What Are Favorable Elements, and How Do You Find Yours?
Favorable elements (Xi Yong Shen) are the Five Elements that bring your BaZi chart back into balance. The most important one is the Useful God (Yong Shen), the element that best fixes the imbalance. The second is the favorable element (Xi Shen), which steps in when the Useful God is not strong enough.
Enter your birth date and time in the free BaZi calculator, and the row labelled "Favorable Elements" shows your direction. It lists two elements if your Day Master is weak and three if it is strong. Your key element is picked from among them.
Calculate your BaZi chart
Enter your birth details to discover your Day Master, elemental balance, and how these concepts apply to your Four Pillars.
How to Find Them: Judge Strength, Then Treat the Imbalance
It takes three steps: judge whether you are strong or weak, find what throws the chart off, then pick what fixes it. Think of the imbalance as an illness and the element that fixes it as the medicine.
Your Day Master is the Heavenly Stem of the day you were born, and it stands for you. Every other element falls into one of five groups, based on how it relates to your Day Master.
| Group | Relation to you | Ding Fire example |
|---|---|---|
| Peers | Same element as you | Fire |
| Seal | Feeds you | Wood |
| Output | You feed it | Earth |
| Wealth | You control it | Metal |
| Officer and Killings | Controls you | Water |
- Judge strengthLook at the main qi of your four branches, the element each branch mainly holds. If two or more are Peers or Seal, you are strong. Otherwise you are weak.
- Find the illnessFor a strong chart, the illness is too many Peers. For a weak chart, it is the heaviest of Wealth, Officer and Killings, and Output.
- Pick the medicineA strong chart picks from Officer and Killings, Output and Wealth. A weak chart picks from Seal and Peers. A rooted candidate comes first, then a revealed one, then a hidden one. If Officer and Killings or Output is the illness, only a rooted or revealed medicine counts. If there is neither, Seal is used.
Rooted, revealed and hidden describe how firmly an element stands in your chart.
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Rooted | It is a branch's main qi, or it shows on a stem and a branch also holds it |
| Revealed | It shows only on a stem, with no branch holding it |
| Hidden | It sits only inside a branch and never shows on a stem |
The last step adjusts for the season and is called climate balance (Tiao Hou). A chart born in the winter months of Hai, Zi and Chou needs Fire for warmth. A chart born in the summer months of Si, Wu and Wei needs Water to cool it.
That Fire or Water counts only if a branch holds it, not just a stem. This step never changes the Useful God. It only gives a little extra help when a Major Cycle or a year brings that element.
Useful, Favorable, Unfavorable, Hostile, Idle: The Five Roles
Every element plays one of five roles in your chart.
- Useful GodThe medicine that treats the illness.
- FavorableA second medicine that can stand in for the first.
- UnfavorableThe illness itself.
- HostileThe element that feeds the unfavorable one.
- IdleNeither medicine nor illness, with little effect.
| Chart | Useful, then favorable | Unfavorable, hostile | Idle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strong | Officer and Killings, then Wealth | Peers, Seal | Output |
| Strong | Output, then Wealth | Peers, Seal | Officer and Killings |
| Strong | Wealth, then Output | Peers, Seal | Officer and Killings |
| Weak, Wealth-heavy | Peers, then Seal | Wealth, Output | Officer and Killings |
| Weak, Wealth-heavy | Seal, then Peers | Wealth, Output | Officer and Killings |
| Weak, Officer-heavy | Seal, then Peers | Officer and Killings, Wealth | Output |
| Weak, Officer-heavy | Peers, then Seal | Officer and Killings, Wealth | Output |
| Weak, Output-heavy | Seal, then Peers | Output, Wealth | Officer and Killings |
| Weak, Output-heavy | Peers, then Seal | Output, Wealth | Officer and Killings |
Worked Example: Finding the Useful God in One Chart
Take the pillars Ren Shen, Wu Shen, Ding Mao and Wu Shen. In this chart the Useful God is Wood and the favorable element is Fire.
| Step | This chart |
|---|---|
| Day Master | Ding Fire |
| Main qi of branches | Three Shen (Metal) and one Mao (Wood); only Mao feeds Ding Fire, so the chart is weak |
| Illness | Metal is Wealth and holds three branches, so the illness is heavy Wealth |
| Candidates | Peers (Fire): no Fire besides the Day Master. Seal (Wood): Mao holds Wood as main qi, so it is rooted |
| Medicine | Rooted comes first, so the Useful God is Wood |
| Five roles | Useful Wood, favorable Fire, unfavorable Metal, hostile Earth, idle Water |
The free BaZi calculator lists Fire and Wood under "Favorable Elements". It lists Earth, Water and Metal under "Unfavorable Elements". The Water there is idle, so its effect is small.
How to Use Your Favorable Elements
They are mostly used to read which stretches of luck go smoothly. Periods that bring your useful or favorable element tend to go better. Periods that bring the unfavorable or hostile element call for more caution, and idle ones matter less.
A Major Cycle (Da Yun) is a ten-year stretch of luck, read mainly by its branch. Annual Fortune is the luck of a single year.
Careers and settings can also be read through the elements, but only as a tendency. Use the branch column to see which element a cycle or year branch belongs to.
| Element | Branches | Common fields | Suits settings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood | Yin, Mao | Education, publishing, design, gardening | Growth and learning |
| Fire | Si, Wu | Food, media, entertainment, energy | Lively, high visibility |
| Earth | Chou, Chen, Wei, Xu | Real estate, building, farming, brokerage | Stable, long-term |
| Metal | Shen, You | Finance, law, machinery, hardware | Clear rules, precision |
| Water | Zi, Hai | Logistics, trade, travel, communications | Movement, communication, research |
Should You Add the Element You Are Missing?
No, a missing element is not always one you need. What you need depends on your strength and where the illness lies.
If you are strong and lack Seal, do not add it, because Seal is your hostile element. If you are weak and lack Wealth, do not add it either, because Wealth is either your unfavorable or your hostile element.
Having all five elements does not mean balance, either. The example chart has all five and is still weak with heavy Wealth.
