Ding Fire in All Twelve Months: Climate Favorable Elements from the Qiong Tong Bao Jian
The same Ding Fire Day Master born in deep winter and in high summer needs completely different things. The Qiong Tong Bao Jian, a Qing-era classic on climate adjustment, goes through all twelve months for Ding Fire one by one. This page puts them in a single table, then checks how close they come to the favorable elements our engine works out from the whole chart.
Climate favorable elements for each month
| Month | Climate | Climate favorable elements (first choice in bold, Ten God in brackets) | At least one among our favorable elements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yin month (early spring, ~Feb 4 – Mar 5) | lingering cold | Jia Wood (Direct Resource), Geng Metal (Direct Wealth) | 100% |
| Mao month (mid-spring, ~Mar 6 – Apr 4) | Wood at its peak | Geng Metal (Direct Wealth), Jia Wood (Direct Resource) | 100% |
| Chen month (late spring, ~Apr 5 – May 5) | damp Earth in command | Jia Wood (Direct Resource), Geng Metal (Direct Wealth) | 100% |
| Si month (early summer, ~May 6 – Jun 5) | Fire rising | Jia Wood (Direct Resource), Geng Metal (Direct Wealth) | 100% |
| Wu month (midsummer, ~Jun 6 – Jul 6) | scorching heat | Ren Water (Direct Officer), Geng Metal (Direct Wealth), Gui Water (Seven Killings) | 69.2% |
| Wei month (late summer, ~Jul 7 – Aug 7) | dry Earth in command | Jia Wood (Direct Resource), Ren Water (Direct Officer), Geng Metal (Direct Wealth) | 100% |
| Shen month (early autumn, ~Aug 8 – Sep 7) | Metal emerging | Jia Wood (Direct Resource), Geng Metal (Direct Wealth), Bing Fire (Rob Wealth), Wu Earth (Hurting Officer) | 100% |
| You month (mid-autumn, ~Sep 8 – Oct 7) | Metal at its peak | Jia Wood (Direct Resource), Geng Metal (Direct Wealth), Bing Fire (Rob Wealth), Wu Earth (Hurting Officer) | 100% |
| Xu month (late autumn, ~Oct 8 – Nov 6) | dry Earth in command | Jia Wood (Direct Resource), Geng Metal (Direct Wealth), Wu Earth (Hurting Officer) | 100% |
| Hai month (early winter, ~Nov 7 – Dec 6) | cold setting in | Jia Wood (Direct Resource), Geng Metal (Direct Wealth) | 100% |
| Zi month (midwinter, ~Dec 7 – Jan 5) | bitter cold | Jia Wood (Direct Resource), Geng Metal (Direct Wealth) | 100% |
| Chou month (late winter, ~Jan 6 – Feb 3) | frozen, damp Earth | Jia Wood (Direct Resource), Geng Metal (Direct Wealth) | 100% |
Climate favorable elements follow the commonly circulated table of the Qiong Tong Bao Jian, listed roughly in order of priority. The original text often chooses differently depending on the rest of the chart; the table gathers all those cases into one list. Across the twelve months, the most frequent first choice is Jia Wood (10 months). Month dates are approximate and shift by a day or two each year with the solar terms.
What the original text says
| Month | Original text (Chinese) | In plain words |
|---|---|---|
| Yin month (early spring, ~Feb 4 – Mar 5) | 「正月丁火，甲木當權，乃為母旺，非庚不能劈甲，何以引丁，姑用庚金。」 | Jia Wood rules in early spring; without Geng Metal to split it, Jia cannot kindle Ding Fire. |
| Mao month (mid-spring, ~Mar 6 – Apr 4) | 「二月丁火，濕乙傷丁，先庚後甲」 | Damp Yi Wood harms Ding in mid-spring: Geng Metal first to remove Yi, then Jia Wood to kindle the Fire. |
| Chen month (late spring, ~Apr 5 – May 5) | 「三月丁火，戊土司令，洩弱丁氣，先用甲木引丁制土，次看庚金。」 | Wu Earth drains the Fire in late spring: Jia Wood first to kindle Fire and control Earth, then Geng Metal. |
| Si month (early summer, ~May 6 – Jun 5) | 「四月丁火乘旺，雖取甲引丁，必用庚劈甲。」 | Ding Fire is strong in early summer; Jia Wood still kindles it, and Geng Metal is needed to split the Jia. |
| Wu month (midsummer, ~Jun 6 – Jul 6) | 「或支成火局，干見火出，得庚壬兩透者，科甲定然。」 | Ding Fire is in its own season in midsummer and Jia Wood should not be used freely; when Fire is strong, Ren Water and Geng Metal are used. |
| Wei month (late summer, ~Jul 7 – Aug 7) | 「陰柔退氣，但值三伏生寒，丁弱極矣，專取甲木，壬水次之。」 | Ding Fire retreats and weakens in late summer: Jia Wood alone to feed it, then Ren Water. |
| Shen month (early autumn, ~Aug 8 – Sep 7) | 「退氣柔弱，專用甲木，金雖乘旺司權，無傷丁之理，仍取庚劈甲，為引火之物」 | Autumn Ding Fire is soft and weak: Jia Wood alone, with Geng Metal splitting the Jia to kindle Fire. |
| You month (mid-autumn, ~Sep 8 – Oct 7) | 「退氣柔弱，專用甲木，金雖乘旺司權，無傷丁之理，仍取庚劈甲，為引火之物」 | The original treats the three autumn months together: Jia Wood, with Geng splitting it; Bing Fire can also be borrowed to warm Metal and dry Wood. |
