According to Chinese astrology, there are twelve animal signs, associated with twelve different personality types. Chinese zodiacal signs are mainly based on the particular year in which the person was born. However, the signs may also be assigned on the basis of month and hours of the day. A full cycle in Chinese astrology comprises of sixty years and is a combination of the twelve animals with each of five possible elements.
The inner animal is assigned as per the month of birth and provides information on what motivates a person. The secret animal, on the other hand, is based on the hour of birth and tells the basic personality traits. The twelve Chinese zodiac animals are – rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
In Chinese astrology the animal signs assigned by year represent what others perceive you as being or how you present yourself. It is a common misconception that the animals assigned by year are the only signs, and many western descriptions of Chinese astrology draw solely on this system. In fact, there are also animal signs assigned by month (called inner animals) and hours of the day (called secret animals).
To sum it up, while a person might appear to be a dragon because they were born in the year of the dragon, they might also be a snake internally and an ox secretively. In total, this makes for 8,640 possible combinations (60 year cycle (5 elements x 12 animals) x 12 months x 12 times of day) that a person might be. These are all considered critical for the proper use of Chinese astrology. |
