The day pillar for Saturday, 24 April 2027
| Day pillar | 癸酉 (gui you) |
|---|---|
| Heavenly stem | 癸 (gui) |
| Earthly branch | 酉 (you) |
| Day element | Water 水 (shui) |
| Polarity | Yin |
| Month pillar | 甲辰 (jia chen), governed by 清明 (qingming) |
Today's day pillar is 癸酉 (gui you), a yin Water day in the sixty-day cycle. The month pillar is 甲辰 (jia chen), governed by the term 清明 (qingming).
癸 (gui), the tenth heavenly stem
癸 is yin Water: dew, mist and rain, the smallest water there is and the one that gets in everywhere.
癸 closes the ten heavenly stems. It is Water in its yin form, and the classical images are all fine and dispersed: morning dew, drizzle, groundwater. It reaches by seeping rather than by carrying, which the tradition contrasts with 壬 (ren) and its rivers.
癸 is the last stem, so 癸亥 (gui hai) is day sixty of the sexagenary cycle, the pillar that hands the count back to 甲子 (jia zi). Seeing 癸亥 on a daily page means tomorrow restarts the whole sixty.
癸 is the main hidden stem of 子 (zi) and it hides in 丑 (chou) and 辰 (chen) as well. When the page reads Water and yin, this is the stem it is naming.