Ox in Love

The folk reading gives the ox constancy in relationships, and pairs it with the rat, snake and rooster. Compatibility pairings follow the branch relationships; the animal characterisations describe how the type is said to behave.

It is one factor among several in the traditional system. The folk reading gives the ox constancy in relationships, and pairs it with the rat, snake and rooster. The year animal is the coarsest of the four pillars — the month, day and hour carry equal weight, and the classical sources never read the year alone. The tradition states both harmonious and clashing pairs as descriptions of relationship dynamics rather than as judgements about them.

The branch scheme, not the animal, is what produces the pairings — the ox's harmonious partners are determined by the branch it carries. It is grouped under Earth (土) in the five-element system.