The twelve life stages
Think of a plant through the year. It sprouts, gets washed by the first rains, grows up, reaches its fullest, slows down, goes quiet, rests in the ground, and starts again as a seed. The tradition uses this same circle to describe how comfortable a stem is in each of the twelve branches. These are the twelve stages (十二長生, shí' ).
The circle, in order
- Birth (長生): the first sprout.
- Cleansing (沐浴): a young plant in the rain, fresh and a little exposed.
- Maturing (冠帶): getting dressed to go out, like a young adult.
- Prime (臨官): grown up and ready for real work.
- Peak (帝旺): the fullest point, high summer.
- Easing (衰): just past the top. Still strong, in less of a hurry.
- Slowing (病): the energy starts turning inward.
- Stillness (死): the plant goes quiet above ground.
- Rest (墓): stored away, like grain in a barn.
- Reset (絕): a clean slate between one cycle and the next.
- Seed (胎): a new start begins to form.
- Nurture (養): fed and protected, getting ready to sprout.
Then the circle starts again at Birth.
Why the names are gentle
The classical names sound much darker. Some of them translate as "sickness", "death" or "tomb". The app uses softer words on purpose, because they describe a plant's season, not your health or your life. Stillness isn't an ending, and Rest isn't a loss. You'll still see the original character beside each name, so you can look it up if you're curious.
Where you'll see it
Tap any pillar on the Chart tab. Under "Stage", the app shows your Day Master's stage in that pillar's branch, like "Peak (帝旺)". The full reading shows the same thing under each of your four pillars.
The one people look at most is the Day pillar: how your Day Master feels on the branch it sits on. Some day texts mention it too.
Each stem has its own starting point
The circle isn't the same for every stem. Each one has its Birth in a different branch. 甲, Yang Wood, has its Birth in the Pig (亥) and its Peak in the Rabbit (卯), the heart of spring. That makes sense: a tree is at its fullest in spring.
Yang stems walk the circle forward through the animals. Yin stems walk it backward. So 乙, Yin Wood, has its Birth in the Horse (午) and its Peak in the Tiger (寅). Not every school agrees on how Yin stems move. The app follows this traditional version, in which they move backward.
How to read it
- Prime and Peak: the stem stands firm there, like a plant in its best season.
- Seed, Nurture, Birth, Cleansing and Maturing: growing, protected, still finding its feet.
- Easing, Slowing, Stillness, Rest and Reset: quieter places, where the stem tends to lean more on help from the rest of the chart.
A quiet stage isn't a bad sign. A bulb in winter isn't failing. It just isn't summer yet, and much of its best work happens underground.
A detail, not the whole story
The stages are one small piece of the chart. The app's strength gauge doesn't use them. It looks at how much of the whole chart backs your element. Think of the stages as a traditional touch of color: a picture of how much at home a stem feels in a given place, and a reminder that every season comes around again.