Zodiac Compatibility
Compatibility score and relationship reading from your two Chinese zodiac animals.
Weighs traditional relations like the three/six harmonies and clashes between two Chinese zodiac signs to show a compatibility score and reading. Set the twelve branches in a circle: the three standing four places apart form a triple harmony, while the pair six places apart, facing one another, form a clash. The six harmonies are pairings such as Rat with Ox or Tiger with Pig, and the "harm" relations mark positions that grate. When a marriage was being discussed, matching the animal signs came before anyone opened the full chart. Only the year branch is compared here, so treat it as the first gate rather than the whole reading.
How it works
Choose both zodiac animals and the twelve branches decide the match. The three-harmony and six-harmony pairs have long been read as the ones that suit each other, while clash and harm pairs are the ones that grate.
What you'll get
You see the relationship between the two animals with a score and grade, how love tends to run there, and what working together and handling money looks like.
The branch behind the animal name
What decides compatibility is not the animal but the position in the twelve branches. The twelve seats came first, and the rat, the ox, the tiger and the rabbit were names attached afterwards to make them easy to remember. So talk of cats and rats not getting along has nothing to do with this reading, and the relation turns solely on where the two seats fall on the circle. Guessing from a picture of the animals together is more likely to lead you astray than not.
How a triangle forms one element
Set the twelve branches in a circle and skip four at a time, and three seats bind into an equilateral triangle. Those three gathered are held to form a single element, which is what the triangle grouping means. Monkey, rat and dragon together make the force of water; tiger, horse and dog together make the force of fire. The grouping therefore does not simply say that two people get along, but that force gathers in one direction when the three are present, which is why it is read as the grain of undertaking something together.
Two people of the same sign
Sharing a sign means being the same age or twelve years apart. Understanding comes quickly and conversation runs easily, but strengths and weak spots overlap so that neither can readily fill in for the other, which is why the score lands in the middle. The same age means passing through the same season at the same pace and tiring together; twelve years apart means the same grain standing in different places, which often meshes rather well. Even within one sign, the difference in age changes the texture.
Samjae and sign compatibility are separate
Samjae describes a stretch that one person passes through, while sign compatibility describes what lies between two people. Both draw on the twelve branches, which makes them easy to confuse, but they are not to be read over each other. A samjae year does not lower a compatibility score, and a good score does not steer samjae aside. Hearing both at once before a marriage discussion only makes the decision heavier, so separate out what each one is looking at first.
Do not choose people by their sign
Any one sign covers hundreds of millions of people worldwide. That many cannot possibly suit one person alike or fail to suit them alike. There were times when a marriage discussion really did collapse because a sign was said to be wrong, which in hindsight amounts to losing someone for no reason at all. Do not decide whether to meet somebody by their sign; if you are already together, using it to talk over where you tend to rub against each other is about the right measure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a clash pairing mean we will break up?
No. It only means friction comes easily. Many such pairs last well once each side knows the other runs at a different speed.
Can the zodiac animal tell the whole story?
It reads one branch out of the whole chart. For a fuller picture, try Saju compatibility, which builds both charts in full.
When does one zodiac year end and the next begin?
This page has you choose the signs directly. Note, though, that the boundary is the lunar new year (or the start of spring), not January 1st, so a birthday early in the year may belong to the previous animal.
What is the difference between the triangle and the six harmonies?
The triangle is three signs forming one energy together; the six harmonies pair two signs. Both are read as good matches, but the triangle leans toward working on something together, the harmony toward being close day to day.