What Are the Ten Gods in Bazi? (And What Do They Mean in Your Chart)

Friend is a character of your own element carrying your own polarity: another version of you standing in the chart. It reads as siblings, peers, colleagues, and the part of you that can stand on its own two feet without asking permission.

Someone with Friend prominent tends to be self-reliant, even-tempered about competition, and comfortable working alongside equals. The shadow is that too many of them crowd the chart: several Friends can mean resources split too many ways, a person who will not take direction, or a life where peers keep arriving to share whatever you build.

Friend is most welcome when the Day Master is weak and needs allies to hold its ground, and least welcome when the Day Master is already strong, where it adds bulk that has nowhere to go.

Next, look at your chart for: how many Friends and Rob Wealths there are in total, and whether your Wealth characters are outnumbered by them.

Rob Wealth is also your own element, but of the opposite polarity, and the difference in polarity changes its behaviour: where Friend cooperates, Rob Wealth competes. Traditionally it points to rivals, business partners, and anyone who reaches for the same resources you do.

People with Rob Wealth prominent are often bold, generous, and quick to act, with a competitive streak that shows up as ambition rather than aggression. The name is blunt, and it is worth taking literally in one respect: this character has an appetite. Money moves fast around it, in both directions.

The classical concern is Rob Wealth sitting next to a lone Wealth character, read as resources you have to share whether you meant to or not. A strong Day Master with Rob Wealth and no outlet can be restless; give it something to compete for and it works.

Next, look at your chart for: whether a Wealth character sits right beside a Rob Wealth, and whether you have Output characters to channel the drive into.

Eating God is the element your Day Master generates, at the same polarity: energy flowing outward easily, without friction. Its traditional images are food, craft, and enjoyment, and the name is literal enough — this is the character of appetite, taste, and making things that give pleasure.

People with Eating God prominent tend to be creative in an unhurried way, good company, and able to enjoy what they have. It is the gentlest of the Output characters: it produces without needing to prove anything.

Because output drains the Day Master, one or two Eating Gods suit a strong Day Master well, turning surplus into work and pleasure. Too many, or a weak Day Master, and the same character reads as energy leaking away: comfort that turns into drift.

Next, look at your chart for: whether your Day Master is strong enough to support its output, and whether Wealth characters follow the Eating God to turn what you make into something that pays.

Hurting Officer is the same outward flow as Eating God, but at the opposite polarity, which makes it sharper and more visible. It is talent that wants an audience: performance, wit, invention, and a low tolerance for rules that exist only because they always have.

People with Hurting Officer prominent are often brilliant at something specific and impatient with everything else. It is the most striking Output character and the most double-edged: the same quality that produces original work also produces conflict with authority, which is exactly what the name records — it is the character that “hurts” the Direct Officer.

The classical remedy is Wealth: let the talent produce something of value and it stops fighting for its own sake. Resource characters also restrain it, giving discipline to the brilliance.

Next, look at your chart for: a Direct Officer sitting near a Hurting Officer, and whether Wealth or Resource is present to give the talent somewhere to go.

Wealth is the element your Day Master controls, and Indirect Wealth is the version at your own polarity: money in motion. Its traditional images are windfalls, side ventures, deals, and wide social circles — value that comes from opportunity rather than salary.

People with Indirect Wealth prominent are often generous, sociable, and good at spotting an opening. They tend to be relaxed about money in a way that looks careless to a Direct Wealth person and resourceful to everyone else.

Wealth demands something from the Day Master: you must be strong enough to hold it. A strong Day Master with Indirect Wealth can chase opportunities and keep them; a weak one with heavy Wealth is the classic picture of money that arrives and leaves, or of working constantly for something that never quite settles.

Next, look at your chart for: whether your Day Master is strong or weak, and whether Rob Wealth sits beside the Wealth character.

Direct Wealth is the steady kind: salary, property, savings, and value that accumulates because you showed up and did the work. Traditionally it also stands for a spouse in a man's chart, and in both charts it points to the things a person is responsible for and unwilling to gamble with.

People with Direct Wealth prominent tend to be diligent, careful with commitments, and realistic about what things cost. The shadow is caution that hardens: reluctance to take the risk that would actually change the situation, or measuring too much of life in what it returns.

As with all Wealth, the question is whether the Day Master can carry it. Direct Wealth in a chart with a capable Day Master is one of the most comfortable configurations in the system; the same character on a weak Day Master describes obligations that outweigh capacity.

Next, look at your chart for: Output characters feeding the Wealth, and whether the Day Master has support from peers or Resource.

Seven Killings is the element that controls your Day Master at the same polarity, which means it applies pressure without cushioning. The name is the most alarming in the system and the most misread: in a modern chart it usually describes demanding environments, hard deadlines, competition, and the capacity to act under stress.

People with Seven Killings prominent are often decisive, resilient, and drawn to situations with real stakes. They tend to underperform in comfortable jobs and come alive when something is genuinely difficult. The shadow is a life that only feels real when it is hard, and a temper that turns on itself when there is nothing to push against.

The classical handling is either to restrain it with Output — a Hurting Officer or Eating God that answers back — or to convert it with Resource, which turns pressure into learning. Unrestrained Seven Killings on a weak Day Master is the configuration traditional texts worry about.

Next, look at your chart for: whether Output or Resource is present to handle the pressure, and whether the Day Master is strong enough to meet it.

Direct Officer is the same controlling force at the opposite polarity, which makes it structure rather than pressure: rules you can work within, a career ladder, a title, a reputation worth protecting. Traditionally it stands for a husband in a woman's chart, and in any chart for legitimate authority.

People with Direct Officer prominent tend to be responsible, socially aware, and comfortable inside institutions. They often care what the right thing looks like as well as what it is. The shadow is rigidity: a person so tied to correctness that they cannot move without permission, or who takes on duties that no longer fit.

A single clear Direct Officer with a Day Master strong enough to hold the post is the most conventionally fortunate reading in the system. Officer characters scattered everywhere, or an Officer with no Resource behind it, describe obligation without support.

Next, look at your chart for: a Hurting Officer nearby (the classic friction), and whether Resource sits between the Officer and your Day Master.

Resource is the element that generates your Day Master, and Indirect Resource is the version at your own polarity: support that arrives by unusual routes. Its traditional images are intuition, specialised or esoteric knowledge, and learning that happens outside the standard path.

People with Indirect Resource prominent are often perceptive, independent-minded, and drawn to subjects other people find obscure. The shadow is withdrawal: thinking substituted for doing, and a self-sufficiency that quietly refuses help. Classical texts give it the nickname “the owl” for its inward, nocturnal quality.

Its sharpest traditional pairing is with Eating God, which it restrains — talent that keeps being reconsidered instead of finished. With Seven Killings, though, it is genuinely useful: it converts pressure into understanding.

Next, look at your chart for: an Eating God nearby, and whether you have Output characters at all to turn the insight into something visible.

Direct Resource is nourishing support at the opposite polarity: a mother figure, formal education, mentors, credentials, and protection. Of the ten it is the most straightforwardly kind character, and the one most associated with learning and being looked after.

People with Direct Resource prominent tend to be thoughtful, well-taught, and trusted. The shadow is dependence: a person who keeps preparing instead of starting, or who stays in a protected position long past the point where it helps. Too much Resource in a chart is traditionally read as being smothered by care.

Direct Resource is most valuable when the Day Master is weak or under pressure, where it turns difficulty into training. On an already strong Day Master with no outlet, it adds support that has nowhere to be spent.

Next, look at your chart for: whether Wealth is present, since Wealth restrains Resource and keeps study attached to the practical world.