Yin Water Snake (Gui Si, 癸巳) day pillar
A Yin Water day master, the Mist, sitting on the Snake.
Your day pillar is the pair of characters for the day you were born. The top one, the stem, is your day master — you. The bottom one, the branch, is what it sits on. The sixty pillars come round in turn, one a day, so about one person in sixty was born on a Gui Si day.
Its sound element: Long-flowing Water (Chang Liu Shui, 长流水)
The sixty pillars go in pairs, and each pair carries a sound element (Na Yin, 纳音) — an image, separate from the element of the stem. The classic San Ming Tong Hui (三命通会) describes each pillar by it:
Water that never rests, flowing into the sea; likes the Pig and the Rat, and there it transforms.
水之不息，流入海，喜亥子，乃变化
What the Snake holds, and what it is to Yin Water
Each branch holds one to three stems. The ones under your own day master are the closest things to you in the chart.
- Yang Fire (Bing, 丙), the main one — Direct Wealth (Zheng Cai, 正财). What you control, opposite polarity. Wealth held steadily — earned, kept, accounted for.
- Yang Metal (Geng, 庚) — Direct Resource (Zheng Yin, 正印). What produces you, opposite polarity. Straightforward support: what teaches, shelters and backs you.
- Yang Earth (Wu, 戊) — Direct Officer (Zheng Guan, 正官). What controls you, opposite polarity. Authority in its orderly form: office, rule, the structure you fit into.
A Gui Si day at each birth hour: San Ming Tong Hui (三命通会)
Two volumes of this classic go hour by hour, and at each hour say something about this exact day pillar. These are its sentences on a Gui Si day; what it says about the other five Yin Water days is on the Yin Water day master page. Hours are true solar time, not clock time.
Rat hour 23:00–01:00 · Yang Water Rat (Ren Zi, 壬子)
spring and summer, money and blessing come out; Dragon (辰), Dog (戌), Ox (丑) and Goat (未), if not noble then wealthy at the last. It dislikes an Earth Tiger (戊寅) month, meeting punishment; an Earth Monkey (戊申) month, taking punishment; an Earth Rooster (己酉) month, a beggar.
春夏发财福，辰戌丑未，不贵终富。忌戊寅月遭刑，戊申月受刑，己酉月乞丐。
Ox hour 01:00–03:00 · Yin Water Ox (Gui Chou, 癸丑)
the blessing, virtue and fine qi (福德秀气) pattern, learning and cleverness, outstanding talent, noble. If pure Ox (丑) and Snake (巳) in year and month, greatly noble.
福德秀气格，学问聪明，英才特达，贵。若纯丑巳年月，大贵。
Tiger hour 03:00–05:00 · Yang Wood Tiger (Jia Yin, 甲寅)
middling; carrying a month where the self is strong, greatly noble. It dislikes Yang Earth (戊), Yin Earth (己), Yang Metal (庚) and Monkey (申) characters, and the year period likewise.
平，通身旺月，大贵。忌戊己庚申字，岁运同。
Rabbit hour 05:00–07:00 · Yin Wood Rabbit (Yi Mao, 乙卯)
wealth and officer both fine; spring Hurting Officer (伤官), summer the wealth strong, autumn the Resource (印) settled, winter ordinary. As with Ox (丑), Horse (午), Rat (子) and Pig (亥) in year or month, office to the third or fourth grade. Wood Pig (乙亥) and Wood Rooster (乙酉), crippled.
财官双美，春伤官，夏财旺，秋印稳，冬平常。如丑午子亥年月，官至三四品。乙亥、乙酉，残疾。
Dragon hour 07:00–09:00 · Yang Fire Dragon (Bing Chen, 丙辰)
born in a Rat (子) month, the southern quarter, the hills bright and the waters fine, where the ground is, highly noble. Rat and Goat (未) in year or month, rich and thick. Dog (戌) and Rabbit (卯), close to the throne. Goat, Dog and Monkey (申), a Confucian office.
