The Ten Gods
十神 · shí shén
Auspice ·
The Ten Gods (十神, shí shén) are the ten relations a character in a BaZi chart can have to your Day Master: five element relations, each split by whether its polarity matches yours. Every stem in a chart, visible or hidden in a branch, reads as exactly one of them.
The reference point is your Day Master, and that page explains it. The pages below take one relation each: where its name comes from, how it is derived, which stem it is for each of the ten Day Masters, and where it falls in a real chart.
| Ten God | Literal name | Our name | Relation | For a 甲 Day Master |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peer比肩 · bǐ jiān | Companion | Peer | Same element as you; same polarity | 甲 (Jiǎ, Yang Wood) |
| Rival劫财 · jié cái | Rob Wealth | Rival | Same element as you; opposite polarity | 乙 (Yǐ, Yin Wood) |
| Output食神 · shí shén | Eating God | Output | You produce it; same polarity | 丙 (Bǐng, Yang Fire) |
| Edge伤官 · shāng guān | Hurting Officer | Edge | You produce it; opposite polarity | 丁 (Dīng, Yin Fire) |
| Windfall偏财 · piān cái | Indirect Wealth | Windfall | You control it; same polarity | 戊 (Wù, Yang Earth) |
| Steady Wealth正财 · zhèng cái | Direct Wealth | Steady Wealth | You control it; opposite polarity | 己 (Jǐ, Yin Earth) |
| Pressure七杀 · qī shā | Seven Killings | Pressure | It controls you; same polarity | 庚 (Gēng, Yang Metal) |
| Structure正官 · zhèng guān | Direct Officer | Structure | It controls you; opposite polarity | 辛 (Xīn, Yin Metal) |
| Insight偏印 · piān yìn | Indirect Resource | Insight | It produces you; same polarity | 壬 (Rén, Yang Water) |
| Support正印 · zhèng yìn | Direct Resource | Support | It produces you; opposite polarity | 癸 (Guǐ, Yin Water) |
How are the ten derived?
Two questions settle any character. First, how does its element stand to your Day Master’s element in the generating and controlling cycles? There are five answers. Second, is it the same polarity as your Day Master, or the opposite? Five times two is ten:
| Element relation | Same polarity | Opposite polarity |
|---|---|---|
| Same element as you (同我) | Peer | Rival |
| You produce it (我生) | Output | Edge |
| You control it (我克) | Windfall | Steady Wealth |
| It controls you (克我) | Pressure | Structure |
| It produces you (生我) | Insight | Support |
Why does each have two English names?
Each Ten God has a literal translation that circulates widely — Seven Killings, Eating God — and those are the names you will meet in other books and calculators, so every page here gives them. In running text we use a plainer name, chosen so that a reader with no Chinese can tell which relation is meant: Pressure rather than Seven Killings. The literal name renders the Chinese faithfully and tells an English reader almost nothing, sometimes something alarming the Chinese does not say. The calculation is untouched. Only the label changes.
Every character in your own chart carries one of these ten labels. See yours with the free BaZi calculator — no account needed. For what hides inside the branches, read hidden stems. Auspice is for reflection, not prediction.