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At times around the Chinese New Year each year, it is very common for you to hear some discussions about the 12 Chinese Zodiacs (十二生肖). For instance, which Zodiacs are having conflicts with the Presiding God (太歲), and which Zodiacs are in union with the Presiding God. So, what is the meaning of having conflicts with the Presiding God? What will happen if having conflicts with the Presiding God? What about the meaning of in union with the Presiding God? What is the benefit of being in union with the Presiding God?
12 Earthly Branches (十二地支)
Before discussing the meaning of having conflicts with the Presiding God, we need to have a basic understanding of the 12 Earthly Branches (十二地支) and the interactions between the Earthly Branches including offending (伏刑), conflicting (相沖), torturing (相刑), harming/poking (相害/穿), breaking (相破) and in union (相合). The 12 Earthly Branches (子Zi, 丑Chou, 寅Yin, 卯Mao, 辰Chen, 巳Si, 午Wu, 未Wei, 申Shen, 酉You, 戌Xu, 亥Hai) is a system in Ancient China to record numbers. It represents a set of numbers from one to twelve written in Chinese words. Other than its numerical meaning, the 12 Earthly Branches represent a wide range of information including: direction (East, South, West, North); months (January to December); time; Yang (陽) Yin (陰); five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water); and four seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter).
12 Zodiacs (十二生肖)
However, the 12 Earthly Branches do not represent the 12 Zodiacs (十二生肖). Instead, the 12 Zodiacs (Rat鼠, Ox牛, Tiger虎, Rabbit兔, Dragon龍, Snake蛇, Horse馬, Goat羊, Monkey猴, Rooster雞, Dog狗, Pig豬) are used to represent and substitute the 12 Earthly Branches. For example, Dog is used to represent Xu (戌) and Dragon is used to represent Chen (辰). The main purpose of the 12 Zodiacs is to symbolize the 12 Earthly Branches to become the 12 animals. Accordingly, assisting the people who have no knowledge of Chinese metaphysics and Chinese words to memorize the 12 Earthly Branches.
Below is a table of the 12 Earthly Branches:
Interactions of the 12 Earthly Branches
When one Earthly Branch interacts with another Earthly Branch, it could generate the effects of: offending (伏刑), conflicting (相沖), torturing (相刑), harming/poking (相害/穿), breaking (相破) and in union (相合).
Below is a table of the interactions between the 12 Earthly Branches:
Presiding God (太歲神)
Presiding God is a yearly god in Chinese Taoism that is responsible for managing everything of good and bad in the world of mortals. There are 60 Presiding Gods and each one of them has his own name. The name of the Presiding God in charge of the current year can easily be found in the Chinese Almanac of that year. The 60 Presiding Gods take rotation for the yearly duties according to order of the Stem-Branch cycle. The Stem-Branch cycle is a Chinese 60-year calendar cycle based on the combinations of ten Heavenly Stems and twelve Earthly Branches. Each year is named by a pair of one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch.
Conflicts with the Presiding God (犯太歲)
Having conflicts with the Presiding God (犯太歲) simply means that the Earthly Branch of the year that you were born is having a conflict with the Earthly Branch of the current year. Such conflicts include: offending (伏刑), conflicting (相沖), torturing (相刑), harming/poking (相害/穿), breaking (相破) as discussed above. As such, having conflicts with the Presiding God can be classified into five different types according to the nature of the conflicts. Accordingly, there could be more than one Zodiac that are having conflicts with the Presiding God in each year.
For those who are having conflicts with the Presiding God, they could travel to overseas to ease the negative influences. For more information, please refer to my article “Overseas Travel Brings Luck?” on my website.
Offending the Presiding God (伏刑太歲)
Offending the Presiding God occurs when the Earthly Branch of the year that you were born is the same as the Earthly Branch of the current year. For instance, people born in the Year of Dog are offending the Presiding God in the Year of Dog.
People who are offending the Presiding God are prone to be restless and emotionally unable, always in bad mood, being pessimistic, and always thinking of the worst case situation. Those at the ages of 36 and 48 will be affected most by the negative emotion. Those at the age of 24 are prone to have a change in relationship such as starting a relationship or breaking up. Those at the age of 12 are prone to be restless due to academic pressure. Those at the age of 60 are prone to encounter health issues.
