To determine how to have good luck in a given year it is necessary to look at our birth chart and at the year’s chart and see how they interact.

The year of the Dog 2018 starts on February 4, 2018 at 5:38 am and its birth chart is shown on Picture 1.

Since you need your birth chart to see how it relates to the year’s chart, go to my BaZi Calculator and plot it using the local time at your place of birth.

Your chart reflects who you are. The year chart reflects the opportunities that come your way.

Picture 1 – Year of the Earth Dog 2018

On any given birth chart the top elements are known as heavenly stems or simply stems, the middle elements are known as earthly branches or simply branches and the bottom elements are known as hidden stems, and are the components of the branches.

Years’ charts are identified by the branch or zodiac animal located in the year pillar, in this case the Dog, but the actual reference point in any birth chart is always the day stem, known as the day master. In the case of the year of the Dog 2018 the day master is yin fire and in your case it is the stem on your day of birth.

As seen on the year’s chart there are four wood elements, three fire elements, three earth elements, one water element and one metal element (don’t count the branches because their elements are already in the hidden stems). This means that the most predominant element of the year is wood and in second place come fire and earth.  This applies to the whole world but due to astrological influences on each country, the strength of the elements might be a little different. For instance, in the United States the most predominant element is fire, then comes earth and then wood but bottom line, wood, fire and earth, in any order, are the best elements to have. This means that if you have them in your birth chart you have better chances to have good luck during the year of the Dog 2018. If you don’t have them in your chart you should partner with someone that has them in his/her birth chart in order to improve your luck.

The weak elements are metal and water so if they are the predominant elements in your birth chart you will have some challenges during the year of the Dog 2018. How to overcome the challenges? How to have good luck?  Concentrate your efforts on the areas of your life that display the good elements, don’t make any major changes and don’t place great expectations on the areas of your life that display the not so good elements.

The areas of your life in your birth chart are as follows:

• The year pillar represents your social circle, your friends, your network, the industry you work for, the people you know and the people that know you.
• The month pillar represents your career, your job and whatever you do for living.
• The day pillar represents you, your domestic affairs, your thoughts and emotional world. The day branch represents your spouse or significant other.
• The hour pillar represents your creations and achievements, your investments, your aspirations and ambition.
• The luck pillar represents your current overall experience and impacts all areas of your life (we all go through various luck pillars in our life, each luck pillar lasts approximately 10 years).

If your good elements are in the stems everybody will see you are doing good but it might not be completely true. If your good elements are in the hidden stems you will do good but people won’t see it. If your good elements are in the stems and in the hidden stems everybody will see you are doing good and it will be true.

Following the guidelines above you can determine your luck in love by looking at the day pillar or your luck at work by looking at the month pillar, to name some. Or you can take action to improve your money luck, for instance:

• If you have good elements in the hour pillar, create something or make an investment.
• If you have good elements in the month pillar, work harder to multiply the benefits because the year’s energy is on your side.

The strength of the elements in the year’s chart not only impacts people, it impacts everything that exists because everything in the universe is associated with an element. As mentioned before, the strength of the elements could be a little different for each country but generally speaking, wood, fire and earth related matters will do good during the year and metal and water related matters will not do so good.

Wood industries deal with herbs, agriculture, education and commodities, to name some.

Fire industries deal with IT, food preparation, energy, oil and gas, entertainment, media, pharma, metaphysics and everything that enhances people’s lives.

Earth industries deal with properties, construction, mining and insurance, to name some.

Metal industries deal with finance, banking, automobiles, manufacturing, military, and legal, to name some.

Water industries deal with logistics, transportation, fast moving consumer goods, beverages and services, to name some.

In addition to checking the elements that you have on each pillar to determine your luck on each area of your life you should also check the stars that fall on the animal signs (branches) in your chart.

There are various constellations in the universe carrying stars with positive and negative effects. When stars with positive effects fall on any of the animal signs in your birth chart, you get support from the universe in that area of your life. When stars with negative effects fall on any of the animal signs in your birth chart, you find obstacles and challenges in that area of your life. When no stars fall on the animal signs in your birth chart you have to work harder because you have to do everything by yourself with no support from the universe.

The more positive stars you get on a given year, the better. The more negative stars you get on a given year, the worse. Since we are focusing on the good to concentrate the efforts in those areas of our lives, check out the number of positive stars on all the animal signs (branches) in your birth chart according to the information on Table 1.

Table 1 – Positive Stars in the Branches during the Year of the Dog 2018

If for instance you work in a water related industry, the industry is not going to do very well during the year of the Dog 2018 but if you have fire in your year pillar (one of the predominant elements of the year) and the fire in your year pillar is a Horse with 3 positive stars, even though the industry is challenging, you might be one of the ones that will do great in the industry. Millions of people in the same industry won't do good but you will.

The application of astrology has many layers, another layer that you should check out to determine how to have good luck during the year of the Dog 2018 deals with the kinship of each element in the year’s chart, which is based on the five Chinese elements theory.

From this perspective metal is the element that represents money during the year of the Dog 2018. The year’s chart has very little metal and no metal elements are seen on the stems so there will be little money available and it tends to be hidden.

To have money luck or cash flow during the year of the Dog 2018 it is important to have at least one metal element in your birth chart:

• If your metal is on the stems, others will see you have money but there will be more opportunities for you to lose it so be wise with your spending.
• If your metal is at the branches, you will have the ability to save or accumulate.
• If you don’t have any metal elements in your chart, partner with someone that has some.

In general, during the year of the Dog 2018 if you have metal in your chart your cash flow will be positive or you will have easy access to cash. If you have fire you will have the possibility to increase your connections. If you have wood you will have the possibility to be influential and/or you will have the ability to sell. If you have water you will have the possibility to be profitable and/or to feel fulfillment at work. If you have earth you will have the possibility to own assets, resources or stuff. Make appropriate use of what you have in your chart to go with the flow, that is the way to have good luck.

Remember that the application of astrology has many layers. Contact me if you want to know more!