六合

What Liu He means in BaZi

Liu He (六合), usually translated as Six Harmonies, means the six established pairs of Earthly Branches that form a combining relationship in BaZi. The name refers to six pair types across the twelve branches, rather than six combinations that every birth chart contains.

Each of the four pillars—year, month, day, and hour—contains a Heavenly Stem and an Earthly Branch. Liu He concerns the branches: the lower character in each pillar. Start by identifying those characters, then compare them with the six-pair table below.

In traditional interpretation, a combination suggests an affinity or binding connection between its participants. “Harmony” names that relationship; its significance comes from how the participating branches fit into the whole chart.

The six-pair lookup

Each branch has one Liu He partner. Read the table in either direction: Zi pairs with Chou, and Chou pairs with Zi.

The animal names are memory aids for the branch characters. A chart’s year animal therefore gives only one starting point: Liu He can involve branches in the month, day, or hour pillars too.

Keep the pillar positions beside each match. “Wu–Wei” identifies the pair type, while “year Wu–hour Wei” identifies the specific relationship being examined. This distinction becomes useful when the same branch appears more than once.

Worked example: year Wu and hour Wei

Consider a hypothetical female birth on June 15, 1990, at 14:30. The four pillars are Geng-Wu 庚午, Ren-Wu 壬午, Xin-Hai 辛亥, and Yi-Wei 乙未, in year-to-hour order.

Worked example (solar 1990-06-15 14:00, female):

This chart's pattern is 七杀格; the day master is 极弱.

Focus first on the year branch, Wu 午, and the hour branch, Wei 未. Find Wu in the table: its partner is Wei. These two positions therefore form a Liu He relationship. The upper characters, Geng 庚 and Yi 乙, belong to a separate stem relationship discussed below.

The month branch is also Wu 午, so it shares the same lookup partner, Wei 未. Recording positions keeps the repeated Wu visible without turning repeated matches into separate life events. The day branch, Hai 亥, has Yin 寅 as its Liu He partner; Yin is absent from these four natal branches.

A useful reading note is simply: “Year 午 and hour 未 form Liu He; month 午 repeats the same branch.” This preserves both the pair and the chart’s structure.

Other relationships in the same chart

The same characters can participate in different relationship categories. Each category asks a different question, so retain its name rather than treating every connection as Liu He.

• An He 暗合, hidden combination: year Wu 午 and day Hai 亥 have this relationship. Wu’s Liu He partner remains Wei 未; the hidden combination is a distinct connection.
• Gong He 拱合, arching combination: day Hai 亥 and hour Wei 未 form an arch toward Mao 卯. Mao supplies the middle branch of the Hai–Mao–Wei grouping, while the natal chart contains the two outer branches.
• Zi Xing 自刑, self-punishment: year Wu 午 and month Wu 午 form the repeated-Wu relationship. This describes repetition within a particular branch category, rather than a complementary Liu He pair.
• Heavenly Stem combination: year Geng 庚 and hour Yi 乙 form a stem combination. These are the upper characters of the same pillars whose lower characters form Wu–Wei Liu He.

None of these relationships supplies a marriage count or an event count. Their value here is to distinguish the kinds of connection present in one chart.

Interpreting the pair and taking the next step

Recognizing a combination and judging full elemental transformation are separate tasks. A transformation judgment requires broader conditions, including seasonal support and the surrounding chart; identifying a table match establishes the combining relationship.

For interpretation, return to the positions and participants. In this example, keep year 午 and hour 未 in view alongside the repeated month 午 and day 亥. Consider the season, the branches’ hidden stems, and their relationships to the Day Master—the day’s Heavenly Stem. The chart-reading guide explains how these layers fit together, while the Ten Gods glossary explains relationship labels relative to the Day Master.

To practice, use the free BaZi chart: enter your birth date and hour to obtain the four pillars, then compare their Earthly Branches with the six-pair table. Write down each matching pair with its pillar positions. That gives you a clear starting point for understanding Liu He in your own chart.