Stems and Branches in Chinese Astrology Chinese astrology was believed to have begun in 2697 BC when the Yellow Emperor decreed that the years should be counted in a cycle of 60 "Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches". 
The 10 Heavenly Stems
The heavenly stems represent heavens chi and ‘providence’. The stems are the 5 elements, which we are familiar with. They comprise of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. They are arranged according to the 5 elements and subdivided into yang and yin polarities. Here is the sequence; stem 1 is Yang wood (Jia) and stem 2 is Yin Wood (Yi) and so forth… yang fire (Bing) yin fire (Ding) yang earth (Wu) yin earth (Ji) yang metal (Geng) yin metal (Xin) yang water (Ren) and finally yin water (Gui).
The 12 Earthly Branches
The earthly branches represent earth chi, meaning 'nature or destiny’. The branches are simply the animal names, which are well known. They comprise of the Chinese zodiac signs of Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. Together, with the four seasons, they show the rise and fall of chi throughout a year. A stem and a branch apply for each year, month, day and hour - all are significant to the Chinese astrologer. Because there are 12 zodiac signs and 12 months, each sign is fixed, also the Chinese use double hours, so the hours are always the same too. This means that if you were born in a certain month or hour you would have the zodiac sign for that time period within your horoscope. Heavenly stems and Earthly branches are subdivided into yin and yang. When a stem is partnered with a branch this forms a pillar and this is also classified into yin and yang. A yang stem can only be partnered with a yang branch and a yin stem must go with a yin branch. So, the heavenly stems can form 5 yang pillars or 5 yin. Multiplying this with the number of earthly branches produces 60 different variants or a sexagenarian cycle.
The Four Pillars of Destiny
The Four Pillars of Destiny are produced by pairing a Heavenly stem and an Earthly branch together to form a pillar, e.g. the year 2005 has the Yin Wood Heavenly stem and the Earthly branch of Rooster, so 2005 is known as a yin Wood Rooster year. So if you know anyone who was born this year, their year pillar would be a Wood Rooster. You may well know your own Chinese zodiac sign for your year of birth. However, most people are unaware that they also have a stem and branch for the month, day and hour they were born, making 4 pillars in total. Five-Element scholars know people's Stems and Branches from people's birthday and time. Yearly, monthly, daily and hourly Stems and Branches form an astrology birth chart. Five-Element scholars use Yin Yang Five Elements relationships in the birth chart to predict people's fortune.
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