In a Ba Zi, the relationship between the Tiger, Snake and Monkey is called a Fire Penalty. Sometimes you will hear it called the Penalty of Ingratitude.

Each player involved in this three way relationship has the potential to assist and the potential to destroy. Which will it be? As always, choice is a factor, but when events suddenly accelerate we might make bad decisions. That’s the nature of Fire. We feel like we only have a short window to act; it’s pressing.

The experience of the Fire Penalty can carry with it feelings of hate, worry, and dislike, or we might feel we are perceived as hateful, hysterical or unlikeable. The Fire Penalty is sometimes accompanied by anxiety or panic attacks. It can give people a feeling of being cast adrift, so you may find many people in cult-like environments have the Fire Penalty. They are attracted by the rare opportunity to belong.

Sometimes the Fire Penalty manifests as people passing the buck of responsibility, often by way of blame or accusation. The Fire Penalty involves triangular situations. There are three parties involved but they may not always be aware of that at first. You see, this penalty can be best understood by way of the hidden Heavenly Stems within the Earthly Branches of the Tiger, Snake and Monkey. With the Fire Penalty there’s a lot to unpack. That’s technical stuff – the kind of stuff I teach in my Foundations of Ba Zi class so I won’t go into it here.

The Tiger, Snake and Monkey, along with the Pig, make up the four Earthly Branches that begin each season. Tiger month begins spring. Snake month begins summer. Monkey month begins autumn. Pig month begins winter.

I mention this because I think the Fire Penalty is actually seasonal. I think it covers a whole season of a year. The Fire Penalty is almost always present, but the noticeable manifestations of the Fire Penalty arrive in Tiger, Snake or Monkey years. In those years, we notice the penalty more in Tiger, Snake or Monkey months or on Tiger, Snake or Monkey days. The year adds a certain emphasis.

In a Tiger year, the Snake and Monkey branches are at a slight disadvantage because the Tiger is in charge. Remember, in the destructive cycle of elements, Metal can conquer Wood. A Tiger year is probably not as bad for a Monkey as a Monkey year is for a Tiger if you get my meaning. But don’t take that as a rule. Every chart is different.

When you study Ba Zi, you begin by learning lots of rules just to get a toehold. Once you start to climb, you learn how they actually apply. Context is everything, which is why general questions about Ba Zi are often met with the answer “it depends”. Apply your question to a chart and I can give an answer.

Elementally speaking, when the Tiger, Snake and Monkey come together there’s a big burst of Fire, hence the name. In a Tiger, Snake or Monkey year, naturally there are more days where this will happen.

If Fire is not a helpful element, we might associate the penalty with health issues involving inflammation, heart or liver, travel accidents, injury or actual fire. If Fire is a helpful element, we might associate it with becoming famous, powerful or successful, as is the case with Stevie Wonder.

Stevland Hardaway Morris, now known as Stevie Wonder, was born 6 weeks premature on May 13, 1950. The machine that was used to help him breathe was the mechanism that led to his blindness. This is still a risk for premature babies who require assistance to breathe.

When my daughter was born 8 weeks premature in 1998 (Earth Tiger year) and was in the NICU for 3 months, they called that particular machine used for preemies “the oscillator”. The air pressure is lower than the standard ventilator, so it lowers the risk of blowing a hole in the fragile lungs of an intubated infant, but the vibration of the oscillator may abort development of the retina and cause it to detach, leading to blindness. For better or worse, there are choices in life that are too difficult to make unless they are rushed.

Stevie Wonder
b. May 13, 1950 at 16:15

Hour	Day	Month	Year
Yang Metal	Yang Earth	Yin Metal	Yang Metal
庚	戊	辛	庚
申	申	巳	寅
Monkey	Monkey	Snake	Tiger

We can see in Stevie’s chart that he has all three branches that make up the Fire Penalty: Tiger, Snake and Monkey. The order in which they appear in the natal chart is significant too because it supports the strength of the Fire.

This Ba Zi consists mostly of Metal while Stevie is a yang Earth day master. Fire is his resource, his fans and his supporters. Fire is his mother.

Wood is related to the eyes and in this chart it is void and very weak. In this Ba Zi, Wood will sometimes be cut by Metal, one possible outcome being his retinas are damaged by the oscillator.* Another possible outcome is that Wood combines with Metal, meaning that Wood is no longer functional as Wood.

Another way to look at Wood is that it is his challenge element, and he has very little. His challenge is that he cannot see. That may be his advantage too.

Stevie is not the most disciplined guy, especially in the romance department. Maybe this was an issue for his father too. With all of Stevie’s creativity, he is probably not that concerned about self control. In his Ba Zi, the Fire and Metal are hard on the Wood. We can look to the Tiger in this chart, isolated and seemingly useless, as representing his father. I imagine Stevie is motivated in some ways by his father’s non-presence.

Metal is Stevie’s output, his music and singing. It’s in every pillar! Output isn’t always indicative of children for a man but here I think it is. The Metal element in this chart is at the birth stage which means it has lots of room to grow. It also tells us he can explore and produce different styles of music successfully.

With so much Metal in his Ba Zi, Fire is a helpful element. It makes the Metal useful. The Fire Penalty helps him to become famous and rich. Fire gives him vision, ideas and optimism.

Stevie is currently in the Big Fate (10 year luck cycle) of Earth Rat so now he is in Water luck. He had a kidney transplant in 2019, a reminder that even if an element is good for you, it can wear on health in the longterm. What I mean is, the Fire that helps his career wears out the Water (kidney health). Aging is what exposes the problem. Stevie’s conception pillar shows that his Water element is vulnerable.

Since his Big Fate before this one was Fire Pig, Stevie’s kidney problems were probably already beginning in his mid to late 50s. The Pig is considered to be the solution for the Fire Penalty, but Fire is good for him so the Pig is not helpful. Water attacks his resource (health) which is Fire.

This current 10 years of Earth Rat Stevie is going through is a little worrisome, creating Water combinations in the chart this year and next year. The luck cycle ends in 2028, which is an Earth Monkey year but before that comes, we’ll see the Wood Dragon of 2024. I’m not interested in forecasting what that might mean, but I wish him well and hope that he will continue to make music for years to come.

*Interesting to note, the oscillator is Metal, dealing with a Metal function: breathing.