乙 Yi — Yin Wood
Yi is the second Heavenly Stem, Yin Wood. If it's your day stem, BaZi sees you as grass and vines: flexibility, charm and the ability to take root anywhere.
Image
In the Di Tian Sui, the verse on the Yi stem begins: “乙木雖柔，刲羊解牛” — “Yi wood is soft, yet it overcomes both the goat and the ox.”
Yi is grass, flowers, vines: wood that can't hold its own shape but gets in everywhere. The goat and the ox in the verse are the earth branches 未 and 丑: a supple vine twines around and splits even stony ground.
Personality
Yi means flexibility and charm. Yi people know how to find a way around, negotiate and adapt to circumstances. Where the straight Jia tree would break, Yi grows through. They pay attention to people and to beauty and easily find common ground, but they need support: people, a team, the right environment.
Strengths: diplomacy and a talent for negotiation, resilience and adaptability, a sense of beauty and charm, a knack for working with people.
Weak points: dependence on support and surroundings, a habit of giving in to avoid conflict, indecision when there's no support.
What Supports Yi
A vine needs sun and support. The Di Tian Sui writes that Yi “embraces Ding and Bing,” reaching toward fire, and that “a vine tied to Jia” fares well in both spring and autumn: next to a big tree, the supple wood is safe. It struggles in damp, cold earth without sun.
Each element has its own season: wood is strongest in spring, fire in summer, metal in autumn, water in winter, and earth in the transitional months between the seasons. Tradition sees a Day Master born in its own season as confident, and one born out of season as needing support; how much this matters is decided by an analysis of the whole chart.
At Work and in Relationships
At work, Yi does well in negotiation, service and design: anywhere that calls for flexibility and taste. In relationships, Yi brings gentleness and attention and needs to feel supported.
This is an image, not a verdict: the rest of the chart — the Ten Gods, the Luck Pillars, the balance of elements — can shift the picture considerably.
Frequently asked questions
Which stem does Yi combine with?
With Geng (庚, Yang Metal). This pair produces the Metal element. In a chart, it's a sign of attraction and alliance; if the Day Masters of two people form this pair, tradition sees a natural attraction between them.
Which stem does Yi clash with?
With Xin (辛, Yin Metal): the two stems stand opposite each other in the cycle, and the element of one suppresses the element of the other. In a chart, this is a conflict of goals between the areas of life of the two pillars.
Where can I find out what my Day Master is?
In the BaZi calculator: the Day Master is the stem of the day pillar, and it's marked separately in the chart table. You need your exact date of birth, and if you were born around midnight, your birth time as well.