Day pillar type
Red Snake (Ding Si): Personality and Matches
Hongsimdang Editorial Team · Last updated
Red Snake (Ding Si) is the day pillar where a candle burning quietly in the dark (丁) rests on fire in early summer (巳). In short, it holds steady at the center and heads straight in the direction you choose.
What decides the Red Snake: day stem and day branch
Your day pillar is the stem and branch of the day you were born: the upper character is the day stem and the lower one is the day branch. For Red Snake (Ding Si), the day stem is 丁 (Yin Fire) and the day branch is 巳 (Snake). The “Red” in the name is the color of the day stem’s element, and “Snake” is the zodiac animal of the day branch. Both are Hongsimdang’s own labels.
The day stem 丁 is likened to a candle burning quietly in the dark. Instead of lighting up a crowd, you warm one person or one subject, and you do it thoroughly. The day branch 巳 is fire in early summer. The Snake is popularly pictured as focused, perceptive and deep-thinking, but that is the folk image of the zodiac. The actual reading comes from the element relationship and life stage that follow.
Read as elements, your stem and branch form a matching pair, with the same element on both sides. Because your day stem and day branch point at the same element, the face you show and what you feel inside tend to agree, and your center is hard to shake. The branch 巳 also holds the hidden stems 戊, 庚, 丙, which lay another side beneath the one that shows.
Seen from your day stem 丁, the day branch 巳 sits at the Peak (Di Wang) stage of the twelve life stages. It is the stage where energy is at its fullest, and leadership and capacity show in a big way.
How the Red Snake shows up at work
Your stem and branch pull the same way, so once a direction is set you rarely hesitate, and you work best where roles are clear. You are more likely to clash with a boss who rewrites the plan midstream, or a workplace whose standards change from day to day.
Deep specialist work, analysis, research and strategy are where you shine, and you let results do the talking. An offhand remark can stay with you for days, and you may wear yourself down without telling anyone.
When you are tired you cut off contact and carry things alone, and thinking too much can leave you stuck.
Tell someone what you have been researching, so the insight in your head gets put into words and tested.
How the Red Snake shows up in relationships and love
What you show and what you feel sit close together, so affection and irritation both tend to appear on your face. Because your will runs in one direction, someone just as stubborn can turn things into a contest. A partner who can say “let’s pause for a moment” is more likely to last.
You go deep with only a few people, and once you are attached you do not let go easily.
Someone who respects your time for going deep, and now and then pulls you outside, is a good match.
How the Red Snake handles money
Your spending follows your convictions, and you will put a sizable sum behind anything you believe in. With joint investments or loans, being that invested makes it hard to stay detached, so agree on the rules in advance.
You spend where you have thought things through, and a field you have put real work into often turns into your main source of income.
Putting money into expertise and knowledge converts directly to income for you. You are strong in fields you have studied deeply and strikingly indifferent to the rest.
Day branches that harmonize with the Red Snake and ones that clash
The day branch of Red Snake (Ding Si) is 巳 (Snake). Which day branch the other person has decides the relation between your two branches, as shown below. A day branch that is not listed has no direct harmony or clash with yours.
| Their day branch | Relation between branches | How it reads |
|---|---|---|
| Ox (丑) | Triple Harmony partner | moves in the same direction, and the group is complete once a third branch joins |
| Snake (巳) | Same day branch | like with like |
| Rooster (酉) | Triple Harmony partner | moves in the same direction, and the group is complete once a third branch joins |
| Monkey (申) | Six Harmony, Punishment, Break | pulls together and fills in; rubs, so friction is likely; cracks are likely |
| Tiger (寅) | Punishment, Harm | rubs, so friction is likely; small misunderstandings pile up |
| Dog (戌) | Resentment / Ghost Gate | attracts yet irritates |
| Pig (亥) | Clash | head-on opposition |
Harmony, Clash, Punishment, Harm, Break and Resentment are relations fixed mechanically by the pair of branches. They say nothing about anyone’s character being better or worse.
2027 (Ding Wei year) and the Red Snake
2027 is a Ding Wei year. The year’s stem and branch change over at the start of spring, around February 4, 2027. The Ding of 2027 is the same kind of energy as your day stem, so people with a similar position and similar values show up more often, and moments of competing and moments of helping tend to arrive side by side. The year branch Wei has no direct Six Harmony or Clash with your day branch, so the color of this year shows mainly in its relation to your day stem.
What the day pillar alone cannot tell you
The day pillar is one of the four pillars of a chart. The year, month and hour pillars, the ten-year luck cycles, and Zi Wei Dou Shu and Western astrology readings are not included on this page. Two people with the same Red Snake can show it differently depending on their other pillars, and your day pillar alone does not settle personality or fate.
To see all four pillars, use the free BaZi calculator. To read a specific question through to timing, a personal reading is the next step.
See the whole chart with the free BaZi calculator →Personal readings →Day Pillar Types →
Frequently asked questions
How do I find out whether I am a Red Snake?
The day of Red Snake (Ding Si) comes around once every 60 days, and people born on a 丁巳 day belong to this type. Enter your birth date on the day pillar type index to check.
Why am I a Red Snake if my birth-year animal is not the Snake?
The birth-year animal comes from the year branch, while the Snake in Red Snake comes from the day branch 巳. They are two separate calculations. Even if your birth year belongs to another animal, a day branch of 巳 makes your day pillar a Snake.
Which types match the Red Snake?
Looking only at day branches, the Six Harmony partner of 巳 is the Monkey (申), and the clash comes from the Pig (亥). That is one narrow view. How well two people fit depends on all four pillars and on how they treat each other.
See other types
Same color
- Red Tiger (Bing Yin)
- Red Rabbit (Ding Mao)
- Red Rat (Bing Zi)
- Red Ox (Ding Chou)
- Red Dog (Bing Xu)
- Red Pig (Ding Hai)
- Red Monkey (Bing Shen)
- Red Rooster (Ding You)
- Red Horse (Bing Wu)
- Red Goat (Ding Wei)
- Red Dragon (Bing Chen)
Same animal