Earthly Branch Six Combinations: A Practical Guide to the Six Harmonies in Bazi

一 What it is

What the Six Combinations Are

The Six Combinations are six fixed pairs of Earthly Branches. In this calculator’s lookup, each pair is listed once, giving six entries in total: 子–丑, 寅–亥, 卯–戌, 辰–酉, 巳–申 and 午–未. Each pair carries a traditional associated element direction, such as Earth for 子–丑 or Wood for 寅–亥. That label describes a conventional correspondence, not a guaranteed outcome. For the underlying framework, see Earthly Branches in Bazi: The Twelve Characters and Their Hidden Stems.

Detection is simple co-presence. If both branches of a listed pair appear anywhere in the four pillars, the calculator records a match. For example, a chart containing 子 and 丑 shows the 子–丑 pair; a chart containing 寅 and 亥 shows the 寅–亥 pair. No further condition is required for detection.

Detection is not transformation. A detected pair means only that the two branches coexist in the chart. It does not prove that either branch changed into the associated element, and it does not establish a result, event or prediction. The associated direction is a traditional label attached to the pair, not evidence that a transformation occurred.

A useful non-fortune-telling analogy is a weather map. Two fronts appearing on the same map can be identified and labelled, but the label alone does not tell you what will happen tomorrow. Likewise, spotting a branch pair is an observation about the chart’s contents, not a forecast.

Read each match as a structural note. It tells you which branches are present together, and it may invite further study of the surrounding chart. It does not, by itself, say whether anything is favourable, difficult or certain.

二 Where to find it in your chart

Where to Inspect the Stem and Branch Rows

Open the Four Pillars result and locate the four columns labelled Year, Month, Day and Hour. Each column holds two rows: the upper row lists the Heavenly Stem characters, and the lower row lists the Earthly Branch characters. Read downward within a column to see one pillar, or read across a row to compare all four positions at once.

Scan the branch row for repeated characters. The same character may appear in more than one pillar, so a branch can occur twice or even three times. Each occurrence is counted separately when the calculator checks for pairs such as the six combinations.

If your birth time is unknown, the Hour column is removed entirely. You will see three pillars instead of four, and no Hour Stem or Hour Branch is invented to fill the gap.

Time rules matter when you verify a chart. Year and Month boundaries follow China time, while Day and Hour boundaries follow true solar time for your birth location. A birth near midnight or a month boundary can therefore shift which pillar a character belongs to.

Use the Bazi Calculator to generate your own stem and branch rows and inspect them directly.

三 How to identify it

How to Identify Six Combinations Step by Step

Start with the four branches of the chart: year, month, day and hour. Write each branch in its original position, because position matters when you describe what you find. Then compare every branch with every other branch, one pair at a time. A Six Combination is detected when both listed characters of a pair are present in the chart. Co-presence is the whole detection rule; nothing else is required to record a match. The method is easier to compare with Earthly Branch Three Combinations: The Four Three-Harmony Frames in Bazi.

Use the lookup table as your only pair list. It contains six entries: 子–丑 with an associated Earth direction, 寅–亥 with Wood, 卯–戌 with Fire, 辰–酉 with Metal, 巳–申 with Water, and 午–未 with Earth, which some schools emphasize in a Fire context. Check each entry against your branch list. If both members appear, note the pair, the two positions, and the associated element direction exactly as listed.

Complete and Partial Membership

Membership can be complete or partial. Complete membership means both characters of a pair are visible among the four branches. Partial membership means only one character of a pair is present, so no combination is detected for that entry. A single 子 without 丑 is not a 子–丑 combination; it is simply a 子 branch. Keep partial cases in your notes only as unmatched branches, never as detected pairs.

Positions and Co-Presence

List the positions of both members, such as year and month, or day and hour. Two pairs can coexist in one chart. In the first example, 亥 in the year and 寅 in the day form 寅–亥, while 丑 in the month and 子 in the hour form 子–丑. Both matches are recorded because all four characters coexist. In the second example, only 寅–亥 is detected, since 丑 and 子 do not both appear.

Direction Versus Transformation

An associated element direction is a traditional label attached to the pair. It is not proof that the chart transformed, and it is not a strength verdict. Detection means co-presence only. Do not add tests, dates or school rules that are not in the lookup table. Record the pair, its positions, and its listed direction, then stop there.

四 When the reading changes

Complete versus incomplete membership

A Six Combination is detected only when both listed branches are present somewhere in the four pillars. If one branch appears and its partner does not, the pair is incomplete and no combination is recorded. To check this, list every branch from year, month, day, and hour, then compare that list against the six pairs: 子–丑, 寅–亥, 卯–戌, 辰–酉, 巳–申, and 午–未. A complete pair means only that both characters coexist in the chart. It does not prove that a transformation occurred, and the associated element direction is a traditional label rather than an outcome. Treat detection as a structural observation, not as a verdict about the chart’s quality or the person’s life. This point connects directly with Earthly Branch Six Clashes: How to Identify and Read Bazi Clashes Carefully.

Repeated members

Sometimes one branch of a pair appears more than once while its partner appears once. For example, a chart might contain two 寅 branches and one 亥 branch. The pair 寅–亥 is still detected because both members are present, but the repetition does not create two separate combinations or strengthen the pair into a transformation. A concrete check is to count occurrences of each branch and note whether any branch belongs to more than one listed pair. Limited significance applies here: repetition changes the raw five-element totals and hidden-stem weights, but those totals are not a strength verdict. The calculator’s hidden-stem weights of 1.0, 0.5, and 0.3 follow list order and should be read as a convention, not as proof of dominance.

