Companion比肩

Companion is a character that shares the Day Master's element and its polarity as well, so within the chart it reads almost like a second copy of you. The old name pictures two people standing shoulder to shoulder: nobody ranks higher, nobody looks up. So the term is used for relationships met at eye level: friends, colleagues, siblings. It also covers the wish to stand on your own feet, and it is the first place to look for a preference for your own way over leaning on others. Many English books call it Friend.

• 比to compare, to stand level with (Korean reading: bi)
• 肩shoulder (Korean reading: gyeon)

Shoulders held level, side by side: a partner standing next to you with no one above the other.

Each character is set against the Day Master. When the two belong to the same element and also carry the same polarity, the character is a Companion. Stems are compared as they stand, and a branch through its main hidden stem, the one that represents it. The Day Master's own seat is the reference point, so it is not counted. That leaves exactly one Companion stem for each Day Master, plus one or two Companion branches.

Several Companions are read as trust in your own judgment and a habit of pressing ahead on it. The strength shows most when you line up with people chasing the same goal, and trying to carry everything alone is read as a cue to slow the pace. With few or no Companions, the reading turns to an easy openness toward other people's views. A Companion arriving in the stem of a Luck Pillar or a year is taken as a time when independence and cooperation come up as themes.

For a 丁 (Ding) Day Master, another 丁 in the chart and the branch 午 (Wu) are Companions. On the surface 午 is classed as a yang branch, but its main hidden stem is 丁, so it counts as a Companion.

• A common idea

  The Day Master is itself a Companion, so everyone has at least one.

  How we read it

  This service treats the Day Master as the point of comparison and leaves it out of the counts. It counts the other seven characters, or five when the birth hour is unknown.

• A common idea

  Plenty of Companions means trouble getting along with people.

  How we read it

  Some writers read it that way. Here it is read as having a clear standard of your own, with the strength showing when you work alongside others.

If branch polarity went by the surface class alone, a 丁 (Ding) Day Master would get 巳 (Si) as Companion and 午 (Wu) as Rival. This service follows the main hidden stems instead (丙 (Bing) inside 巳, 丁 inside 午), so 午 is the Companion and 巳 is the Rival.