子月生，南方，山明水秀，地方，高贵。子未年月，富厚。戌卯，近侍。未戌申，儒官。
Snake hour 09:00–11:00 · Yin Fire Snake (Ding Si, 丁巳)
wealth and officer both fine. A Rat (子) month, noble. A Fire month, wealthy. With Earth showing at the stems and Horse (午) and Goat (未) in the branches, it governs great authority and rank. Pure Ox (丑), the highest grade.
财官双美。子月，贵。火月，富。天干透土，地支午未，主大权贵。纯丑，极品。
Horse hour 11:00–13:00 · Yang Earth Horse (Wu Wu, 戊午)
great wealth in middle age; if it runs an eastern period, conspicuously noble. Monkey (申) and Goat (未) months, also noble.
Goat hour 13:00–15:00 · Yin Earth Goat (Ji Wei, 己未)
wealth and officer both fine. Where the pillars have no Yang Earth (戊) and there is Rabbit (卯) Wood binding the frame, it makes the Seven Killings (偏官) at the hour; with control, noble.
财官双美，柱无戊土，有卯木合局，作时上偏官，有制，贵。
Monkey hour 15:00–17:00 · Yang Metal Monkey (Geng Shen, 庚申)
poor, and it too is the bound salary (合禄) pattern. Born in a Goat (未) month, his learning comes to something; a north-western period, noble; running a north-eastern period, also noble.
贫，亦是合禄格。未月生，问学有成，西北运，贵；行东北运，亦贵。
Rooster hour 17:00–19:00 · Yin Metal Rooster (Xin You, 辛酉)
solitary. Tiger (寅) and Rabbit (卯) years, Dragon (辰), Dog (戌), Ox (丑) and Goat (未) months, noble. Rat (子), Horse (午), Rabbit and Rooster (酉), middling nobility. Tiger, Monkey (申), Snake (巳) and Pig (亥), most noble.
孤。寅卯年，辰戌丑未月，贵。子午卯酉，中贵。寅申巳亥，最贵。
Dog hour 19:00–21:00 · Yang Water Dog (Ren Xu, 壬戌)
wealth and officer both fine; spring level, summer, autumn and winter noble. Dragon (辰), Ox (丑), Goat (未), Tiger (寅) and Rooster (酉) in year or month, the censorate.
财官双美，春平，夏秋冬贵。辰丑未寅酉年月，风宪。
Pig hour 21:00–23:00 · Yin Water Pig (Gui Hai, 癸亥)
an Ox (丑) month, the noble (杂气印绶). Pig (亥) and Rat (子) in year or month running a southern period, noble. Also the prosperity star and the Horse in one home (禄马同乡) pattern; Snake (巳) and Monkey (申) in year or month, greatly noble.
丑月，杂气印绶。贵。亥子年月，行南运，贵。又禄马同乡格，巳申年月，大贵。
Named days in Yuan Hai Zi Ping (渊海子平)
These are decided by the day pillar alone, so everyone born on a Gui Si day is in them. The work attaches conditions to most of them; the passage is given whole.
Honour on the day
The day pillar is one of Fire Rooster (丁酉), Fire Pig (丁亥), Water Snake (癸巳) or Water Rabbit (癸卯). The work adds that it most fears punishment, clash, breaking and harm; that part is not judged here.
日贵者何？即甲戊兼牛羊之类。止有四日：丁酉、丁亥、癸巳、癸卯耳；最怕刑冲破害。
The Snake and the other animals
When the day branch meets these — in a year, a ten-year luck period, or someone else’s chart — the classics read it by these relationships.
- Clashes with
- Pig
- Pairs with (six harmony)
- Monkey
- In a trine with
- Ox, Rooster
- Punishment with
- Tiger, Monkey
- Harms
- Tiger
- Breaks
- Monkey
The next Gui Si days: 15 November 2026, 14 January 2027, 15 March 2027. It returns every sixty days.
Famous people born on a Gui Si day
- Jackie Chan Actor and martial artist
The Yin Water day master · Before it: Ren Chen · After it: Jia Wu · All sixty day pillars