Chart structure starts from the month

In Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi), a chart’s structure is taken from the month branch. Set the Day Master against the month branch and find the stem that leads there; the relationship that stem bears to the Day Master names the structure. That stem is the structural pivot, the element the structure is taken on.

The previous lessons weighed the Day Master’s strength. From here on, the lessons cover structure, which answers a different question: what does a chart turn on? The books agree on the method: look at the month branch first.

Why the month

The True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠; Qing dynasty, 18th century) states it directly:

八字用神，专求月令，以日干配月令地支，而生克不同，格局分焉。

Our translation: For the useful element of the eight characters, look only to the month branch. Set the day stem against the branch of the month: generating and controlling differ, and so the structures divide.

The month branch is the branch of the birth month. The energy in command sits there, and of the four pillars it carries the most force. Whether the day stem and the month branch generate or control each other decides the structure. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠评注; ROC, 1936) explains that the month branch holds the energy in season, which is why the useful element is sought there first.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Useful Element; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Useful Element

The Deep Sea of Ziping (渊海子平; Ming dynasty, 16th century), on the Direct Officer, puts the same principle in one line: look at the chart’s frame first, and only then at the rest. The frame is the month branch. Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates (三命通会; Ming dynasty, 16th century), also on the Direct Officer, says the month’s energy is the one in season, so the month comes first and the rest after, and every other structure follows this example.

The Deep Sea of Ziping · On the Direct Officer; Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the Direct Officer

The structure and its pivot

The stem taken from the month branch is the structural pivot (格神), which The True Interpretation of Ziping calls the useful element. By its relationship to the Day Master, structures fall into eight kinds:

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Useful Element; The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Resource

“Useful element” here is used as The True Interpretation of Ziping uses it. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping also calls the element chosen by support or restraint the useful element; the lessons on support or restraint and on roles in the chart set the two uses side by side.

Which stem to take

A month branch often holds more than one stem. Which one to take follows from the lesson on hidden stems:

1. If a stem hidden in the month branch is revealed on the stems, take the revealed one. A Tiger month that reveals Yang Fire rather than Yang Wood is taken as Yang Fire.
2. If none is revealed, take the main stem.
3. The Dragon, Dog, Ox and Goat hold the mixed energies. See which of their hidden stems is revealed, or joins other branches in a combination, and take the one that stands out clearly. If none is revealed or combined, take Earth.

When a month branch reveals two stems, or reveals one and combines into another, both can be used together; the lesson on combined structures covers this.

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

When the month is the Day Master’s own element

When the day stem finds its own Prosperity or Rob Wealth in the month branch, that stem cannot itself be the structural pivot. The True Interpretation of Ziping says to look instead for Wealth, the Officer, Seven Killings or the Food Star revealed on the stems or combined in the branches, and use that one, while the month still leads. This is the Month Prosperity structure. A yang Day Master born in its Yang Blade month has a structure of its own in the book, the Yang Blade structure.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Useful Element; The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Month Prosperity

For an Earth Day Master born in a Snake or Horse month, the month’s main stem is Fire, the Day Master’s Resource. Yang Earth born in a Snake month and Yin Earth born in a Horse month are taken as Prosperity, since the month is the Day Master’s Prosperity, and belong to the Month Prosperity structure. Yang Earth born in a Horse month has the Horse as its Yang Blade, so it belongs to the Yang Blade structure. Yin Earth born in a Snake month is different: the Snake is not its Prosperity, a yin stem has no Yang Blade, and the Snake’s main stem, Yang Fire, is not its Rob Wealth. So it is taken by the main stem, as a Resource structure. See the lessons on the Yang Blade structure and the Month Prosperity structure.

An Earth Day Master born in a Dragon, Dog, Ox or Goat month, with none of the month’s hidden stems revealed or combined, is taken as Earth. Earth is the Day Master’s own element, so the chart belongs to the Month Prosperity structure.

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

See also: The Yang Blade structure

See also: The Month Prosperity structure

The structure first, then the rest

Once the structure is taken, the chart has its main thread. Everything looked at next turns around it: whether anything in the four pillars supports it, whether anything damages it, and whether the Day Master can carry it. So structure is weighed together with strength: two Direct Officer structures need different support when their Day Masters differ in strength. Following and transformation structures also start from the structure taken from the month, and only then are judged as something else.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Useful Element; The True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Importance of the Enabler

Try it on your chart

1. Write down the month branch and the stems it holds.
2. See whether any of them is revealed on the year, month or hour stem. Circle the revealed one; if none is, circle the main stem. If the month branch is the Dragon, Dog, Ox or Goat, also see whether it joins other branches in a combination.
3. Using the table in the lesson on the ten relationships, mark which relationship the circled stem bears to the Day Master, and write down the structure from the table above. That stem is your structural pivot.
4. If the circled stem is the Day Master’s own element, write down the Month Prosperity or Yang Blade structure, then look for Wealth, the Officer, Seven Killings, the Food Star and the Hurting Officer revealed in the four pillars. Yang Earth born in a Snake month and Yin Earth born in a Horse month also take the Month Prosperity structure; Yang Earth born in a Horse month takes the Yang Blade structure.
5. Write the structure beside the grade you gave in the lesson on Day Master strength, and keep both for the next lessons, which look at how the structure stands and how it is protected.

See also: Hidden stems: what each branch holds

See also: The ten relationships to the Day Master

See also: The enabler: the structure’s supporting element

See also: Two kinds of handling: nurture and restrain

See also: Combined structures, overlay structures and “transforms into”

See also: Support or restrain: which elements your chart welcomes