| Xu month (late autumn, ~Oct 8 – Nov 6) | 「退氣柔弱，專用甲木，金雖乘旺司權，無傷丁之理，仍取庚劈甲，為引火之物」 | The original treats the three autumn months together: Jia Wood and Geng Metal; the common table adds Wu Earth for the ninth month. |
| Hai month (early winter, ~Nov 7 – Dec 6) | 「三冬丁火微寒，專用庚甲。甲乃庚之良友。凡用甲木，庚不可少」 | Winter Ding Fire is slightly cold: Geng Metal and Jia Wood only; Jia feeds the Fire and Geng splits the Jia. |
| Zi month (midwinter, ~Dec 7 – Jan 5) | 「三冬丁火微寒，專用庚甲。甲乃庚之良友。凡用甲木，庚不可少」 | The original treats the three winter months together: with Jia Wood present, much Water or Metal is no threat, but Geng Metal cannot be missing. |
| Chou month (late winter, ~Jan 6 – Feb 3) | 「三冬丁火微寒，專用庚甲。甲乃庚之良友。凡用甲木，庚不可少」 | The original treats the three winter months together: Geng Metal and Jia Wood only. |
Quotations follow the edition on Chinese Wikisource and were checked sentence by sentence against a second circulating edition; where the two differ the passage is skipped with an ellipsis, and variant characters are written in their standard forms. Where the book discusses several months together, the same sentence is repeated. The plain-words column is our own summary, not the book's wording; where the table above lists more climate favorable elements than the book's summary for that month, it is flagged there.
The four seasons at a glance
| Season | Months | What the table emphasizes |
|---|---|---|
| Spring | Yin, Mao, Chen | In spring the key is Jia Wood to kindle Ding and Geng Metal to split the Jia; in Mao month Geng comes before Jia. |
| Summer | Si, Wu, Wei | Si month takes Jia and Geng. In Wu month the Fire is at its height, so Ren Water comes first, assisted by Geng and Gui. Wei month takes Jia, Ren and Geng. |
| Autumn | Shen, You, Xu | In autumn Jia and Geng lead, assisted by Bing and Wu in Shen and You months; Xu month takes Jia, Geng and Wu. |
| Winter | Hai, Zi, Chou | Winter is cold: Jia Wood feeds the Fire and Geng Metal splits the Jia. In ten of the twelve months, Ding Fire's first choice is Jia Wood. |
How we counted: our engine cast one chart for every day from 1960 to 2005, with the birth hour drawn at random from a fixed seed, 16,802 charts in all, and compared the Qiong Tong Bao Jian's climate favorable elements for that Day Master and month with the favorable elements our engine worked out.
Find your climate favorable elements
Enter your date of birth to find your Day Master and birth month, see which climate favorable elements the Qiong Tong Bao Jian lists for them, and check each one against the favorable elements our engine works out from your whole chart. Everything is calculated in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Uses your Gregorian birth date. The month follows the solar terms, not the calendar month: Yin month begins at Start of Spring, Mao month at Awakening of Insects, and so on (see how the month pillar works).
A straight word: the Qiong Tong Bao Jian is a good map, but it is not your location
The Qiong Tong Bao Jian lists climate favorable elements by Day Master and birth month, which tells you what people born in that month usually need. Two people born in the same month can still hold very different amounts of Fire and Water. In our own test, the book's first choice matched the top favorable element our engine worked out from the whole chart only 35.0% of the time; at least one of the listed climate favorable elements was among the favorable elements 84.8% of the time. Use it for a sense of direction, and read the whole chart in the end. Everything on this site is for reference and entertainment.
Are you a Ding Fire Day Master?
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Ding Fire climate adjustment FAQ
What is the climate favorable element for Ding Fire born in Yin month?
The common Qiong Tong Bao Jian table lists Jia Wood and Geng Metal, with Jia Wood as the first choice.
What is the climate favorable element for Ding Fire born in Zi month?
The table lists Jia Wood and Geng Metal, with Jia Wood as the first choice.
Is the Ding Fire climate favorable element the same as my favorable element?
Not necessarily. In our engine simulation, the first-choice climate favorable element for Ding Fire matched our top favorable element 63.0% of the time, and at least one of the listed climate favorable elements was among the favorable elements 97.4% of the time. Favorable elements also depend on the strength of the whole chart and how warm or cold it already runs.