Arguments, disputes, disagreements, conflicts, some sort of no good feelings that plague mankind into emotional and sometimes physical turmoil. Okay okay that’s a little melodramatic, but you get the idea. Did you know, that the earthly branches / Chinese animal zodiacs have conflicts with one another too? We call this a clash and the same anti-relationships are used in BaZi, Feng Shui, Date Selection and any other forms of Chinese Metaphysics that use the animal zodiacs. So better to get ya fundamentals right.
A clash signifies opposing forces. For instance the Rat clashes with the Horse, in a simplistic view, when the Rat sits with the Horse at the same table, there’d be arguments of sorts, things simply do not go smoothly. A clash could also represent change, which in certain situations, may not be a bad thing at all.
| 子 Zi | Rat | < clash > | Horse | Wu 午 |
| 丑 Chou | Ox | < clash > | Goat | Wei 未 |
| 寅 Yin | Tiger | < clash > | Monkey | Shen 申 |
| 卯 Mao | Rabbit | < clash > | Rooster | You 酉 |
| 辰 Chen | Dragon | < clash > | Dog | Xu 戌 |
| 巳 Si | Snake | < clash > | Pig | Hai 亥 |
If you’re a graphical person, the 24 mountains compass is rather telling. Notice that the clashes occur when the animals are opposite one another, e.g. The Rat in the North clashes with the Horse in the South while the Rabbit in the East clashes with the Rooster in the West.
As mentioned earlier, these clashes are used in many forms of Chinese Metaphysics and will be worth your while to commit to memory. 12 animals, 6 pairs of clashes, not easy to remember if you’re not a practitioner. If you’re the lucky ones with really good memory, then good for you.
That said, there are many memory techniques and one that I favor is to create a nonsensical imagery that’s so profound that it makes you laugh. Hear me out; The Rat clashes with the Horse means nothing and will be a challenge to remember. How about picturing a Rat with a Horse’s mane and tail? That rat will now look like a mutated squirrel. If your imagination is good enough, that imagery will either make you laugh or shudder in disgust. Now that is something you’d remember easily once you picture it vividly in your mind a few times.
| 子 Zi | Rat | Mutated Squirrel | Horse | Wu 午 |
| 丑 Chou | Ox | Ox on a Mountain | Goat | Wei 未 |
| 寅 Yin | Tiger | Monkey with Tiger Stripes | Monkey | Shen 申 |
| 卯 Mao | Rabbit | Rabbit with a Rooster’s comb | Rooster | You 酉 |
| 辰 Chen | Dragon | Dragon with Fur | Dog | Xu 戌 |
| 巳 Si | Snake | Snake with a Pig’s nose | Pig | Hai 亥 |
Stay tuned as future posts will refer to this post every once in a while.