Birth (長生) in the Twelve Life Stages
Learn what Birth means in the Twelve Life Stages, its ten stem–branch positions, and why 長生 is a qi-stage label rather than a life forecast.
Overview
Birth is the workbook English name for 長生, the first position in the Twelve Life Stages. It marks the start of the repeating stem–branch qi sequence: 甲亥、乙午、丙寅、丁酉、戊寅、己酉、庚巳、辛子、壬申、癸卯 under OpenFate’s yang-forward, yin-reverse convention. The engine uses the Day Stem against all four branches for Star Fortune and each pillar stem against its own branch for Sitting Stage. 長生 does not prove birth, pregnancy, youth, health, growth or good fortune.
At a glance
- Cycle position
- 1 of 12, after Nurture and before Bathing
- Yang-stem positions
- 甲亥、丙寅、戊寅、庚巳、壬申
- Yin-stem positions
- 乙午、丁酉、己酉、辛子、癸卯
- OpenFate display class
- Strong secondary stage tag
- Calculation inputs
- One reference stem and one target branch
- Boundary
- Not literal birth, pregnancy or guaranteed growth
Birth begins the named sequence but follows Nurture in the cycle
Classical sources compare 長生 with qi first becoming manifest. Because the twelve labels repeat without an endpoint, it is stage one for listing purposes while still following 養 from the preceding turn.
The metaphor describes a stem’s condition at a branch. It does not say that the native or the topic represented by a pillar is literally being born.
- Read 長生 as a cyclical position.
- Keep the metaphor separate from biological events.
Use the reference stem before selecting the Birth branch
OpenFate returns 長生 at 甲亥、乙午、丙寅、丁酉、戊寅、己酉、庚巳、辛子、壬申 and 癸卯. Yang stems advance through the branches; yin stems move in reverse from their own starting point.
A branch such as 亥 is therefore not “Birth” by itself. It is Birth for 甲 under this convention, while another stem reaches a different stage there.
- Name both stem and branch in every lookup.
- Do not assign one permanent stage to a branch.
OpenFate separates Star Fortune from Sitting Stage
For Star Fortune, the Day Stem is the reference and the year, month, day and hour branches are targets. For Sitting Stage, each pillar’s own stem is checked against the branch below it.
The current strong tag is a secondary display classification. Month command, roots, hidden stems, combinations and clashes remain separate evidence and can support a different whole-chart conclusion.
- Identify whether the result is Star Fortune or Sitting Stage.
- Do not replace the strength model with one stage tag.
Birth is not a promise of health, fertility or success
長生 cannot prove vitality, youthfulness, pregnancy, safe childbirth, a new career, business growth, protection, wealth or longevity. Those are later associations, not deterministic outputs of the lookup.
Medical, reproductive, employment and financial decisions require current evidence and qualified advice. Use this page only to understand a documented chart relation.
- No fertility, health or lifespan prediction.
- No career or investment decision from 長生 alone.
Sources and editorial basis
- 《御定星曆考原》卷一《御定星曆考原》卷一「五行用事」列五行寄生十二宮，長生居循環首位並接續養位A historical source for stem and branch Yin-Yang, Five Phase, direction, seasonal, and calendrical correspondences.
- 《三命通會》 (Sanming Tonghui)《三命通會》卷二論五行寄生十二宮：列長生為十二階段之首，並以長生、沐浴、冠帶、臨官、帝旺至養循環不息A historical compilation covering stems and branches, Ten Gods, Nayin, Shen Sha, and multiple classical pattern systems.
- OpenFate Editorial Methodology產品規則表以甲亥、乙午、丙戊寅、丁己酉、庚巳、辛子、壬申、癸卯為長生起支，陽干順行、陰干逆行；星運與自坐分開，且不把長生作生育、壽命、健康、創業或吉凶保證OpenFate separates deterministic chart calculation, traditional interpretation, and modern editorial explanation.