The Ten Gods (十神, shí shén) are the most useful piece of BaZi after the Day Master, and the most poorly named for English readers. They are not gods. They are roles. Every other stem in the chart — and every hidden stem — is classified by how its element relates to your Day Master.
If your Day Master is Jia Wood:
- another Wood stem is a peer
- Fire is output (Wood feeds Fire)
- Earth is wealth (Wood controls Earth)
- Metal is power (Metal controls Wood)
- Water is resource (Water feeds Wood)
Each of those five exists in a direct and indirect form, depending on polarity match. That is ten roles.
Parent: what is BaZi. Day Masters: all 10 types. Elements: five elements.
The Five Pairs, in Plain Language
Peer / Companion. Same element as you. Direct (same polarity) is often read as friends, competition, the self multiplied. Indirect (opposite polarity) is often read as rob wealth — sharing, leakage, the sibling who grabs. Neither is a moral score.
Output. What you produce. Direct output leans toward performance, expression, the visible making. Indirect output leans toward invention, restlessness, the idea that will not sit. Too much output and the Day Master is spending itself.
Wealth. What you control or manage. Direct wealth is often the more structured claim on resources (and, in classical texts, a spouse-star for some Day Masters). Indirect wealth is the more entrepreneurial, less booked kind. Wealth is not a bank balance.
Power / Influence. What controls you — rules, status, pressure, the job that has a title. Direct officer is the more formal rule. Seven killings (indirect power) is the sharper, more dangerous-looking pressure. Classical books moralize these. Read them as how you meet structure.
Resource. What feeds you. Direct resource is study, support, the document. Indirect resource is irregular support, unconventional knowledge, the help that does not look like help. Too much resource and you never leave the library.
The spouse-star tradition (which role is “the other”) depends on Day Master polarity and gender in old manuals. Use it as optional color. Do not run a marriage verdict off it. See spouse star.
How to Use Ten Gods Without a Spreadsheet Personality
- Name your Day Master.
- Label the other three visible stems as roles.
- Notice which role is missing and which is stacked.
- Ask what that stack looks like in a real month — not in a forum archetype.
A chart full of output is a person whose month is about making. A chart full of power is a person whose month is about rules. Missing wealth is not poverty. It is a chart that talks about resources through other roles (luck pillars, annual stems).
The useful god is the next layer: which role helps this specific chart, given season and balance. Ten Gods without useful god is a labeling exercise. Useful god without Ten Gods is a slogan.
The Ten Names You Will See in Books
English books disagree on labels. This is a workable set:
| Role (plain) | Common English | Often-seen Chinese |
|---|---|---|
| Peer, same polarity | Friend / Compare Shoulders | 比肩 bǐjiān |
| Peer, opposite polarity | Rob Wealth | 劫財 jiécái |
| Output, opposite polarity | Eating God | 食神 shíshén |
| Output, same polarity | Hurting Officer | 傷官 shāngguān |
| Wealth, opposite polarity | Direct Wealth | 正財 zhèngcái |
| Wealth, same polarity | Indirect Wealth | 偏財 piāncái |
| Power, opposite polarity | Direct Officer | 正官 zhèngguān |
| Power, same polarity | Seven Killings | 七殺 qīshā |
| Resource, opposite polarity | Direct Resource | 正印 zhèngyìn |
| Resource, same polarity | Indirect Resource | 偏印 piānyìn |
“Same polarity” means the other stem is yang if you are yang, yin if you are yin. You do not need to memorize the table before you can label a chart. You need the five relations (peer, output, wealth, power, resource) and the idea that polarity splits each into two flavors.
Hurting Officer is not a moral injury. Seven Killings is not a crime. Eating God is not a diet. The names are court and household metaphors from a language that used 神 for functions. If a translation makes you feel cursed, switch to the plain column.
Labeling a Real Chart
Take a Yi Wood Day Master (yin Wood). Visible stems: year Geng (yang Metal), month Gui (yin Water), day Yi, hour Bing (yang Fire).
- Geng Metal vs Yi Wood: Metal controls Wood, opposite polarity → Direct Officer (formal pressure, title, rule).
- Gui Water vs Yi Wood: Water feeds Wood, same polarity → Indirect Resource (irregular support, unofficial knowledge).
- Bing Fire vs Yi Wood: Wood feeds Fire, opposite polarity → Eating God (output that can sit, craft, a making that does not have to shout).
The sentence is not “you are an officer, a mystic, and a chef.” The sentence is: the outer year talks about rules, the climate talks about odd support, the hour talks about making. Then you check whether the month branch agrees — a Metal month would pile on the officer; a Water month would pile on the resource.
Hidden stems get the same labels at lower volume. Luck pillars and annual stems get the same labels as weather: a Direct Officer year is a year when titles and rules are loud, not a year you are promoted by astrology.
Missing and Stacked Roles
A missing role is a chart that talks about that function through time cycles, other people, or work you have to build on purpose. Missing wealth is not a poverty sentence. It is a reason the chart’s money talk arrives through output (what you make) or power (what a job pays) instead of through a native wealth stem.
A stacked role is a month that keeps returning to one verb: making, ruling, feeding, competing. Stacked Seven Killings without resource is a familiar “pressure without a desk” shape. Stacked Direct Resource without output is a familiar “library without a manuscript” shape. Both are readable. Neither is a diagnosis.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why “gods”? A translation of 神 as “star/spirit/role.” Think functions.
Do hidden stems count? Yes, at a lower volume than the visible stem. See hidden stems.
Is Seven Killings bad? It is sharp power. Many capable people have it. The question is whether the Day Master can hold it.
Can I read Ten Gods without a birth time? You can label year, month, and day stems. You lose the hour role.