Earthly Branch combination means combining two or more types of Five Elements into a single Five Element through the form of combination, achieving the purpose of making the power of one Five Element stronger. At the same time, it also causes the power of the combined and transformed branches and the hidden stems within the Earthly Branches to transform and disappear, ultimately reflecting the corresponding power back into the mutual transformation, generation, and restriction of the Heavenly Stems.
As mentioned earlier, the Earthly Branches represent the inner essence; they must have the combined and transformed Five Elements penetrate through to the Heavenly Stems to manifest the causal relationship between the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. The actual situation is indeed like this: the Five Elements successfully formed through combination and transformation often use their unified, powerful force to generate or restrict the next Five Element. For example, the Yin-Hai combination transforming into Wood means converting the hidden stem Ren Water within the Earthly Branch Hai Water into the power of Wood, while the hidden stems Bing Fire and Wu Earth within the Earthly Branch Yin Wood also disappear due to the transformation. In fact, the changes in such a process already reflect the truth of the Yin-Hai combination transforming into Wood. This transformation process causes severe trauma to the hidden stems in Yin Wood and their corresponding Five Elements penetrating the stems. Unless there is no Earth in the Heavenly Stems, or the Fire element can act as a bridge, the purpose of the Yin-Hai combination transforming into Wood to restrict Earth cannot be reversed. Therefore, as long as the Yin-Hai combination transforming into Wood is successful, it not only increases the power of the Wood element but also increases the power of Wood restricting Earth and reduces the power of Wood generating Fire. By the same logic, under singular conditions: the Hai-Mao-Wei Wood frame combination is a serious hidden danger of prosperous Wood restricting Earth, and the Shen-Zi-Chen Water frame combination ultimately results in abundant Water scattering Earth, and so on. Therefore, the Earthly Branch frame combination itself is a purpose and also a function; the generation of a frame combination must meet the conditions required by the frame combination itself.
Different frame combinations possess different Five Elements, and different Five Elements possess the active forces of different Five Element attributes. During the time when their movement directions are consistent, multiple Five Elements often combine together, representing the same will. As a dominant force, it usually influences the developmental trend of things. However, as long as differences in directionality and temporality appear, different substances, under the influence of their respective different attributes, can directly lead to the splitting of internal force movements, thereby reflecting the collapse or end of the relationships between things. All Five Elements participating in a combination will continue to participate in the transformation of other Five Element forces with different attributes and powers; these situations are particularly prominent when the frame combination encounters a clash, punishment, or yielding.
It can be understood this way: combination is a mode of development and a mode of existence for things; it gives the movement of matter and the development of things directionality, temporality, and specificity.
Combination is not just for the sake of harmony, nor is it merely because the existence of a dominant force completely dictates the development of the weaker one. From another perspective, being weak does not mean having no power; within a time of consistent directionality, due to the effect of the combination, it abandons or betrays its own attributes. This is the relationship between active and passive, the relationship between Yin and Yang, and a process of one waning while the other waxes. Thus, through the form of combination, the meaning of combination can be broadly understood. It is full of speculation and plunder, loyalty and betrayal, obedience and control, and so on.
Therefore, when the primary combining force becomes dominant, the combined force compliantly transforms. Once the primary combining force is obstructed, the combined force will use its original Five Element to engage in punishment, clash, or combination with other Five Elements.
The Day Master Geng Metal is rooted in the Year Branch, the Resource Star penetrates twice but is rootless, and the Wealth Star Yi Wood in the pillars is rooted in the Day and Hour, further assisted and made more prosperous by the Earthly Branch Yin-Hai combination frame; the destiny chart should take Earth generating Metal as the Useful God.
In the Major Cycle Xin-Wei, it forms a Hai-Mao-Wei triple combination Wood frame with the destiny chart, merging into one Qi with the Yin-Hai Wood combination, combining away the root of the Resource Star Ji Earth; prosperous Wood restricts Earth, damaging the Resource Star due to Wealth.
