Cast & Chart

Horse and Rooster

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

A quarter of the circle lies between 午 and 酉, and the relation tables leave the pair blank. 午 is yang fire, 酉 is yin metal, and fire melts metal in the overcoming cycle. The Sanming Tonghui does mention them in one breath: neither has a punishing partner within the group of 子, 午, 卯 and 酉. That remark explains why each is self-punishing and creates no relation between them.

On one side of the popular zodiac sits a Horse who improvises, on the other a Rooster who keeps lists. Popular compatibility charts land in the middle or a little below. The list-maker and the improviser are modern character sketches and have no classical source.

Try planning a single day out together with one of you in charge of the timetable and the other allowed to throw out one item. Afterward, compare which parts each of you enjoyed.

A blank in the tables for 午 and 酉 leaves this a comparison of signs, and you two are welcome to ignore the sketches.

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.