Reading the chart
The ten gods (十神, shi shen) are not deities. They are the ten possible relationships between your day master and any other heavenly stem in the chart — a vocabulary of modes: how you relate to peers, resources, expression, pressure and possession.
They group into five pairs. Companions (Friend, Rival) are stems of your own element: self-strength and competition. Outputs (Eating God, Hurting Officer) are what you produce: easy creativity and sharp critique. Wealths (Direct, Indirect) are what you grasp and manage. Officers (Direct, Seven Killings) are what disciplines you: duty and pressure. Resources (Direct, Indirect) are what feeds you: tradition and the unconventional.
In each pair, one is yin-relative and one yang-relative to your day master — that is the whole difference between "direct" and "indirect". The pattern matters more than the naming: an Eating God makes by savoring; a Hurting Officer makes by challenging; a Direct Resource trusts lineage; an Indirect Resource trusts hunches.
Read ten gods as recurring modes of attention, not as events. Where they cluster in a chart — year for origins, month for career and family, day for self and spouse, hour for projects and later life — they describe where those modes naturally show up.