Key Interactions: A BaZi and Saju Reference Chart
Look up the fixed BaZi and Saju pairs for Six Harmonies, Six Clashes, Punishment, Breaking, Harm, Three Harmonies, and Directional Combinations.
Short answer: Start by matching the exact characters. Heavenly Stems (天干) use five fixed combination pairs. Earthly Branches (地支) use fixed pair and group inventories. Finding a match confirms a technical relationship, not a good event, a bad event, or a completed elemental transformation.
Think of this page as the lookup desk. For the reading principles behind the tables, see Combinations, Clashes, and Movement. This page tells you which pattern is present. The other helps you ask what it is doing. Tiny difference, fewer interpretive pileups.
Interaction types at a glance
| Layer | Qiora English | What to match |
|---|---|---|
| Heavenly Stems | natural wording for five Stem combinations (天干合) | one of five fixed Stem pairs |
| Earthly Branches | Six Harmonies (六合) | one of six fixed Branch pairs |
| Earthly Branches | Six Clashes (六沖) | one of six opposing Branch pairs |
| Earthly Branches | Three Harmonies (三合) | all three members of an elemental set |
| Earthly Branches | Directional Combinations (方合) | all three members of a seasonal set |
| Earthly Branches | Punishment (刑) | a fixed pair or group |
| repeated Branch | Self-Punishment (自刑) | two or more copies of Dragon, Horse, Rooster, or Pig |
| Earthly Branches | Breaking (破) | one of six fixed Branch pairs |
| Earthly Branches | Harm (害) | one of six fixed Branch pairs |
Names such as Punishment and Harm are technical labels. They are not spoilers for your next episode.
The five Heavenly Stem combinations
Qiora describes a Stem combination naturally. It does not give the pair a formal English title.
| Stem pair | Hanja | Potential transformed element |
|---|---|---|
| Gap Wood + Gi Earth | 甲己合 | Earth |
| Eul Wood + Gyeong Metal | 乙庚合 | Metal |
| Byeong Fire + Sin Metal | 丙辛合 | Water |
| Jeong Fire + Im Water | 丁壬合 | Wood |
| Mu Earth + Gye Water | 戊癸合 | Fire |
Safe wording: "Jeong Fire combines with Im Water (丁壬合), with Wood as the potential transformed element."
Finding the pair is a deterministic lookup. Complete transformation is a separate, school-dependent judgment. A reviewed method may consider season and climate, support or roots for the result element, the pair's positions and proximity, and competing clashes, controls, or combinations. Qiora should confirm transformation only when the supplied engine or reviewed field explicitly gives both the conditions and the result.
Until then, keep both original Stems in the chart and describe the result element as potential. A combination may bind or redirect the two Stems without replacing them.
Six Harmonies
The Six Harmonies are six fixed Branch pairs.
| Pair | Hanja | Traditional result reference |
|---|---|---|
| Rat + Ox | 子丑合 | Earth |
| Tiger + Pig | 寅亥合 | Wood |
| Rabbit + Dog | 卯戌合 | Fire |
| Dragon + Rooster | 辰酉合 | Metal |
| Snake + Monkey | 巳申合 | Water |
| Horse + Goat | 午未合 | Fire-Earth (火土) in Qiora's audit; no single transformed element is confirmed here |
"Harmony" can mean connection, attraction, binding, or redirected use. The name sounds pleasant; the mechanism is neutral. A useful character may become occupied, while a difficult one may be contained.
Qiora keeps the public pair label as Horse-Goat combination (午未合) without appending one transformed element. The backend stores Earth as its primary result and notes Fire as an alternative, while the audit records Fire-Earth. Treat both as method context, not as proof that this pair has transformed.
Six Clashes
The Six Clashes pair Branches facing one another across the twelve-Branch cycle.
| Pair | Hanja |
|---|---|
| Rat + Horse | 子午沖 |
| Ox + Goat | 丑未沖 |
| Tiger + Monkey | 寅申沖 |
| Rabbit + Rooster | 卯酉沖 |
| Dragon + Dog | 辰戌沖 |
| Snake + Pig | 巳亥沖 |
A Clash can unsettle, separate, activate, or move what was stuck. It does not independently predict a breakup, accident, dismissal, illness, or any other specific event.
