甲 · Yang Wood

jiǎ · 甲木 · the first heavenly stem

甲 jiǎ is the first of the ten heavenly stems in BaZi: Yang Wood, the stem of spring and the East. The heavenly stems are the upper half of each pillar in a chart, and the stem of the day pillar is the Day Master, the person the chart is about. 甲 combines with 己 into Earth and clashes with 庚.

A tall tree: straight, rooted, growing towards the light. Where 乙 bends, 甲 stands. People with a 甲 Day Master tend to be principled, steady and slow to change course.

Readings are interpretations. Different traditions describe the same stem differently, and what a stem means in a chart depends on the company it keeps: the month it sits in, the branch beneath it and the balance of the other elements.

The facts

Element

木 Wood

Polarity

阳 Yang

Season

Spring 春

Direction

East 东

Combines with

己 →土 Earth

Clashes with

庚 Yang Metal

Combination and clash are the standard stem relations the engine uses. They describe the pair, not a person.

Where you meet it

• As a Day Master, the stem of your day pillar: the person the chart is about.
• In any other pillar, where it is read through the Ten Gods relative to your Day Master.
• Hidden inside a branch: 甲 hides in 寅 Tiger and 亥 Pig.

In the app, tapping any 甲 in your chart opens this entry, with one line on what it is doing in your chart. That line needs your pillars, so it is not on this page.