For this article, we’re going to be looking at the Ten Heavenly Stems or 天干. Remember the five phases or the wuxing? There are five states of matter and energy: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Now, double each one. That makes ten.
Why would you double each of them? Because there’s a yang version and a yin version of each phase.
Let’s take a look at the Hetu River Diagram again. This is the one that came on the back of the dragon horse to the mythological king, Fuxi, who was half man and half snake:
This diagram is where we get the Ten Heavenly Stems or 天干 from. The numbers in the middle of the diagram, 5 and 10, are earth. The ones to the left, 8 and 3, are wood. This is because, like most ancient maps, the left hand side of the diagram is east. The top of the diagram contains 2 and 7. Those two are fire and match with south. On the right, we have 4 and 9. These are metal and correspond with west. Finally, on the bottom of the chart we have north and that corresponds with water. 1 and 6 are water.
The odd numbers are yang and the even numbers are yin. That’s why, in the diagram, the odd numbers are white and the even numbers are black. Remember, yang and yin are about differences in perception. Yang is illumination and yin is murkiness. However! Wood and fire are also yang in general. Metal and water are both yin. Earth can be either. This matters more than whether each stem is the yang or yin form of the phase they are in.
We now have two types of each phase. These are called the 天干. They were actually used for a ten day week in the Shang dynasty but obviously not anymore. Today, they’re just used in the sexagenary cycle.
Each of the 天干 or Ten Heavenly Stems have names. If you look up your eight character chart, you’ll find that you have four of them. Each stem is paired with a branch. We’ll get into the branches next.
For now, look up your bazi or eight character chart. You can use mybazi.com or bazi-calculator.com or google “bazi calculator” and use any that you find. You’ll get something that looks like this (I used mybazi.com to generate this one and it’s just the chart of the day when I wrote this article):
From here, look for the top square on the day column. This is your day stem. I’ve circled the one in the sample in red so you can see it clearly. Your day stem is really important because it’s the part of the chart that represents your nature. Everything else in the chart is read in relation to your day stem.
Here’s a bit of information about each of the Ten Heavenly Stems. You can even take a look at the one that is your day stem and see if you relate to it at all.
Wood
甲 or Jia is the first stem and is yang wood. The character is actually the character for shell or fingernail/toenail. Jia is a big tree. It’s a really phallic symbol and refers to life growing in a big way. Jia literally has big dick energy. If you look at the way a tree grows, you’ll notice that it always reaches for the sun. That’s why a tree growing in a field will have a rounded top since the sun moves around it in a circular motion. That’s Jia. It aims high and it has deep roots. Jia can be idealistic and imaginative. It can be cut down and used as firewood. Jia is known for going through cycles of learning a ton of stuff and then using that knowledge the same way a tree takes time to mature and is used for its wood. That’s why it’s known to be a generous stem and very philosophical. It’s also known to be a leader since it’s the first stem. They like to be the first to do something. They’re pretty much like a commander.
Jia day stem people include Britney Spears, Kim Seokjin, Daniel Wu, Bruce Lee, Virginia Woolf, Elvis, George Orwell, Jackie O, Napoleon I, and Musollini.
乙 or Yi is the first stem and is yin wood. The character is actually rope! And Yi is rope. It’s all sinewy and hard to break. Yi can cut you like string if wound up tight. That’s why we know Yi to be very resilient. Rope is made from grass and that’s Yi in its living form. Grass actually doesn't fear storms the way trees fear storms because grass can just lay down and rise back up when the storm passes. Yi is second in command and not the main guy like Jia. That’s why Yi can go through some pretty tough times and still grow well. The second in command isn’t targeted like the main guy is. Yi can also grow on anything. You’ll see weeds grow on even cement. It’s hard to get rid of and self replicating. I think this is why Yi is thought of as one of the most invincible stems. They can turn what other people never think of as conductive for life into opportunity. If you put an obstacle in front of them, they’ll just grow around it. That’s why Yi is really smart and kind of weird. Their minds work in unexpected ways.
Yi day stem people include Rihanna, Ruth Handler, Hajime Isayama, Dali, Franz Fanon, Madonna, Yoko Ono, Brad Pitt, Mozart, Nicki Minaj, Beyonce, Kim Taehyung, Jung Hoseok, Lee Soo Man, and Edgar Allen Poe. When I was going through my list of famous people, I actually found that Yi is overrepresented. Maybe there is something about Yi, its resiliency and hardiness, that makes it really successful. Maybe Yi people also spread more seeds than other people.
