A water Day Master born in 戌, the dog month
The month pillar is the strongest single influence on whether a Day Master is supported. 戌 is the last month of autumn; it opens at 寒露 Cold Dew, around 8 October, and runs to about 7 November.
- Day Master phase
- 水 Water
- Month branch
- 戌 Xū
- Opens at
- 寒露 Cold Dew
- Roughly
- 8 October – 7 November
- Branch phase
- 土 Earth
What the month does to the Day Master
Born in 戌, the last month of autumn, with a water Day Master. 死 — earth controls water — and 戌 gives you less than any other earth month.
戌 holds 戊 earth, 辛 metal and 丁 fire, and it is the 火庫, the vault of fire. Dry earth leads, and the metal inside it is the one stem that serves you, since metal produces water. But 「土乾則脆」 applies upstream as well as down: ground this dry works metal badly, so even the supportive stem is operating at reduced effect.
《窮通寶鑑》 reads the ninth month as hard ground before the cold arrives, and its shortage is moisture. For a water Day Master that shortage is the Self, which makes the position awkward rather than hostile — the season needs what you are and the ground will not let much of it through.
The practical reading: metal first, your own phase second, and the fire banked in the branch is enough without supplementing.
失令 by containment rather than by drainage. The distinction runs through several of the later sections and is worth carrying forward.
Cast the chart this page describes
The four pillars, the Day Master, the five-phase count, the day’s almanac read against the chart and the true solar time working — about 2,700 words — are free and need no account. The chart is computed in the browser; nothing about the birth is sent anywhere.