Your Day Master is the heavenly stem of your day pillar (see what the Day Master is). If yours is 己, you are a Yin Earth Day Master. Not sure? The free calculator shows it at the top of your chart.
| Stem | 己 Ji |
|---|---|
| Element · polarity | Earth · Yin |
| Sibling stem | 戊 Wu Earth (yang) |
| Strongest season | the last month of each season (辰 未 戌 丑), and in many schools summer |
| Birth · Peak · Tomb | 酉 · 巳 · 丑 (twelve life stages) |
| Combines with | 甲 — the pair is said to transform into earth (combinations) |
The classical verse
The Di Tian Sui (滴天髓), the most quoted text on the ten stems, gives 己 a verse of eight four-character lines:
己土卑濕，中正蓄藏，不愁木盛，不畏水旺，火少火晦，金多金明，若要物昌，宜助宜幫。“Ji earth is low and moist, central and upright, storing and holding. It does not worry about abundant wood nor fear strong water. With little fire, the fire is dimmed; with much metal, the metal shines. If it wants things to flourish, it should be helped and supported.”— Di Tian Sui (Drops from Heaven’s Marrow) 《滴天髓》, 天干論. Original text: Wikisource · also on ctext.org (different edition). Translation: bazimethod.
Reading the verse line by line
己為田園之土，其性卑濕，乃戊土枝葉之地“Ji is the earth of fields and gardens; its nature is low and moist; it is the branches-and-leaves ground of Wu earth.”— Di Tian Sui (Drops from Heaven’s Marrow) 《滴天髓》, 天干論. Original text: Wikisource · also on ctext.org (different edition). Translation: bazimethod.
“Does not worry about abundant wood nor fear strong water.” Soft soil can grow wood instead of being broken by it, and deep soil can absorb water instead of being washed away:
柔土能生木，非木所能克，故不愁木盛，土深能納水，非水所能蕩，故不畏水旺“Soft earth can grow wood and cannot be overcome by wood, so it does not worry about abundant wood; deep earth can absorb water and cannot be swept away by water, so it does not fear strong water.”— Di Tian Sui (Drops from Heaven’s Marrow) 《滴天髓》, 天干論. Original text: Wikisource · also on ctext.org (different edition). Translation: bazimethod.
“With little fire, the fire is dimmed.” Fire without roots cannot warm wet soil; instead the soil dims the fire. (This is why 己 is said to “obscure” 丁, a phrase also used in the Ding commentary.)
“With much metal, the metal shines.” Moist earth nourishes metal, so plentiful metal — Ji’s Eating God and Hurting Officer — looks bright rather than draining.
“It should be helped and supported.” For Ji to be fertile, it needs company: fire and earth to give it substance.
Ji in the four seasons
- Spring: wood is strong; Ji copes but needs fire and earth support.
- Summer: warm soil; often the best season, but too dry needs water.
- Autumn: metal drains it; support is valued.
- Winter: cold, wet soil; fire (丙 especially) is the key.
The ten gods for a 己 Day Master
Every other stem in your chart takes a role relative to 己. This is the ten gods table worked out for Ji Earth; hidden stems inside the branches (see hidden stems) use the same table.
| Stem | Element | Ten god | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 甲 Jia | Yang Wood | 正官 | Direct Officer |
| 乙 Yi | Yin Wood | 七杀 | Seven Killings |
| 丙 Bing | Yang Fire | 正印 | Direct Resource |
| 丁 Ding | Yin Fire | 偏印 | Indirect Resource |
| 戊 Wu | Yang Earth | 劫财 | Rob Wealth |
| 己 Ji | Yin Earth | 比肩 | Companion |
| 庚 Geng | Yang Metal | 伤官 | Hurting Officer |
| 辛 Xin | Yin Metal | 食神 | Eating God |
| 壬 Ren | Yang Water | 正财 | Direct Wealth |
| 癸 Gui | Yin Water | 偏财 | Indirect Wealth |
Strong or weak?
Whether a 己 Day Master is strong or weak depends on the whole chart, above all the month branch. Earth roots in 辰 戌 丑 未 (and earth hidden in 午, 巳, 寅 and 申) and fire (resource) strengthen Ji; wood, metal and water weaken it. In the yin-backward table Ji follows Ding: born in 酉, peaking in 巳. Some older authors place earth with water instead — one of the known disagreements in the tradition. The general method is on the Day Master and useful god pages.
A word on personality descriptions
Many websites give each Day Master a fixed personality. The classical texts do not work that way: the verse above describes how 己 behaves in different seasons and next to other elements, and the same 己 reads very differently in a summer chart and a winter chart. We give the traditional images as tradition, for cultural study, not as a description of any real person.
All ten Day Masters
甲 Jia Wood · 乙 Yi Wood · 丙 Bing Fire · 丁 Ding Fire · 戊 Wu Earth · 己 Ji Earth · 庚 Geng Metal · 辛 Xin Metal · 壬 Ren Water · 癸 Gui Water
Calculate your chart to find your Day Master, its strength factors and your luck pillars.
Keep learning
More in Day Masters, plus core guides — or go back to the Bazi calculator home page.
Classical quotations are copied from the public-domain texts on Wikisource; links let you check every line. English translations are our own. Traditional Bazi statements are reported as tradition, not as fact.