In the Annual Cycle Xin-Si, the Grand Duke triggers the Si-You half combination Metal frame, the Yin-Hai Wood combination, and the Hai-Mao-Wei triple Wood frame, combining away Wei Earth and Si Fire, which are the roots of the Useful God Resource Star. At the same time, the Annual Cycle and the Month Pillar have a Heavenly Clash and Earthly Clash, Wealth comes to control the Resource Star., causing an imbalance.
While determining the favorable and unfavorable elements of the destiny chart here, one should carefully analyze the information-inducing effect of the Yin-Hai combination into Wood. It combines and removes the useful god; the Yin-Hai combination into Wood causes the Bing Fire hidden in the Yin Wood to no longer generate Wu Earth. The only ‘Fire generating Earth’ in the Bazi that can elevate the destiny owner’s level disappears in the quantitative transformation of the Earthly Branches. The Yin-Hai combination into Wood means Water goes to generate Wood, and prosperous Wood overcomes Earth. In the Bazi, Wood represents wealth and Earth represents the resource; because wealth damages the resource, and wealth represents women, it is destined that the marriage will be unsmooth throughout life. Entering the Xin-Wei major luck pillar, the Hai-Mao-Wei triple combination forms a Wood frame, combining away the root of the useful god Ji Earth. In the fleeting year Xin-Si, it seems the useful god is in place, but the Si-You half-combination once again loses the root of the useful god Ji Earth. In this chart, the repeatedly appearing combination frames in the destiny, luck, and year are all the useful god in the Earthly Branches repeatedly giving up its own Five Elements attribute during the transformation of power, which is all about the useful god repeatedly turning into an unfavorable god.
In reality, the adopted son of the destiny owner’s mother and the destiny owner’s wife had a long-term secret affair, which was exposed by the adopted brother’s wife that year, almost leading to divorce.
1. The Six Combinations of Earthly Branches
The Six Combinations of Earthly Branches refer to Zi and Chou combining to transform into Earth, Yin and Hai combining to transform into Wood, Mao and Xu combining to transform into Fire, Chen and You combining to transform into Metal, Shen combining to transform into Water, and Wu and Wei combining to transform into Earth. In practical application, besides the Six Combinations of Earthly Branches, there also exist Zi and Chou combining to transform into Water, and Wu and Wei combining to transform into Fire scenarios.
The Six Combinations of Earthly Branches use the form of Yin and Yang combinations among the Twelve Earthly Branches to represent Five Elements generation and restriction, the transformation of those complex relationships. Through the form of combination, it reflects the quantitative and qualitative changes of two or more Five Elements, and the specific effects and influences brought to the generation and restriction of the Five Elements.
Specific conditions for the Six Combinations:
- The two combining branches must be adjacent, namely the Year branch and Month branch, Month branch and Day branch, Day branch and Hour branch. Each branch of the Year, Month, Day, and Hour with the Major Cycle and the Annual Pillar, as well as the Major Cycle with the Annual Pillar, are all considered adjacent.
- Of the two combining branches, at least one must have its Heavenly Stem revealed as the same Five Element resulting from the combination.
- When Zi and Chou combine to transform into Water, if both Water and Earth are revealed in the Heavenly Stems, it is evaluated as transforming into Earth; when Wu and Wei combine to transform into Fire, if both Fire and Earth are revealed in the Heavenly Stems, it is evaluated as transforming into Earth.
- The power of the Six Combinations is the weakest, and when interacting with other combination setups or two branches in self-punishment When sharing a branch, they must all give way, unless the punishment and combination are of the same Qi, the clash and combination are of the same Qi, or the transformation and combination are of the same Qi, in which case they do not give way.
- In the Six Combinations, there is no concept of ‘competing to combine’. As long as the conditions for the combination are met, any extra branches are considered as adding power to the combination, regardless of whether the adding branches are near or far.
- If the conditions for the Six Combinations are met, but the transformed spirit is restrained, the combination and transformation are not considered successful.
The Year Branch Zi Water and the Month Branch Chou Earth are closely adjacent and combine. The transformed Five Elements emerge on the Heavenly Stems of the two combining branches, so the Zi-Chou combination transforming into Water is successful.
