LESSON P09 / 12 OF 20
Deriving the Ten Gods
A Ten God is simply what a stem is to you. Read it, and the chart starts describing you.
Original app lesson · freely available here
Yin and yang split each group into two names. It is not a ranking.
What a Ten God actually answers
Your chart has eight characters. One of them, the Day Master, is you. The other seven are not independent characters — each one only answers: where does this stand in relation to you?
There are five positions: same as me, what I produce, what I control, what controls me, what nourishes me. Split each by polarity and you get ten names.
So Direct Officer is not a thing, it is a relationship. The same Geng Metal is Seven Killings to Jia Wood and Direct Officer to Yi Wood. Always find the Day Master first.
The five positions in everyday words
Same as me (Companion, Rob Wealth): peers, partners, competitors. They help, and they compete for the same thing.
What I produce (Eating God, Hurting Officer): your output, expression, work, children. It costs you, and it is what you leave behind.
What I control (Direct and Indirect Wealth): resources and money you can command. Direct is steady, indirect is fluid.
What controls me (Direct Officer, Seven Killings): rules, duty, pressure, bosses. Direct Officer reasons with you; Seven Killings does not.
What nourishes me (Direct and Indirect Resource): support, elders, knowledge, care. It restores you, and leaning on it too long makes you passive.
Apply it to yourself in three steps
Step one: find your Day Master — the upper character of the Day Pillar. If the Day Pillar is Xin Mao, your Day Master is Xin.
Step two: compare another character to it. Today is a Yi day; Metal controls Wood, so Yi is “what I control”. Xin and Yi are both yin, so it is Indirect Wealth.
Step three: say it in plain words — today brings fluid resources you can command: more chances and more contact with people. That sentence is what you keep. Forgetting the name is fine.
Common misreadings
Seven Killings and Hurting Officer sound harsh, but Ten Gods carry no good or bad. They describe the nature of a relationship, not an outcome.
Do not rush to memorise ten names. Learn to ask which of the five positions applies; the name follows.
This lesson covers stems only. Branches hide stems of their own — that is the next lesson.
One sentence is enough: a Ten God is what something is to you, not a label. Turn the relationship into one everyday sentence and you can read your own chart.
CHECK YOURSELF
Try the lesson questions
No score. An incorrect first answer enters your review book.
Which character in the chart represents you?
The upper character of the Day Pillar is the Day Master — you. Every Ten God is computed relative to it, so finding it is always step one.
The same Geng Metal is Seven Killings to Jia and Direct Officer to Yi. What does that show?
A Ten God describes what something is to you, not what it is by itself. Change the Day Master and the name changes.
Your Day Master is Xin Metal and today’s stem is Yi Wood. What is Yi to Xin?
Metal controls Wood, so Yi is what you control. Xin and Yi are both yin, giving Indirect Wealth: fluid resources, chances and contact with people.
Sources and further reading
- San Ming Tong Hui · Volume 5The day-stem relationship framework. The adopted calculation table is recorded separately.
- lunar-javascript · Adopted calculation dataVersion 1.7.7 used for replayed cases and correspondence-table checks. Algorithm agreement is not textual collation.
YOUR STUDY / P09
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