Day pillar type
Yellow Rat (Wu Zi): Personality and Matches
Hongsimdang Editorial Team · Last updated
Yellow Rat (Wu Zi) is the day pillar where a big mountain that does not move (戊) rests on water in the deep of night (子). In short, it steers a situation by hand and goes after practical results.
What decides the Yellow Rat: 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 Yellow Rat (Wu Zi), the day stem is 戊 (Yang Earth) and the day branch is 子 (Rat). The “Yellow” in the name is the color of the day stem’s element, and “Rat” is the zodiac animal of the day branch. Both are Hongsimdang’s own labels.
The day stem 戊 is likened to a big mountain that does not move. When everyone else is scrambling, you stay where you are, and that steadiness reassures people. The day branch 子 is water in the deep of night. The Rat is popularly pictured as quick, well informed and always a step ahead, 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 wealth pair, in which the stem steers the branch. Your stem presses on the branch and steers it, so you tend to arrange your surroundings and resources by your own hand and go after practical results. The branch 子 also holds the hidden stems 壬, 癸, which lay another side beneath the one that shows.
Seen from your day stem 戊, the day branch 子 sits at the Womb (Tai) stage of the twelve life stages. It is the stage of carrying new energy, where ideas, planning and a feel for possibility are cultivated.
How the Yellow Rat shows up at work
You arrange the environment yourself and move numbers, people and procedures to get results. With such a strong results focus, running ahead of other people’s pace draws pushback, so think through the order in which you bring people in.
Preparation and information are your edge, and the gap shows in groundwork nobody else sees. Even when change is called for, you tend to hold your ground, and you can miss the moment to act.
When you feel cornered, you think several steps ahead alone and end up carrying everything without telling anyone.
Try putting part of the time you spend preparing into putting your work out and watching how people respond.
How the Yellow Rat shows up in relationships and love
You tend to push a relationship forward in practical ways and can be a dependable lead. If you treat your partner as something to be advanced, it feels cramped to them, so leave a gap to hear what they want before you decide.
With people you trust you are attentive, and you keep ties going through thoughtfulness, but you do not hand over your deeper feelings easily.
You tend to be most at ease with someone who shares information and plans ahead with you, and who speaks plainly instead of leaving you to guess.
How the Yellow Rat handles money
You have a keen feel for spotting openings and acting on them, and a high ability to handle money. Spread too wide and you outrun your ability to manage it, so decide in advance how far you will go.
You are good at protecting what you have, better at avoiding losses than at chasing quick gains, and you are often a step behind when a new trend starts.
Your money decisions follow the quality of the information you get, so moving funds bit by bit on solid information suits you.
Day branches that harmonize with the Yellow Rat and ones that clash
The day branch of Yellow Rat (Wu Zi) is 子 (Rat). 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Rat (子) | Same day branch | like with like |
| Ox (丑) | Six Harmony | pulls together and fills in |
| Dragon (辰) | Triple Harmony partner | moves in the same direction, and the group is complete once a third branch joins |
| Monkey (申) | Triple Harmony partner | moves in the same direction, and the group is complete once a third branch joins |
| Rabbit (卯) | Punishment | rubs, so friction is likely |
| Horse (午) | Clash | head-on opposition |
| Goat (未) | Harm, Resentment / Ghost Gate | small misunderstandings pile up; attracts yet irritates |
| Rooster (酉) | Break | cracks are likely |
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 Yellow Rat
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 supports and feeds your day stem, so tailwinds such as people willing to help, learning, credentials and contracts tend to start moving. The year branch Wei forms a Harm relation with your day branch, so small misunderstandings tend to pile up, and checking in early works. Wei also forms a Resentment relation with your day branch, so attraction and irritation tend to show up together, and how you set distance becomes the focus.
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 Yellow Rat 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 Yellow Rat?
The day of Yellow Rat (Wu Zi) comes around once every 60 days, and people born on a 戊子 day belong to this type. Enter your birth date on the day pillar type index to check.
Why am I a Yellow Rat if my birth-year animal is not the Rat?
The birth-year animal comes from the year branch, while the Rat in Yellow Rat comes from the day branch 子. They are two separate calculations. Even if your birth year belongs to another animal, a day branch of 子 makes your day pillar a Rat.
Which types match the Yellow Rat?
Looking only at day branches, the Six Harmony partner of 子 is the Ox (丑), and the clash comes from the Horse (午). 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
- Yellow Dragon (Wu Chen)
- Yellow Snake (Ji Si)
- Yellow Tiger (Wu Yin)
- Yellow Rabbit (Ji Mao)
- Yellow Ox (Ji Chou)
- Yellow Dog (Wu Xu)
- Yellow Pig (Ji Hai)
- Yellow Monkey (Wu Shen)
- Yellow Rooster (Ji You)
- Yellow Horse (Wu Wu)
- Yellow Goat (Ji Wei)
Same animal