Making use (and better sense!) of the Useful God of BaZi

When it comes to the practicality of BaZi, a common confusion amongst students and some practitioners is how *exactly* does one make “use” of the Useful God?

With the proliferation of inspirational and empowerment-based New Age BaZi concepts, we can be forgiven for missing the wood for the trees. For example, Betty has determined that the element that would bring crucial balance to her life – her Useful God – is Wood. A New Age practitioner would suggest to Betty to wear green clothing or carry a green handbag (purse, wallet or other accessory of choice) to improve her luck. Suppose the Wood element is also Betty’s wealth element, then the wearing or carrying around of green items would also supposedly improve her “Wealth Luck”! However, is this the most effective or sensible way to use the Useful God?

A crucial step is in understanding the 10 gods of BaZi. Each of the 10 Gods can be categorized into specific actions, behaviour traits and relationships vis-à-vis the person’s Day Master. For example, assume Mark’s Day Master is Jia Wood (ie. Yang Wood). As such, the element of reversed polarity with feeds this Jia Wood is Gui Water which is the 10 God termed “Direct Resource”. Among other things, Direct Resource is formal education, physical comfort, health/well-being and also… represents one’s mother!

If Direct Resource is indeed Mark’s Useful God, then we know that in order for Mark to be successful and happy with his life, he has to ensure he gets a good education, stays well-rested in a comfortable home, takes good care of his health and even… by living with his mother. Despite being branded a “Momma’s Boy”, Mark will indeed benefit by being close to his mother and taking advice from her. This is how we effectively make use of the Useful God…by taking the appropriate action, exhibiting more of a specific character trait or effectively managing a beneficial relationship.

If Mark needs psychological reminders on his Useful God, he can wear blue clothing and the like. He can also paint his bedroom blue – provided Mark likes the colour blue in the first place and feels a personal affinity/liking to this colour. “Momma’s Boy” Mark can even frame a picture of his mother in blue to be placed by his bedside! However, it is wise for Mark (and for all of us BaZi practitioners) to remember that the colour blue (or even the picture of Mark’s mother) by itself has insufficient “qi power” to directly influence the cosmic energies that affect Mark’s fate and destiny.