What are the Ten Gods in BaZi?

The Ten Gods (Shi Shen) are the ten roles every other character in a BaZi chart plays in relation to your Day Master, the character that represents you. They are not deities. They group into five families by element relationship — Peers (same element), Output (what you produce), Wealth (what you control), Officer (what controls you), and Resource (what produces you) — and each family splits into two by polarity, giving ten in all.

How are the Ten Gods calculated?

Each god comes from two facts about another stem relative to your Day Master: its Five Element relationship (does it match, produce, control, get produced by, or get controlled by your element) and its polarity (is it the same yin/yang as your Day Master or different). Five relationships times two polarities gives the ten gods. For example, the element your Day Master produces is Output: same polarity makes it the Eating God, different polarity makes it the Hurting Officer.

Are some Ten Gods good and others bad?

No. No god is good or bad on its own. A god helps or hinders depending on what your chart needs for balance — which comes from whether your Day Master is strong or weak. The same Seven Killings that overwhelms a weak Day Master can be the making of a strong one. Context, not the name, decides.

Reading a chart · 十神

The Ten Gods of BaZi, explained.

"Gods" is a misleading translation. The Ten Gods (十神, Shí Shén) are not deities — they are the ten roles every other character in your chart plays toward you. Once you can name them, a wall of stems and branches turns into a story about resource, rivalry, work, money, and authority. They are the language a BaZi chart is actually read in.

"You" here means your Day Master — the Heavenly Stem of your day pillar. Every other stem stands somewhere in relation to it, and that relation is the god.

Where the ten come from

Each god is built from just two facts about another character relative to your Day Master:

The element relationship. Does it share your element, get produced by you, get controlled by you, control you, or produce you? That is five possibilities — the five families.
The polarity. Is it the same yin/yang as your Day Master, or the opposite? That splits each family in two.

Five relationships × two polarities = ten gods. That is the entire system. Everything below is just naming the ten cells of that grid.

The five families, ten gods

The five families line up exactly with the roles that strengthen or drain your Day Master — two families feed you, three spend you.

Peers 比劫 — the same element as you adds to you

比肩Companionbǐ jiān

Same polarity. Equals and allies. Self-reliance, independence, the confidence of standing on your own footing, working shoulder to shoulder with peers.

劫财Rob Wealthjié cái

Different polarity. Rivals and competitors. Boldness and drive, but also others who reach for the same resources — partnership with a competitive edge.

Output 食伤 — what your Day Master produces drains you

食神Eating Godshí shén

Same polarity. Easy, natural self-expression — creativity, performance, appetite for life, talent that flows without strain.

伤官Hurting Officershāng guān

Different polarity. Brilliant, unconventional expression — sharp talent and star quality that resists rules and authority.

Wealth 财 — what your Day Master controls drains you

偏财Indirect Wealthpiān cái

Same polarity. Fluid, opportunistic money — windfalls, deals, generosity, wealth that arrives in waves rather than a steady drip.

正财Direct Wealthzhèng cái

Different polarity. Steady, earned income — salary, savings, frugality, the rewards of consistent and patient work.

Officer 官杀 — what controls your Day Master drains you

七杀Seven Killingsqī shā

Same polarity. Raw pressure and power — challenge, discipline under force, drive forged by hardship. Formidable when channelled, harsh when not.

正官Direct Officerzhèng guān

Different polarity. Proper authority and status — rules, responsibility, reputation, and the self-control to carry them.

Resource 印 — what produces your Day Master adds to you

偏印Indirect Resourcepiān yìn

Same polarity. Unconventional knowledge — intuition, insight, niche expertise, a mind that learns sideways. Can tip into detachment.

正印Direct Resourcezhèng yìn

Different polarity. Nurture and support — education, protection, steady backing; traditionally read as the mother.

Indirect and direct: what polarity does

Notice the pattern in the pairs. When the other character shares your Day Master's polarity, you get the more raw, self-directed version of the role; when it is the opposite polarity, you get the more regulated, "proper" version — the one tradition often marks 正 ("direct"). Same poles meet as an unmediated force; opposite poles attract into a controlled bond. The Peers are the one family where the labels run the other way, with the same-polarity Companion reading as the steadier of the two.

No god is good or bad

This is the part beginners get wrong. "Seven Killings" sounds ominous and "Direct Officer" sounds respectable, but a name tells you nothing about whether a god helps you. What decides is balance: whether your Day Master is strong or weak. A strong Day Master is made by the draining gods — Output, Wealth, Officer give it something to push against. A weak one is steadied by the feeding gods — Resource and Peers. The same Seven Killings that crushes a weak chart can be the backbone of a strong one. Read the god through the chart, never on its own.

See your Ten Gods, mapped.

Bornchart labels every stem in your chart with its god, groups them into the five families, and reads them against your Day Master's strength. Free, no signup, about thirty seconds.

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Keep going: what the gods say about career and wealth, is your Day Master strong or weak?, the four pillars and your Day Master, or how the chart is calculated.