The ten gods
Every character in a chart stands in one of ten relationships to your Day Master. The character’s element is your own, or the one your own feeds, or the one your own controls, or the one that controls yours, or the one that feeds yours; and it is either your own polarity — yang with yang, yin with yin — or the other. Five relationships, two polarities, ten in all. The tradition calls them the ten gods (十神, shí shén), though none is a deity. Element Compass reads them as ten figures, and gives each a name that says what it does.
The names are ours. Most English BaZi books translate the Chinese terms word for word, and each entry below gives that name once, so that what you have read elsewhere lines up with what your chart says. Older readings also cast the figures as relatives — a parent, a spouse, a child. Element Compass does not. A figure is a relationship, and the people who stand in it change.
The ten come in five families, two to a family: one steady, one restless. Each entry gives the figure’s own line, how it stands to your Day Master, and then the four things a chart says about it — in your chart, leading a chapter, beneath a chapter, in a year — in the same words the chart uses. A branch counts by the stem it hides.
Peers 比劫
The characters that share your element. In your own polarity, the Companion; in the other, the Rival. One walks beside you; one reaches for the same thing.
The Companion 比肩 bǐ jiān
Walks at your shoulder, and matches your stride.
The same element as yours, in your own polarity. For a Yang Water Day Master (壬), the Companion is 壬, Yang Water. Most English BaZi books call this figure Friend.
- In your chart
- With the Companion in your chart, you keep your own counsel, treat peers as the measure, and split both the work and the credit.
- Leading a chapter
- A decade of equals. Partners, peers, and going it alone by choice; what gets built is built beside people who want the same things, and who share the credit and the bill.
- Beneath a chapter
- Beneath it, the Companion: steady company underneath — a decade not gone through alone, and not led alone either.
- In a year
- A year for company: joint efforts, shared bills, and people at your own level.
The Rival 劫财 jié cái
Reaches for the same prize, and makes you run for it.
The same element as yours, in the other polarity. For a Yang Water Day Master (壬), the Rival is 癸, Yin Water. Most English BaZi books call this figure Rob Wealth.
- In your chart
- With the Rival in your chart, money and people move fast around you: generous on good days, competitive on all of them.
- Leading a chapter
- A decade with competition close to home. Money moves fast in both directions, chances come with someone else’s hand already on them, and acting early counts for more than planning well.
- Beneath a chapter
- Beneath it, the Rival: restless ground — little stays put, and keeping takes more effort than reaching.
- In a year
- A year that competes with you: hold what you have, and act early.
Expression 食伤
The characters of the element your own feeds — what comes out of you. In your own polarity, the Artisan; in the other, the Maverick. One makes; one says.
The Artisan 食神 shí shén
Makes things with pleasure, and feeds whoever is near.
The element your own feeds, in your own polarity. For a Yang Water Day Master (壬), the Artisan is 甲, Yang Wood. Most English BaZi books call this figure Eating God.
- In your chart
- With the Artisan in your chart, ease comes naturally — making, feeding, enjoying — and ambition has to be borrowed.
- Leading a chapter
- A lighter decade. Making, cooking, teaching, tasting; craft and generosity get further than ambition, and the work that pleases you is the work that lasts.
- Beneath a chapter
- Beneath it, the Artisan: an easy floor — appetite, comfort, and time to make things well.
- In a year
- A year that wants to be enjoyed: make, cook, teach, taste — and rest.
The Maverick 伤官 shāng guān
Questions the rules out loud, and refuses easy answers.
The element your own feeds, in the other polarity. For a Yang Water Day Master (壬), the Maverick is 乙, Yin Wood. Most English BaZi books call this figure Hurting Officer.
- In your chart
- With the Maverick in your chart, talent shows early and often, and so does the tongue that goes with it.
- Leading a chapter
- A decade when talent shows and rules chafe. What you say lands — as brilliance or as trouble — and every authority within reach gets tested, including the one you answer to.
- Beneath a chapter
- Beneath it, the Maverick: unsettled ground — the decade keeps asking why, and does not take the first answer.
- In a year
- A year that talks back: brilliance and friction in the same breath.
Wealth 财
The characters of the element your own controls — what you can hold and direct. In your own polarity, the Merchant; in the other, the Steward. One keeps money moving; one keeps it.
The Merchant 偏财 piān cái
Finds opportunity in motion, and trades before it settles.
The element your own controls, in your own polarity. For a Yang Water Day Master (壬), the Merchant is 丙, Yang Fire. Most English BaZi books call this figure Indirect Wealth.
- In your chart
- With the Merchant in your chart, opportunity finds you through people, and money is a current rather than a store.
- Leading a chapter
- A decade of circulation. Deals, introductions, money that arrives sideways and leaves the same way; opportunity is plentiful and loyal to no one, and the gain is in moving with it.
- Beneath a chapter
- Beneath it, the Merchant: money in motion underneath — well supplied, and rarely still.
- In a year
- A year of circulation: money comes in sideways, and leaves the same way.
The Steward 正财 zhèng cái
Earns it, keeps it, and knows where every coin is.
The element your own controls, in the other polarity. For a Yang Water Day Master (壬), the Steward is 丁, Yin Fire. Most English BaZi books call this figure Direct Wealth.
- In your chart
- With the Steward in your chart, what is earned is kept and counted, and letting go is the harder skill.
- Leading a chapter
- A decade of steady earning and careful keeping. Effort turns into things you can hold, and the temptation is to hold them too tightly.
- Beneath a chapter
- Beneath it, the Steward: solid ground — what is earned in this decade tends to stay earned.
- In a year
- A year for earning and keeping: slow, sure, and countable.
Support 印
The characters of the element that feeds your own — what you draw on. In your own polarity, the Alchemist; in the other, the Mentor. One learns off the syllabus; one teaches from it.
The Alchemist 偏印 piān yìn
Learns by the unmarked path, and sees the patterns others miss.
The element that feeds your own, in your own polarity. For a Yang Water Day Master (壬), the Alchemist is 庚, Yang Metal. Most English BaZi books call this figure Indirect Resource.
- In your chart
- With the Alchemist in your chart, you learn by routes nobody assigned and keep the results to yourself, sometimes too well.
- Leading a chapter
- A decade of study by strange routes. Solitude turns productive, knowledge nobody assigned starts to pay, and the inner life grows faster than the outer one shows.
- Beneath a chapter
- Beneath it, the Alchemist: quiet ground — the decade turns inward, and what feeds it is on no syllabus.
- In a year
- A year turned inward: study by odd routes, and quiet that pays.
The Mentor 正印 zhèng yìn
Teaches, protects, and is glad to be outgrown.
The element that feeds your own, in the other polarity. For a Yang Water Day Master (壬), the Mentor is 辛, Yin Metal. Most English BaZi books call this figure Direct Resource.
- In your chart
- With the Mentor in your chart, support tends to arrive before it is asked for, learning comes easily, and leaning becomes a habit.
- Leading a chapter
- A decade with something at your back. Teachers, protection, credentials, time to learn; the pace slows so that the learning can keep up, and the shelter is real, if a little confining.
- Beneath a chapter
- Beneath it, the Mentor: sheltered ground — support arrives before it is asked for, and the decade is gentler for it.
- In a year
- A year with something at your back: learn, be looked after, and slow down.
Find your own figures
A chart puts a handful of these ten on the board and says which — how often, and where. It takes about a minute.
Chart your elements