Year of the Tiger
The Tiger is the third animal, the one that swam the river alone. The popular tradition reads it as brave, impulsive and commanding.
What the postcard says
The popular reading of a Tiger year birth is courage that goes first: a readiness to act, a natural authority, and a warmth that is generous when things are going the Tiger's way. Tigers are read as confident, competitive and protective, the ones who take the risk the others were discussing.
The honest shadow in the same tradition is the Tiger's impatience: a recklessness that does not count the cost, a pride that takes correction badly, and moods that swing from generous to sulking. The tradition does not pretend the stripes come off.
The years, the hours and the month
Every twelfth year is a Tiger year, but not the same Tiger: the year's stem changes each time, so the Tiger years are 1950 (Yang Metal), 1962 (Yang Water), 1974 (Yang Wood), 1986 (Yang Fire), 1998 (Yang Earth), 2010 (Yang Metal), 2022 (Yang Water) and 2034 (Yang Wood). The year turns at Li Chun, around 4 February, not on 1 January and not at the new moon festival, so a January birth belongs to the year before. The branch also rules two hours of every day, 03:00 to 05:00, and one month of every year.
Inside a Four Pillars chart the Tiger is the branch Yin, whose element is Wood and whose hidden stems are Yang Wood, Yang Fire and Yang Earth. It rules the two hours after three in the morning and the first month of spring, from Li Chun. In a chart it reads as growing Wood with Fire inside it; the animal name says none of that, and the element does.
The year animal is the postcard; your day master is the reading
Two people born in 2010 and 2022 are both Tigers, and the tradition reads them differently before it reads them alike.
The animal is the branch of the year pillar, one of eight characters in a Four Pillars chart, and the tradition reads it last. It reads the day master first: the stem of the day of birth, which is the self the rest of the chart is weighed against, and which the year animal says nothing about. Two Tigers twelve years apart share a branch and differ in their year's element, Yang Metal against Yang Water, and differ in every other pillar; the postcard is true, and it is the smallest true thing on the card.
We calculate the whole chart, so the animal is the first thing you see and the day master is the second, and the reading is built on the second. The ten day masters have their own pages in this library, and the calculator says which one is yours.
About 60 seconds · the pillars need your date, time and place · the year animal is the first thing you will see
Questions people ask
Which years are the Tiger?
1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022 and 2034, each beginning at Li Chun, around 4 February, and each with a different element: 1986 (Yang Fire), 1998 (Yang Earth), 2010 (Yang Metal), 2022 (Yang Water) and 2034 (Yang Wood). The calculator works the year out from the date rather than from the year number, so a January birth is placed correctly.
Is the Tiger compatible with the Horse and the Dog?
The popular tradition groups the Tiger with the Horse and the Dog, the three branches four apart, and calls the grouping harmonious. That is the postcard's compatibility, two characters out of the sixteen a real pair comparison reads, and it says nothing about the day masters the tradition actually compares. The two-person report reads both charts in full.
I was born in January or February. Which animal am I?
The year turns at Li Chun, around 4 February, so a birth before it belongs to the year before, whatever the calendar says. In some years the festival falls before Li Chun and in some after, which is why two sources can disagree; the pillars follow the solar term, and so does the calculator.
We read charts for pattern and coherence, not prediction. Nothing here tells you what will happen, and nothing here tells you who you are; it shows a structure and leaves the judgement with you.