Earthly Branch Harms and Destructions: The Six Harms and Six Breaks Explained

一 What it is

What “Harms and Destructions” Means

Think of a chart like a seating plan at a large dinner. Two guests may be placed opposite each other, and the host notes “these two are on the watch list.” That note records a pairing, not an argument. In Bazi, Six Harms and Six Destructions work the same way: they are lookup labels produced when two specific Earthly Branches appear together in the four pillars.

The tables are fixed. Six Harms pairs 子–未, 丑–午, 寅–巳, 卯–辰, 申–亥 and 酉–戌. Six Destructions, also translated as Six Breaks, pairs 子–酉, 丑–辰, 寅–亥, 卯–午, 申–巳 and 戌–未. A calculator simply checks co-presence: if both members are present, the label appears. For example, a chart with 子 in the year and 未 in the month shows “Six Harm: 子–未”; a chart with 卯 and 午 shows “Six Destruction: 卯–午.”

That detection step is separate from interpretation. The label is a relation name, not a verdict, and it cannot prove betrayal, loss, separation, relationship damage, illness, money trouble or any event. These labels may also coexist with combinations, branch clashes or branch punishments, so reading one in isolation is incomplete.

二 Where to find it in your chart

Entering Birth Data and Reading the Bottom Characters

Begin with the birth date and time, then confirm the location so the calculator can apply the correct clock rules. Year and Month boundaries follow China time, while Day and Hour use true solar time. If the birth time is unknown, leave it blank: the calculator will show three pillars and no Hour Pillar rather than inventing one.

Once your chart appears, look at the bottom character in each column. These are the Earthly Branches: one beneath the Year, one beneath the Month, one beneath the Day, and, when time is known, one beneath the Hour. Read them as a set, because interaction labels depend on co-presence, not on a single branch.

Compare each pair of branches against the Six Harms and Six Destructions tables. A match is a relation label, not proof of betrayal, loss, relationship damage, or any event. These labels are distinct from branch clashes and branch punishments, and they may coexist with combinations, clashes, or punishments in the same chart.

For example, a chart with 子 in the Year and 未 in the Month shows a Six Harm match, while 卯 in the Month and 午 in the Hour shows a Six Destruction match. Treat each as one layer of the reading, then calculate your chart.

三 How to read it

How to Identify Harms and Destructions

Identification is a repeatable lookup task, not a judgment about a person or a life event. First, list the four Earthly Branches from the year, month, day and hour pillars. If the hour is unknown, work with three branches and do not invent a fourth. Then compare every branch with every other branch, including branches that sit next to each other and branches separated by one or two positions.

Use the supplied tables. A Six Harm appears when 子 meets 未, 丑 meets 午, 寅 meets 巳, 卯 meets 辰, 申 meets 亥, or 酉 meets 戌. A Six Destruction appears when 子 meets 酉, 丑 meets 辰, 寅 meets 亥, 卯 meets 午, 申 meets 巳, or 戌 meets 未. Each listed pair is a complete membership: both members must be present for that label to apply. A single branch alone is partial membership only in the sense that it belongs to the wider set of branches used by the table; it does not create a harm or destruction by itself.

Check for repeated members carefully. If a branch occurs more than once, each occurrence can pair with a matching partner, so two 子 and one 未 can produce two 子–未 harm relationships. Record the positions involved, because a year–month pair and a day–hour pair are read as separate co-presences. Position does not change the lookup result, but it helps you describe where the relation sits.

Coexistence matters. A pair may carry a harm label and a destruction label at the same time, and either label may appear alongside combinations, branch clashes or punishments. These are distinct relation labels, so one does not cancel another. Detection is co-presence, not proof of betrayal, loss, relationship damage or any event. Treat the output as vocabulary for reading structure, then compare it with the rest of the chart rather than turning a label into a forecast.

四 When the reading changes

Repeated labels: one pair can appear more than once

A single Earthly Branch pair may show up in several pillars, so the same label can repeat inside one chart. Check each pillar branch against the lookup list, then count how many times a pair such as 子–未 or 卯–午 actually occurs. Repetition changes the count of labels, not the meaning of the label itself. Two occurrences of a Six Harm do not double a predicted outcome; they simply give you two positions to inspect. The label stays a relation marker, and the chart may still contain other relations in the same branches.

Hidden-only versus visible occurrence

Some branches carry hidden stems, and a relation can be noted when the branch is visible even if the relevant hidden stem is not the main qi. Compare the branch list with the hidden-stem list, then ask whether the pair is visible in the branch itself or only implied through hidden content. A visible 寅–巳 pair is read from the branches; a hidden-only appearance is read from the hidden stems inside those branches. Neither version proves an event. The distinction matters because this calculator weights hidden stems at 1.0, 0.5 and 0.3 by list order, and those weights feed five-element totals rather than a strength verdict.

Positional differences: year, month, day, hour

The same pair can sit in different pillar positions, and position changes what you check next. In the first example, 子 in the year and 未 in the month form a Six Harm; in the second, 卯 in the month and 午 in the hour form a Six Destruction. Note the positions before reading the label. A year–month pair and a month–hour pair are both co-presence, but they occupy different slots in the sequence. Position does not convert a relation label into a forecast, and it does not override the calendar boundary: year and month use China time, while day and hour use true solar time.

