Ten Gods: Quick Reference
The Ten Gods are the relational layer of Ba Zi: the system that translates raw elemental relationships into functional roles specific to your chart. Every stem in your Ba Zi chart stands in one of ten possible relationships to your Day Master, and that relationship determines what role that element plays in your life.
The same element can be different Ten Gods for different people. Fire is not always wealth. Fire is wealth only if your Day Master is Metal. For a Wood Day Master, that same Fire is Output: creative energy. The Ten Gods are what make Ba Zi a personal framework rather than a generic elemental typology.
For a full explanation of how the Ten Gods are derived and what each category means in practice, see the Ten Gods explainer.
The Ten Gods
| Category | Classical Name | Polarity | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wealth | Direct Wealth | Yin | What you control and earn; practical, results-oriented energy |
| Wealth | Indirect Wealth | Yang | Wealth through unconventional means; risk, speculation, enterprise |
| Output | Food God | Yin | Natural creative expression; talent, ease, flow |
| Output | Hurting Officer | Yang | Forceful creative expression; originality, rule-breaking, intensity |
| Influence | Direct Officer | Yin | Sanctioned authority; career structure, reputation, discipline |
| Influence | 7 Killings | Yang | Raw authority; pressure, challenge, the force that demands response |
| Resource | Direct Resource | Yin | Formal knowledge and support; learning, mentorship, protection |
| Resource | Indirect Resource | Yang | Unconventional wisdom; intuition, spiritual knowledge, hidden backing |
| Companion | Friend | Yin | Peers and allies; lateral support, shared goals |
| Companion | Rob Wealth | Yang | Competition; rivals, those who want what you want |
The Five Categories
The ten gods are organized into five paired categories, each describing a different functional domain:
Wealth: what you pursue and what you can bring under your management. Traditionally associated with financial themes, but more broadly with what you control and earn through effort.
Output: what you produce and express. Creative energy, ideas, the work you put into the world. Food God flows naturally; Hurting Officer pushes against convention.
Influence: what shapes and disciplines you. Authority, structure, the forces that direct your path. Direct Officer works through legitimate channels; 7 Killings is rawer and more confrontational.
Resource: what supports and sustains you. Knowledge, mentors, protection, backing. Resource feeds the Day Master. Excessive Resource can suppress Output.
Companion: your peers and competitors. Those who share your elemental nature, your lateral relationships, the people who want the same things you want.
How to Read Your Ten Gods
Identify the Ten God for each stem in your chart by determining its elemental relationship to your Day Master. The generative and controlling cycles govern this: the element that produces your Day Master is Resource; the element your Day Master produces is Output; the element that controls your Day Master is Influence; the element your Day Master controls is Wealth; the same element as your Day Master is Companion.
Then note which pillars carry which Ten Gods. The month pillar is often the most professionally significant — practitioners call it the Career Palace. The hour pillar describes private ambitions and what you build toward over the long arc. The year branch carries generational context and early life environment. The day branch, directly beneath your Day Master, is traditionally associated with intimate relationships.
The Ten Gods active in your current Luck Pillar and the current year describe what is most animated in your life right now. A year that brings your Wealth element into contact with your chart has a different quality than one that brings Resource or Influence. Reading the Ten God of any incoming cycle against your chart is how Ba Zi moves from character description to timing.
See your Ten Gods in Arka.