These 12 animals represent the twelve year, rotating cycle that is essential to the Chinese zodiac. You've probably heard people refer to a specific year being the According to legends, these were the animals that appeared before The Jade Emporer (or Buddha, depending on which story you are talking about) responding to an invitation. The 12 Chinese zodiac animals are representative of the order of each animal's arrival. The stories characterizing each of the 12 animal's pilgrimage will differ a bit, but the prevailing order is the following: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

Chinese astrology traces back more than 2,000 years to early Chinese astronomy. The predictions of Chinese astrology signs rely on the Chinese calendar built by ancient Chinese astronomers. Over time, astrologists in China developed an advanced organization of beliefs regarding the celestial bodies' effect on everyday lives of people. The Chinese zodiac zodiac animals and the Chinese zodiac come from Chinese astrology.

The Chinese zodiac calendar doesn't only deal with the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, but also has other more intricate and complex relationships. Additionally with the animals, the Chinese Zodiac also entails 5 elements: wood, metal, water, fire and Earth. These 5 elements are connected with the 5 core planets: Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Mercury, and Saturn. The associations presented by the 12 animals and the 5 elements actually merge to generate the 60-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac signs. This chart, along with directions, the positions of the sun and moon, a person's date and time of birth, and Yin and Yang are used to help predict a person's future in more detail than merely using the Chinese zodiac animal as a guide. While the Chinese zodiac signs are essential and important, the manner in which the elements of the Chinese zodiac chart interact and collaborate must be utilized in order to build a full understanding of an individual person. To totally and completely appreciate the Chinese Zodiac, it is necessary and important to understand the relationships between all the Chinese zodiac elements, which is something most people won't get from the standard overview of the Chinese zodiac.

The understanding most people have of the Chinese zodiac does not extend very far beyond what they read on the paper place mats that are on the tables of their favorite Chinese restaurants. But really, there is much more to understand and know about this ancient doctrine that dates back more than 2,000 years. The Chinese zodiac is considered a guide to figure out the most ideal and best matches between people in business and love. Each of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals has other specific zodiac animals with which it is considered most compatible. Chinese zodiac dating compatibility could be used to figure out people's best love match. It's imperative to keep in mind there are other aspects of Chinese astrology that go past which animal you are, that are also considered significant in making a determination about those that are most compatible.