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The Ten Gods, in plain words

The Ten Gods. The 8 forces in your chart.

Leader, Warrior, Builder, Adventurer, Scholar, Mystic, Creator, Rebel. Every chart has a strongest force, and it helps choose your guardian spirit.

  • Leader
  • Warrior
  • Builder
  • Adventurer
  • Scholar
  • Mystic
  • Creator
  • Rebel
The 8 forces that can lead a chart. Each one leads 10 guardians, one per core element.

Short answer

The Ten Gods (十神, Shi Shen) are the ten relations between your Day Master (your core element) and every other character in your BaZi chart: Friend and Rob Wealth (same element), Eating God and Hurting Officer (what you produce), Indirect and Direct Wealth (what you control), Seven Killings and Direct Officer (what controls you), Indirect and Direct Seal (what produces you). In plain words: 8 forces that can lead your chart, plus 2 mirrors.
On this page
  1. 01What the forces are
  2. 02How your birth month picks the strongest
  3. 03Plain names and classical names
  4. 04The 8 forces, and 2 mirrors

What the forces are

Your core element is the one character in your chart that stands for you, for example “Yin Water, the rain”. Every other character relates to it in one of five ways: it is the same element, you feed it, you shape it, it shapes you, or it feeds you.

Each of those five comes in a yin version and a yang version, which makes ten. Classical books call them the Ten Gods (十神). They are not gods anyone worships. Think of them as ten kinds of pull, and of your chart as the mix of pulls you were born with.

How your birth month picks the strongest

We do not just count which force shows up most. The classical rules look at your birth month, the season you were born in, and take the force it carries as the strongest one in your chart.

  1. If the main element hidden in your birth month also shows on top of your chart, that force leads.
  2. If a smaller hidden element shows instead, that one leads.
  3. If none shows, the main hidden element decides.
  4. If your birth month is your own element, the chart borrows its theme from another force in the chart.

That is why only 8 of the 10 forces lead a chart. Your core element plus your strongest force gives one of the 80 guardian spirits. Read the full method.

For the curious: the proper names
Ten Gods 十神
The classical name for the forces in your chart.
Day Master 日主
Your core element: the top character of your day pair.
Structure 格局
The strongest force in your chart, read from your birth month.
Month branch 月支
The animal sign of your birth month, with elements hiding inside it.
建祿 Jian Lu, 陽刃 Yang Ren, 月劫 Yue Jie
Names for a birth month that is your own element.
Zi Ping 子平
The classical rules, written down about 1,000 years ago, that most readers still use.

Plain names and classical names

ForceClassical nameHow it pulls on you
The Leader正官Direct OfficerWhat shapes you
The Warrior七殺Seven KillingsWhat shapes you
The Builder正財Direct WealthWhat you shape
The Adventurer偏財Indirect WealthWhat you shape
The Scholar正印Direct SealWhat supports you
The Mystic偏印Indirect SealWhat supports you
The Creator食神Eating GodWhat you create
The Rebel傷官Hurting OfficerWhat you create
The Friend比肩FriendYour mirror
The Rival劫財Rob WealthYour mirror

Ten Gods, ten forces

The 8 forces, and 2 mirrors

Each way of pulling on you comes in two versions: a steady, by-the-book one and a wilder, more personal one.

What shapes you

The element that tames your core element, the way a riverbank holds a river. It brings rules, pressure and drive.

What you shape

The element your core element tames and works on. It stands for what you earn, build and manage.

What supports you

The element that feeds your core element, like rain waking up a garden. It brings learning, care and protection.

What you create

The element your core element feeds. It is how you express yourself: your ideas, talents and words.

Your mirror

The same element as your core element. It stands for you, your peers and your rivals. These 2 never lead a chart: they add backbone or daring to whichever force does.

FAQ

Questions people ask

What are the Ten Gods in BaZi?
The Ten Gods (十神) are the classical names for the forces in your chart. BaZi writes your birth moment as 8 Chinese characters, and one of them stands for you: your core element (classical books call it the Day Master). Every other character relates to it in one of five ways: it is the same element, it feeds you, you feed it, it tames (holds back) you, or you tame it. Every element comes in an outward (yang) and an inward (yin) form, and each relation splits in two by whether the forms match. Five times two makes ten.
Which Ten God sets my archetype?
Your birth month does. In the classical method we follow (the Ziping school, written down about 1,000 years ago), the strongest force in your chart comes from your birth month, reading the elements hidden inside the month's animal sign. Classical books call this your chart's structure. Your core element plus that force gives your guardian spirit. If your birth month is your own element, another force in the chart sets the theme instead.
Are some Ten Gods good and others bad?
No. Classical books call some forces gentle and some harsh, but each one can help or hinder depending on the rest of the chart. The Warrior (Seven Killings) under control reads as courage; the Leader (Direct Officer) with too much weight on you reads as anxiety.
Why are there no Friend or Rob Wealth archetypes?
The Friend and the Rival (Rob Wealth) are your own element, showing up again in your chart. Classical rules do not let your own element lead a chart, so when your birth month is your own element, the theme comes from one of the other eight forces instead. That is why the guardian spirits use the other eight.

Keep reading

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