The Day Master Ding Fire is floating and rootless, while both the Direct Officer and Seven Killings emerge and are rooted in the Earthly Branch combination, making them extremely prosperous. The Earthly Branches Zi and Chou combine and transform into Water, combining away the root of the Eating God Ji Earth. Zi and Chou combine to transform into Water; with too much Water, the Earth scatters. Fire cannot generate Earth, and both Fire and Earth lose their season and are extremely weak. In reality, the life owner is a mentally disabled and handicapped person.
II. Earthly Branch Three-Harmony Combinations
Earthly Branch Three-Harmony Combinations, referring to Shen, Zi, and Chen forming the Three-Harmony Water combination; Yin, Wu, and Xu forming the Three-Harmony Fire combination; Si, You, and Chou forming the Three-Harmony Metal combination; Hai, Mao, and Wei forming the Three-Harmony Wood combination。
The Three-Harmony combination is composed of three branches representing the Birth, Peak, and Grave stages of the transformed Five Elements. It represents the entire process from initiation to growth, and then to accumulation; it strives to unify all the power of the transformed Five Elements to generate or overcome the next Five Elements; it often takes appearing in an unbalanced form where all three branches are Yin or all three are Yang. When encountering a Three-Directional Combination, a mutual punishment among the three branches, or when two branches come to clash, the Three-Harmony Combination is often considered dissolved.
Under relatively simple conditions, once a Three-Harmony Combination is formed, it always has very obvious effects and purposes.
For example: the Yin-Wu-Xu Three-Harmony Fire Combination transforms the main Qi of Yin Wood, Jia Wood, into Fire. At the same time, the hidden stem Wu Earth in Yin Wood, Ji Earth in Wu Fire, and Wu Earth in Xu Earth are directly converted into dry earth, paving a smooth path for prosperous Fire to overcome Metal. This combination process is a kind of chain reaction, which includes prosperous Fire burning Wood, excessive draining becoming overcoming, abundant Fire scorching Earth, and dry Earth failing to generate Metal, where failing to generate means overcoming. The most direct effect and purpose of the Yin-Wu-Xu Three-Harmony Fire Combination is prosperous Fire overcoming Metal. Similarly, the direct effect of the Shen-Zi-Chen Three-Harmony Water Combination is abundant Water dispersing Earth and prosperous Water overcoming Fire; the direct effect of the Hai-Mao-Wei Three-Harmony Wood Combination is prosperous Wood overcoming Earth; the direct effect of the Si-You-Chou Three-Harmony Metal Combination is abundant Metal transforming Earth, and prosperous Metal overcoming Wood. The Earth element is constantly and directly affected in all four groups of Three-Harmony Combinations. Therefore, the same generation and overcoming relationships of the Five Elements exhibit greater complexity and instability in their manifestations among the Earthly Branches.
Specific Conditions for Three-Harmony Combinations
1. Three-Harmony Combinations (San He Ju): In a natal chart, or between the natal chart and the major cycles (Da Yun) or annual pillars (Liu Nian), as long as the three earthly branches meet and the heavenly stems reveal the same element of the transformed combination, the transformation is considered successful. Any additional branch of the Three-Harmony Combination is regarded as adding strength to the combination.
2. The strength of a Three-Harmony Combination is less than that of a Three-Meeting Combination (San Hui Ju) and three-branch self-punishments, or three-branch mutual punishments; when sharing branches with them, it must yield, unless the punishment and combination are of the same element, or the meeting and combination are of the same element, in which case it does not yield.
In the natal chart, the three branches Si, You, and Chou all appear, and the Xin Metal in the year and hour pillars doubly reveals as the transforming spirit, so the Si-You-Chou Three-Harmony Metal Combination is successful.
The Day Master Ding Fire is in season, taking the month branch as its root; the Gui Water on the month pillar roots in the year branch, closely attaching to and restricting the Day Master; the Xin Metal in the year and hour pillars reveals, triggering the Si-You-Chou Three-Harmony Metal Combination, combining away the Day Master’s strong root in the month branch, and turning the Useful God (Yong Shen) into a Taboo God (Ji Shen).
