The Indirect Resource Structure in BaZi: The Owl, most afraid of stealing the food, checked by Wealth
Indirect Resource is the Ten God that produces the Day Master, with the same polarity; the classics also call it the Owl God (梟 xiao). With an Indirect Resource Structure, the point is whether helping gods on the stems support it, and whether anything there breaks it.
What is the Indirect Resource Structure?
Indirect Resource is the Ten God that produces the Day Master, with the same polarity; the classics also call it the Owl God (梟 xiao). It stands for unconventional learning, intuition, rare expertise and a solitary streak. The classics count the Owl among the harsh stars, used by restraining it. Its main problem is that it attacks the Eating God ("the Owl steals the food"), so when the Eating God is present, Wealth is needed to hold the Owl down; a strong Day Master also often uses Indirect Wealth to check it.
How it is taken: when the Indirect Resource hidden in the month branch shows on the year, month or hour stem, or when none of the hidden stems shows and the Main Qi is the Indirect Resource, the chart is an Indirect Resource Structure. It is a structure used by restraining it (ni yong, 逆用).
How we counted: using this site's structure rules, our engine cast one chart for every day from 1960 to 2005, with the birth hour drawn by a fixed-seed random sample, 16,802 charts in all. This describes how chart structures are distributed; it says nothing about how far anyone will go.
How it is made
| Making factor | What it means |
|---|---|
| Officer produces Resource | The Officer or Killings show on a stem. They feed the Owl and the Owl feeds the Day Master, so pressure becomes expertise. |
| Strong Day Master uses Wealth | The Day Master is strong and Wealth shows on a stem. Wealth keeps the Indirect Resource from going too far (the classics: "Indirect Wealth checks the Owl"). |
How it is broken
| Breaking factor | What it means |
|---|---|
| The Owl steals the food | The Indirect Resource and Eating God both show, with no Wealth to resolve it. The Owl attacks the Eating God and cuts off ease and expression. |
| Wealth breaks Resource | The Day Master is not strong and Wealth shows on a stem. Resource is attacked and the backing wobbles. |
| Month branch clashed | Another branch clashes the month branch, shaking the structure at its root. |
We look at all of these on the stems only (Zi Ping puts weight on what shows), and we list them without passing a verdict. The factors that turn up most often on the stems of an Indirect Resource Structure in our sample:
| Factor | Share of Indirect Resource Structures |
|---|---|
| Officer produces Resource | 43.4% |
| Wealth breaks Resource | 29.7% |
| Strong Day Master uses Wealth | 16.6% |
| The Owl steals the food | 15.8% |
The Indirect Resource Structure with a strong or weak Day Master
- Strong: A strong Indirect Resource Structure should guard against becoming too isolated or too fixated; Indirect Wealth checking the Owl is the usual answer.
- Weak: With a weak Day Master, the Indirect Resource feeds the self and becomes something to lean on in expertise and intuition, but stealing the food is still worth watching.
Structure and strength are read separately; for how strength is judged, see strong or weak Day Master. For the personality of the Indirect Resource itself, see Indirect Resource.
Ding Fire with the Officer producing Resource
Born July 20, 1975, Shen hour (3–5 p.m.)
- Taking the structure: Wei month hides Ji, Ding and Yi. Ji Earth does not show and the Middle Qi Ding Fire is Friend (skipped); the Residual Qi Yi Wood sits on the year stem. To Ding Fire, Yi is Indirect Resource, so this is an Indirect Resource Structure.
- Making factors: Gui Water on the month stem is Seven Killings. The Killings produce the Indirect Resource: Officer produces Resource.
- Breaking factors: no Wealth and no Eating God on the stems, so Wealth does not break Resource and the Owl does not steal the food.
- Strength: Ding Fire is close to balanced and favors Wood and Fire. The Yi Wood Indirect Resource is a favorable element.
Find your chart structure: from the month branch, with every making and breaking factor
Enter your date of birth to see how your structure is taken under the Zi Ping Zhen Quan rule of reading the month branch, and which factors on the stems help make it or break it. Everything is calculated in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Uses your Gregorian birth date, with the day changing at 11 p.m. Without a birth hour, the hour stem cannot take part in finding the structure or judging its factors.
Other structures
A straight word: a structure is a chart's theme, not a label of rank
The classics often equate a structure that "holds" with wealth and rank, and a "broken" one with poverty and low standing. A reading closer to today is this: the structure tells you what a chart is built around, what holds it up, and where it is most easily thrown off. A structure that holds does not promise an easy life, and a broken one is not failure. Plenty of broken charts grow their real strengths in the work of mending the break. Everything on this site is for reference and entertainment.
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Indirect Resource Structure FAQ
Why is the Indirect Resource Structure called the Owl?
The classics call Indirect Resource the Owl (xiao) because it attacks the Eating God ("the Owl steals the food"). It is counted among the harsh stars and used by restraining it: when the Eating God is present, Wealth is needed to hold it down.
What suits an Indirect Resource Structure?
Indirect Resource stands for unconventional learning and rare expertise, and it often shows up in fields that reward deep study: research, technical work, metaphysics and the arts.