Hidden stems: what each branch holds

Each earthly branch in a Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi) chart holds one, two or three hidden stems: a main stem that is the branch’s master, and in many branches a middle stem and a residual stem beneath it. The four Earth branches, the Dragon, the Dog, the Ox and the Goat, hold a main stem, a residual stem left over from the season before, and the storage of another element. In the month branch, the hidden stem that shows on the stems above, or that is in command at the time of birth, is the one that comes forward to lead.

The previous lesson said that a stem stands for one thing only, while a branch often holds more than one. This lesson opens the branches up: which stems each one holds, which of them leads and which follow, and, for the month you were born in, which of the month branch’s hidden stems actually comes forward to lead.

Why branches hold stems

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠评注; ROC, 1936) explains that the stems hidden in a branch follow from the order of the twelve life stages: a stem is tied to the branches where it is born, arrives, peaks or is stored, and that is how each branch’s hidden stems are fixed. On this basis the twelve branches fall into three groups. The Tiger, the Monkey, the Snake and the Pig are the four growth branches, holding an energy just being born and an energy at its height. The Rat, the Horse, the Rabbit and the Rooster are the cardinal branches, where one energy is at its peak, and what they hold is the simplest. The Dragon, the Dog, the Ox and the Goat are the four storage branches; the stems they hold come from different sources, which is why they are also called the mixed energies.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Rise and Fall of Yin and Yang; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On How to Use the Mixed Energies

Main stem, middle stem, residual stem

The first stem in each branch is its main stem (本气), the master of the branch; the others are, in order, the middle stem (中气) and the residual stem (余气). When The True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠; Qing dynasty, 18th century) discusses how the useful element changes, it takes the Tiger as its example:

即以寅论，甲为本主，如郡之有府，丙其长生，如郡之有同知，戊亦长生，如郡之有通判

Our translation: Take the Tiger: Yang Wood is its principal, as a prefecture has its prefect; Yang Fire is born there, as a prefecture has its vice-prefect; Yang Earth is also born there, as a prefecture has its assistant prefect.

Yang Wood is at its height in the Tiger and is its principal, like the prefect who governs the prefecture; Yang Fire and Yang Earth are born in the Tiger, like the two officials who assist the prefect. All three share one place, with one leading and the others following.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Changes in the Useful Element

The four growth branches and the four cardinal branches hold these stems:

The Rat, the Rabbit and the Rooster each hold a single stem, the most concentrated energy of all. The Horse has Yin Fire as its main stem and also holds Yin Earth. The four growth branches, the Tiger, the Monkey, the Snake and the Pig, each hold the stem that is born there: Yang Fire is born in the Tiger, Yang Water in the Monkey, Yang Metal in the Snake and Yang Wood in the Pig.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Rise and Fall of Yin and Yang; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Changes in the Useful Element

The main stem is the body of a branch. So when later lessons say an element "appears" in a chart, they mean it shows on a stem or is the main stem of a branch.

The storage branches: main stem, residual stem, storage

The four Earth branches, the Dragon, the Dog, the Ox and the Goat, need a different approach. Taking the Dragon as its example, Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping says that the Dragon is the main energy of Earth, the residual energy of Wood and the storage of Water. The Dragon month falls at the end of spring, when the energy of spring Wood has not yet fully withdrawn, so the Dragon holds Yin Wood: this is its residual stem. The Dragon is also where Water is gathered in and stored, so it holds Yin Water: this is its storage. The Dragon and the Dog are yang Earth, with Yang Earth as their main stem; the Ox and the Goat are yin Earth, with Yin Earth as their main stem. The other three follow the same pattern:

The residual stem is energy left over from the season before: the Yin Wood in the Dragon comes from spring Wood, the Yin Fire in the Goat from summer Fire, the Yin Metal in the Dog from autumn Metal, and the Yin Water in the Ox from winter Water. The storage is a different element gathered in and kept there. Note how the word "residual" differs between the two tables: in the growth and cardinal branches, middle stem and residual stem simply name the order; in the storage branches, the residual stem means the energy left over from the previous season.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Rise and Fall of Yin and Yang; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Changes in the Useful Element

The True Interpretation of Ziping says that the four storage branches hold many stems, so more than one of them may be put to use, which is why they are called the mixed energies. Choosing is not hard, though: take whichever one shows on the stems, or joins with other branches in a combination, and use that clear one. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping adds that if none of them shows on the stems and none combines, the branch is simply treated as Earth. How a stored stem is drawn out, and how to weigh a clash on a storage branch, is covered in the lesson on weighing a clash.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On How to Use the Mixed Energies; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On How to Use the Mixed Energies

Which hidden stem leads in the month

The stems hidden in the month branch do not all lead at once. The books look at this from two sides.

Revealed stems. Right after the Tiger comparison, The True Interpretation of Ziping says that if you are born in a Tiger month and Yang Fire, not Yang Wood, shows on the stems, it is as if the prefect were away and the vice-prefect stepped forward to run affairs. Of the stems hidden in the month branch, the one that shows on the stems is often the one that truly leads that month. This is why the useful element can change, and it is exactly where taking the structure begins in later lessons.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Changes in the Useful Element

In command. Dripping Heavenly Marrow (滴天髓), discussing the month branch, likens it to a house, and the hidden stem in command at the time to the direction the house faces, which must be found out. The original notes to Dripping Heavenly Marrow take the Tiger month as an example: for the first seven days after the Start of Spring, Yang Earth is in command; from the eighth to the fourteenth day, Yang Fire; and only from the fifteenth day on, Yang Wood. Within the same Tiger month, then, the hidden stem in command differs for someone born early in the month and someone born in the middle.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow · The Month Branch; Dripping Heavenly Marrow · The Month Branch, original notes

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping also lists, month by month, how many days each hidden stem is in command, while noting that these day counts need not be held to rigidly.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Rise and Fall of Yin and Yang

The two sides belong together. Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated (滴天髓阐微; Qing dynasty, 19th century), in its chapter on the month branch, says that the hidden stem in command in a branch needs a stem above to draw it out and support it, and that a stem put to use on the stems also needs the in-command energy of a branch. A hidden stem of the month branch that is both in command and revealed has the clearest effect.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · The Month Branch

Try it on your chart

1. Using the two tables above, write the hidden stems under each of your four branches, and mark which one is the main stem.
2. For any Dragon, Dog, Ox or Goat, mark the main stem, the residual stem and the storage, and note which element it stores.
3. Look at the month branch: does any of its hidden stems show on one of your four stems? Circle the one that shows.
4. Check whether you were born early in the month, soon after its solar term began, or from the middle of the month on. How to find the date a solar term begins is covered in the lesson on setting up the four pillars.
5. Keep these hidden stems together with the stems; in the lesson on the ten relationships you will mark how each one relates to the Day Master.

See also: The ten relationships to the Day Master