Bazi Calculation to Find Your Personal Elements

The first step to finding your personal elements is to look up your Bazi chart. There are many calculators online to use. You must make sure you have your hour of birth.  I'll use my own chart as an example.

Hour Pillar  Day Pillar  Month Pillar  Year Pillar
Ji                  Geng           Bing               Xin
Mao             Chen            Shen              Wei

Now that we have that, we then list out all of the elements involved. I included all the Zodiac animal's elements, which can be found on the Lucky Zodiac Elements, Explanation and Diagram page. 

Ji x2
Yi x3
Jia
Wu x3
Geng x2
Gui
Bing
Ren
Xin
Ding

Now that we've listed out all of the elements involved in the chart, we can list out the luck cycles of each of these elements.
                                L1            L2            L3            L4            L5            L6            U1            U2            U3            N
Ji x2                        Gui         Xin            Jia          Bing        Geng           Ren          Ding          Yi              Ji            Wu
Yi x3                         Ji        Ding        Geng           Ren         Bing            Wu            Gui         Xin            Yi             Jia
Jia                           Wu        Bing          Xin            Gui         Ding              Ji             Ren      Geng           Jia             Yi
Wu x3                    Ren       Geng            Yi           Ding          Xin            Gui           Bing         Jia           Wu              Ji 
Geng x2                   Jia         Ren        Ding               Ji            Gui             Yi             Wu       Bing        Geng           Xin
Gui                       Ding            Yi          Wu          Geng             Jia          Bing            Xin          Ji            Gui           Ren
Bing                     Geng          Wu          Gui              Yi               Ji            Xin             Jia        Ren         Bing          Ding
Ren                       Bing           Jia              Ji            Xin              Yi          Ding         Geng        Wu           Ren           Gui
Xin                           Yi          Gui         Bing            Wu           Ren             Jia               Ji        Ding          Xin         Geng
Ding                       Xin             Ji          Ren              Jia            Wu        Geng              Yi         Gui         Ding          Bing

It's time to tally up how lucky each element is. Write down all elements and how much you have of each.

Wood: +1 yang +3yin, Fire: +1 yang +1 yin, Earth: +3 yang +2 yin, Metal: +2 yang +1 yin, Water: +1 Yang +1 Yin

Now tally how many times each element is lucky (found under L1-L6 and N), marking the total amount with "L", and under that write how many times they are unlucky (found under U1-U3), marking that total with "U".

 Wood: +1 yang +3yin, Fire: +1 yang +1 yin, Earth: +3 yang +2 yin, Metal: +2 yang +1 yin, Water: +1 Yang +1 Yin
             +11L      +10L             +10L    +12L                 +10L     +12L                +12L      + 11L                +13L      +11L
             +5U       +6U                +6U     +4U                   +6U      +4U                   +4U       +5U                 +3U         +5U

The difference of the element's L to U is the element's luck value.

Jia=6, Yi=4, Bing=4, Ding=8, Wu=4, Ji=8, Geng=8, Xin=6, Ren=10, Gui=6

Multiply these luck values by the amount of the element found in the chart to get the element's effect amount.

Jia=6, Yi=12, Bing=4, Ding=8, Wu=12, Ji=16, Geng=16, Xin=6, Ren=10, Gui=6

Now, it's important to know what your DM, or day master, is in your Bazi chart. Your DM element is your personal Qi signature. It is the heavenly stem element of your day pillar. In this case, mine would be Geng, or Yang Metal. 
List out your element's effect amount in order of your day master's luck cycle.

                           L1            L2            L3            L4            L5            L6            U1            U2            U3            N
Geng                   Jia          Ren         Ding            Ji           Gui             Yi           Wu          Bing        Geng         Xin
Effect Amount    +6            +10          +8          +16           +6            +12          +12           +4             +16           +6 

Now, find the difference between the opposites in the cycle by subtracting the element with the higher effect amount from the element with the lower effect amount.  Record the difference as the value of the element with the higher effect amount.  The element with the lower effect amount is given a value of 0.  If the two elements involved have equal effect amounts, both have a value of zero. For example, consider the opposites L1 and U2.  The elemental effect amount of L1 is 6, and U2 has an effect amount of 4.  The difference between these is 2, which is attributed to L1, the element with the higher effect amount, whereas U2 is attributed 0.  Thus, L1 is the victor by 2 in the "tug-o-war" of energies.
L1is opposite to U2          L1= Windfall Wealth             U2= Unfortunate Conflict
L6 is opposite to L3         L6= Earned Wealth                L3= Positive Change/ Restraint
L4 is opposite to L5         L4= Happiness/Proper Care   L5= Creativity
L2 is opposite to U1         L2= Sudden Inspiration         U1= Improper Care
N is opposite to U3           N= Neutral Benefit                U3= Arguments


                              L1            L2            L3            L4            L5            L6            U1            U2            U3            N
Geng                      Jia          Ren         Ding            Ji           Gui             Yi           Wu          Bing        Geng         Xin
Luck Values             6             10             8              16            6                4               4               4               8             6
Element Amount      +2            +0            +0          +10           +0              +4            +2             +0           +10           +0

 Now we know which elements are a part of you, what they do for you or against you, and we also know what needs to be supplemented. Any 0's in the L1-L6 and N categories are elements that need to be supplemented for a more balanced and prosperous life. Another way of looking at that would be the elements that need to be supplemented are your lucky elements. The elements with the most points in Element Amount are the ones that you most obviously show in your personality. In my case, Ren, Ding, Gui and Xin are lucky for me. Ren would be the luckiest with a luck value of 10 and would offer my type sudden inspiration. If I wanted to be inspired it'd be a good idea for me to do some moving outside, by the beach in the summer or spring, while wearing a blue and white horizontally striped bikini and listening to some loud music, as an extreme example. Each element involves so many different features because everything in life can be categorized into these ten elements. I explain this in the elemental pages of my blog if you are interested in knowing how to supplement a certain element; Ding would be the second luckiest with a luck value of 8 and would offer me positive change if I supplemented it; Gui and Xin are tied for the third luckiest element with luck values of 6, Gui would offer me creative expression and Xin, my partner element, would help balance out and soften my metal element. I mostly connect with the elements Ji and Geng, which is probably why I like to study and try to explain in the simplest way I can these ancient arts. As for the lucky elements that are already obtained, I think it would be wise to avoid the ones that share the same polarity as your own, i.e. yang avoiding yang or yin avoiding yin. Personally I have a little of the Jia element, so if I were to bring into my life anymore Jia element it would bring disharmony. I noticed that even though Yang Wood is my luckiest element, I have a tough time standing yang wood people. This is because I already have some and my yang metal naturally combats with yang wood. It's like an axe that gets dulled down from cutting too many trees. This can happen with unlucky elements too, like me and my Wu, yang earth, energies. I already have yang earth and that makes it even worse for me to come in contact with any yang earth energies.