geng-shen day pillar

庚申 places yang metal on 申, the Monkey, a metal branch whose first hidden stem is 庚 again. The Friend appears with 壬, the Eating God, and 戊, Indirect Resource. 三命通會 gives 庚 twenty days of the month and calls the earth portion 坤土, by its direction.

A flower grows out of all this metal: 榴花, pomegranate blossom, in 三命通會 卷一, under the 納音 Pomegranate Wood. The entry says 喜夏，不宜秋冬, it likes summer and does poorly in autumn and winter. 申 opens autumn in the branch calendar, so by that remark the blossom is out of season in its own seat.

For 庚 the branch 申 holds the stage of Officer, 臨官, fourth from its Growth at 巳. It is the rung below Emperor.