Today, step by step

Think of Today as the window you open first thing in the morning. You glance at the sky, notice the season, and get a feel for the day before you head out. Today does the same with your chart: it shows the day, the month, the year and the decade you're in, all read from your Day Master.

Today is always read for whoever is selected. Tap the round avatar at the top left to switch person, and the whole screen changes to their day.

The day at the top

The first line is the date and a city. That city comes from your phone's time zone, because days and solar terms change at local time.

Below it you'll see the day's pillar in a small arch, and a big line of themes, like Creativity + Steady resources. Those are two of the ten roles: what the day's top character and bottom character are to your Day Master. The sentence underneath names the day's pillar and reminds you it's read from your Day Master.

Then comes the rating: a few small pips and a word, More aligned, Mixed or More demanding, with the App model label. It's the app's own measure of how well the day's elements suit your chart. It isn't a forecast. When the hour isn't known well and the possible versions of the chart disagree, the rating comes from the most likely version, and a line under it says Based on the chart's most likely version. Only charts added from pasted pillars, with no birth date, show Not rated.

Tap the day's pillar and the Timeline opens on the calendar, with today's page already open.

What surrounds you now

Three cards show the bigger weather around the day:

• Month: the BaZi month you're in, with its themes and when it starts and ends.
• Year: the BaZi year, which runs from one Lì Chūn to the next, around February 4.
• Decade: the ten-year cycle you're living, with its approximate dates.

Tap a card and the Timeline opens on that view: months, years or decades. The decade card uses the traditional formula from your birth details, Male or Female, because the cycles need it. When a new decade is less than a year away, a short line tells you roughly how many months are left.

The five elements and you

This is a small circle of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, with your own element marked You. Solid arrows show one element feeding the next. Dotted lines show one element keeping another in check.

Each element has a label for you: Supports you, You express, You manage or Challenges you. Tap any of them to read what it means in daily life and which two roles belong to that group.

The sun and the months

The wheel shows the 24 solar terms, with the Start of Spring (立春) at the top. The solid ticks are the twelve that open a BaZi month. A mark shows where the sun is today, and another shows where it was when you were born. If the birth time isn't exact, the app says that mark is approximate.

Under the wheel you'll find the Next solar term: its name, the new month's pillar, and the day and time it begins where you are.

Active symbol

Some years switch on one of the symbolic stars in your chart. When that happens, this card names the star and says how the tradition reads it. Tap Why? to see the rule behind it. In most years there's no card, and that's normal.

To reflect on

At the bottom there's a question for the month and a box for a private note. Write a line or two if you like, then tap Save note. The note is saved only on this phone, one per person and per day, so tomorrow starts with a fresh page. Once saved, you can Edit or Delete it. Once you've written a few, Earlier notes under the box lists that person's past notes, newest first, and you can delete any of them.

Today updates by itself at midnight and whenever a new solar term begins. Nothing runs in the background to do it.