Selenarium · Chinese zodiac by year of birth
Ox Chinese Zodiac Sign: Traits, Love, Compatibility
The Ox is one of the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, earthly branch 丑 (chǒu), the one of the double hour 01:00-03:00. Reliability and hard work - that is the heart of the character of anyone born in its year.
Ox
The Ox is reliability, patience and steady work. You move toward a goal slowly and surely, you keep your word, and you have no taste for shortcuts. People lean on you the way they lean on a stone wall.
In love
In love you are faithful and solid, and you hide feeling behind a calm surface. You build for the long run, without hot promises made for a minute.
In work
You are hard to replace where stamina, discipline and quality matter. You carry heavy work to the end, and you dislike being rushed.
Strengths and weak spots
The 丑 branch: hour, direction and element
In the Chinese cycle this is the second of the twelve earthly branches, 丑 (chǒu). Tied to it are the double hour 01:00-03:00, the direction north-northeast and the fixed element Earth - standing correspondences that do not move with the element of the year. Its season is winter, 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 Metal: Snake and Rooster. The pair of the six harmonies gives the Rat instead, which is a separate tradition. Straight across, six steps around the circle, stands the Goat: the clash of branches, the most charged link of all.
What to keep in mind
The branch 丑 (chǒu) is a yearly measure: it is the same for everyone born between two Chinese New Years. The element of the year adds the shading - solidity, practical sense, patience for Earth - while the hour and the city only show on a chart of the sky. For the year 2021 the switch falls on February 12: born before that date, you still count as the Rat. Your branch hands out no fate at all.
FAQ
Three questions about the branch 丑 (chǒu): its years, its affinities and its hour.
Which years are Ox years, counting 2021?
1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021, 2033. The wheel brings the branch 丑 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 2021 it falls on February 12, and before that date the year still counts as the Rat.
Who does the Ox get on with, Snake and Rooster or Goat?
The best understanding comes from the trine of affinity, Snake and Rooster: all three resting on the element Metal. Apart from the trine, the pair of the six harmonies gives the Rat. The biggest snag comes from the opposite branch, six steps further: the Goat. That said, the branch 丑 stays a yearly measure, and real understanding reads off two whole charts of the sky.
What hour and what direction belong to the branch 丑?
The double hour 01:00-03:00 and the direction north-northeast, with the fixed element Earth. Those correspondences belong to the branch itself: they do not move when the element of the year changes, the one that brings solidity, practical sense, patience.
Ox is only the year you were born. The Moon, the ascendant and the planets are waiting in the full chart.
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