Eating God食神
The side that gets things done while enjoying them.
What Eating God means
Eating God is a character of the element that the Day Master gives rise to, sharing the Day Master's polarity. It shows your strength flowing outward on its own and turning into something made, so it is read for craft, expression, and plain enjoyment. The name, a god who provides food, comes from an old explanation: Eating God in turn gives rise to Wealth and so widens the base you live on. It also sits in the seat that holds back Indirect Officer, the character that presses hard on you, so it is read as a way of turning strain into breathing room.
The characters 食神
- 食food, to eat (Korean reading: sik)
- 神god, spirit (Korean reading: sin)
A god who hands out food: a figure who grants the ease of having enough to live on.
How Eating God is found
The producing cycle runs Wood to Fire to Earth to Metal to Water and back to Wood. The step right after the Day Master's element is the element the Day Master produces. Whichever character of that element matches the Day Master in polarity is Eating God. A Water Day Master produces Wood, so for yang Water the Eating God is yang Wood. Branches go through the same rule by way of their main hidden stem.
| Day Master | Stems | Branches (by main hidden stem) |
|---|---|---|
| 甲 (Jia) | 丙 (Bing) | 巳 (Si) |
| 乙 (Yi) | 丁 (Ding) | 午 (Wu) |
| 丙 (Bing) | 戊 (Wu) | 辰 (Chen), 戌 (Xu) |
| 丁 (Ding) | 己 (Ji) | 丑 (Chou), 未 (Wei) |
| 戊 (Wu) | 庚 (Geng) | 申 (Shen) |
| 己 (Ji) | 辛 (Xin) | 酉 (You) |
| 庚 (Geng) | 壬 (Ren) | 亥 (Hai) |
| 辛 (Xin) | 癸 (Gui) | 子 (Zi) |
| 壬 (Ren) | 甲 (Jia) | 寅 (Yin) |
| 癸 (Gui) | 乙 (Yi) | 卯 (Mao) |
Each branch is judged by its main hidden stem alone. The Day Master itself is the point of comparison, so it is not counted.
Reading Eating God in a chart
A chart rich in Eating God sketches someone who keeps at the work they love and turns out finished pieces. Making things at an unhurried pace, and a way of talking that puts people at ease, both belong here. With no Eating God, the picture can be a conscientious streak that sees to what needs doing before what is fun. Meeting Eating God in a Luck Pillar is read as a good current for bringing what you have learned into view.
An example of Eating God
With 壬 (Ren) as Day Master, Eating God appears as the stem 甲 (Jia) and the branch 寅 (Yin). 壬 and 甲 are both yang, and Water gives rise to Wood. The main hidden stem of 寅 is 甲 as well.
Common misreadings of Eating God
A common idea
Eating God is only about having plenty to eat.
How we read it
The food in the name made that idea popular. This service looks at the ease of drawing on your talents and the room you have for expression.
Where schools differ
Some readings count every hidden stem inside a branch, residual and middle ones included. This service counts only the main hidden stem, one per branch, so the 丙 (Bing) tucked inside 寅 (Yin) is not added to the counts of a 壬 (Ren) Day Master.
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BaZi readings draw on traditional theory and are for reference only. Different schools may read the same chart differently.