Seven Killings

七殺 means seven killings, and the seven is arithmetic. Count from 甲 to 庚, including both ends, and the controlling stem sits seventh in line, which 三命通會 卷五 gives as the reason for the number. To find it, look for the element that overcomes the day master in the same polarity: 丁, yin fire, is overcome by water, so yin 癸 is its Seven Killings. The killing is the controlling relation of the elements.

Two books draw the line between its two names in two places. 三命通會 卷五 says it is 偏官 when restrained and 七煞 when not, whereas 淵海子平 says 偏官 when the self is strong and has breath, and 七杀 when the self is weak and nothing restrains it. The calculator sets that argument aside and prints Seven Killings for every same-polarity controller, since it does not judge restraint or strength. 三命通會 also explains why the pairing is uneasy: two of one polarity are like two men or two women who, in its words, cannot form a couple.

A frightening name does not settle the verdict in these books. 淵海子平 says outright that having this stem should not be called bad at once, and, where the self is strong and the stem is combined, even ranks it above a Direct Officer for great wealth and rank, while 三命通會 卷五 prefers the Officer. 三命通會 pictures a rough character kept in check by rules and borrowed to guard an honorable man. Popular modern writing talks about pressure and ambition under this name, a newer way to speak of it.