Wù

Fifth in the ten, 戊 (Wù) is yang earth and the first stem of the middle element. 三命通會 卷二 says it gathers at the center and spreads to the four corners, fog in the sky and mountain on the ground. Agreement ends at the mountain, because the books differ over what kind of earth this is. 淵海子平 likens it to city walls and river banks, and the commentary in 滴天髓 says it is hill country and specifically no city wall.

The quotation stops where this copy of the verse has a corrupt character in its next line. What it keeps is a rhythm of closing and opening: in spring and summer, the commentary says, the breath opens and brings things to life, and in autumn and winter it closes and brings them to completion. That yearly work is the reason given for the title 司命. The last line, 若在坤艮，怕沖宜靜, warns that at 寅 or 申 this earth dreads a clash and prefers stillness, because the two branches knock each other's roots loose.

Read as a day master, 戊 takes 甲 as Seven Killings and 乙 as Direct Officer, and the verse's interest in branches means the seat under it gets looked at early. Its life stages are the least settled of the yang stems. This site follows the stem paragraphs of 三命通會 卷二 and begins 戊 at 寅, riding with fire, while other chapters of the same book begin it at 申 with water. Changing that convention moves the stage at every branch and leaves the four pillars alone.