Jia

First of the ten stems, and what it takes its character from is the moment a seed splits its shell and pushes up through packed soil. It points at the head of things — the leader, the elder, the one whose word settles the matter — and equally at the best single item in any group of them. Vigorous, straight-grained, and built to carry weight.

• People and positions: the chairman, the manager, the head of the plant, the general — anyone whose name is on the decision, and anyone with a reputation attached to it.
• The best of its kind: the premium version, the brand name, the top grade. The rule holds all the way down — in a pile of junk, Jia is still the best piece of junk in the pile.
• Shape and temperament: upright, strong, blunt-spoken, unwilling to bend — a tree that has grown all the way into timber.
• Jia never takes a cell of its own, so both of its readings arrive through the Chief (值符) — the Chief standing on the heaven plate marks who is in charge at present and where they are steering the matter, and the Chief standing on the earth plate marks the record behind that person and the authority actually holding them up.

Jia is the one stem you cannot find on the chart itself. It never takes a cell of its own — the Chief stands in for it, and that hiding of Jia is exactly what gives Qi Men Dun Jia the last two words of its name. So reading Jia in practice means reading wherever the Chief has landed.

Nature

There is an upward push in the person involved that never really switches off — principle, direction, and a firm sense of what is right. Delay and disorder are physically uncomfortable to sit inside, and an idea that arrives in the morning wants to be moving by the afternoon. The manner reads as forceful; underneath it, the question that actually matters is whether the thing is worth doing at all.

Style

Direct. If the road is blocked the person involved cuts a new one, and tends to bring the whole group along while doing it. Responsibility in plain view is never stepped around, and only two arguments land: efficiency and results. When conditions are wrong they will more often push straight through than stop and wait for better ones.

Strength

Starting things, and knowing which way they should point. The person involved can impose order on a mess quickly, which is how they end up at the centre of a group without ever campaigning for it. Best used as the one who decides — and the earlier real weight gets put on them, the further they grow into it.

Impression

Upright, dependable, visibly carrying something. The person involved takes up space in a room and is usually treated as the load-bearing member of it. Not smooth, not diplomatic, and yet people are steadier for having them there.

Pitfall

One way of doing things hardens into the only way, and resistance gets met head-on because bending is not in the repertoire. Showing weakness is not something the person involved is willing to do, so pressure goes inward and stays there. The feelings of everyone else get filed under later, and the friction that follows arrives long before anybody thinks to name it.

In a building, Jia is whatever holds the thing up — rigid, upright, load-bearing: the main beam, the thick columns, a timber ceiling, and furniture heavy enough that moving it is a project.

• Objects: large trees, columns, door frames, wooden furniture, books, walking sticks, staves and bamboo — and also gold, jade, jewellery and antiques.
• Buildings and places: tall structures, government offices and executive suites, the homes of well-known people, and high commanding ground.
• Indoors, read the main beam, the timber ceiling and the heavy furniture; outdoors, Jia bears on the siting and orientation of a grave.

The objects Jia collects look unrelated — a roof beam and a jade pendant have nothing in common as materials. What they share is the other quality: valuable, and weighty enough to matter.