Selenarium · Chinese zodiac by year of birth
Monkey Chinese Zodiac Sign: Traits, Love, Compatibility
The Monkey is one of the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, earthly branch 申 (shēn), the one of the double hour 15:00-17:00. Cleverness and invention - that is the heart of the character of anyone born in its year.
Monkey
The Monkey is a quick mind, humor and invention. Curious and deft, you catch things on the fly and find a way out of any situation. Charming and restless, you let neither yourself nor anyone else get bored.
In love
In love you are playful and engaging, and you need things to stay interesting. Predictability cools you faster than a quarrel does.
In work
You are hard to replace where quick thinking, flexibility and an odd angle count: ideas, technology, many things at once. You outsmart routine.
Strengths and weak spots
The 申 branch: hour, direction and element
In the Chinese cycle this is the ninth of the twelve earthly branches, 申 (shēn). Tied to it are the double hour 15:00-17:00, the direction west-southwest and the fixed element Metal - standing correspondences that do not move with the element of the year. Its season is autumn, and in the solar calendar of the four pillars the year starts at the beginning of spring rather than on the first of January.
The links are read off the branch. The trine of affinity gathers on a single element, here Water: Rat and Dragon. The pair of the six harmonies gives the Snake instead, which is a separate tradition. Straight across, six steps around the circle, stands the Tiger: the clash of branches, the most charged link of all.
What to keep in mind
The branch 申 (shēn) is a yearly measure: it is the same for everyone born between two Chinese New Years. The element of the year adds the shading - hardness, will, endurance for Metal - while the hour and the city only show on a chart of the sky. For the year 2028 the switch falls on January 26: born before that date, you still count as the Goat. Your branch hands out no fate at all.
FAQ
Three questions about the branch 申 (shēn): its years, its affinities and its hour.
Which years are Monkey years, counting 2028?
1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028. The wheel brings the branch 申 back every twelve years, while the element of the year turns on ten - so the pairing of animal and element only returns after sixty. If you were born in January or early February, check against the date of Chinese New Year: in 2028 it falls on January 26, and before that date the year still counts as the Goat.
Who does the Monkey get on with, Rat and Dragon or Tiger?
The best understanding comes from the trine of affinity, Rat and Dragon: all three resting on the element Water. Apart from the trine, the pair of the six harmonies gives the Snake. The biggest snag comes from the opposite branch, six steps further: the Tiger. That said, the branch 申 stays a yearly measure, and real understanding reads off two whole charts of the sky.
What hour and what direction belong to the branch 申?
The double hour 15:00-17:00 and the direction west-southwest, with the fixed element Metal. Those correspondences belong to the branch itself: they do not move when the element of the year changes, the one that brings hardness, will, endurance.
Monkey is only the year you were born. The Moon, the ascendant and the planets are waiting in the full chart.
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