十神

The polarity rule: when the other stem shares the day master's polarity, the name takes the 偏/比/食/杀 register (the "same" register); when polarities differ, it takes the 正/劫/伤/官 register (the "crossed" register). One exception in naming: among the peers, same polarity is 比肩 and opposite is 劫财 — the pair itself is called 比劫.

Run the same table for any other day master and you get the whole system — swap the day master's phase, keep the five verbs, and the ten names follow. The app does exactly this for every pillar of your chart and every hidden stem: the chart grid's 十神 layer tags each character with its relation to the day master.

The tradition gives each 十神 a temperament vocabulary. Read these as lenses — ways a relationship shows up — never as sentences. A "wealth" in your chart does not promise money; a "pressure" does not threaten harm.

比肩 bǐ jiān — the peer: same phase, same polarity. The equal, the comrade, the one who runs beside you. Strong 比肩 reads as self-reliance; its shadow is stubbornness.

劫财 jié cái — the rival: same phase, opposite polarity. The competitive edge of your own element — the sparring partner. It reads as ambition and risk; its shadow is dispute. In its harshest register 劫财夺财 ("the rival robs the wealth") names the loss of money or reputation through people of your own kind — a partner, a peer, a sibling.

食神 shí shén — the output: what you generate in your own register. The craftsman's joy — making for the sake of making. It reads as skill and appetite; its shadow is indulgence.

伤官 shāng guān — the talent: what you generate in the crossed register. The contrarian's brilliance — making that challenges the rules. It reads as invention; its shadow is rebellion for its own sake.

偏财 piān cái — the wealth, same register: opportunity's windfall, the deal found on the street. It reads as enterprise; its shadow is speculation.

正财 zhèng cái — the wealth, crossed register: the harvest you cultivate — steady, earned, kept. It reads as diligence; its shadow is miserliness.

七杀 qī shā — the pressure: restraint in your own register — the weight that tests. It reads as courage under load; its shadow is domination. (Its older name, 偏官, means exactly "crossed officer.")

正官 zhèng guān — the discipline: restraint in the crossed register — the law that protects. It reads as integrity and structure; its shadow is rigidity.

偏印 piān yìn — the resource, same register: the unconventional teacher, learning from odd places. It reads as intuition; its shadow is detachment.

正印 zhèng yìn — the resource, crossed register: the school, the shelter, the tradition that feeds you. It reads as scholarship and kindness; its shadow is coddling.

One naming note for 合婚 readings (the pair panel in the app): for a male chart, 财 is traditionally called the "wife star," and for a female chart, 官 the "husband star." This is a naming convention inside the system — a label for a relation, never a verdict about a marriage.

A single 十神 is a letter; two together, transparent in the chart, are a word. The tradition names a handful of recurring pairs — worth learning now, because module 12 (神煞深论) and every real chart you read will lean on them.

枭神夺食 xiāo shén duó shí — "the owl seizes the food": 偏印 (the same-register resource — inherited doctrine, esoterica, the received code) controlling 食神 (the same-register output — voice, craft, joy, children in the old vocabulary). The nurturing star turned cannibal, named for a mythic owl said to eat its own brood. Reads as a chart where inherited authority quietly starves the person's own expression. The classical remedy is 财破印 (a wealth stem controlling the resource stem, breaking the owl's grip) — never destroy the resource outright, only its excess.

财破印 cái pò yìn — "wealth breaks the resource": the fix for an over-strong 印 smothering the day master's own expression — a 财 stem or branch controls the 印, thinning it back to useful size. Read together with 财生官 (wealth feeding the officer) as a two-step repair: break the excess, then feed the discipline.

伤官见官 shāng guān jiàn guān — "the talent meets the officer": 伤官 (rule-breaking brilliance) and 正官 (rule-keeping discipline) transparent in the same chart is the tradition's classic tension — invention against law. Not automatically bad; read the third element mediating them (often 印 or 财) before calling it a conflict.

生官护煞 shēng guān hù shā — "feeding the officer, sheltering the pressure": 财 generating 官 while something (often 印) shelters a 七杀 from over-attacking the day master — a stable-power reading, common in charts that read as capable under real load.