Gui Si · 癸巳
Gui Si pairs 癸, a Yin Water Day Master, with 巳 (the Snake), a Fire branch. Read the upper character first, then the branch and the stems it contains.
The Day Master on top
Yin Water · 癸 — Gui (癸) is Yin Water. Rain and dew are familiar images, used to describe moisture that reaches a surface or a root. These images are a way to learn the symbol, not evidence of unusual intuition.
Learn this Day Master's image and relationships →The branch and its hidden stems
巳 (the Snake) contains 丙, 庚, 戊 in the traditional hidden-stem table. Each stem receives a ten-god label by comparing its element and polarity with 癸. The day branch is also traditionally called the spouse palace; that name does not identify a partner's character.
丙
Direct Wealth
Yang Fire · 丙 → 癸
庚
Direct Resource
Yang Metal · 庚 → 癸
戊
Authority
Yang Earth · 戊 → 癸
Na Yin
Gui Si has the Na Yin label 长流水, "Long-Flowing Water". Thirty names are shared by the sixty pairs. This is a separate classification from the Day Master's element.
Stage of the cycle
Conception · This is the traditional twelve-stage label for the day stem 癸 in branch 巳. Read it as a stem–branch classification, not a person's age or state of health.
The two unpaired branches (Xun Kong)
癸巳 belongs to the ten-pair group beginning with 甲申. Its ten stems pair with ten of the twelve branches, leaving 午未 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 Gui Si 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.