Heavenly Stem · 10 of 10
Gui癸
/ɡweɪ/
Gui is the last of the ten Heavenly Stems, and the last day of a decade. It is yin Water and belongs to the north. Gui has no cell of its own on the chart: it lodges on Ox, so wherever the chart shows Ox, read Gui.
- 甲JiaYang Wood
- 乙YiYin Wood
- 丙BingYang Fire
- 丁DingYin Fire
- 戊WuYang Earth
- 己JiYin Earth
- 庚GengYang Metal
- 辛XinYin Metal
- 壬RenYang Water
- 癸GuiYin Water
Term details
| Chinese | 癸 |
|---|---|
| Pinyin | guǐ |
| Standard name | Gui |
| First mention | Gui (Yin Water 癸) |
| Order | 10 of 10 |
| Element | Water |
|---|---|
| Yin or yang | yin |
| Lodges on | Ox 丑 of the Earth Plate |
| Patron by day | Snake 巳 |
| Patron by night | Rabbit 卯 |
Etymology
The original sense of 癸 is unknown. Proposals include a kind of halberd (the original form of 戣), the mallow plant, and a measuring tool related to 揆 "to gauge" and 規 "compass"; a recent suggestion is a device with a gnomon for measuring the sun's shadow to fix directions and the solstice.
The Shuowen Jiezi, the Han dynasty dictionary, assigns it to winter and the north: "water and earth are level, and can be measured; it pictures water flowing in from the four sides into the ground", adding that the character pictures the feet. The ten stems end with Gui, and so it carries the sense of an ending.
The Old Chinese pronunciation is reconstructed as *kʷijʔ (Baxter and Sagart). Middle Chinese was kjwijX.
Significations
- nature
- ending, gathering in, closing, hiding, the last of the stems, a round number, a circle, zero
- direction and time
- the north
Source text
Gui is Water, whose nature is to soak downward. When it falls at the tail of the decade it is called Closed Mouth, meaning that with the water's breath above, the mouth cannot open; a person under water who closes the mouth cannot live. The nature of Ding, Fire, is yang and movement, the image of life, the exact opposite of Gui.
癸水潤下之性，於逢旬尾曰閉口者，言水氣在上不能開口也。假如人在水中一閉口便不能生矣。丁火之性主陽主動，是生之象，正與癸相反。
Sources: 大六壬指南 卷一、卷二、卷三孕产章与阴地章、卷四神煞指南; 六壬直指 戊辰日子将、癸巳日申将、辛卯日巳将; 六壬课经 德庆、闭口、三奇; 毕法赋 伏吟天地皆不动; 毕法赋注解 二、四、二十六、三十八