Harms (Hai) 害

Hai, sometimes called Liu Hai or the six piercings, pairs Zi with Wei, Chou with Wu, Yin with Si, Mao with Chen, Shen with Hai and You with Xu. The table is generated from the other two: a branch harms the partner that its own clash-branch has combined with, so harm is what happens when a harmony is interfered with from outside.

Harm is the mildest of the four negative relationships and the most socially specific. The texts describe it as small betrayals, gossip, favours that cost more than expected and problems arriving through third parties — friction that never becomes an argument. In scoring systems it carries a smaller penalty than clash, and on its own it rarely moves a pair out of the workable range.

Harm appears in the compatibility rule tables and in the month-by-month ratings on the yearly sign pages, where a harm month is flagged as a caution rather than a warning.

• See harm applied to a pair
• Harm in a yearly reading