Conflicting the Presiding God (沖太歲)
Conflicting the Presiding God occurs when the Earthly Branch of the year that you were born is conflicting the Earthly Branch of the current year. For instance, people born in the Year of Dragon are conflicting the Presiding God in the Year of Dog.
People who are conflicting the Presiding God are prone to have changes in relationship, career, accommodation:
Relationship: There is opportunity for the singles to start a relationship. There is opportunity for those already in a relationship to get marry. However, this relationship is likely to end if they are not getting marry in the year of conflict. There is also opportunity for the married to conceive a child.
Career: Job changes and changes of work location or job position are likely to occur.
Accommodation: Moving home is very likely to happen.
Torturing the Presiding God (刑太歲)
Torturing the Presiding God occurs when the Earthly Branch of the year that you were born is torturing the Earthly Branch of the current year. For instance, people born in the years of Ox and Goat are conflicting the Presiding God in the Year of Dog.
People who are torturing the Presiding God are prone to have numerous gossips and disputes. Also, being stressed out with troubles and problems that cannot be resolved.
Harming/Poking the Presiding God (害/穿太歲)
Harming/Poking the Presiding God occurs when the Earthly Branch of the year that you were born is harming/poking the Earthly Branch of the current year. For instance, people born in the Year of Rooster is harming/poking the Presiding God in the Year of Dog.
People who are harming/poking the Presiding God are prone to have some gossips which the negative influence is very little as compared with other types of conflicts with the Presiding God.
Breaking the Presiding God (破太歲)
Breaking the Presiding God occurs when the Earthly Branch of the year that you were born is breaking the Earthly Branch of the current year. For instance, people born in the Year of Horse is breaking the Presiding God in the Year of Rooster.
The problem caused by breaking the Presiding God is the minimal among all the five types of conflicts with the Presiding God. Its negative influence is so little that can be ignored.
In Union with the Presiding God (合太歲)
In union with the Presiding God occurs when the Earthly Branch of the year that you were born is in union with the Earthly Branch of the current year. For instance, people born in the Year of Rabbit is in union with the Presiding God in the Year of Dog.
Being in union with the Presiding God means that everything tends to be stable in the current year. On contrast, having a conflict with the Presiding God means that everything tends to be unstable in the current year. For example, prone to have changes in relationship, career, accommodation.
Below is a table which shows the Zodiacs that are having conflicts or in union with the Presiding God in the Year of Dog:
Fallacy of the 12 Zodiacs
As discussed above, the 12 Zodiacs (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig) are used to represent and substitute the 12 Earthly Branches. For example, Dog is used to represent Xu (戌) and Dragon is used to represent Chen (辰). The main purpose of the 12 Zodiacs is to symbolize the 12 Earthly Branches to become the 12 animals. Accordingly, assisting the people who have no knowledge of Chinese metaphysics and Chinese words to memorize the 12 Earthly Branches.
It is important to understand that the problems of: offending; conflicting; torturing; harming/poking; and breaking, are all caused by the interactions between the Earthly Branches. Therefore, the animals of the 12 Zodiacs which used to represent the Earthly Branches are not the causes for these problems. So, the 12 animals themselves would not have conflicts with each other. For instance, there is no conflict between the animals of dragon and dog. Also, there is absolutely no problem for the people who were born in the Year of Dragon to raise a dog. Moreover, there is no conflict between the people who were born in the Year of Dragon and Year of Dog. There is also a widely-spread rumour which said that there would be relationship and family problems if the parents and their child were born in years which conflict each other. Now, you should be able to understand that this rumour is completely wrong.
In reality, it is very common and normal for the parents and their child to have conflicts in the Earthly Branches of the years that they were born. For instance, parents who were born in the Year of Dragon are conflicting the Presiding God in the Year of Dog which prone to have changes in relationship (please refer to the above section, Conflicting the Presiding God, for details). Accordingly, the parents are likely to conceive a child in a year which their Earthly Branches are in conflicts - Year of Dog.
On the other hand, there are quite a lot of cases that the Zodiacs of the husband and wife were in union with other but ending up in divorces. On contrast, there are also quite a lot of cases that the Zodiacs of the husband and wife were in conflicts with each other but their marriage lasted forever even at the end of their life journey. Now, you should be able to understand that the 12 Zodiacs cannot have conflicts or forming union with each other, and thus have no impact on interpersonal relationship.