Cast & Chart

Ox and Dog

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

The traditional relations

  • 三刑 Three Punishments

    Two branches from a punishment group in the old tables. The name is a label, not a forecast.

What tradition says

Within 三刑, the Three Punishments, 丑 points at 戌, and 戌 points onward at 未. 五行大義 explains it with the phrase metal hard and fire strong, each returning to its home: 丑 belongs to the metal group, whose punishment falls in the west, where 戌 lies. 未 would close the loop, and the two branches here are both earth.

Popular zodiac books portray both signs as dutiful and slow to trust, and they warn that two such people can get stuck. Popular charts list them as difficult, though the listing is modern.

One arrow, Ox to Dog, gives this conversation a shape. Ask which of you tends to bring the complaint and which tends to hear it, and whether that ever flips. Two signs known in popular writing for loyalty might also ask what each considers a betrayal, small or large.

The arrow from 丑 to 戌 is a line drawn between calendar branches and carries no charge against any Ox or Dog.

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.