The

A - Z of Ba Zi & Beyond.
San Francisco,
24 29 March 2012.
Prep Lesson # 6: The 12 Earthly Branches, Hidden Stems
In a BaZi chart,
Stems are Heaven,
Branches are Earth and the
Hidden Stems are Man.
It is very important to understand what we are looking at. It is extremely important to
know which elements are inside the branches. This reveals the hidden factor, the
matter that is inside a person, or hidden underneath.
To put it simply, Hidden Stems are the Qi contained in a Branch.
There are basically 3 types of Qi that could be hidden in a branch. A branch
must contain a Main Qi and Sub Qi. (3 of the 4 cardinals only contain main Qi)
There are totally 28 hidden stems which represent the 28 constellations in the
sky. In the San He Luo Pan there are 28 constellations in the outermost ring.
These are the 28 stems. The Green Dragon and the White Tiger are based on
these.
It is very important to know the Hidden Stems because when you read the pillars,
you actually read the Hidden Stems.
The strength of Qi of a stem is superficial. The main Qi is contained in the Hidden
Stems of the branch. They are the feet of the chart.
The Qi of a Hidden Stem can be far more influential on a chart than the visible Qi
of a stem appearing in the top row of the chart.




BaZi Boot Camp San Francisco March 2012 by Sherry Merchant

Look at the chart that was part of Lesson 5. The main Qi is always the strongest factor
that elementally influences the branch Qi.
The criteria for determining the main Qi are different for each of the 3 groups, namely
cardinals, sky horses and graveyards.
1. Cardinals. They contain the pure Qi of the element of the season that it
belongs to. Hence:
The main qi of the cardinal that resides in the season of spring (rabbit
MAO t ) is Yin wood. Similarly
The main qi of the cardinal that resides in the season of autumn (rooster
YOU h ) is Yin metal.
The main qi of the cardinal that resides in the season of winter (rat TZI
n ) is Yin water.
The main qi of the cardinal that resides in the season of summer (horse
WU b ) is Yin fire.
Here, there is a slight variation, along with the main Qi, there is an
additional sub Qi, earth. We have to remember that with fire comes earth.
Earth has no direction of its own hence there is no earth season as such.
Who else will look after a straggler or orphan but a mother and since the
mother of earth is fire (Fire produces earth) earth tags along with fire. This
is the simplistic way to remember one basic mantra, with fire comes earth.
RULE: The hidden stem that forms the main Qi of all cardinal branches are ALWAYS the
YIN stem of the seasonal element.

BaZi Boot Camp San Francisco March 2012 by Sherry Merchant


2. Sky Horse. They contain the Yang Stem of the element of the season that it
belongs to. Hence:
The Main Qi of the SKY HORSE that resides in the season of spring (Tiger
YIN r ) is Yang wood.
The main qi of the SKY HORSE that resides in the season of autumn
(Monkey - SHEN f ) is Yang metal.
The main qi of the SKY HORSE that resides in the season of winter (Pig -
HAI l ) is Yang water.
The main qi of the SKY HORSE that resides in the season of summer
(Snake- SI x ) is fire.

BaZi Boot Camp San Francisco March 2012 by Sherry Merchant


The Second Qi consists of Seeds of the next Season derived from the Frame the
branch belongs to.
To put it simply, it is the Yang Stem of the next Season.
Hence for
Tiger YIN r it is Bing a (Yang Fire)
Snake SI x it is Geng g (Yang Metal)
Monkey SHEN f it is Ren m(Yang
Water)
Pig HAI l it is Jia s (Yang Wood)

BaZi Boot Camp San Francisco March 2012 by Sherry Merchant




The Third Qi consists of left over Earth from the previous month which happens to
be a Grave yard, denoted here by a brown arrow.

WU y or Yang Earth
Tiger YIN r it is WU y (Yang
Earth) left over from CHOU (January)
Snake SI x it is WU y (Yang Earth)
left over from CHEN (April)
Monkey SHEN f it is WU y (Yang
Earth) left over from WEI (July)
Exception: Pig - HAI l WU y Yang
Earth is absent, as in the season of
winter, the water is too strong hence
washes away the earth. See so logical!

Trivia: All 3 Hidden Stems of a Sky Horse are Yang polarity.

BaZi Boot Camp San Francisco March 2012 by Sherry Merchant

3. Graveyards. They contain the Yang Stem of the element of the season that it
belongs to. Hence:
The Main Qi of the GRAVEYARD is ALWAYS EARTH, 2 are Yin and 2 are Yang.
THE MAIN Qi That resides in the season of spring (Dragon - Chen v ) is
YANG earth (y).
The main qi of the GRAVE YARD that resides in the season of summer (Goat
- d) is YIN earth z.
The main qi of the GRAVEYARD that resides in the season of autumn (Dog -
Xu y) is Yang earth
The main qi of the GRAVEYARD that resides in the season of winter (Ox -
CHOU - l ) is Yin Earth z.

THE SECONDARY Qi of a graveyard in the YIN STEM of the season it belongs to

The THIRD Qi of a graveyard is the left over Qi of the previous season (Yin stem of the
previous season)

If this is confusing to you, do not fret, as it is a bit complicated, and we will
figure it out in class.






BaZi Boot Camp San Francisco March 2012 by Sherry Merchant

BaZi Boot Camp San Francisco March 2012 by Sherry Merchant