Beginner students to BaZi have a tendency to think that any chart which seems difficult to decipher, must, by necessity be a SPECIAL CHART.

As special charts (ie: Super Vibrant Charts, Transforming Charts) have a different set of rules, it’s easy to resort to the label of ‘special’. It sort of helps explain the puzzlement you feel towards the chart, and to some degree, allows you to not feel stupid about not having figured it out. It’s a Special One after all.

Unfortunately, it is all too easy to resort to calling a chart ‘Special’ when frequently, it is NOT special but quite normal. It’s just that I find students often get distracted by what’s going on in the chart (transform, combine, clash, harm, destroy) and forget to go back to the basics when it comes to evaluating the chart which is this: WHAT IS THE PERSON’S FUNDAMENTAL PERSONALITY AND CHARACTER?

After all, ultimately that is the point that the Chinese Sages sought to pursue when they developed BaZi. They realised, like Aristotle did, that CHARACTER = ACTION. They of course also concluded that CHARACTER and ACTION, are the result of DESTINY. But that’s the subject of another post.

The chart is special fine. Yes, that also means the person’s life will also be a little special in the sense it will not be ordinary. But the bottom line is that special or not special, does not impact on the question of Personality and Character. It relates to the technicalities of the chart and of course, will influence how you look at the quality of the person’s life and the outcome of their luck pillars. But it doesn’t change who they are based on their Day Master, or the Character Structure of the chart.

Even BaZi consultants sometimes wrestle with the Special Charts (the ones that are really special) because first of all, we have to figure out if it really IS special, or just hard to read.

A good example of how tricky it is to figure out charts with missing elements. Donald Trump’s chart is an example of a chart with a missing element – he is Ji Earth, missing Water specifically. I have seen Ji Earth charts with missing elements. But they are not special. By contrast, Donald Trump’s chart is special. Okay, so we are cheating and figuring this out by reverse engineering (ie: he’s Donald Trump, how can his chart have a missing element? Therefore it must be special) to a large degree. But what also is key to determining if a chart is special, or just missing an element, is WHAT IS MISSING.

In the same vein, a chart can have two missing elements and be just a chart with two missing elements (thus, bad), or it could be a special chart of the Super Vibrant or Transforming Variety.

The ultimate point however is not to assume that because something looks different or difficult, that it must by nature be SPECIAL. Sometimes, it’s not really SPECIAL at all in any way.