The Twelve Earthly Branches in BaZi

If the Ten Heavenly Stems are the "heaven" of your BaZi chart, then the Twelve Earthly Branches (地支) are its "earth": the rhythm of the seasons, the hours of the day and the familiar animals of the Chinese zodiac. Let us work out what they mean, what they conceal within and how to find your own.

What are the Earthly Branches?

The Earthly Branches, or 地支 (dìzhī), are a set of twelve signs into which the Chinese tradition divides time and space. You already know them by sight: they are the same twelve animals of the zodiac — Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit and so on.

In a BaZi chart each of the four "pillars" has two tiers: on top sits a Heavenly Stem (天干), and below it an Earthly Branch (地支). The stems are the clear, open energy of heaven; the branches are its roots in the earth: slower, more complex, "mixed".

Each branch at once stands for an animal, a Wu Xing element, a season and a month, two hours of the day and a direction of the compass. In essence, it is a way of slicing the year and the day into twelve equal portions. And unlike the "pure" stems, inside each branch one to three hidden stems are concealed — we will return to them.

The legend of the Great Race

Why exactly these twelve animals, and why does the tiny Rat come first? The best-known answer is a folk legend (this is a fairy tale, not a historical fact) that is told to children in China.

Long ago the Jade Emperor announced a race: to the first twelve animals to cross the great river he would grant a year each and a place in the calendar. The Rat — tiny but cunning — talked her way into riding on the back of the hardworking Ox. Right at the bank she leaped forward and finished first. The Ox came second.

After that everything was decided by luck and character: the Tiger (3) was mighty, but the current slowed him down; the Rabbit (4) hopped across stones and a log; the Dragon (5) could have flown in first, but stopped to send rain to the villages; the Snake (6) wound around the Horse's leg and frightened him, so the Horse came seventh; the Goat, the Monkey and the Rooster (8–10) crossed together on a shared raft; the Dog (11) — a fine swimmer — but he splashed about in the water for too long; and the Pig (12) ate along the way and dozed off.

There is no Cat among the twelve. As the story goes, the Rat was his friend and promised to wake him for the race, but did not (and in other versions even pushed him into the water). The Cat was late — and ever since, cats hunt mice. That is why there are twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac, not thirteen.

Other versions of the legend

The race with the ride on the Ox is the most widespread, but not the only telling. Folk versions differ from region to region, and in almost all of them the Rat wins not by strength but by wit and by the ability to make an impression:

• The cosmogonic myth. Long ago the universe was solid darkness, like a great egg. It was the Rat who gnawed a crack in it and let light and air inside, helping to separate heaven and earth — for this feat she was honored as the first.
• "A great shadow means a great mouse." In the tellings where the animals were judged by size and appearance, the small Rat resorted to a trick to seem larger than she really was. In one oral variant she even used a candle's flame, casting an enormous shadow on the wall — and so amazed everyone, taking first place.

Why the Rat both opens and closes the cycle

The Rat's victory is not only about cleverness. In the symbolism of the branches she stands exactly where she belongs.

• She opens it. The Rat's branch 子 is the first on the list; the circle begins with it.
• She gives birth to the day. The "hour of the Rat" is 23:00–01:00, that is, midnight: the deepest point of yin, from which a new yang and a new day are born. Symbolically it is the moment when everything starts over.
• She sits on the seam. That same hour begins still "yesterday" (at 23:00) and ends already "today" (at 01:00). So the hour of the Rat at once closes the old day and opens the new — it is the seam that holds the wheel together.
• She closes it in order to open it again. And since the cycle is a circle, after the last branch (the Pig) the count returns to the Rat. By closing the circle, she thereby also begins it.

The twelve branches at a glance

Here is the whole dozen with their key properties. The months are given approximately: in BaZi a season begins not on the first of the month but at a particular solar term.

A few traits of each animal

The wheel of the day and the directions of the compass

It is convenient to picture the twelve branches as a clock face: they spread the day evenly two hours at a time and at the same time point to the four directions of the compass. The Rat (子) is north and the midnight hour, the Horse (午) is south and noon, the Rabbit (卯) is east and dawn, the Rooster (酉) is west and evening.

The branches run clockwise from the Rat (north) to the Pig. The color of each circle is the branch's element.

Hidden stems (藏干)

Here is the main difference between branches and stems: a branch is never "pure". Inside each one live from one to three hidden Heavenly Stems (藏干, cánggān) — like rooms inside a house.

The first, main stem sets the branch's principal element. The rest are additional shades, often the "remnants" of the previous season that have not yet dispersed. It is precisely the hidden stems that give reading a chart its depth: two people with the same animal of the year can have completely different "fillings" — and therefore different talents.

How the branches interact

The branches do not live alone — they attract, unite into teams or clash. This is neither "good" nor "bad", but rather the directions in which the chart's energy flows. For a beginner it is enough to remember two main interactions: alliances and clashes.

Alliances: six pairs (六合)

Two branches are drawn to one another and together "give birth" to a new element:

* The Horse–Goat pair is called the alliance of sun and moon; its transformation is interpreted variously (often as Fire or Earth).

Triangle teams: three harmonies (三合)

Three branches spaced evenly around the circle form a firm "team" of a single element:

• 申 + 子 + 辰 (Monkey · Rat · Dragon) → Water
• 寅 + 午 + 戌 (Tiger · Horse · Dog) → Fire
• 巳 + 酉 + 丑 (Snake · Rooster · Ox) → Metal
• 亥 + 卯 + 未 (Pig · Rabbit · Goat) → Wood

There are also seasonal trios (三會) — three neighboring branches of one season that together give the strongest element: spring 寅卯辰 → Wood, summer 巳午未 → Fire, autumn 申酉戌 → Metal, winter 亥子丑 → Water.

Clashes: six oppositions (六沖)

Branches opposite one another on the wheel (180° apart) clash. A clash brings movement, change and tension — this is not "bad", but energy that must be consciously directed:

There are also subtler kinds of friction — harms (害) and punishments (刑) — but at the start you need not worry about them: first learn to see the alliances and the clashes.

How to find your branches

A full BaZi chart is four pillars: the year, month, day and hour of birth. Each pillar has its own Earthly Branch, so you have four personal branches (sometimes with repeats). Here is what each position means:

An important nuance: the month and hour branches depend on the solar terms and the true local time of birth, not simply on the calendar date. That is why a reliable chart is best built with a BaZi calculator — the year of birth alone is not enough for this.

The Earthly Branches are an ancient symbolic language about the rhythms of time, not a science and not a prophecy. They do not "decide" anything for you; they only give you words for self-reflection: to notice your own seasons, your strong hours and your natural alliances. The most useful question is not "what will happen to me?" but "where does my energy flow freely, and where should I be more attentive?". Find your four branches — and see which animals and elements make up your inner weather.