PHASES/BRANCHES/ANIMAL EQUIVALENTS

These are the correspondences for what are called, at times, the ‘human equivalents’ for the ten stems and the twelve earthly branches. This is especially to be seen in the first table. The ten stems are the five traditional elements with their yin and yang counterparts. The twelve branches are more commonly known as the animal signs, although what they actually describe are the twelve phases of a complete cycle. The animal signs are of a late construct, relatively, in Chinese astrology, and should be seen as a convenient and populist way of remembering what are actually phases of a cycle.

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