亥 · Pig

hài · 猪 · the twelfth earthly branch

亥 hài is the twelfth of the twelve earthly branches in BaZi: the Pig, Yin Water. The earthly branches are the lower half of each pillar in a chart, and the branch of the year pillar is your Chinese zodiac animal. 亥 also names the hours from 9 to 11pm and the tenth month of the solar year, and it clashes with 巳, the Snake.

Night and the beginning of winter: Water returning inward, with the seed of Wood hidden inside it. As the last branch, 亥 hands the cycle back to 子.

The facts

Element

水 Water, Yin

Hours

9 to 11pm

Month

The tenth month of the solar year

Hidden stems

壬 Yang Water甲 Yang Wood

Clashes

巳 Snake · 巳亥冲

Six combination

寅 → 木 Wood

Three harmony

亥卯未 → 木 Wood

Seasonal group

亥子丑 → 水 Water

Harm 害

申 Monkey

Punishment 刑

self-punishment 自刑

Destruction 破

寅 Tiger

These are the branch relations the engine computes. A clash in a chart is a watch-out, not a verdict, and a combination is not automatically good.

Where you meet it

• As the branch of a pillar. In the year pillar it is the animal people usually mean by "I am a Pig".
• As the hour 亥时, 9 to 11pm, which is why the almanac's hours are named by branch.
• On a clash day: a 巳 day clashes anyone whose day or year branch is 亥.

Careful with the animal. Your BaZi year branch turns at Li Chun, not at Chinese New Year, so a birthday in late January or early February may not be the animal on the red envelope.