I’m interested in writing out some of my observations about the 60 day pillars in bazi. Since there are 60, this will take me some time. Might as well start now. The first pillar that I will start with will be the first pillar in the sexagenary calendar system: Jia Zi or Wood Rat.

I know a couple people who are Wood Rat or Jia Zi day pillar. One of those people is my paternal grandpa or my yeye.

I think that the tragedy of my yeye is that he started to do deaf very early in life. For decades now, he can’t hear a thing. Paired with an old man’s temperament, deafness has isolated him completely. He reads every moment of his waking life but he never talks to a soul. The reason why deafness is a tragedy for someone with a Rat day pillar is because Rat mostly relies on its powers of observation. Rats have big ears for a reason.

My yeye has always been a quiet and unobtrusive personality. His dad, a Chinese doctor, taught him how to read people’s pulses and sent him away to work as an herbalist's apprentice when he hit puberty. Mostly, he learned about exact measurements, plants, and medicine. I like to think that he learned how to read people just as well. When you’re around him, you get the sense that you can never quite figure out what he is thinking.

In my view, Wood Rat day pillar is someone who never appears to try and force their opinions on other people. Of course, this makes them incredibly persuasive. You can barely perceive them but they perceive all of you. They don’t make a sound when they do. A Wood Rat person has a way of finding out all of your secrets the way a Rat finds all of the holes in a building.

I have a couple of Wood Rat friends too. I think that they usually give me the best recs for books. Rats are always listening, always thinking, and always reading. However, Wood Rat people always give me the impression that no one really knows what they are thinking.

It’s interesting. Jia Wood is the leader of the ten heavenly stems and Rat is the leader of the twelve earthly branches. You know the election arc in Hunter X Hunter where Pariston is able to control a mass election because he trusts the hidden motivations and mysteries of other people? That’s Rat. They are able to control social situations because they trust what is hidden and what is out of their control. Rat is a General Star for a reason.

Wood Rat is Jia Wood sitting on top of its Direct Resource or mother spirit. This is a scholarly person, someone who is a big reader and interested in the advice of older people. They visit their elders. They receive and accept guidance. They seek out mentorship and they are smart in a way that earns them academic success.

I’ve noticed that Wood Rat doesn’t say much. They are also soft spoken. However, when they do talk, they have a way of making people listen.

So, a natural leader. Not in the way of being bombastic or overly confident. In a quiet way instead, the type of leader who you don’t notice that you’re leaning on because they don’t feel the need to make their presence known every moment of everyday. The type of person who you look to as a north star even when they're not in the room. The type of individual who you think about because you trust their advice, because they work from a place of wisdom.

Wood Rat doesn’t say much. When they do speak, they make it count because they observe ten times more than they express.

I think that Wood Rat is interesting because they’re not actually right most of the time or beholden to the idea of seeing themselves be right. Instead of making declarative statements, Wood Rat is good at asking open ended questions. Maybe the reason why people feel compelled to listen when they speak is because they say things that ask for further engagement from everyone else in the room. If Wood Rat does say what is actually on their mind, they actually get a lot of negative feedback or disagreement.

Wood Rat is the first pillar in the sixty pillar timing system. That means that it leads with ideas. Wood Rat is often ahead of everyone else. They appear eccentric in the time that they are in until everyone else catches up to them.

These people are actually incredibly stubborn. Once they believe something, they will never allow anyone to change their minds. They’re always unsure internally and they will change their minds if they feel that they initiate it but they never allow outside influence to move them in a particular direction. They feel that they don’t need to be right but that they are more forward thinking than everyone else. Getting into an intellectual debate with a Wood Rat will frustrate you and tire you out. They almost always win.

In a nutshell, this day pillar has big nerd energy. They are leaders but you don’t notice yourself following. They are impossible to argue with. They are attracted to new ideas. They are quiet but, when they speak, everyone listens.