Earthly Branch · 6 of 12
Snake巳
Snake is the sixth of the twelve Earthly Branches. It is yin Fire, south-south-east, and the double hour from 9 to 11 in the morning. Bing and Wu lodge on Snake.
- 子Rat23–1
- 丑Ox1–3
- 寅Tiger3–5
- 卯Rabbit5–7
- 辰Dragon7–9
- 巳Snake9–11
- 午Horse11–13
- 未Goat13–15
- 申Monkey15–17
- 酉Rooster17–19
- 戌Dog19–21
- 亥Pig21–23
Term details
| Chinese | 巳、太乙 |
|---|---|
| Pinyin | sì |
| Standard name | Snake |
| First mention | Snake (Si 巳) |
| Order | 6 of 12 |
| Element | Fire |
| Yin or yang | yin |
|---|---|
| Double hour | 09:00 to 11:00 |
| Direction | south-south-east |
| As Monthly General | Virgo, from End of Heat |
| Clashes with | Pig 亥 |
| Stems lodged here | Bing 丙, Wu 戊 |
Etymology
In oracle-bone script 巳 pictures a foetus, the same element seen inside 包 and 胞. The character differs from 已 and 己 only in how far the left side is closed, and 巳 is the fully closed one.
The Shuowen Jiezi, the Han dynasty dictionary, sees a snake instead: "in the fourth month yang breath has come out and yin breath has gone into hiding; all things appear and show their markings, so 巳 is the snake". The zodiac snake comes from this explanation.
The Old Chinese pronunciation is reconstructed as *s-[ɢ]əʔ (Baxter and Sagart). Middle Chinese was ziX.
Significations
- people
- two girls, twins, the eldest daughter, two roles, cooks, kitchen staff, beggars, the mentally ill
- matters
- flight, the arts, song and dance, entertainment, music, the strange and uncanny, change, winding
- things
- stoves, hearth fire, candles, lamps, wires, ropes, bowstrings, wings and feathers
- body
- the head and face, the eyes, the teeth, the throat, blood, the male organ, the nerves, inflammation
- animals
- the snake, the eel, the earthworm, the lizard, the cicada, the firefly, the moth
- places
- kitchens, kilns, boiler rooms, shops, malls, harbours, lanes, headlands
- direction and time
- south-south-east, the Snake hour, the fourth month
- weather
- fair skies, rainbows, the house of wind, the door of wind
As the Monthly General
Snake is the Monthly General from End of Heat 处暑, when the Sun enters Virgo, until the next solar term of the same kind. In the chart it is written as the Snake general. Its classical name is 太乙, which the classical texts use far less often than the name of the branch itself.
Source text
When Taiyi meets Calamity, there is much sickness in the household. … Taiyi lies within the Purple Enclosure and is the image of the household; meeting the spirit of sickness and punishment, the household has much sickness.
太乙若逢白虎家多疾病。……太乙在紫微垣內，家室之象，遇疾病刑煞之神，故家多疾病。
Sources: 大六壬指南 卷一、卷二、卷三仕宦章与天时章与阴地章与婚姻章与疾病章与田蚕章; 六壬直指 丙子日子将、戊寅日卯将、戊辰日子将; 六壬课经 间传、玄胎、铸印、富贵、刑伤; 类神释义表 太乙巳