Cast & Chart

Rat and Horse

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

The traditional relations

  • 六沖 Six Clashes

    Two branches that sit opposite each other on the circle of twelve.

What tradition says

六沖, the Six Clashes, joins branches directly across the circle, and 子 and 午 are the example the books reach for first. 三命通會 counts seven places from one to the other, inclusive, and names this very pair. A clash is a meeting head-on, and here it sets north against south and water against fire.

Popular zodiac books often present the Rat and the Horse as a classic mismatch of careful planning and love of freedom. 論衡 has a livelier objection on record: if water beats fire, it asks, why does the rat not chase the horse? The question is a reminder that taking the animals literally was already open to challenge in the Eastern Han.

Opposite seats see the same table from different sides, so try describing one shared decision from each seat. One of you might say what risk you are watching for. The other might say what you are afraid of losing if the answer is to stay put.

Calling 子 and 午 a clash describes where two branches stand, and two people born in those years can stand wherever they like.

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.