Three Harmonies and partial formations
The Three Harmonies join a growth Branch, a peak Branch, and a storage Branch around one elemental cycle.
| Complete set | Hanja | Potential result |
|---|---|---|
| Monkey + Rat + Dragon | 申子辰 | Water |
| Pig + Rabbit + Goat | 亥卯未 | Wood |
| Tiger + Horse + Dog | 寅午戌 | Fire |
| Snake + Rooster + Ox | 巳酉丑 | Metal |
Qiora recognizes any two members of a Three Harmony set as a partial structure. It classifies growth-plus-peak as a Birth-Peak Half Harmony (生旺半合), peak-plus-storage as a Peak-Storage Half Harmony (旺庫半合), and growth-plus-storage as an Arching Combination (拱合). These are not equal to the complete three-Branch set. Qiora's constants rank the first as the strongest partial type, the second as intermediate, and the third as weaker, while the actual force still depends on the chart and school.
Directional Combinations
Directional Combinations gather the three Branches of a season.
| Complete set | Hanja | Season and potential result |
|---|---|---|
| Tiger + Rabbit + Dragon | 寅卯辰 | spring, Wood |
| Snake + Horse + Goat | 巳午未 | summer, Fire |
| Monkey + Rooster + Dog | 申酉戌 | autumn, Metal |
| Pig + Rat + Ox | 亥子丑 | winter, Water |
All three Branches are required for a complete Directional Combination. Qiora's engine can identify any two distinct members of the same seasonal set as a partial directional pattern, including the first and third members. A two-Branch result must remain labeled partial; it is not the complete three-Branch structure, and schools may weight the different pairs differently.
Punishment and Self-Punishment
Qiora uses Punishment for three fixed patterns and Self-Punishment for four repeated-Branch patterns.
| Type | Branches | Hanja |
|---|---|---|
| three-member Punishment group | Tiger + Snake + Monkey | 寅巳申 |
| three-member Punishment group | Ox + Dog + Goat | 丑戌未 |
| paired Punishment | Rat + Rabbit | 子卯 |
| Self-Punishment | Dragon + Dragon | 辰辰 |
| Self-Punishment | Horse + Horse | 午午 |
| Self-Punishment | Rooster + Rooster | 酉酉 |
| Self-Punishment | Pig + Pig | 亥亥 |
Qiora can detect two distinct members of either three-member group as a partial Punishment. That is not identical to the complete three-Branch pattern. Self-Punishment requires repetition; one Horse is not secretly arguing with itself.
Breaking
Breaking marks six fixed pairs associated with loosening or disruption.
| Pair | Hanja |
|---|---|
| Rat + Rooster | 子酉破 |
| Ox + Dragon | 丑辰破 |
| Tiger + Pig | 寅亥破 |
| Rabbit + Horse | 卯午破 |
| Snake + Monkey | 巳申破 |
| Goat + Dog | 未戌破 |
Some exact pairs belong to more than one Qiora relation inventory. Tiger-Pig is both a Six Harmony and Breaking pair. Snake-Monkey is a Six Harmony and Breaking pair and is also a partial member-pair of the Tiger-Snake-Monkey Punishment. Tiger-Snake is Harm plus partial Punishment; Tiger-Monkey is Clash plus partial Punishment. Ox-Goat is Clash plus partial Punishment, while Goat-Dog is Breaking plus partial Punishment. These are concurrent technical labels in Qiora's rule set, not typos and not an instruction to cancel one label with another.
Harm
Harm marks six fixed pairs. Harm is commonly described as indirect obstruction, while Clash is an opposing pair; neither label supplies a universal severity score.
| Pair | Hanja |
|---|---|
| Rat + Goat | 子未害 |
| Ox + Horse | 丑午害 |
| Tiger + Snake | 寅巳害 |
| Rabbit + Dragon | 卯辰害 |
| Monkey + Pig | 申亥害 |
| Rooster + Dog | 酉戌害 |
The label identifies a relationship, not its life department. A Rat-Goat Harm does not prove a family conflict, and a Rooster-Dog Harm does not prove jealousy. Position and the rest of the chart still have work to do.
When several labels overlap
Keep every confirmed label, but keep complete and partial status visible. Do not merge several labels into one automatic verdict. Compare the characters, pillar positions, season, roots, relative force, and competing relationships before interpreting the overlap.
- Separate Stems from Branches.
- Record the pillar positions.
- Mark whether a group is complete or partial.
- Distinguish a present combination from a confirmed transformation.
- Check season, roots, support, and competing relationships.
- Mark whether the pattern is natal or completed by a Luck Pillar (大運), Annual Luck Pillar (歲運), Monthly Luck Pillar (月運), or Daily Luck Pillar (日辰). Timing characters do not become permanent additions to the natal chart.
