Fixed element of the sign vs element of the year
Each Chinese animal carries a fixed element, bound to it forever, distinct from the variable element given by the birth year. The fixed element comes from the branch’s season: Tiger and Rabbit are Wood (spring), Snake and Horse are Fire (summer), Monkey and Rooster are Metal (autumn), Pig and Rat are Water (winter), while Ox, Dragon, Goat and Dog are Earth (the between-seasons). The year element, by contrast, changes with the heavenly stem and turns every sixty years.
Two elements for one sign
Take a Metal Horse. Its year element is Metal, given by the stem, which returns only every sixty years. But its fixed element stays Fire, because the Horse belongs to the heart of summer. So you carry two colors: one underlying and unchanging, one seasonal and unique to your vintage.
Reading both together
The fixed element tells you your deep nature, the ground that does not shift; the year element shades that ground according to your era. When the two agree, you feel an inner coherence; when they control each other in the five-element cycle, you carry a fertile tension, like a year Fire set upon a Water sign.
Sources
- , Feng Shui and Destiny (1995)