The Ten Gods: How a Saju Chart Describes Money, Work and Love
Every character in your chart that is not your Day Master gets a label — Wealth, Authority, Output, Resource, Friend — based on how its element relates to yours. Those labels are the Ten Gods.
The ten relationships
| Ten God | Relationship to your Day Master | What it governs |
|---|---|---|
| Friend 비견 比肩 | Same element, same polarity as you | Independence, peers, siblings, competition for the same resources. |
| Rival 겁재 劫財 | Same element, opposite polarity | Allies who may also take from you; risk-taking, partnerships that split money. |
| Output (Eating God) 식신 食神 | Element you produce, same polarity | Talent, creativity, appetite, children; steady expression and enjoyment. |
| Output (Hurting Officer) 상관 傷官 | Element you produce, opposite polarity | Sharp expression, rebellion, innovation; brilliance that can offend authority. |
| Indirect Wealth 편재 偏財 | Element you control, same polarity | Windfalls, business, trading, generosity; money that moves fast. |
| Direct Wealth 정재 正財 | Element you control, opposite polarity | Salary, savings, thrift; money earned by steady work. |
| Indirect Authority 편관 偏官 | Element that controls you, same polarity | Pressure, discipline, danger, military/competitive careers; forged under stress. |
| Direct Authority 정관 正官 | Element that controls you, opposite polarity | Rules, status, reputation, stable position; the conventional path. |
| Indirect Resource 편인 偏印 | Element that produces you, same polarity | Unconventional learning, intuition, specialised skill, solitude. |
| Direct Resource 정인 正印 | Element that produces you, opposite polarity | Education, mentors, documents, protection; being nurtured. |
“Same polarity” and “opposite polarity” refer to yin/yang. The opposite-polarity version is usually the gentler, more conventional form (Direct Wealth, Direct Authority); the same-polarity version is the more intense one (Indirect Wealth, Indirect Authority).
Reading quantity: too much, too little, none
Readers count how many of each god appear across the eight characters (and in the hidden stems inside each branch). The patterns are informative:
- Abundant Output, no Authority — creative, outspoken, allergic to hierarchy; thrives self-employed, chafes in rigid organisations.
- Abundant Authority, weak Day Master — pressure from outside exceeds inner resources; the classical advice is to build Resource (learning, mentors) before chasing status.
- No Wealth star at all — does not mean poverty. It often means money is not the motivating force, or that wealth arrives through other gods (Output turning into Wealth in a later luck cycle).
- Friend/Rival dominant — strong will and many peers, but money tends to be shared, lent or lost to partners; the chart warns about joint finances and guarantees.
How the Ten Gods are used in practice
Career
Authority stars point to organisations, licences, civil service and management; Output stars to craft, art, teaching, speaking and anything where the self is the product; Wealth stars to sales, trade and investment; Resource stars to research, medicine and advisory work. Most charts mix several, and the luck cycle decides which one is “on” in a given decade.
Money
Direct Wealth describes income that comes from effort and routine; Indirect Wealth describes income that comes from opportunity, risk and scale. A reading pairs this with the yearly luck: a year that brings Wealth to a strong Day Master is a year to act; the same Wealth to a weak Day Master is a year when money causes stress.
Relationships
Classically, Wealth stars represent the partner in a man's chart and Authority stars represent the partner in a woman's chart. Modern readers apply this more flexibly, but the logic — “the partner is the element I control / the element that holds me” — still frames compatibility readings.
A worked example
Take a 丙 (Yang Fire) Day Master born in a 辰 (Earth) month, with 戊 (Yang Earth) in the hour stem and 壬 (Yang Water) in the year stem. Earth is what Fire produces, so both Earth characters are Output — a chart that wants to express, teach and build. Water controls Fire, so 壬 is Indirect Authority: outside pressure and demanding environments. With only one Fire and three Earth, the Day Master is drained; the useful element is Wood (Resource), which feeds Fire and controls Earth. In plain terms: learn before you sell, and pick mentors and partners who supply what you lack.
See your own Four Pillars chart
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Get my free reading →Frequently asked questions
Are the Ten Gods literally gods?
No. “God” (神) here is a classical term for a functional category, like “factor” or “agent”. Nothing is worshipped.
Is it bad to be missing a Ten God?
Not by itself. A missing god is a theme the chart does not emphasise; it can be supplied later by a luck cycle or by the people around you. Readers look at the whole balance.
Which Ten God means wealth?
Direct Wealth (정재) and Indirect Wealth (편재) — the element your Day Master controls. Whether that wealth is realised depends on whether the Day Master is strong enough to “carry” it.
Do BaZi and Saju use the same Ten Gods?
Yes — the same ten categories under the same Chinese characters. English translations vary between authors (e.g. “Eating God” vs “Output”), which is why we show the hanja.