The sixty day pillars
Ten stems and twelve branches pair off in order, and the cycle closes after exactly sixty — the sexagenary cycle that BaZi, the Chinese Four Pillars of Destiny, runs on. The pillar of the day you were born is the one that stands for you. Every two pillars share one nayin image.
Gold in the Sea · 海中金
Metal still on the seabed: valuable, but not yet brought up into the light.
Fire in the Furnace · 炉中火
Fire inside a forge — contained on purpose, which is exactly why it burns hot enough to work with.
Timber of the Great Forest · 大林木
Not one tree but a forest: slow to mature, and worth the wait.
Roadside Earth · 路旁土
The ground beside a road: everyone walks on it, few notice it, and the road needs it.
Metal of the Blade · 剑锋金
Metal hammered to an edge — decisive, and sharp enough to cut the hand that holds it.
Fire on the Mountaintop · 山头火
A fire on a summit: it sees far and is seen from far, reaching past its actual size.
Water in the Ravine · 涧下水
A stream in a gorge — clear, quick, and shaped by the narrow way it has to take.
Earth of the City Wall · 城头土
Earth packed into a rampart: a boundary, and the reason what's inside stays safe.
Refined White Metal · 白蜡金
Soft, refined metal — clean and workable, not made for bearing weight.
Willow Wood · 杨柳木
Willow bends with the wind and straightens after it — yielding is how it survives.
Water of the Spring · 泉中水
A spring: not a lot of water, but it never stops, and it comes up clean.
Earth on the Rooftop · 屋上土
Earth laid on a roof — high up, not heavy, and it shelters whoever is underneath.
Fire of the Thunderbolt · 霹雳火
Lightning: enormous, instantaneous, and gone — force without duration.
Pine and Cypress · 松柏木
Pine and cypress keep their needles through winter; the cold is what reveals them.
The Long River · 长流水
A river that runs a long way: never in a hurry, never stopping — distance by persistence.
Gold in the Sand · 沙中金
Gold mixed into sand — real, but it has to be panned out of the ordinary first.
Fire at the Foot of the Hill · 山下火
A fire down where people live: steady, domestic, warming a room rather than signalling a valley.
Trees on Level Ground · 平地木
A tree on open ground — nothing sheltering it, so everything depends on its own roots.
Earth of the Wall · 壁上土
The plaster on a wall: a thin layer that nonetheless decides what is inside and what is out.
Gold Leaf · 金箔金
Gold beaten to a leaf — beautiful, and far too thin to hold anything up.
Fire of the Shaded Lamp · 覆灯火
A lamp under a shade: not dazzling, and it lights the small circle where the work actually is.
Water of the Milky Way · 天河水
The river of stars — vast, distant, and indifferent to anyone watching it.
Earth of the Post Road · 大驿土
The earth of a highway between stations: it exists to carry people somewhere else.
Metal of the Ornament · 钗钏金
Metal worked into a hairpin or bracelet: fine, deliberate, and made to be seen.
Mulberry Wood · 桑柘木
Mulberry feeds silkworms — the tree draws no attention, and nothing else does its job.
Water of the Wide Stream · 大溪水
A broad stream running loud and fast — you can hear where it has decided to go.
Earth of the Sands · 沙中土
Sand: it will not hold a shape, and it covers more ground than anything that does.
Fire of the Sky · 天上火
The fire of sun and moon: permanent, overhead, and competing with no one.
Pomegranate Wood · 石榴木
Pomegranate: abundant flower and fruit, arriving later in the season than everything around it.
Water of the Great Sea · 大海水
The open sea — unmeasurable depth, and room for everything that reaches it.
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