Link From: http://treybazi.blogspot.com/2014/11/bazi-brief-introduction-to-10-gods.html

In the classical books, the 10 Gods are divided into 2 groups.

The first group is benevolent Gods. They are

1. 正官 ZhengGuan – Literally the True Officer, or commonly known as Direct Officer. DO is the leader of the 10 Gods. If a chart is of DO structure, DO must be protected at all costs, DO must not be injured, clashed, harmed, punished etc. DO must not see 7K, under normal circumstanes.

In ancient times, DO denotes one’s position in society, authority, nobility and salary.

2. 正财 and 偏财 – ZhengCai and PianCai – Literally ‘True Wealth’ /and ‘Unconventional Wealth’ , or commonly called Direct Wealth and Indirect Wealth, is often considered second to Direct Officer. Wealth is one element that disregard polarity. Somehow Indirect Wealth is considered the more powerful of the 2. However they are different in subtle ways.

Wealth represents…. Wife, Wealth and properties, things that belong to you.

3. 食神 ShiShen, literally Food God or commonly known as Eating God, is a powerful benevolent deity. As it is the ‘offspring of the DM’ it acts to protect the DM and brings Wealth to the DM. A powerful Food God is just as auspicious as Wealth and Officer.

Food represents – Food and Clothing, longevity, to have offspring, carefree, blessings.

4. 正印 ZhengYin, literally the True Seal, or most commonly known as Direct Resource, is another benevolent deity. Seals are marked of authority back in ancient China, it’s a personal stamp used by the court officers, without a Seal, the Officer cannot prove his authority. It’s often associated with 秀气，the Qi of elegance.

Seals represents intelligence, wisdom, compassion, kindness, health, integrity, protection and together with Direct Officer, it denotes high authority.

So, these deities represent the things we need and desire in life.

DM — > Food –> Wealth –> Status / Power –> Elegance, Higher Power and Protection.

The other group is made of malevolent gods:

1. 七杀， 7th Killing or originally 七煞 7th Devil, (or malevolent spirit) so named as it is the 7th deity, for example, Geng is the 7th HS after Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding etc. In classical texts, it is mostly referred to as 煞 Devil (or malevolent spirit). 7K is the most dangerous of the malevolent deities and it functions to counter DM. Emphasis is placed on 7K before the analysis of Useful God.

7K can be turned to become auspicious with the presence of Food or Seal, its benevolent form is named 偏官， Untrue Officer or unconventional Officer, commonly known as Indirect Officer, which functions are the same as Direct Officer but signify the 武 ‘martial’ ways, as opposed to Direct Officer which signify the 文 ‘scholar’ ways.

7K represents calamity, injuries, misfortune, malevolence, disrespect, lawlessness.

2. 伤官 ShangGuan， Literally Injuring Officer or Hurting Officer, is named so as it injures or hurts the Direct Officer star, it is the 7K of the Direct Officer star. Although HO is often regarded as a malevolent spirit, it is also the offspring of DM, so it belongs to the DM and it works to generate Wealth for the DM.

Hurting Officer represents intelligence, skills, arts, talents, scholarship, pride, ego, evil thoughts, clumsiness, etc depending on the dynamics.

3. 枭神 XiaoShen， Literally ‘Owl God’, is commonly known as Indirect Seal. According to the classical texts, Indirect Seal is the benevolent form of the Owl God. The Owl God is so named because it seizes Food, 枭神夺食。 It counters Food (Eating God). As Food is a greatly auspicious deity, the Owl is considered inauspicious. Owl God works to take away one’s blessings and lifespan.

It is also called 倒食 DaoShi， Literally ‘Pour Away the Food’, or ‘Disposing Food’ due to it’s nature to counter Food God.

However, if Food is not used within the chart, the Owl God works as an Indirect Seal. It functions the way Direct Seal does, but unlike Direct Seal which favors weak DM, Indirect Seal favors a strong DM.

Owl God denotes: greed, gluttony, restraint, lack of blessings, short life, loneliness, procrastination, unsuccessful endeavors.

4. 阳刃 YangRen, literally the ‘blade of Yang (as in YinYang), is Rob Wealth at its extreme. A deity for only the Yang DM – Jia, Bing, Wu, Geng, Ren. Is traditionally regarded as a malevolent spirit. For example Jia has YangRen in Mao. Mao clashes with the Direct Officer You EB and Yi inside Mao could rob DM’s Wealth, also Yi combines with 7K. So YR works to clash the DM’s Direct Officer, robs DM’s Wealth and save 7K. By countering all the benevolent deities saving the bad deity, YR is considered extremely inauspicious.

Although malevolent by nature, YangRen could turn auspicious under certain circumstances.

YangRen denotes: strong-willed, high ambitions, cruelty, violence, chronic illness etc.

The malevolent deities can become auspicious when they are ‘used’ properly, ‘use’ means having the right dynamics among the deities. Please refer to the Useful God chapters for more information.