During the Gui-Si major cycle and the Ding-Si year, Tai Sui (the Grand Duke) triggers the Si-You-Chou Three-Harmony Metal Combination, combining away the Useful God of the cycle and year, as well as the Day Master’s triple Si Fire strong roots. The Day Master’s triple Yangren (Goat Blade) transforms into a Taboo God, the Wealth Star becomes excessively prosperous, and the annual pillar and the year pillar form a Heavenly Clash and Earthly Clash; the mother passed away that year.
During the Yi-Wei major cycle, the Useful God Yi Wood sits on a Tomb branch, forming a Heavenly Clash and Earthly Clash with the hour pillar.
In the Yi-Hai year, the Tai Sui Useful God sits on a Death branch, and Gui Water again meets the strong root of the annual Hai Water. The Seven Killings (Qi Sha) is prosperous and attacks the self, and the Fire and Earth in the chart that could have provided rescue all transform into Taboo Gods.
Here: the Si-You-Chou Three-Harmony Metal Combination means that excessive Metal transforms Earth, excessive Metal extinguishes Fire, and prosperous Metal restricts Wood. This poses a severe threat to Fire, Earth, and Wood among the Five Elements, causing the chart owner to clash with their parents, children, and themselves. In reality, the chart owner died of bone cancer in the Yi-Hai year.
3. Half Three-Harmony Combinations
A half three-harmony combination is half of a three-harmony combination. From within a three-harmony combination, the birthplace half three-harmony combination is formed by the Changsheng (Birth) branch and the Diwang (Peak) branch; and from within a three-harmony combination, the graveyard half three-harmony combination is formed by the Diwang (Peak) branch and the Mudi (Grave) branch. The strength of a half three-harmony combination is greater than that of a six-harmony combination.
The conditions for a half three-harmony combination are the same as those for a six-harmony combination:
- The two combining branches must be closely adjacent.
- Of the two combining branches, at least one must have its Heavenly Stem reveal the same Five Elements as the transformed combination.
- In the destiny chart, or between the destiny chart, the major cycle, and the fleeting year, the appearance of any additional branch from the combination is considered an increase in the combination’s strength.
- The strength of a half three-harmony combination is less than that of a full three-harmony combination., Three-Meeting combinations, as well as two-branch self-punishments and three-branch mutual punishments, when forming combinations with other Earthly Branches, Earthly Branch mutual punishments, or sharing branches in self-punishment, must all give way. Unless the punishment and combination are of the same Qi, the clash and combination are of the same Qi, or the meeting and combination are of the same Qi, in which case they do not give way.
The Year Branch Wu Fire and the Month Branch Xu Earth are closely adjacent and combine; the Day Branch Mao Wood and the Month Branch Xu Earth are closely adjacent and combine. The Heavenly Stem of the Month Branch Xu Earth is the transformed Five Elements. The Month and Day Mao-Xu combination into Fire is successful, and the Year and Month Wu-Xu semi-three-harmony Fire combination is also successful, transforming into the same Qi. The Six Combinations and Semi-Three-Harmony combinations can exist simultaneously.
The Day Master Gui Water is floating and rootless. The Resource Star Geng Metal takes the Hour Branch Si Fire as its Growth phase. The Wealth Stars Bing and Ding Fire both penetrate the Month and Hour, rooting in the Earthly Branch combination, flanking the Day Master and consuming its energy, thus taking Resource and Companion stars as the Useful Gods。
Taking the Month Command Bing-Xu as the Major Cycle, in the Xin-Wei year, Tai Sui triggers the Si-Wu-Wei three-harmony Fire combination and the Mao-Xu Fire combination. The six branches are of the same Qi, and two Bings combine with Xin, combining but not transforming, resulting in prosperous Fire overcoming Metal.
In this chart, the Wu-Xu Fire combination and Mao-Xu Fire combination are successful, clearly forming a situation where prosperous Fire overcomes Metal and excessive Wealth ruins the Resource. Fortunately, the Useful God Geng Metal is born in autumn, has Qi in the Xu month, and takes the Hour Branch Si Fire as its Growth phase.
