2027 is the year of Jeongmi (丁未), the year of the Goat. We start with what an animal-by-animal forecast does and does not look at, then set out in a table what a chart looks at.
2027 is the year of Jeongmi (丁未). The heavenly stem is Jeong (丁), Fire; the earthly branch is Mi (未), Earth; by animal it is the year of the Goat.
Reading the coming year from a chart means looking at where these two characters fall in your own chart. This is called the year luck (歲運).
The zodiac animal is a single earthly branch, that of the year of birth. A chart has four pillars — year, month, day and hour — each with one stem and one branch, eight characters in all. An animal forecast looks at just one of them.
This is not to say that looking at one character is useless. The year branch is one of the four pillars and Myeongni uses it too. What you should know is what is not being looked at — the other seven characters, and among them the day stem (日干), which stands for you yourself.
The relations below are taken straight from our engine's branch-relation table (six harmony, clash, three harmony). We have not written down good or bad. The name of a relation is a term of Myeongni, not a judgement of fortune.
| Animal | Branch | Element | Relation to Mi (未) of 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rat | 子 (Ja) | Water | None named |
| Ox | 丑 (Chuk) | Earth | Clash (沖) |
| Tiger | 寅 (In) | Wood | None named |
| Rabbit | 卯 (Myo) | Wood | Three harmony (三合) · Wood |
| Dragon | 辰 (Jin) | Earth | None named |
| Snake | 巳 (Sa) | Fire | None named |
| Horse | 午 (O) | Fire | Six harmony (六合) |
| Goat | 未 (Mi) | Earth | The same branch |
| Monkey | 申 (Sin) | Metal | None named |
| Rooster | 酉 (Yu) | Metal | None named |
| Dog | 戌 (Sul) | Earth | None named |
| Pig | 亥 (Hae) | Water | Three harmony (三合) · Wood |
As you can see, only a few of the twelve animals form a named relation with Jeongmi — the Horse (six harmony), the Ox (clash), the Pig and the Rabbit (three harmony). The rest come out as "none named". Animal forecasts nonetheless attach a year's worth of story to all twelve.
When a chart reads a year, the reference is the heavenly stem of the day of birth (the day stem). The day stem is "you", and what the year's stem and branch are to you is read through the ten gods (十星).
| My day stem | Stem of 2027, Jeong (丁) | Branch of 2027, Mi (未) |
|---|---|---|
| 甲 (Gap) Wood · yang | 傷官 (Hurting Officer) | 正財 (Direct Wealth) |
| 乙 (Eul) Wood · yin | 食神 (Eating God) | 偏財 (Indirect Wealth) |
| 丙 (Byeong) Fire · yang | 劫財 (Rob Wealth) | 傷官 (Hurting Officer) |
| 丁 (Jeong) Fire · yin | 比肩 (Friend) | 食神 (Eating God) |
| 戊 (Mu) Earth · yang | 正印 (Direct Resource) | 劫財 (Rob Wealth) |
| 己 (Gi) Earth · yin | 偏印 (Indirect Resource) | 比肩 (Friend) |
| 庚 (Gyeong) Metal · yang | 正官 (Direct Officer) | 正印 (Direct Resource) |
| 辛 (Sin) Metal · yin | 偏官 (Indirect Officer) | 偏印 (Indirect Resource) |
| 壬 (Im) Water · yang | 正財 (Direct Wealth) | 正官 (Direct Officer) |
| 癸 (Gye) Water · yin | 偏財 (Indirect Wealth) | 偏官 (Indirect Officer) |
All ten rows differ. The same Jeongmi year splits ten ways according to the day stem.
An animal forecast binds these ten into one line. People with the same animal part ways here if they were born on different days, and the animal does not look at that.
The ten-god names in the table above are values computed by our engine. We have written the names only, without attaching fortune to them. What the ten gods are is set out at the ten gods.
One animal is one branch. But the pillar of the day of birth (the day pillar) has sixty forms — ten stems and twelve branches turning together (the sixty Gapja).
The month and the hour of birth are added to that. Even among people of the same animal, charts split tens of thousands of ways.
All three are in use, which is where most of the confusion sits.
| Reference | When | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|
| 1 January, solar | 1 January | Calendars and administration |
| Seollal (1st of the 1st lunar month) | Differs by year (late January to mid-February) | Seasonal custom and folk practice |
| Ipchun (立春) | Around 4 February, solar | Charts and Myeongni |
A chart uses Ipchun. The reference is the solar terms. If you were born between January and early February, your animal and year pillar change depending on the reference — you can check this by entering your birth date at the Manse calendar.
The year luck (歲運) changes every year and the ten-year luck (大運) every ten. Reading the coming year means reading the year luck. The age at which the ten-year luck starts differs from person to person, by month of birth and by sex.
They differ. Tojeong Bigyeol is a separate method that draws one of 144 hexagrams from the lunar birth date. The chart-based new-year reading takes the heavenly stem of the day of birth as its reference and looks at the year's stem and branch — set out at what Tojeong Bigyeol is and how it is read.
Samjae is settled by animal. We, however, do not use Samjae in judgement, because the Myeongni classics do not recognise it. What it is, how it is worked out, and why we do not use it are set down at why Samjae is left out of Myeongni judgement.
That is not what we are saying. The year branch is one of the four pillars and Myeongni uses it too. It is enough to know that one character cannot tell a whole year, and that even within one animal it splits as the table above shows. How you read it is for you to decide.