Jia and Yi are the wood stems. Together, they show life growing, twisting, and turning. The characters 甲 and 乙 are still used in some numbering systems to show first and second or larger and smaller.
Fire
丙 or Bing is the third stem and is yang fire. Bing is literally the sun. It’s the illuminator of our world! It’s sunlight which warms our world and makes the plants grow. That’s why Bing is known for being really consistent and routine driven. The sun rises and sets everyday. It gives without keeping score and it is usually really enthusiastic. It won’t take any revenge if you do it wrong but it also won’t return a favor because it doesn’t expect you to keep score either. Bing is really bad at keeping secrets because it’s illumination. It lights up all the shadows and just tells it as it is. That’s also why Bing can be a bit tactless. The other thing about Bing is that they tend to be completely unaffected by what is going on around them. After all, how could anything influence the sun? The sun influences everything else. Bing is really imaginative too. They can make up this whole world inside of their own heads and just live in that. Since the sun isn’t part of the earth, Bing can also give off this alien-like quality. They’re spaced out and just in their own heads. You could say that Bing doesn’t always live in reality or you could say that they make their own reality.
Bing day stem people include Donald Glover, Steve Jobs, Douglas Adams, Yoshihiro Togashi, Van Gogh, Hitler, JK Rowling, Pamela Anderson, Putin, and Jeon Jungkook.
丁 or Ding is the fourth stem and is yin fire. This is going to be the fire that we use at night when things aren’t readily visible. Yin is dimness, moonlight, or lack of visibility. What fire do we use at night? Candles and fireplaces. Notice how the sun is independent but candles and fireplaces are dependent. A candle needs a wick and a fire needs wood. Ding is seen as clinging fire. It needs a best friend, a group, or a family. It’s known to be really loyal and doesn’t like to be alone! Ding is also known to be really warm and draws people in. It’s very affected by its company and wants to be nurtured and fed like a bonfire. If you feed it, it will follow you the same way a fire will follow you if you keep giving it wood. Sometimes, Ding doesn’t even want to do things for itself. It wants to do things with other people so that it’s less vulnerable.
Ding day stem people include Park Jimin, Joe Biden, Thomas Edison, Arethra Franklin, Tom Hanks, Mao, Xi Jinping, Winona Ryder, Taylor Swift, Zendaya, and Harry Styles.
Bing and Ding are the fire stems. Together, they show life reaching its fullness and in its brightness.
Earth
戊 or Wu is the fifth stem and is yang earth. Basically, Wu is a mountain. A mountain always has a bright side and a dark side. Animals that live on the mountain will compete for resources on the bright side of the mountain and hide or sleep in the dark side. Mountains are also really stark places to live. You have to know the mountain to survive there. Look at those goats that climb on the side of mountains. Wu is known for its adherence to principles. It’s like a goat that has to make the right move or else it can slip and fall. Sticking to your guns can help you survive conditions of treachery. Wu is not easily deceived. They hate being taken advantage of. That’s why the character 戊 looks like a lance or ax. Wu can fight. Wu also tends to be really persistent. It will get the job that it sets out to do done. You can pretty much rely on Wu to do what it says but you can’t tell it what to do.
Wu day stem people include Kafka, Michael Jackson, Al Pacino, Nietzsche, George RR Martin, Galileo, Mark Zuckerberg, George Lucas, and Will Smith.
己 or Ji is the sixth stem and is yin earth. Ji is soil or wet earth. It’s a fertile field. Ji also has a reputation for being really deep because you can bury so many different things in the soil. Maybe the field of psychology is a bit like digging into the earth. Ji is almost psychic. It just knows what it knows and it can mull over an idea like a seed until it grows into a beautiful flower. That’s the power of the mud. It looks like sludge but contains minerals, nutrition, and even gems. Ji is really good at keeping secrets since the mud is opaque. If they don’t want you to know something then there’s no way you will know it. They won’t even give off the air of having a secret. Ji is also where life tends to mutate. While Wu is about sticking to your own rules, Ji is about birthing and fostering change. That’s why the character 己 is actually the word for the self. Earth, as one of the five phases, also is the one that represents humanity.
Ji day stem people include both famed fathers of modern psychology, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Min Yoongi, Nostradamus, Barack Obama, FDR, and Abraham Lincoln are also all Ji day stem people.
Wu and Ji are the earth stems. Together, they show life centering and realizing itself.