In the Xin-Wei year, when the chart owner was half a year old, overnight, all the male family members including the father, elder uncles, and younger uncles died tragically in an accident, and the chart owner followed the mother through multiple marriages.
4. Earthly Branch Three-Meeting Combinations
The three-meeting combinations of the Earthly Branches, namely: Hai-Zi-Chou forming the three-meeting Water combination, Yin-Mao-Chen forming the three-meeting Wood combination, Si-Wu-Wei forming the three-meeting Fire combination, Shen-You-Xu forming the three-meeting Metal combination. The complete presence of Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei forms the Earth combination.
The Three-Meeting Combination reflects the power of a certain Five Elements, gathering the earth energy of one direction and the seasonal energy of one season. Its power is often greater than that of the Three-Harmony Combination. Unlike the unbalanced Yin and Yang of the Three-Harmony Combination, the Three-Meeting Combination exists in a form where there is Yang within Yin and Yin within Yang. Therefore, the stability of the Three-Meeting Combination is greater than that of the Three-Harmony Combination. The Three-Meeting Combination only yields to the Three-Branch Punishment; when the Three-Meeting Combination encounters a clash, it does not disperse, but encountering two clashing branches forms two opposing Five Elements.
Conditions for the combination and transformation of the Three-Meeting Combination
1. In the natal chart, or between the natal chart, major periods, and fleeting years, as long as the three branches meet and the Heavenly Stems reveal the transformed Five Element, the transformation is considered successful. Any extra branch of the Three-Meeting Combination is regarded as adding power to the combination.
2. When the Three-Meeting Combination shares branches with the Three-Branch Self-Punishment, it yields to the Three-Branch Self-Punishment, unless the punishment combines the Qi.
Under singular conditions, the function and purpose of the Three-Meeting Combination are the same as those of the Three-Harmony Combination. For example, the function and purpose of the Yin, Mao, and Chen Three-Meeting Wood Combination are directed against the Earth element. Two charts are listed below for illustration.
Day Master Geng Metal is out of season, rooted in the Year Branch, Wu Earth on the Year Pillar is rooted in the Hour Branch, Yi Wood on the Month Pillar is in season and rooted Earthly Branches Three-Meeting Wood frame, the Self is strong, Wealth is even stronger, taking Earth and Metal as Useful Gods.
Running the Wu-Wu Major Luck, the fleeting year 1998 (Wu-Yin) triggered a Yin-Shen clash, and Yin-Mao-Chen formed a Three-Meeting Wood frame, clashing away the Day Master’s strong root, combining away the root of the Wu Earth Heavenly Stem of the year and luck pillars, while Yi Wood also offended and countered the Tai Sui. The chart owner had a car accident that year and suffered a leg injury.
Day Master Geng Metal is out of season, sits on a Yangren (Goat Blade) in the Hour Branch, Yi Wood on the Hour Pillar gains a prosperous command, is rooted in the Year and Month, and Yin-Mao-Chen forms a Three-Meeting Wood frame. The Self is strong and Wealth is even stronger.
Running the Yi-Wei luck pillar, in the fleeting year Ji-Mao, the Tai Sui triggered a Mao-Wei half-combination Wood frame, and Yin-Mao-Chen formed a Three-Meeting Wood frame, combining into one Qi, clashing away the Day Master’s strong root, while Yi Wood was prosperous without control, directly countering the Tai Sui Ji Earth.
Comparing the two charts, in a singular situation, the Yin-Mao-Chen Three-Meeting Wood frame causes harm to Earth and Metal. In the male chart, because Wu Earth penetrates the stems, the Earthly Branch Chen Earth is combined into an Annoying God, creating the condition for Wood to counter Earth. The Useful God turns its back ruthlessly, and the chart owner’s level is low; even when running the Wu-Wu luck pillar, there is still the suspicion of prosperous Wood countering Earth, making it an ordinary structure. In the female chart, although there is a Yin-Mao-Chen Three-Meeting Wood frame, the Day Master carries a Yangren, and with a spread of Friend and Rob Wealth, she still does not lose her wealth and nobility.
Soul of I Ching, Four Pillars Section, Chapter 3, Section 2: Earthly Branches Clashing