Guide · Learn
Chinese zodiac: how your sign is calculated
The cycle of twelve signs, the real cutoff of Chinese New Year and the three relationships Molino uses.
What you'll learn
- How your sign is determined from your date of birth
- Why Chinese New Year doesn't fall on January 1, and why that matters
- What your own sign, your two friends and your enemy are
- Where each of these concepts appears within Molino
What it is
The Chinese zodiac groups the years into a cycle of 12: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Cat, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. Each person is born under one of those twelve signs, according to the Chinese year — not the month — of their birth.
How it works
Your sign comes from your full date of birth, and it respects the real cutoff of Chinese New Year — which isn't fixed like January 1, but falls between January 21 and February 20 depending on the year. That's why someone born on, say, January 20 may belong to the sign of the previous year, even though the Western calendar has already changed year.
The same goes for the entities in the Atlas. If only the year of one is known, its sign can't be known for certain, and My Map doesn't use it: we prefer a shorter list to a recommendation built on a doubt.
How Molino uses it
Besides the sign, each year has an element (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) within the 60-year cycle. Molino shows it next to your sign, but doesn't use it in the affinities: there it compares sign against sign and nothing else.
The relationship between two signs — yours and an entity's — is the basis of Affinities and My Map. Molino uses three slots, in this order:
Fact, tradition and Molino's reading
Fact
Your exact date of birth. It's the only piece of data needed — no time or place of birth is required to calculate the sign.
Tradition
The traditional Chinese cycle of twelve signs, with its four triangles of friends (三合 San He) and its six pairs of opposites (六冲 Liu Chong) — documented in specialized texts and encyclopedias, not invented by Molino. The tradition has more relationships (Liu He, Liu Hai); Molino leaves them in the rest of the cycle.
Molino's reading
Molino calculates your sign and compares it sign against sign: your own sign, your two friends or your enemy. It's a slot, never a score.
Examples
Your own sign · 本命
Two people — or a person and an entity — of the same sign share, according to tradition, natural strengths but also the same blind spots.
Your two friends · 三合 San He
The twelve signs are grouped into four triangles of friends, four positions apart in the cycle and associated with a hidden element: Rat-Dragon-Monkey (Water), Ox-Snake-Rooster (Metal), Tiger-Horse-Dog (Fire), Cat-Goat-Pig (Wood). Your two friends are the other two in your triangle.
Your enemy · 六冲 Liu Chong
Each sign has exactly one enemy: its direct opposite, six positions away in the cycle. The six pairs are Rat-Horse, Ox-Goat, Tiger-Monkey, Cat-Rooster, Dragon-Dog and Snake-Pig. It's read as what's best avoided, not as a sentence.
What it does NOT mean
- Your sign doesn't determine your personality or your destiny — it's a piece of data calculated from your date of birth, read within a cultural tradition.
- 'Enemy' doesn't mean 'incompatible': it's the most tense relationship in the cycle, and knowing it helps you choose with your eyes open.
Where to keep exploring
Want to see this applied to your own map?
See my map