Storing墓

Storing is the ninth stage. Its original name means a burial mound, the place where strength that has stopped moving is taken into the ground. That sounds heavy, yet older readings also called the same seat a granary or storehouse, a place to pile up what has been gathered in. So the stage is consulted for habits of collecting and saving, feelings that are not readily shown, and the persistence to keep something entrusted for a long time. Of the twelve branches, the four Earth branches, Dragon, Dog, Ox, and Goat, take this seat between them.

• 墓burial mound (Korean reading: myo)

A mound of earth raised over what is laid to rest: a seat for putting away what has been gathered and keeping it safe.

Storing is eight seats from Sprouting, counted forward by yang stems and backward by yin stems. For the four yang stems of Wood, Fire, Metal, and Water, the Storing seat matches the closing branch of the three-branch group that gathers that stem's own element. The yang Earth stem shares the seat of yang Fire. Counting in reverse, each yin stem lands on an Earth branch that differs from the one its yang partner uses.

Read a Storing seat as the place where the urge to gather and protect settles. Saving things up, preparing ahead, and a loyalty that keeps close ties going for years are all drawn from it. Several Storing seats suggest practising the habit of drawing on what you have put by when it is needed. With no Storing, there is a breezy ease in sharing what you hold and letting it flow on.

A 丙 (Bing) Day Master reaches Storing at 戌 (Xu). That branch closes the three-branch Fire group, and it is also the Canopy branch of that group. A 戊 (Wu) Day Master, which uses the same table as 丙, has its Storing at 戌 as well.

• A common idea

  Storing means being blocked and shut in.

  How we read it

  The worry forms where the burial meaning of the name meets readings that shun the low stages. Older readings also saw this seat as a storehouse for the harvest. This service does not count the seat as a blockage either; it describes gathering and guarding.

Were yin stems to move the same way as yang stems, the Storing of 乙 (Yi) would be 未 (Wei), the same as for 甲 (Jia), and Wood would keep a single storehouse. This service turns yin stems backward and puts the Storing of 乙 at 戌 (Xu). Here it parts ways with readings that allow only one storehouse per element.