The sixty day pillars

Bing Wu · 丙午

Bing Wu pairs 丙, a Yang Fire Day Master, with 午 (the Horse), a Fire branch. Read the upper character first, then the branch and the stems it contains.

The Day Master on top

Yang Fire · 丙 — Bing (丙) is Yang Fire, often represented by sunlight. Broad illumination and outward warmth are the image's main features. They are symbolic associations rather than a finding that a reader is outgoing.

Learn this Day Master's image and relationships →

The branch and its hidden stems

午 (the Horse) contains 丁, 己 in the traditional hidden-stem table. Each stem receives a ten-god label by comparing its element and polarity with 丙. The day branch is also traditionally called the spouse palace; that name does not identify a partner's character.

丁

Rival Wealth

Yin Fire · 丁 → 丙

己

Output (Sharp)

Yin Earth · 己 → 丙

Explain the ten-god labels

Na Yin

Bing Wu has the Na Yin label 天河水, "Sky-River Water". Thirty names are shared by the sixty pairs. This is a separate classification from the Day Master's element.

Stage of the cycle

Peak · This is the traditional twelve-stage label for the day stem 丙 in branch 午. Read it as a stem–branch classification, not a person's age or state of health.

The two unpaired branches (Xun Kong)

丙午 belongs to the ten-pair group beginning with 甲辰. Its ten stems pair with ten of the twelve branches, leaving 寅卯 outside that group. Those two are called Xun Kong, or "void branches".

Keep the Day Master, change the branch

These day pillars share the same upper character. Compare their hidden stems to see why a Day Master alone cannot describe all the chart relationships.

Is Bing Wu actually your day pillar?

Calculate all four pillars from your birth details, then check the day column. Near the day boundary, birth time and the calculator's time conventions can affect the result.

This reference describes one of four pillars. The calculator shows the full chart and the birth details used to produce it.