Eight ways to read the same twelve positions
合 · 会 · 冲 · 害 · 破 · 刑
Chinese zodiac branch relationships
Compatibility begins with fixed Earthly Branch sets. Harmony, meetings, clashes, harms, breaks and punishments count the same twelve positions in different ways; one pair can therefore carry more than one relation at once.
- Pair atlas
- 78 unordered readings
- Three Harmony
- 4 trines
- Other guides
- 6 relation families
The named relation families
Open the fixed sets in full
Each guide prints every member, links every canonical pair reading, records overlaps, and keeps the chart-layer question separate from the branch rule itself.
- 01六合
Liù Hé
Six Harmony pairs
Six Harmony assigns every branch one fixed partner. It is a one-to-one alignment on the twelve-position cycle, separate from trines, clashes and phase interaction.
- Records
- 6
- Unit
- one-to-one pairs
- 02三会
Sān Huì
Three Meetings seasonal groups
Three Meetings are four runs of three neighbouring branches: spring, summer, autumn and winter. The sequence is seasonal and consecutive, unlike the four-place geometry of a Three Harmony trine.
- Records
- 4
- Unit
- seasonal sequences
- 03六冲
Liù Chōng
Six Clash oppositions
Six Clash joins branches directly opposite on the twelve-position circle. Every pair is six steps apart, so its directions and double-hours face across the same diameter.
- Records
- 6
- Unit
- opposing axes
- 04六害
Liù Hài
Six Harm pairs
Six Harm is its own six-pair branch set. Its pairings are neither the diameters of Six Clash nor the one-to-one matches of Six Harmony, so the label must remain distinct.
- Records
- 6
- Unit
- fixed harm pairs
- 05六破
Liù Pò
Six Break pairs
Six Break—also translated as Six Destruction—is a distinct six-pair relation. It matters especially because some of its pairs simultaneously belong to Six Harmony or Punishment sets.
- Records
- 6
- Unit
- fixed break pairs
- 06刑
Xíng
Branch Punishments and self-punishment
Punishment is not one uniform pair list. It contains two three-branch groups, one two-branch pair, and four self-punishing branches that require the same branch to repeat.
- Records
- 7
- Unit
- group and repeat records
Three Harmony · 三合
The four trines already have four full guides
A trine joins branches four places apart and assigns the completed triangle one governing phase. The four detail pages show each member and its opposing axis.
The coordinate that is not a two-animal alliance
When the same branch appears twice
Rat with Rat, Ox with Ox and the other same-animal selections repeat one branch coordinate. Dragon, Horse, Rooster and Pig add self-punishment when repeated; the other eight remain same-branch comparisons without that extra named relation.