巳 · Snake

sì · 蛇 · the sixth earthly branch

巳 sì is the sixth of the twelve earthly branches in BaZi: the Snake, Yin Fire. 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. 巳 also names the hours from 9 to 11am and the fourth month of the solar year, and it clashes with 亥, the Pig.

Late morning at the start of summer, when heat builds but has not yet peaked. Its hidden stems hold fire, earth and metal together, which makes it a branch of many parts.

The facts

Element

火 Fire, Yin

Hours

9 to 11am

Month

The fourth month of the solar year

Hidden stems

丙 Yang Fire庚 Yang Metal戊 Yang Earth

Clashes

亥 Pig · 巳亥冲

Six combination

申 → 水 Water

Three harmony

巳酉丑 → 金 Metal

Seasonal group

巳午未 → 火 Fire

Harm 害

寅 Tiger

Punishment 刑

寅 Tiger申 Monkey

Destruction 破

申 Monkey

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 Snake".
• As the hour 巳时, 9 to 11am, which is why the almanac's hours are named by branch.
• On a clash day: a 亥 day clashes anyone whose day or year branch is 巳.

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.