Yang Earth Monkey (Wu Shen, 戊申) day pillar
A Yang Earth day master, the Mountain, sitting on the Monkey.
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 Wu Shen day.
Its sound element: Earth of the Highway (Da Yi Tu, 大驿土)
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:
Fields in autumn; likes the Monkey and Rooster, and Fire.
秋间田地，喜申酉及火
What the Monkey holds, and what it is to Yang Earth
Each branch holds one to three stems. The ones under your own day master are the closest things to you in the chart.
- Yang Metal (Geng, 庚), the main one — Eating God (Shi Shen, 食神). What you produce, same polarity. Output that comes easily: making, feeding, expressing, without strain.
- Yang Water (Ren, 壬) — Indirect Wealth (Pian Cai, 偏财). What you control, same polarity. Wealth that comes sideways rather than by salary — the uneven kind.
- Yang Earth (Wu, 戊) — Friend (Bi Jian, 比肩). Same element, same polarity as you. A peer: someone standing where you stand, competing for the same thing and equally able to share the load.
A Wu Shen 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 Wu Shen day; what it says about the other five Yang Earth days is on the Yang Earth day master page. Hours are true solar time, not clock time.
Rat hour 23:00–01:00 · Yang Water Rat (Ren Zi, 壬子)
high; stuck first and strong after. Rat (子) and Rooster (酉) in year or month, the Seven Killings (偏官) at the hour, noble. Snake (巳), Horse (午), Goat (未) and Dog (戌), the self with something to check and transform it, and wealth used besides — all read as favourable. Monkey (申) and Rooster, Eating God (食) and Hurting Officer (伤) producing wealth, and with Yang Wood (甲) or Yin Wood (乙) showing at the stems, wealth and rank both complete. It dislikes an Earth Snake (己巳) month, punishment and harm; a Water Horse (壬午) month, early death and injury; a Water Pig (癸亥) month, solitude and poverty.
高，先滞后旺。子酉年月，时上偏官，贵。巳午未戌，身有制化，用财亦专，皆以吉论。申酉，食伤生财，天干透甲乙者，富贵双全。忌己巳月刑害，壬午月夭伤，癸亥月孤贫。
Ox hour 01:00–03:00 · Yin Water Ox (Gui Chou, 癸丑)
born in Dragon (辰), Dog (戌), Ox (丑), Goat (未) or Horse (午) months, wealth and rank, fond of wine and women. Summer with an eastern period, noble. Autumn and winter, wealth strong producing the officer; if the self declines, if not an early death then poverty.
辰戌丑未午月生，富贵爱酒色。夏，东方运，贵。秋冬，财旺生官，若身衰，不夭即贫。
Tiger hour 03:00–05:00 · Yang Wood Tiger (Jia Yin, 甲寅)
Monkey (申) and Rooster (酉), Hurting Officer (伤官) carrying the Killings (煞), and where Earth (土) is thick, noble. Ox (丑) and Rabbit (卯) in year or month, putting away the Killings and keeping the officer, greatly noble; it should run Metal and Fire periods, and the position reaches the highest of ministers.
申酉，伤官带煞，土厚地方，贵。丑卯年月，去煞留官，大贵；要行金火运，位极人臣。戊戌日申寅时，辰、戌、丑、未月，行水木运，三品。丑未年月，行金水运，富贵双全。申子、酉子年月俱贵，子孙亦昌。巳午，贵，伤妻害子。寅时
Rabbit hour 05:00–07:00 · Yin Wood Rabbit (Yi Mao, 乙卯)
in middle age the ancestral estate is broken. Spring noble. Summer close to the noble. Autumn solitary and bitter. Winter, wealth and rank both complete. A Snake (巳) month with Wood and Fire periods, fifth grade and above.
中年破祖。春贵。夏近贵。秋孤苦。冬富贵双全。巳月，木火运，五品上贵。
Dragon hour 07:00–09:00 · Yang Fire Dragon (Bing Chen, 丙辰)
Dragon (辰), Dog (戌), Ox (丑) and Goat (未) months, noble; not carrying Earth qi, running an Earth period is also noble.
Snake hour 09:00–11:00 · Yin Fire Snake (Ding Si, 丁巳)
spring and summer middling, autumn made and unmade, winter wealth and rank. Running Wood and Metal periods, favourable.
春夏平，秋成败，冬富贵。行木金运，吉。
Horse hour 11:00–13:00 · Yang Earth Horse (Wu Wu, 戊午)
the Flanked Nobility (拱贵) pattern; year and month meeting Tiger (寅), running a southern period, the censorate; meeting Horse (午), noble and long-lived; Dog (戌), literary nobility. Where a Goat (未) fills it in solid and a Snake (巳) Established Prosperity (建禄) runs on with it in one stretch, greatly noble.
拱贵格，年月逢寅，行南运，风宪；逢午，贵寿；戌文贵。有未填实、巳建禄相连一片者，大贵。
Goat hour 13:00–15:00 · Yin Earth Goat (Ji Wei, 己未)
noble; running wealth and officer periods, blessing comes out. It dislikes a Tiger (寅) clashing the Killings (煞), which is ill.
贵，行财官运，发福。嫌寅冲煞有凶。
Monkey hour 15:00–17:00 · Yang Metal Monkey (Geng Shen, 庚申)
the self and the prosperity star (禄) share one nest, wealth and rank both complete; Rat (子), Dragon (辰), Goat (未) and Rooster (酉) in year or month, running a western period, entering the bound-the prosperity star pattern, close to the top of the third grade. Ox (丑) and Dog (戌) in year or month, favourable; Dragon and Dog injuring and controlling, ordinary. Pig (亥) and Snake (巳) in year or month running a northeastern period, first or second grade.
身禄同窠，富贵两全，子辰未酉年月，行西运，入合禄格，近上三品。年月丑戌，吉：辰戌伤克，平常。亥巳年月，行东北运，一二品贵。
Rooster hour 17:00–19:00 · Yin Metal Rooster (Xin You, 辛酉)
Dog (戌), Pig (亥), Ox (丑) and Rat (子) in year or month, authority and rank.
戌亥丑子年月，权贵。
Dog hour 19:00–21:00 · Yang Water Dog (Ren Xu, 壬戌)
spring noble, summer middling, autumn wealth and rank, winter ordinary.
春贵，夏平，秋富贵，冬平常。
Pig hour 21:00–23:00 · Yin Water Pig (Gui Hai, 癸亥)
Rat (子) and Goat (未) in year or month, no ancestral estate, made wealthy through the wife; otherwise moving the root and changing the leaves, poor and low besides.
子未年月，无祖业，因妻致富，不然移根换叶，贫而且贱。
The Monkey 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
- Tiger
- Pairs with (six harmony)
- Snake
- In a trine with
- Rat, Dragon
- Punishment with
- Tiger, Snake
- Harms
- Pig
- Breaks
- Snake
The next Wu Shen days: 30 November 2026, 29 January 2027, 30 March 2027. It returns every sixty days.
Famous people born on a Wu Shen day
- Hu Jintao General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, 2002–2012
The Yang Earth day master · Before it: Ding Wei · After it: Ji You · All sixty day pillars