Cast & Chart

Dragon and Snake

These are traditional rules about the twelve signs. No chart decides a relationship.

The traditional relations

  • 無 No listed relation

    None of the classical relations apply to this pair.

What tradition says

The classical tables in our sources list no relation between 辰 and 巳. They are next-door neighbors, fifth and sixth on the circle, and the Wuxing Dayi's month list places them in the third and fourth months. 辰 is earth and yang, 巳 is fire and yin, and since fire makes earth, the element cycle runs from the Snake toward the Dragon.

Display and reserve is the usual theme in popular zodiac books, with the Dragon out front and the Snake observing from the side. Because the animals look related, popular writers also like to call them cousins. That kinship is a flourish with no backing in the tables.

Neighbors on the circle, these two signs could talk about who supplies warmth and who supplies structure. When a plan goes well between you, who got it moving and who gave it a shape? The answer may switch from one plan to the next.

With nothing listed for 辰 and 巳, any claim about a Dragon and a Snake together is somebody's opinion about signs and says nothing firm about you two.

Where this text comes from

The relation tables follow 五行大義 volume 2 and 三命通會 volumes 2 and 3 on Wikisource. The popular readings are modern and come from neither.

The English here is our own plain wording, not a translation of a single source.