The 10 Heavenly Stems and 12 Earthly Branches in Chinese Astrology

Each of the five elements/phases has an Yang/male and Yin/female polarity, which
makes up the 10 Heavenly Stems:

Yang Wood/Jia 甲

Yin Wood/Yi 乙

Yang Fire/Bing 丙

Yin Fire/Ding 丁

Yang Earth/Wu 戊

Yin Earth/Ji 己

Yang Metal/Geng 庚

Yin Metal/Xin 辛

Yang Water/Ren 壬

Yin Water/Gui 癸

The third major element in Chinese Astrology is the Earthly Branches aka the Chinese
images/animals. It is the most powerful. The 12 Branches are:

Tiger/Yin 寅 Rabbit/Mao 卯 Dragon/Chen 辰 = Spring*

Snake/Si 巳 Horse/Wu 午 Goat/Wei 未 = Summer

Monkey/Shen 申 Rooster/You 酉 Dog/Xu 戌 = Autumn

Pig/Hai 亥 Rat/Zi 子 Ox/Chou 丑 = Winter

*The Chinese New Year starts on February 3rd-4th according to the solar calendar.
Each season starts about 90 days later. Thus, in the solar calendar:

Spring starts when the Sun is at 15 tropical Aquarius;

Summer starts when the Sun is at 15 tropical Taurus;

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 Autumn starts when the Sun is at 15 tropical 15 Leo;

Winter starts when the Sun is at 15 tropical 15 Scorpio.

According to the lunar calendar, the New Year starts with the first New Moon in
tropical Aquarius. Thus, its beginning roams every year. The lunar calendar is
exremely accurate, even though it appears not as mathematically sound as the solar
one. Nevertheless, keep in mind that the lunar calendar is based on both the
Sun/Yang and the Moon/Yin, and the beginning of every month starts with the New
Moon, which is the bodily conjunction of the two Lights. As such, the lunar calendar is
highly respected and in fact many Chinese Astrology and Chinese Divination masters
use it and not the solar calendar. There are also those that use a mixture of both the
solar and lunar calendar.

Each of the five elements in Chinese Metaphysics rules a season:

 Wood rules Spring

 Fire rules Summer
 Metal rules Autumn
 Water rules Winter
 Earth rules the last month of each of the seasons

Each of the 12 branches has an intrinsic nature*

 The Tiger and Rabbit are Wood

 The Snake and the Horse are Fire
 The Monkey and the Rooster are Metal
 The Pig and the Rat are Water
 The Dragon, Goat, Dog and Ox are Earth

*There are 3 types of combinations between the branches: Three Harmony, Seasonal,
and Six Harmony. The Three Harmony Combination can change the intrinsic nature of
the branches.

Each of the 12 branches contains what are called Hidden Heavenly Stems. They are
crucial in interpretation.

The 10 Heavenly Stems represent Heaven, the 12 Earthly Branches represent Earth,
and the Hidden Heavenly Stems represent Man.