Coexistence with another listed relation

A single chart can contain two different six-combination pairs at the same time. For instance, 子–丑 and 寅–亥 may both be detected if all four branches appear across the pillars. Coexistence means only that the listed characters are all present; it does not mean the pairs compete, cancel, or reinforce one another. To check this, mark every detected pair on your branch list. The six fixed pairs are disjoint, so one branch type does not belong to two different Six Combination entries; two simultaneous pairs require four distinct branch types. The associated element directions remain traditional labels. Do not convert coexistence into a claim about luck, compatibility, or a guaranteed result.

Unknown-hour or boundary uncertainty

If the hour of birth is unknown, no Hour Pillar is invented, so any branch that would have appeared in the hour position is absent from detection. This can make a pair look incomplete when it might be complete, or hide a second pair entirely. A concrete check is to compare results with and without the hour branch, and to treat any pair that depends on the hour as uncertain. Boundary uncertainty also matters: year and month use China time, while day and hour use true solar time. A birth near midnight or near a solar-time boundary may shift the day or hour branch. In such cases, state the limitation plainly rather than forcing a detection. The visible Day Master counts in five-element totals but is excluded only from article weighted Ten-God totals.

五 Worked chart examples

These teaching charts were screened by the site’s current calendar engine. They are not people or client stories. The relation matches and numeric tables are generated from frozen lookup rules and engine output; the prose only explains what is shown.

Reading Chart A: Two Six Combinations in Plain Sight

Chart A has four pillars: 癸亥, 乙丑, 甲寅 and 甲子. Its listed matches are 子–丑 → Earth and 寅–亥 → Wood. A Six Combination is detected by co-presence alone: both branches appear somewhere in the four pillars. Detection does not mean the chart has transformed, and the arrow names a traditional associated direction, not a guaranteed outcome.

The first match, 子–丑, uses the hour branch 子 and the month branch 丑. Both are visible in the chart, so the pair is present. The lookup labels this pair’s direction as Earth. Nothing further is required for detection.

The second match, 寅–亥, uses the day branch 寅 and the year branch 亥. Again, both branches are visible, so the pair is present. The lookup labels this pair’s direction as Wood.

These are the only two matches listed for Chart A. The remaining visible branches are 丑 and 子, already used above, and no other listed pair is claimed. The visible stems 癸, 乙, 甲 and 甲 do not create branch combinations; combinations here concern branches only.

The supplied five-element totals are Wood 4.5, Fire 0.5, Earth 1.3, Metal 0.3 and Water 3.5. These are raw totals, not a strength verdict. The visible Day Master 甲 counts in those totals. It is excluded only from the article’s weighted Ten-God totals, where the supplied figures include Friend 2.5, Rob Wealth 1, Eating God 0.5, Indirect Wealth 0.3, Direct Wealth 1, Direct Officer 0.3, Indirect Resource 1 and Direct Resource 2.5.

Read Chart A as a detection exercise: 子 with 丑, and 寅 with 亥. The associated directions are Earth and Wood respectively. Whether either pair transforms is a separate question this chart alone does not settle.

Chart B: One Detected Pair

Chart B has the pillars 癸亥, 乙丑, 甲寅 and 丙寅. Its only listed match is a Six Combination: 寅–亥 → Wood. Detection here means just that both branches, 寅 and 亥, are present. The arrow labels the traditional associated element direction; it does not prove the chart transformed into Wood.

You can trace that pair across the columns. 亥 sits in the year branch, while 寅 appears twice: once in the day branch and once in the hour branch. Because the rule requires only co-presence, the repeated 寅 gives the same 寅–亥 relationship two positional instances, while the lookup still records one relationship type. The month branch 丑 forms no listed pair with any other branch here.

The five-element totals are Wood 4.5, Fire 2, Earth 1.6, Metal 0.3 and Water 2.5. These are raw totals, not a strength verdict. The weighted Ten-God totals are Friend 2.5, Rob Wealth 1, Eating God 2, Hurting Officer 0, Indirect Wealth 0.6, Direct Wealth 1, Seven Killings 0, Direct Officer 0.3, Indirect Resource 1 and Direct Resource 1.5. The visible Day Master counts in the five-element totals but is excluded only from the weighted Ten-God totals.

Chart B Against Chart A

Chart A shares the same year, month and day pillars, but its hour pillar is 甲子 rather than 丙寅. That difference matters for matching. Chart A lists two pairs: 子–丑 → Earth and 寅–亥 → Wood. Chart B lists only 寅–亥 → Wood, because its hour branch is 寅, not 子.

The totals shift accordingly. Chart A has Fire 0.5, Earth 1.3 and Water 3.5; Chart B has Fire 2, Earth 1.6 and Water 2.5. Wood stays 4.5 and Metal stays 0.3 in both. Among the gods, Chart A shows Eating God 0.5, Indirect Wealth 0.3 and Direct Resource 2.5; Chart B shows Eating God 2, Indirect Wealth 0.6 and Direct Resource 1.5.

A repeatable observation follows: compare the branch lists first, then read the totals. A detected pair means co-presence only, and an element direction is a label, not proof of transformation.

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 article covers a family containing several different pairs or frames, so one combined percentage would hide which exact condition was counted.

When a later analysis gives a frequency, read it as an equal-weight combination-space proportion, not a percentage of people or birth records. Define one precise pair or complete frame first, then count that condition without treating its presence as an event forecast.