Elements: hidden-stem weights, the count, and strength from season and roots
The elements are not a count of the eight visible characters. Visible stems count as 1. Hidden stems count as 1, 0.5, and 0.3. The day master’s strength is read from the month and from roots, and the total is not a personality score.
Editorial review: 2026-09-22 · Reviewed by fatequery
Hidden stems add at 1, 0.5, and 0.3
Each visible stem counts as 1. A branch is not scored by the character on its face. Its hidden stems count as 1, 0.5, and 0.3. Wu holds Ding and Ji. Yin holds Jia, Bing, and Wu. Xu holds Wu, Xin, and Ding.
A branch that appears twice is added twice. This chart has two Wu branches, so Ding’s 1 and Ji’s 0.5 are both entered twice.
| Element | Weighted total here |
|---|---|
| Wood | 1 |
| Fire | 3.8 |
| Earth | 3.3 |
| Metal | 1.5 |
| Water | 1 |
The same count is not the same weight
A branch is still one character on the pillar, but Wu hides two stems and Yin and Xu hide three. Counting “how many Wu” would treat Ding fire and Ji earth as equal.
This chart has two Wu branches. Ding enters twice at 1, and Ji enters twice at 0.5. Fire finishes above earth because of those weights, not because there are more fire characters.
Strength follows the month and the roots, not the table’s rank
The day master is Bing fire and the month branch is Wu. Wu is fire, and Bing at Wu is at its peak, so this line is seasonal support. The day branch Yin is Bing’s growth stage, and Yin also hides Bing, so this line is a root. The month stem Ren water controls Bing and is written as Seven Killings. That line is control, not a root.
Fire at 3.8 is an element total, not the words “strong chart.” Seasonal support, roots, and control stay on separate lines. A useful-god preference does not rewrite the weights.
Illustration: fire is heaviest, and the lines stay separate
The same pillars, Geng-Wu, Ren-Wu, Bing-Yin, Wu-Xu. The weights are fire 3.8, earth 3.3, metal 1.5, wood 1, water 1. Bing is in season in a Wu month, has a root at Yin, and is controlled by the month stem Ren. That is structure, not a score for the person.
What BaZi looks at is on what BaZi is. Once the date, time, and place are in, continue at the chart page.
Common mistakes
- Counting the eight visible characters and skipping the weights.
- Turning the element total into “strong” or “weak” by itself.
- Letting a useful-god preference rewrite the weights.
Use it in fatequery
BaZi marriage match
Branch relations, day-master combinations and element balance
Compare two BaZi charts →Frequently asked questions
Why do two Wu branches put fire at 3.8?
Each Wu contributes Ding at 1. Two of them are 2. Add the visible Bing, Yin’s Bing at 0.5, and Xu’s Ding at 0.3, and fire is 3.8.
Does the heaviest element mean a strong day master?
No. Strength still separates seasonal support, roots, and control. The total is only the element column.
Can the residual qi be dropped?
No. It counts at 0.3. Xu’s Ding is that line.
Sources and editorial basis
- 1. Yuanhai Ziping, transmitted text
Traditional names for the four pillars, the ten gods, and the month command. One text does not turn an illustration into something that has already happened.
- 2. Sanming Tonghui, transmitted text
Traditional names for the direct and indirect gods, the twelve stages, and nayin. The tables do not collapse into one luck sentence.
- 3. fatequery rule snapshot
The year changes at the Beginning of Spring, the month follows the twelve solar terms, hidden stems are weighted 1 / 0.5 / 0.3, and the day boundary defaults to 23:00, switchable to 00:00. It supports only the fields the chart prints.