood by birth year:

Born	Year element	Day Master
March 14, 1994	Wood	Earth
July 20, 1994	Wood	Fire
October 2, 1994	Wood	Metal

The Day Master is the element of the day you were born, and traditional readers treat it as the center of the chart. So if those three asked a BaZi reader "what's my element?", they'd get three different answers. None of them would be Wood.

Why different websites give you different answers

If you've looked this up before and gotten two or three answers, this is usually why. "Your element" can mean any of these:

• Your birth-year element. The table above. This is what most zodiac and horoscope sites mean.
• Your Day Master. The element of your birth day. This is what a BaZi reader usually means.
• The element that shows up most. Some calculators count all eight characters and name the winner.
• Your "lucky" or favorable element. A practitioner's judgment about what your chart could use more of. This one takes a full reading, and readers don't always agree.

None of these is wrong. They're answering different questions. When you read about "your element" somewhere, it helps to know which one they mean.

See your full pattern

Orileva's free Element Reading takes your birth date, and your birth time if you know it, and lays out the elements across your whole chart rather than just your year. Then it turns what it finds into one question you can write about.

We use the elements a little differently from a fortune teller. We don't treat them as five types of people. We treat them as five ways of looking at a question: growth, expression, steadiness, clarity and depth. Your chart can suggest where to start. What's going on in your life this month usually has more to say about which one you actually need.

Questions people ask

Is my element the same as my zodiac animal?

No. The animal comes from the same birth year, but it's a separate thing. 1994 is the year of the Dog and also a Wood year, so someone born then is a Wood Dog. There are 60 combinations in all, which is why the full cycle takes 60 years to come back around. If you're thinking of your Western sun sign instead, Five Elements vs. the Four Elements of Western Astrology explains how the two systems differ.

What if I was born on February 3, 4 or 5?

Then you really do need your birth time, and ideally your time zone. The year switches at a specific moment, and it can fall on any of those days. Put your details into the Element Reading and it will place you on the right side.

Can I have more than one element?

Everyone does. A full chart has eight characters, and most people's include three or four different elements. Having one show up a lot, or not at all, is normal. If one of yours seems quiet, When Fire Appears Quiet explains what that does and doesn't mean, and the same thinking applies to any element.

Does my element change every year?

Your birth chart doesn't. Each new year has its own element, though. That's what people mean by "the year of the Fire Horse" or similar. It describes the year, not you.

Which element is the best one to be?

There isn't one. The five only make sense together: each one feeds another and keeps another in check. A chart that was all one element would be lopsided, not lucky.

If you just wanted the quick answer, you've got it: find your year in the table and you're done. If you're curious what the other seven characters say, the Element Reading takes about a minute.