Stage 3 · Term 28 of 34
Six Clashes 六冲
Liù Chōng
Six pairs of directly opposed branches: 子午, 丑未, 寅申, 卯酉, 辰戌, 巳亥. Clashes destabilise, separate, or — for the storage branches — "open" what a branch holds. Disruptive, but classical texts treat some clashes as productive release, not pure misfortune.
In the classics
The six oppositions (子午, 丑未, 寅申, 卯酉, 辰戌, 巳亥) pit each branch against the one directly across the cycle — season against season, direction against direction. The classics treat clash gravely but not simplistically: storage-branch clashes (辰戌, 丑未) are also the classical mechanism for opening what a storehouse holds.
In a chart
A clash destabilises whatever the two branches carry: palaces shake (a clashed spouse palace is a classical marriage-turbulence signal), roots weaken (a Day Master rooted in a clashed branch loses footing exactly when it needs it), and hidden stems spill. Timing reads run on clashes — the annual branch clashing your day branch is a personal 犯太岁-class year. Yet the same mechanism releases: a needed element sealed in a storehouse may only become available the year its storage is clashed open. Disruption and release are one operation viewed from two sides.
Worked example
寅申 clash: spring wood against autumn metal. For a Day Master rooted in 寅, an 申 year strikes at the root — plans built on that root's steadiness deserve their annual review early.
Where beginners misread it
Reading every clash as disaster. The classics' own storage-opening doctrine makes some clashes the most productive event a stuck chart can receive.
The classical rules here are public; the lineage method for applying them to a specific chart is taught, not read — see Yixin Academy's courses.
learnwithyixin.com/courses →What does Six Clashes mean in BaZi?
Six pairs of directly opposed branches: 子午, 丑未, 寅申, 卯酉, 辰戌, 巳亥. Clashes destabilise, separate, or — for the storage branches — "open" what a branch holds. Disruptive, but classical texts treat some clashes as productive release, not pure misfortune.