Gui Water in All Twelve Months: Climate Favorable Elements from the Qiong Tong Bao Jian
The same Gui Water 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 Gui Water 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 | Xin Metal (Indirect Resource), Bing Fire (Direct Wealth) | 100% |
| Mao month (mid-spring, ~Mar 6 – Apr 4) | Wood at its peak | Geng Metal (Direct Resource), Xin Metal (Indirect Resource) | 85.2% |
| Chen month (late spring, ~Apr 5 – May 5) | damp Earth in command | Bing Fire (Direct Wealth), Xin Metal (Indirect Resource), Jia Wood (Hurting Officer) | 100% |
| Si month (early summer, ~May 6 – Jun 5) | Fire rising | Xin Metal (Indirect Resource) | 77.8% |
| Wu month (midsummer, ~Jun 6 – Jul 6) | scorching heat | Geng Metal (Direct Resource), Xin Metal (Indirect Resource), Ren Water (Rob Wealth), Gui Water (Friend) | 91.7% |
| Wei month (late summer, ~Jul 7 – Aug 7) | dry Earth in command | Geng Metal (Direct Resource), Xin Metal (Indirect Resource), Ren Water (Rob Wealth), Gui Water (Friend) | 96.5% |
| Shen month (early autumn, ~Aug 8 – Sep 7) | Metal emerging | Ding Fire (Indirect Wealth) | 64.8% |
| You month (mid-autumn, ~Sep 8 – Oct 7) | Metal at its peak | Xin Metal (Indirect Resource), Bing Fire (Direct Wealth) | 100% |
| Xu month (late autumn, ~Oct 8 – Nov 6) | dry Earth in command | Xin Metal (Indirect Resource), Jia Wood (Hurting Officer), Ren Water (Rob Wealth), Gui Water (Friend) | 100% |
| Hai month (early winter, ~Nov 7 – Dec 6) | cold setting in | Geng Metal (Direct Resource), Xin Metal (Indirect Resource), Wu Earth (Direct Officer), Ding Fire (Indirect Wealth) | 100% |
| Zi month (midwinter, ~Dec 7 – Jan 5) | bitter cold | Bing Fire (Direct Wealth), Xin Metal (Indirect Resource) | 100% |
| Chou month (late winter, ~Jan 6 – Feb 3) | frozen, damp Earth | Bing Fire (Direct Wealth), Ding Fire (Indirect Wealth) | 53.7% |
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 Xin Metal (4 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) | 「雨露之精，其性至柔，先用辛金，生癸水之源，次用丙火照暖」 | Gui Water is softest in early spring: Xin Metal first to produce it, then Bing Fire for warmth. |
| Mao month (mid-spring, ~Mar 6 – Apr 4) | 「不剛不柔，乙木司令，洩弱元神……庚辛俱透，無丁出干者，貴由科甲。」 | Yi Wood drains the Water in mid-spring: Geng Metal alone to support it, then Xin Metal. |
| Chen month (late spring, ~Apr 5 – May 5) | 「清明後、火氣未熾，專用丙火，為陰陽合諧。穀雨後，雖用丙火，尚宜辛甲佐之。」 | After Qingming in late spring Bing Fire alone; after Grain Rain Bing Fire still, with Xin Metal and Jia Wood in support. |
| Si month (early summer, ~May 6 – Jun 5) | 「四月癸水，喜辛金為用，無辛用庚。」 | Early summer likes Xin Metal to produce Water; Geng Metal is used only when Xin is absent. |
| Wu month (midsummer, ~Jun 6 – Jul 6) | 「五月癸水，至弱無根，必須庚辛為生身之本」 | Gui Water is weakest in midsummer: Geng and Xin Metal produce it, with Ren and Gui peers helping. |
| Wei month (late summer, ~Jul 7 – Aug 7) | 「故癸水不能從殺，所以專用庚辛。」 | Geng and Xin Metal only in late summer; Metal is weak in the first half of the month, so peers are also needed. |
| Shen month (early autumn, ~Aug 8 – Sep 7) | 「但庚司令剛銳極矣，必取丁火為用。」 | Geng Metal rules and is too hard in early autumn: Ding Fire is taken to control it. |
| You month (mid-autumn, ~Sep 8 – Oct 7) | 「八月癸水，辛金虛靈，非頑金可比，正金白水清，故取辛金為用，丙火佐之。」 | Clear Water and bright Metal in mid-autumn: Xin Metal is used with Bing Fire in support, warm Water and warm Metal. |
| Xu month (late autumn, ~Oct 8 – Nov 6) | 「九月癸水，失令無根，戊土司權，剋制太過，專用辛金發水之源，要比肩滋甲制戊方妙。」 | Wu Earth over-controls the Water in late autumn: Xin Metal alone as the source, with Gui peers feeding Jia Wood to control Wu. |
| Hai month (early winter, ~Nov 7 – Dec 6) | 「十月癸水，旺中有弱，何也？因亥搖木，洩散元神，宜用庚辛為妙。」 | Water is strong yet partly weak in early winter (the Wood inside Hai drains it): Geng and Xin Metal suit; the common table also lists Wu and Ding. |
| Zi month (midwinter, ~Dec 7 – Jan 5) | 「專用丙火解凍，庶不致成冰，又要辛金滋扶」 | Midwinter is frozen: Bing Fire alone to thaw, and Xin Metal to support. |
| Chou month (late winter, ~Jan 6 – Feb 3) | 「十二月癸水，寒極成冰，萬物不能舒泰，宜丙火解凍。」 | Deep winter freezes solid: Bing Fire to thaw; the common table also lists Ding Fire. |
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 | Yin month takes Xin and Bing; Mao month takes Geng and Xin; Chen month takes Bing, Xin and Jia. |
| Summer | Si, Wu, Wei | Si month takes Xin Metal alone, as the source of the Water. In Wu and Wei months the Water runs dry, so Geng, Xin, Ren and Gui are taken to produce and support it. |
| Autumn | Shen, You, Xu | Shen month takes Ding; You month takes Xin and Bing; Xu month takes Xin, Jia, Ren and Gui. |
| Winter | Hai, Zi, Chou | Hai month takes Geng, Xin, Wu and Ding. Zi and Chou months are cold and frozen, so Bing Fire comes first, with Xin and Ding assisting. |
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 Gui Water Day Master?
Enter your birth date to see which climate favorable elements the Qiong Tong Bao Jian gives for your birth month, and whether they are among your favorable elements.
Gui Water climate adjustment FAQ
What is the climate favorable element for Gui Water born in Yin month?
The common Qiong Tong Bao Jian table lists Xin Metal and Bing Fire, with Xin Metal as the first choice.
What is the climate favorable element for Gui Water born in Zi month?
The table lists Bing Fire and Xin Metal, with Bing Fire as the first choice.
Is the Gui Water climate favorable element the same as my favorable element?
Not necessarily. In our engine simulation, the first-choice climate favorable element for Gui Water matched our top favorable element 50.4% of the time, and at least one of the listed climate favorable elements was among the favorable elements 89.1% of the time. Favorable elements also depend on the strength of the whole chart and how warm or cold it already runs.