Wu Chen · Yang Earth Dragon
In Chinese: 戊辰
Wu Chen, the Yang Earth Dragon: the mountain over the damp earth of late spring, a stem on its own phase, solid and patient.
Meaning
Wu Chen sets the mountain on the Dragon’s earth, a stem standing on its own phase, and the Dragon’s branch is also the storehouse of Water. The tradition reads a grounded strength with much in reserve, slow to move and hard to move once it stands.
Wu over Chen: yang Earth over yang Earth, a stem standing on its own phase.
Wu, Yang Earth, is the mountain: solid, broad, unmoved by passing weather. The Dragon, the only creature of legend among the twelve, stands for vitality and good fortune.
The zodiac reads a Wu Chen year as the Earth Dragon’s. The Earth Dragon is the patient Dragon: steady, fair, a builder of institutions more than of dreams. Its ambition is real and well founded, and others trust its judgement.
Its Na Yin, shared with Ji Si, is Wood of the great forest (大林木 dàlín mù): a sound of Wood, heard beside the pillar’s Earth.
In practice
- As a year, from Lichun, around 4 February: 1808, 1868, 1928, 1988, 2048, 2108 and 2168, in the 1800–2200 table.
- As a month: the Dragon month of every Jia or Ji year, opened by Clear and Bright, as in the solar years 2024 and 2029.
- As a day, every sixty days: in 2026, on 23 February, 24 April, 23 June, 22 August, 21 October and 20 December.
- As an hour: the Dragon’s double hour, 07:00–09:00, of Jia and Ji days.
- As a day pillar, its stem is the Day Master, Wu, sitting on Chen, the partner palace: Chen holds Wu, Yi and Gui, Wu’s Companion, Direct Officer and Direct Wealth, and Wu stands at its Crown stage there.
- As a luck pillar or a year, it brings each Day Master the god of its stem and the god of its branch’s main qi: the Correspondences below give them for all ten.
Across traditions
- In Japan, Korea and Vietnam the same pillar is tsuchinoe-tatsu, mujin and Mậu Thìn, with each language’s readings of 戊 and 辰.
How Ulune calculates it
Wu Chen is the 5th of the sixty pillars: the 5th of the ten stems over the 5th of the twelve branches, which the cycle moves on one step together, so that a stem only ever meets the branches of its polarity. Ulune counts a year’s pillar from Lichun, 1984 being Jia Zi; a month’s twelve a year through the cycle, from Bing Yin in the Tiger month of 1984 (the rule of the five tigers); a day’s by the count of days, 1 January 2000 being Wu Wu; an hour’s twelve a day (the rule of the five rats).
Wu Chen belongs to the ten-day week from Jia Zi to Gui You, whose stems meet the branches from Zi to You and leave out Xu and Hai: for a day pillar of this week, those are the empty branches. Its Na Yin is the 3rd of the thirty, one for each two pillars.
Correspondences
| Correspondence | Wu Chen |
|---|---|
| Characters, pinyin | 戊辰 wùchén |
| Place in the cycle | 5 of 60 |
| Stem | Wu, yang Earth |
| Branch | Chen, the Dragon, yang Earth |
| Hidden in the branch | Wu 60, Yi 30, Gui 10 |
| Stem and branch | Earth over Earth, one phase |
| Na Yin | Wood of the great forest, with Ji Si |
| Its stem’s stage in its branch | Crown |
| Ten-day week | Jia Zi to Gui You; empty branches Xu and Hai |
| Its stem, for each Day Master | Jia → Indirect Wealth, Yi → Direct Wealth, Bing → Eating God, Ding → Hurting Officer, Wu → Companion, Ji → Rob Wealth, Geng → Indirect Resource, Xin → Direct Resource, Ren → Seven Killings, Gui → Direct Officer |
| Its branch’s main qi, for each Day Master | Jia → Indirect Wealth, Yi → Direct Wealth, Bing → Eating God, Ding → Hurting Officer, Wu → Companion, Ji → Rob Wealth, Geng → Indirect Resource, Xin → Direct Resource, Ren → Seven Killings, Gui → Direct Officer |
| Years, 1800–2200 | 1808, 1868, 1928, 1988, 2048, 2108, 2168 |
| Month | Dragon month of Jia and Ji years |
| Hour | Dragon hour, 07:00–09:00, of Jia and Ji days |
| Before and after | Ding Mao, Ji Si |
| Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese | Tsuchinoe-tatsu, mujin, Mậu Thìn |
Related
- Wu · Yang EarthThe fifth Heavenly Stem, yang Earth: the mountain and the great wall, a steady, solid presence that holds things together and keeps its ground.
- Chen · DragonThe fifth Earthly Branch, yang Earth: the Dragon, the last month of spring and the morning, moist ground shaken by thunder that stores the Water of the year.
- DragonThe fifth of the twelve animals, the Dragon of the branch Chen, the only one of legend: confident, ambitious and generous, a bringer of rain and vitality.
- Wood of the great forestWood of the great forest, the Na Yin of Wu Chen and Ji Si: many trees together, a wood that shelters, broad and lasting.
- Ding Mao · Yin Fire RabbitDing Mao, the Yin Fire Rabbit: a lamp lit from spring wood, a small, steady flame kept by a gentle hand.
- Ji Si · Yin Earth SnakeJi Si, the Yin Earth Snake: the field warmed by the early summer sun, fertile ground at its fullest, careful and quietly productive.
Sources
- Sima Qian, Shiji, c. 94 BC
- Ban Gu, Hanshu, 1st century
- Xu Sheng (ed.), Yuanhai Ziping, Song dynasty
- Wan Minying, San Ming Tong Hui, 16th century
- Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 3, 1959