Coexistence with other relations and Ten-God categories

A harm or destruction can coexist with combinations, branch clashes or branch punishments, and it can sit beside any Ten-God category. Check the full match list, then note which Ten-God labels appear in the same columns. In the first example, the 子–未 Six Harm coexists with a Direct Officer in the month and a Direct Resource hidden in the year. In the second, the 卯–午 Six Destruction coexists with a Hurting Officer in the month and Seven Killings in the hour. These are interpretive vocabulary labels, not empirical outcomes. The visible Day Master counts in five-element totals but is excluded only from article weighted Ten-God totals, so raw totals remain descriptive rather than a verdict.

五 Worked chart examples

These teaching charts were screened by the site’s current calendar engine. They are not people or client stories. Tables and totals are generated from frozen engine rules; the prose only explains what is shown.

Chart A: Reading One Detected Pair

Chart A has four pillars: 甲子 in the year, 辛未 in the month, 甲辰 in the day, and 丙寅 in the hour. Read the branches in order: 子, 未, 辰, 寅. The calculator reports one match, Six Harm: 子–未. That label comes from a fixed lookup table, not from the birth details themselves.

Earthly Branches are the twelve characters used in the lower half of each pillar. A Six Harm pair is simply two branches listed together in that table. Here 子 sits in the year and 未 in the month, so the pair is present by co-presence. Detection means the two branches appear in the same chart; it does not prove betrayal, loss, relationship damage, or any event.

The other branches matter for context. 辰 and 寅 do not form a Six Harm with 子 or 未 in this lookup. They also do not create a Six Destruction pair here. Six Harms and Six Destructions are distinct relation labels, and either can coexist with combinations, branch clashes, or branch punishments. A chart may show one label while other relations remain absent.

The stems are 甲, 辛, 甲, 丙. The Day Master is the day stem 甲, shown as Friend in the year and month columns and as Day Master in the day column. The month stem 辛 is Direct Officer; the hour stem 丙 is Eating God. These Ten-God labels describe the stem relationships to the Day Master.

Hidden stems add detail. 子 hides 癸, a Direct Resource. 未 hides 己, 丁, 乙: Direct Wealth, Hurting Officer, Rob Wealth. 辰 hides 戊, 乙, 癸: Indirect Wealth, Rob Wealth, Direct Resource. 寅 hides 甲, 丙, 戊: Friend, Eating God, Indirect Wealth.

The supplied five-element totals are Wood 3.8, Fire 2, Earth 2.3, Metal 1, Water 1.3. The weighted Ten-God totals are Friend 2, Rob Wealth 0.8, Eating God 1.5, Hurting Officer 0.5, Indirect Wealth 1.3, Direct Wealth 1, Seven Killings 0, Direct Officer 1, Indirect Resource 0, Direct Resource 1.3. These are raw totals, not a strength verdict.

Reading Chart B: One Destruction Pair

Chart B has the pillars 甲子, 丁卯, 甲辰 and 庚午. Its branches are 子, 卯, 辰 and 午. Checking the lookup table, 卯 and 午 form a Six Destruction pair. Detection is simple co-presence: the two branches appear in the chart, so the label applies. It does not prove loss, separation, betrayal or any event.

The same chart also contains 子 and 辰, which belong to the 申子辰 water combination family. A destruction label can therefore sit alongside other relation labels. It may also coexist with branch clashes or branch punishments elsewhere in a chart, so read each label separately rather than treating one as a verdict on the whole chart.

Chart B’s five-element totals are Wood 3.5, Fire 2, Earth 1.5, Metal 1 and Water 1.3. Its weighted Ten-God totals are Friend 1, Rob Wealth 1.5, Hurting Officer 2, Indirect Wealth 1, Direct Wealth 0.5, Seven Killings 1 and Direct Resource 1.3. These raw totals are not a strength verdict; they simply describe the calculator’s counting output.

Contrast With Chart A

Chart A has the pillars 甲子, 辛未, 甲辰 and 丙寅, with branches 子, 未, 辰 and 寅. Its match is a Six Harm pair, 子–未, not a destruction. Chart A’s totals are Wood 3.8, Fire 2, Earth 2.3, Metal 1 and Water 1.3, with Friend 2, Rob Wealth 0.8, Eating God 1.5, Hurting Officer 0.5, Indirect Wealth 1.3, Direct Wealth 1, Direct Officer 1 and Direct Resource 1.3. The two charts share 甲子 and 甲辰, yet their interaction labels differ.

A Repeatable Observation Method

• List every branch by position.
• Compare each pair against the Six Harm and Six Destruction tables.
• Record matches as labels, not outcomes.
• Note other relations such as combinations, clashes or punishments.
• Read the five-element and Ten-God totals separately.

This method keeps detection distinct from interpretation. For background, see Earthly Branches.

六 Base-rate boundary

The full enumeration used by this site contains 518,400 valid Four Pillars combinations: 60 year pillars × 12 solar-month slots × 60 day pillars × 12 hour slots. This topic contains several possible labels or thresholds, so a single combined percentage would conceal which exact condition was counted.

Any later frequency must define one exact condition first and report an equal-weight combination-space proportion, not a percentage of people, income outcomes, careers or birth records. The presence of a label is not an event forecast.