戌 · Dog

xū · 狗 · the eleventh earthly branch

戌 xū is the eleventh of the twelve earthly branches in BaZi: the Dog, Yang Earth. 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. 戌 also names the hours from 7 to 9pm and the ninth month of the solar year, and it clashes with 辰, the Dragon.

Dry earth after harvest, holding the embers of summer’s fire. 戌 closes the autumn quarter and stores what the year has gathered.

The facts

Element

土 Earth, Yang

Hours

7 to 9pm

Month

The ninth month of the solar year

Hidden stems

戊 Yang Earth辛 Yin Metal丁 Yin Fire

Clashes

辰 Dragon · 辰戌冲

Six combination

卯 → 火 Fire

Three harmony

寅午戌 → 火 Fire

Seasonal group

申酉戌 → 金 Metal

Harm 害

酉 Rooster

Punishment 刑

丑 Ox未 Goat

Destruction 破

未 Goat

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 Dog".
• As the hour 戌时, 7 to 9pm, which is why the almanac's hours are named by branch.
• On a clash day: a 辰 day clashes anyone whose day or year branch is 戌.

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.