Stem combinations and stem clashes

In Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi), a stem combination is one of five fixed pairs of heavenly stems, each a yang stem with the yin stem it controls, that bind to each other when they meet in a chart. A stem clash is one of four opposed pairs of the same polarity, in which one stem controls the other. Whether a combination actually binds depends first on how far apart the two stems stand.

The five stem combinations

The ten stems pair off into five combinations:

To the yin stem of each pair, its yang partner is its Direct Officer. The True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠; Qing dynasty, 18th century) traces the combinations to this matching of yin with yang.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Pairing and Nature of the Ten Stems

Combining is not transforming. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠评注; ROC, 1936) says whether a pair can transform depends on whether the branches beneath the two stems give them roots and strength. Transformation has its own lesson; this one deals with the combination itself.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Stem Combinations That Do Not Hold

What a combination does

The True Interpretation of Ziping says that once stems pair, each turns toward one stem and away from another. Take a Yang Wood Day Master with Yin Metal, its Direct Officer, on the month stem. If Yang Fire stands on the year stem, it combines with Yin Metal, and the Officer no longer turns wholly toward the Day Master: the book calls it an Officer that is not the Day Master’s own. The same holds when another stem combines with Resource, Wealth or a Food Star.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Pairing and Nature of the Ten Stems

So a combination is neither good nor bad in itself; what matters is what it binds. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping says that when an element the chart favors is bound, its benefit shrinks, and when an unfavorable one is bound, its trouble eases. For a Yang Wood Day Master, Yang Metal is Seven Killings; if Yin Wood combines with it, the Killings no longer attack. The book adds that a bound stem rooted in the branches keeps its use.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Pairing and Nature of the Ten Stems

A combination that does not transform does not remove one stem and leave the other. Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated (滴天髓阐微; Qing dynasty, 19th century) says the two stems hold each other back, and neither can do all it otherwise would. Note both bound stems and how much force each keeps.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Combinations

Two cases need telling apart. When the Day Master itself combines with another stem, that stem is not combined away: for a Yin Wood Day Master, Yang Metal is the Direct Officer, and combining with it brings the two closer. But if another Yin Wood stands on the month stem and Yang Metal on the year stem, the month’s Yin Wood takes Yang Metal first, and the Day Master cannot. And when two identical stems reach for one, as two Yin Metal for one Yang Fire, the book calls it a contested or jealous combination: the pull is there, but divided. If the Day Master stands between the two, there is no contest.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Stem Combinations That Do Not Hold

Distance: does the pair bind?

The four stems stand in a row: year, month, day, hour. The year and month stems are neighbors; the month and hour stems have the day stem between them; the year and hour stems are farthest apart. Whether a combination binds depends first on this distance.

Neighbors bind. A pair one place apart usually binds too, but check the stem between them. The book’s example is Yang Wood and Yin Earth with Yang Metal between them: Yang Metal controls Yang Wood, and Yang Wood cannot get past it to combine with Yin Earth.

此制于势然也，合而不敢合也，有若无也。

Our translation: This is held back by the situation: the pair would combine but dares not, and it is there as if it were not.

A pair on the year and hour stems the book likens to two people, one in the south and one in the north: drawn to each other, but too far apart to bind, with only two or three tenths of the effect left. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping adds that some charts gain from a combination weakened this way and others do not, depending on the whole structure.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Stem Combinations That Do Not Hold; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Stem Combinations That Do Not Hold

Stem clashes

Following common usage, this series calls four pairs stem clashes: Yang Wood and Yang Metal, Yin Wood and Yin Metal, Yang Fire and Yang Water, Yin Fire and Yin Water. Each pair shares a polarity, and the second controls the first, so the controlled stem meets its Seven Killings. The pairs face each other across the directions: Wood in the east against Metal in the west, Fire in the south against Water in the north. Yang Earth and Yin Earth hold the center and have no clash.

The books describe this meeting as control. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping says stems in opposite positions meet as Killings and branches in opposite positions meet as a clash, and that a clash is itself control. Dripping Heavenly Marrow (滴天髓) calls control between stems a heavenly battle (天战) and holds that it can be borne, while a battle between branches is as urgent as fire.

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On Resolving Punishments, Clashes and Combinations; Dripping Heavenly Marrow · Battles

The original notes to Dripping Heavenly Marrow say that stems at war do little harm if the branches are calm, while a clash between branches leaves the stems little force. Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated gives the reason: a stem’s energy is single, so with calm branches it is easily checked or resolved, while a branch holds mixed energies that are hard to resolve. In plain terms, friction between branches tends to be felt more directly than friction between stems.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow · Battles, original notes; Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Battles

Where your chart has a stem clash, be mindful of whether the controlled stem can stand. What tends to ease it is calm branches, a root for the controlled stem, or an element that turns control into generating: with Yang Metal against Yang Wood, Water in the chart lets Metal generate Water and Water generate Wood. A combination helps too: Yang Metal bound by Yin Wood no longer controls Yang Wood. If the controlled stem is one the chart does not want, the control is welcome; that is judged after strength and structure.

Try it on your chart

1. Write your four stems in a row: year, month, day, hour.
2. Look for the five combinations, and note where each pair stands: neighbors, one place apart, or year and hour.
3. For a pair one place apart, check whether the stem between them controls either partner. If it does, the pair does not bind.
4. Note separately any combination the Day Master itself takes part in: it is not combined away.
5. Look for the four stem clashes. Note the controlled stem, whether it has a root, and whether the branches are calm.
6. Do not judge these combinations and clashes good or bad yet. Whether a bound or controlled stem is one your chart welcomes is for after strength and structure.

See also: Branch combinations: six harmony, three harmony, seasonal and bridged combinations

See also: The ten relationships to the Day Master

See also: How combinations and clashes resolve each other

See also: Transformation structures