Metal
庚 or Geng is the seventh stem and is yang metal. You can think of Geng as a big boulder or as an ax. I’m pretty sure that early tools were made of stone. How are big rocks made? They’re made with high amounts of pressure. Geng is contracted and highly condensed. That’s why Geng has the reputation of being in control of themselves. When Geng is too rigid about things, it can also get too brittle and sensitive. Geng also has a special relationship with Ding fire since fire forges metal. It’s said that Geng has a warm heart. It likes to be social and being social helps Geng develop its sharpness. Fire makes metal sharper. That’s what Geng really strives for and wants. It wants to be useful and cares a lot about people. Geng does have a reputation for having a killer instinct (a Geng person I know is very good at first person shooter games) since it’s associated with weapons but Geng can also chop trees down for firewood or plow the field. It’s just any type of tool and it wants to contribute to a cause.
Geng day stem people include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Teresa Teng, Adele, Richard Nixon, Emma Watson, Tiger Woods, Gianni Versace, and Ashton Kutcher.
辛 or Xin is the eighth stem and is yin metal. I like to think of Geng as the metal tools we use outside (under the illuminating sun) and yin metal as the metal tools we use inside (in dimness). Surgeons use Xin in the form of scalpels. We use Xin for sewing in the form of needles and scissors. Jewelry and coins can also be Xin metal. So, Xin is thought of as valuable. It’s very sharp! That’s why Xin is known for its acute mind. It can ask questions that get to the root of the issue and cut away unnecessary information. Xin is also known to be a social curator who likes to be around really weird people since it’s associated with money. Money passes through the hands of everyone and Xin will invite anyone to their house. Like a subtle metal tool, Xin can be taken advantage of if they’re not careful. Xin metal can be either life taking or life saving. Surgeons use Xin to save lives but you can also use a blade to kill. Metal doesn’t generate life like earth but harnesses it and refines it.
Xin day stem people include JFK, James Franco, Kim Namjoon, Azealia Banks, Heath Ledger, Marilyn Monroe, Mariah Carey, and Drake.
Geng and Xin are the metal stems. Together, they show life being defined, harnessed, and put to use.
Water
壬 or Ren is the ninth stem and is yang water. All pools of water is Ren including oceans, rivers, ponds, and creeks. It doesn’t matter if you think that a creek is too small to be yang. It’s still Ren because its water gathered up. Ren is a connector. Rivers and creeks used to be used as roads since you can travel faster and more leisurely in a boat than on foot. Oceans, too, divide and connect. Ren has the behavior of rushing into things like the currents of a river or waves in the ocean. It actually has to keep moving or else it will sink into a depressive state. It can dissolve different things and is transformative in that way. If you want to make something like a potion or medicine, chances are that you will need some Ren water. Because Ren likes exchange and likes to make channels, it likes to return to you what you have given it. It’s kind of like how the waves withdraw and then come back to push you backwards. Ren will return a favor but will also get even. That’s why mirrors are also Ren water. Mirrors give back to you what you put into it.
Ren day stem people include Bang PD, Ingrid Bergman, Brigette Bardot, Jennifer Lawrence, Warren Buffet, Picasso, and Ozzy Osbourne.
癸 or Gui is the tenth and final stem and is yin water. Gui is the water in the air. It’s rain, fog, and even just air itself. Gui can also sink down the way Ren does but it mostly just disperses. You can’t really see Gui which is why it’s yin. It’s funny because it’s said that Gui needs a dragon for transportation. No one has seen a real dragon either. Basically, Gui is undefined. It has chameleon-like tendencies, shapeshifting ones. It can fit in almost anywhere but you literally can’t contain it. You can’t contain Ren water either but at least you can see it objecting or leaving. You can’t even see what Gui is up to. But, the thing is, Gui can’t hide other things the way Ji or Ren can but it can hide itself. It’s transparent. Gui is poetic and random. It can change the way you see things the way fog does. It’s like a song changing the mood or art changing the way we see reality. Sometimes you can see Gui people after they change something about their style and fail to recognize them. They can also give off an impression of needing someone to take care of them, like an almost vulnerable quality.
Gui day stem people include Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, King Charles, Eddie Huang, Ellen Degeneres, HP Lovecraft, Jackie Chan, Elton John, Aaliyah, and the Dalai Lama.
Ren and Gui are the water stems. Together, they show life drifting and resting.
So, there you have it! These are the Ten Heavenly Stems or 天干. What did you think? Did you relate to the one on your day pillar at all? Or notice anything about the famous people with each day pillar stem? What about your three other stems? They can show up for you in big ways too.
Next up, we’ll take a look at the Twelve Earth Branches. The Ten Heavenly Stems are like what you want to be or how you appear from the outside. The Earthly Branches actually have more to do with you since they show your internal world and how you see yourself. After we go through the branches, we’ll look at how the stems and branches interact with one another.
