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Stage 12 of 12 · latent

Nourishment (养) — stage 12 of the twelve

Nourishment is stage 12 of the twelve stages, which describe how strong a stem is on a given branch. Yang stems run forward from their Birth branch and yin stems run backward, so each of the ten stems lands on exactly one stage per branch — meaning "one stage" maps to a definite branch for each of the ten stems. This page lists those ten landings, the 4 of the sixty pillars that sit on this stage, and the direction rule itself.

Computed facts (engine-verified)

This page is generated from the engine v0.14.0, not hand-written; structural facts reconcile against the methodology page.

StageNourishment 养 · position 12 of 12
Arclatent (this site's own reading band, not an engine strength verdict)
DirectionYang stems (Jia, Bing, Wu, Geng, Ren) run forward · yin stems (Yi, Ding, Ji, Xin, Gui) run backward — which is why the same stage lands on different branches for the two groups
Landingsten, one per stem: Jia Yang Wood Xu, Yi Yin Wood Wei, Bing Yang Fire Chou, Ding Yin Fire Xu, Wu Yang Earth Chou, Ji Yin Earth Xu, Geng Yang Metal Chen, Xin Yin Metal Chou, Ren Yang Water Wei, Gui Yin Water Chen
Pillars4 of the sixty pillars sit on this stage (60 across the twelve)

Which branch each of the ten stems occupies here

One row per stem: its landing branch at this stage, its Birth branch, and its direction. The Birth branches are a fixed table; the landings follow from them.

StemLanding hereBirth branchDirection
甲 Jia · 阳木戌 Xu亥 Haiforward
乙 Yi · 阴木未 Wei午 Wubackward
丙 Bing · 阳火丑 Chou寅 Yinforward
丁 Ding · 阴火戌 Xu酉 Youbackward
戊 Wu · 阳土丑 Chou寅 Yinforward
己 Ji · 阴土戌 Xu酉 Youbackward
庚 Geng · 阳金辰 Chen巳 Siforward
辛 Xin · 阴金丑 Chou子 Zibackward
壬 Ren · 阳水未 Wei申 Shenforward
癸 Gui · 阴水辰 Chen卯 Maobackward

Yang stems (forward)

Jia → 戌 Xu · Bing → 丑 Chou · Wu → 丑 Chou · Geng → 辰 Chen · Ren → 未 Wei

Yin stems (backward)

Yi → 未 Wei · Ding → 戌 Xu · Ji → 戌 Xu · Xin → 丑 Chou · Gui → 辰 Chen

The same stage lands on different branches for yang and yin stems — the two groups below show it side by side:

The 4 pillars on this stage

In each of these the day stem sits at this stage on the day branch. Every pillar has its own page with the same computed structure:

Jia Xu · Geng Chen · Yi Wei · Xin Chou

A note on what this page deliberately does not do: the popular versions of this material assign a fixed personality to each term — one character per branch, one destiny per stage. This site rejects that framing. What is published here is a structural position: which element sits where, on what kind of ground, with which tenants inside. The same term reads differently under a different month command, and no meaningful judgement exists without the other characters of the chart. Where the tradition offers a reading it is labelled as the tradition's; this site's own contribution is that every number and term on this page is computed, versioned and checkable against the methodology page.

Frequently asked

What does Nourishment mean?
Nourishment (养) is stage 12 of the twelve stages that describe how strong a stem is on a given branch. The twelve run Birth, Bathing, Attiring, Official Post, Prosperity, Decline, Illness, Death, Tomb, Extinction, Conception, Nourishment — a full cycle. It is about position and state, not fortune.
Why does the same stage land on different branches for different stems?
Because yang stems run forward and yin stems run backward. Counting clockwise from its Birth branch for a yang stem and anticlockwise for a yin stem, the two groups arrive at different branches by position 12. The two groups on this page list all ten landings.
Which pillars sit on this stage?
4 of them: 甲戌, 庚辰, 乙未, 辛丑. In each, the day stem is at Nourishment on the day branch. Open any of them for the hidden stems, the seat relation and the nayin.
Is Nourishment good or bad?
The twelve stages describe a position on a curve, not a score. The tradition treats Birth, Official Post and Prosperity as relatively strong stations and Decline through Extinction as relatively weak ones — but these are points on the same cycle, and no single station can be judged apart from the whole chart.

Nearby stages

Conception ←  ·  → Birth

长生 Birth stage 1 沐浴 Bathing stage 2 冠带 Attiring stage 3 临官 Official Post stage 4 帝旺 Prosperity stage 5 衰 Decline stage 6 病 Illness stage 7 死 Death stage 8 墓 Tomb stage 9 绝 Extinction stage 10 胎 Conception stage 11 养 Nourishment stage 12

Reference index

Every enumerable component of ba zi has its own page here. Each page is computed by the same engine and can be checked item by item — none of it is a personality table.