No elimination tournament needed. One pair may combine and break; one Branch may harmonize with one neighbor and clash with another.
Find your interactions in Qiora
The free chart gives you the visible characters to scan, but it does not provide a detected-interactions list. The copied Basic prompt also omits interactions. Premium supplies detected Stem and Branch interactions and advanced whole-chart data. Even there, a listed combination is not by itself a confirmed transformation.
- Copy only the confirmed natal Stems and Branches in Year-Month-Day-Hour order. If Hour is unknown, leave it out of the scan.
- Compare every confirmed Stem pair with the five Stem combinations.
- Compare every confirmed Branch pair with Six Harmonies, Six Clashes, Punishment, Breaking, and Harm. Separately count repeated Dragon, Horse, Rooster, or Pig Branches for Self-Punishment.
- Then test all confirmed Branches for complete or partial Three Harmonies, Directional Combinations, and three-member Punishment groups.
- Record the pillar positions and whether the pattern is complete or partial, natal or introduced by timing.
- Treat any potential result element as unconfirmed unless a detailed whole-chart reading explicitly confirms transformation.
If birth time is unknown, Qiora's public Hour Pillar (時柱) remains ?. The interpretation pipeline may use 12:00 noon internally as a technical placeholder with True Solar Time turned off, so a copied prompt may contain a noon-derived Hour marked as estimated. Noon is not the recorded birth time.
Every interaction involving the fallback Hour Stem or Branch is provisional. If replacing that fallback Hour adds or removes an interaction, or changes the status of a Three Harmony, Directional Combination, Punishment group, or Self-Punishment from partial to complete or from complete to partial, the result remains provisional. Surface-element totals, Day Master strength, Chart Structure, Useful God, detected interaction summaries, Special Stars, and timing claims are provisional when the fallback affected them.
When the real birth time becomes available, recalculate the Hour-derived results. Qiora applies the 23:00 Early Rat rule to the Day Pillar using local standard time after removing any daylight saving offset, so the 23:00 hour, from 11:00 p.m. to midnight, belongs to the next Day Pillar. Near Ipchun, both the Year and Month Pillars may change. Near another monthly jie boundary, the Month Pillar may change. True Solar Time correction affects the Hour Pillar only; it does not change the Day Pillar or move Year and Month boundaries.
Interaction lookup card
- Characters and positions:
- Stem or Branch:
- Matched table:
- Complete, partial, or repeated:
- Natal or introduced by timing:
- Result element: none, potential, or confirmed
- Status: confirmed or provisional
- What this proves:
- What this does not prove:
Related reference pages
- Combinations, Clashes, and Movement
- The Twelve Earthly Branches
- Hidden Stems
- Daeun: The Ten-Year Luck Pillars
Quick questions
Is a combination always good and a clash always bad?
No. A combination may connect or bind, while a clash may disrupt or activate movement. The characters, positions, strength, and timing decide how the relationship functions.
Does every Stem or Branch combination transform?
No. The pair or formation can be present without complete transformation. Treat the result element as potential until the required conditions are confirmed.
Can one pair have two interaction labels?
Yes. Qiora can retain several labels for one pair. Snake-Monkey, for example, is a Six Harmony pair, a Breaking pair, and part of a partial Punishment pattern. Keep each label and its complete-or-partial status; do not let one cancel the others.
Do two Branches complete a Three Harmony?
No. Two members may form a partial pattern, but all three are required for the complete Three Harmony.
Does Self-Punishment mean self-sabotage?
Not by itself. It is a technical repeated-Branch pattern involving Dragon, Horse, Rooster, or Pig. A behavioral diagnosis requires evidence beyond the label.
Can unknown birth time change my interaction list?
Yes. The actual Hour can add or remove pairs and change a three-member formation from partial to complete or from complete to partial. Near Qiora's time and solar-term boundaries, another Pillar may also require verification.
Sources and editorial notes
- Pair and group inventories follow Qiora's current
branch_relations.pycalculation constants. - English labels follow Qiora's terminology SSOT: Six Harmonies, Three Harmonies, Punishment, Self-Punishment, Breaking, and Harm.
- The Qiora engine audit supplies the Horse-Goat Fire-Earth note and documents why transformation should not be forced from a pair alone.
- Deterministic personality, relationship, health, career, and event claims in legacy descriptions were excluded.
Find the pattern first. Interpret it second. Predicting a disaster from one row of a table is not a bonus step.