The ten Heavenly Stems are the top characters of the four pillars. Each one is a yin or yang form of one of the five elements, and the stem of your day pillar — your Day Master — is the character that stands for you in a BaZi reading.
Ten stems, five elements
The stems are counted in a fixed order: Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui. They pair off by element — two Wood, two Fire, two Earth, two Metal, two Water — and within each pair the first is yang and the second is yin. Every year, month, day and two-hour period has a stem, and the order simply repeats every ten steps.
| # | Stem | Element | Yin / Yang | Traditional image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 甲 Jia | Wood | Yang | a tall tree |
| 2 | 乙 Yi | Wood | Yin | flowers, grass and vines |
| 3 | 丙 Bing | Fire | Yang | the sun |
| 4 | 丁 Ding | Fire | Yin | a candle or lamp flame |
| 5 | 戊 Wu | Earth | Yang | a mountain or great wall of earth |
| 6 | 己 Ji | Earth | Yin | garden soil and fields |
| 7 | 庚 Geng | Metal | Yang | an axe, ore or raw steel |
| 8 | 辛 Xin | Metal | Yin | jewelry or a fine blade |
| 9 | 壬 Ren | Water | Yang | a river or the open sea |
| 10 | 癸 Gui | Water | Yin | rain, dew and mist |
The "traditional image" column comes from the way classical texts describe each stem in nature. It is a memory aid rather than a rule, but it captures the difference between the yang and yin side of the same element: Jia Wood stands tall like a tree, Yi Wood bends and spreads like a vine.
The stems as Day Masters
Your Day Master is the stem of the day you were born, and the rest of the chart is read in relation to it. Here is the character each stem is traditionally given. Read them as tendencies that the rest of the chart can strengthen, soften or redirect — not as a fixed personality.
- Jia (甲) — yang Wood. Upright and steady like a tall tree. Often principled, protective and keen to grow in one direction; can be slow to bend.
- Yi (乙) — yin Wood. Flexible like grass and vines. Adaptable, sociable and good at finding a way around obstacles; may lean on support.
- Bing (丙) — yang Fire. The sun. Warm, open and generous with attention; likes to be seen and to lift the people around it.
- Ding (丁) — yin Fire. A candle or lamp. Focused, thoughtful and quietly persistent; gives light where it is needed most.
- Wu (戊) — yang Earth. A mountain. Reliable, calm and hard to move; people tend to rely on it.
- Ji (己) — yin Earth. Fertile soil. Nurturing, practical and patient; good at making things grow.
- Geng (庚) — yang Metal. Raw ore or an axe. Direct, decisive and loyal; does best when it has been tempered.
- Xin (辛) — yin Metal. Jewelry or a fine blade. Refined, precise and sensitive to quality.
- Ren (壬) — yang Water. A river or the sea. Restless, curious and resourceful; thinks in big currents.
- Gui (癸) — yin Water. Rain and dew. Intuitive, gentle and quietly influential, reaching places others do not.
How a stem relates to the others
Once the Day Master is known, every other stem in the chart can be named by its relationship to it — same element, the element you produce, the element you control, the element that controls you, or the element that produces you — split again by yin and yang. These ten relationships are the Ten Gods, and they are how BaZi talks about money, work, support and relationships.
Stems can also combine. Classical texts list five pairs that "join" and are said to take on a new element. They matter when two of these stems sit next to each other in a chart or arrive in a year that meets your chart.
| Pair | Combines into |
|---|---|
| 甲 Jia + 己 Ji | Earth |
| 乙 Yi + 庚 Geng | Metal |
| 丙 Bing + 辛 Xin | Water |
| 丁 Ding + 壬 Ren | Wood |
| 戊 Wu + 癸 Gui | Fire |
Common questions
Why do some sites write Gap, Eul, Byeong…? Those are the Korean readings of the same characters. Fate Hall's English edition uses the Mandarin pinyin (Jia, Yi, Bing…) because that is what most English BaZi books use, and always shows the Chinese character next to it.
Is a yang stem better than a yin stem? No. Yang and yin describe direction, not quality: yang stems push outward, yin stems work inward and through others. A chart needs both.
Related guides
- The Five ElementsHow Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water feed and control one another, which stems and branches carry each element, and how to read the balance in your chart.
- The Ten GodsWhat the Ten Gods are, how each is found from your Day Master, what themes they stand for, and a full lookup table for all ten stems.
- The Twelve Earthly BranchesThe twelve branches from Zi (Rat) to Hai (Pig): their element, solar month, double hour and hidden stems, and the harmonies and clashes between them.