The enabler: the structure’s supporting element

In Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi), the enabler is the element that supports a chart’s structural pivot and lets the structure stand. When the enabler is intact, the structure is formed; when it is hurt, the structure gives way.

The previous lesson took the structural pivot from the month branch. A pivot rarely forms a structure alone; another element in the four pillars usually has to support it before the structure stands. That element is the enabler (相神).

An intact enabler, a formed structure

The True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠; Qing dynasty, 18th century) weighs the enabler very heavily:

相神无破，贵格已成；相神相伤，立败其格。

Our translation: When the enabler is unbroken, a fine structure is already formed; when the enabler is hurt, the structure fails at once.

The book adds that hurting the enabler matters more than hurting the pivot itself. So once you have found the pivot, the first task is to find the enabler, and the second is to see whether it is intact.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Importance of the Enabler

What the enabler is

The book says that once the month branch gives the useful element, another position in the chart must hold its assistant, as a ruler has a chief minister. The pivot is the ruler and the enabler is the minister. It gives three examples:

• A Direct Officer generated by Wealth: the Officer is the pivot, Wealth the enabler.
• Strong Wealth generating the Officer: Wealth is the pivot, the Officer the enabler.
• Seven Killings checked by the Food Star: Seven Killings is the pivot, the Food Star the enabler.

These are common pairings, not the full list. In general, any element the whole structure depends on to stand is an enabler. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠评注; ROC, 1936) says the enabler is also called the favorable element, and that an element which comes to the rescue when the structure is damaged is an enabler too.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Importance of the Enabler; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Importance of the Enabler

Enablers on the stems, enablers in the branches

On the stems, the enabler is often the element that removes a threat. A Yang Wood Day Master uses the Yin Metal in a Rooster month as its Direct Officer, and Yin Fire, its Hurting Officer, is revealed on the stems to attack the Officer. If Yang Water is also revealed, Yin Fire and Yang Water combine, the Hurting Officer is bound, and the Officer is kept safe: Yang Water is the enabler.

In the branches, the enabler is often a combination that changes the month’s energy. A Yin Water Day Master is born in a Pig month, with Yang Fire revealed as Wealth. The Yang Water in the Pig is Yin Water’s Rob Wealth and would contend for the Wealth. If the Rabbit and the Goat join the Pig in a Wood three harmony, the Water turns into Wood, and the Rob Wealth now generates Wealth: the Rabbit and the Goat are the enablers. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping adds that a combination which resolves a clash and so lets the structure form is also an enabler.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Importance of the Enabler; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Importance of the Enabler

Keep the enabler protected

When the enabler is hurt, the structure loses its support. The book’s example: a Yang Wood Day Master uses the Direct Officer in the Rooster, Yin Fire is revealed as the Hurting Officer, and Yin Water, a Resource, checks the Yin Fire and protects the Officer, so Yin Water is the enabler. But if Yang Earth is also revealed, Yang Earth and Yin Water combine, the Yin Water is bound and no longer checks the Yin Fire, and the enabler is hurt. The same holds in the branches: if the Rabbit and Goat joining the Pig into Wood are the enabler, and the Rooster clashes the Rabbit apart, the combination fails and the enabler is hurt.

So in your own chart, watch whether the enabler is bound by a combination, clashed apart or controlled. What tends to ease this is another element in the chart that undoes the combination or the clash, or checks the element hurting the enabler. If the chart has none, see whether a decade phase can supply it; that comes in the lesson on decade phases and your structure.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Importance of the Enabler; Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Importance of the Enabler

Try it on your chart

1. Write down the structure and pivot you found in the previous lesson.
2. Following the three examples above, look in the four pillars for elements that generate the pivot, protect it, or check its opponent. These are candidates for the enabler.
3. See whether the pivot is under threat: is anything controlling it, combining with it or clashing it? An element that removes that threat is also an enabler.
4. See whether the enabler itself is combined, clashed or controlled.
5. If the enabler is hurt, note what hurts it, and keep it for the lesson on how a structure forms, breaks and recovers, to see whether anything remedies it.

See also: Chart structure starts from the month

See also: Two kinds of handling: nurture and restrain

See also: How a structure forms, breaks and recovers

See also: Roles in the chart: useful element, enabler, ailment and remedy element (and bridging element)