People are OBSESSED with Combinations (合). I have absolutely NO IDEA WHY. I get an endless array of questions from people asking about combinations in their charts and I just don’t understand this fixation with Combinations.
Especially STEM COMBINATIONS
Heavenly Stems are superficial Qi – yes that doesn’t mean it’s insignificant but it’s also not THAT big a deal. Here’s how I always explain it to people. Heavenly Stem combinations are like a boy and a girl holding hands.
It’s JUST holding hands. No need to break out the shotguns or wedding invitations. It’s just holding hands. Can mean anything. Can mean guy wants to help girl cross the road. Can mean guy is making sure girl does not get lost.
GET OVER THE STEM COMBINATIONS, PLEASE.
Now, I am not saying that they are not important. Stem Combinations provide valuable insight into a person’s character and if you know how to wield the Stem Combinations in tandem with knowledge of a person’s character, you can provide them with very useful advice about their weaknesses and strengths, and even provide very precise and accurate insight into how they interact with certain people in their family etc (based on their DM vs the other person’s DM and if it is a Combination or not). Stem Combinations are also very useful when it comes to using BaZi for HR related purposes.
BUT, my guess is that a good 89.4 percent of the people who write to me asking about Combinations either
a) have no formal BaZi knowledge but have learnt it from bits and bobs here and there from different websites + blogs + books in a sort of mish-mash cobble together fashion
b) have no knowledge of the 10 Gods, or truly understand the technique for reading a BaZi.
Which means that any attempt to explain the methodology for using the Stem Combinations in a USEFUL MANNER, is likely to require a thesis-length post, not to mention spending a lot of time just educating them on the basics. Honestly, unless you have the key basics, trying to figure out what is the meaning of a Combination in your chart is like trying to be Robert Langdon but without the Ph.D. Which is why I don’t ever answer the questions on Combinations. It just takes too long and ends up simply promting MORE questions.
Questions that stem from a simple lack of basic knowledge about BaZi.
I know Combinations are very appealling to people to examine/explore because
a) sounds a lot better than HARM, DESTRUCTION or CLASH and PUNISHMENT
b) they are easy to see and since people love talking about Combinations, everyone has an opinion.
But what often escapes people is that the question “WHAT DOES THIS COMBINATION MEAN” actually
DOES NOT HAVE AN ANSWER
Okay, I lie. It does have an answer. The answer is
HOW LONG IS A PIECE OF STRING?
Seriously, the phrase ‘What does this Combination Mean’ is up there in the pantheon of Impossible to Answer BaZi Questions. Impossible to answer because it is dependent on a whole host of considerations.To give you an idea of what those considerations are, they are listed below:
What is the focal point of the inquiry?
What are we examining the Combination within the context of?
Which aspect of the person’s life are we trying to relate it to?
Does the Combination involve the DM?
What else is going on in the chart involving the Branches that could affect the perception/interpretation of the Combination?
What are the 10 Gods involved (******* SUPER IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION)
Is the Combination USEFUL towards the pursuit of an answer/solution to the question being asked (context) or is it just a by the way thing?
The point I am trying to make here, and this applies to all those questions I frequently get that are essentially phrased along the lines of ‘What does xxxx mean’ is THERE ARE NO GENERAL ANSWERS IN BAZI.There is no one answer for anything. There are a variety of possible answers, depending on the chart in question and the Combo/Harm/Destruction/Clash in question. There are a variety of possible interpretations, depending on the person’s age, career, character, background, education, goals, dreams etc.
There is no GENERAL MEANING to anything in BaZi.
So when people say, oh I have a combo, what does that mean? Here is the answer once and for all
IT MEANS YOU HAVE A COMBINATION
At best, the presence of a Stem Combo in a chart is SUGGESTIVE of a connection or a specific character trait. But aside from that, It Just Means You Have a Combination.
And until you can figure out the context in which within you want to explore the Combination, that will continue to be the answer to the question.