The Twelve Spirits (12 Sinsal): Twelve Nicknames by Zodiac Animal

What are the Twelve Spirits?

The Twelve Spirits (12신살) are twelve nicknames attached, one each, to the twelve earthly branches, counted from the lower character of your birth year, that is, your zodiac animal. For each character in the four pillars of your chart, and for the characters that arrive with the Luck Cycle (대운) and each year, you see which nickname it carries and read from that your temperament and the mood of that period.

How they are set

The twelve animals are divided into four groups of three (triple combination, 삼합): Monkey, Rat and Dragon (申子辰), Tiger, Horse and Dog (寅午戌), Snake, Rooster and Ox (巳酉丑), and Pig, Rabbit and Goat (亥卯未). The Earth Spirit (지살) goes on the first character of the group your animal belongs to, and from the next branch on, in order, come Peach Blossom (년살), Moon Spirit (월살), Exposure (망신살), General (장성살), Saddle (반안살), Travelling Horse (역마살), Six Harms (육해살), Canopy (화개살), Robbery (겁살), Calamity (재살) and Heaven (천살).

For example, for someone born in a Rat (子) year, 酉 is Peach Blossom (the same as 도화), 寅 is the Travelling Horse and 辰 is the Canopy. The 午 of the year 2026, 丙午 (byeong-o), becomes Calamity for Monkey, Rat and Dragon people, General for Tiger, Horse and Dog people, Peach Blossom for Snake, Rooster and Ox people, and Six Harms for Pig, Rabbit and Goat people.

The table shows one more rule. The spirit that the animal's own character receives is set by its place in the group. The first character of a group (申·寅·巳·亥) is the Earth Spirit, the middle character (子·午·酉·卯) is the General, and the last character (辰·戌·丑·未) is the Canopy. So even within the same group, Rat people and Monkey people have different spirits on the year branch.

The Twelve Spirits of the example chart

Someone born in Seoul on 25 August 2001 at 00:50 (辛巳·丙申·庚申·丙子) is a Snake (巳), so belongs to the Snake, Rooster and Ox group, and 巳 is the Earth Spirit. The spirits on the lower characters of the four pillars are as follows. The right-hand column shows, for reference, how they change when the day branch 申 is taken as the basis.

The chart card and the reading use the spirits based on the animal. In this chart both the month branch and the day branch are 申, so Exposure appears twice. Halmeoni does not use this as a forecast of losing face; it reads it only as one side of temperament, a position where how you are shows readily on the outside. The Six Harms on the hour branch 子 also has the old meaning of "small hindrances," but it is not used to mean that hindrance is fixed in that position. If the basis is switched to the day branch, the same characters become entirely different, Robbery, Earth Spirit, Earth Spirit and General, so when comparing with spirits from another source, check the basis first.

Other animals work the same way. Someone born in Seoul on 10 January 1985 at 10:30 (甲子·丁丑·己酉·己巳), a Rat, belongs to the Monkey, Rat and Dragon group, so 申 is the Earth Spirit; the year branch 子 is the General, the month branch 丑 the Saddle, the day branch 酉 Peach Blossom, and the hour branch 巳 Robbery. The Rat is the middle character of its group, so the year branch becomes the General. The day branch 酉 with Peach Blossom is read as a grain of charm and popularity, and the Robbery on the hour branch only as a reminder to keep some leeway for sudden spending.

Spirits on the Luck Cycles and years

Spirits are also attached, by the animal, to the branches of the Luck Cycles and years. For the example chart, 午 in 2026 is Peach Blossom, 未 in 2027 is the Moon Spirit, and 申 in 2028 is Exposure. Among a man's Luck Cycles, the current 甲午 is Peach Blossom, and 癸巳 from 2027 is the Earth Spirit. Halmeoni puts these spirits into the reading material for the current Luck Cycle and the ones before and after it, and for this year and next.

How they relate to Samjae (three troubled years)

Samjae (삼재, the three-year misfortune) also comes from the same grouping as the Twelve Spirits. Starting from the year of the branch that is the Travelling Horse for your animal's group, the three years in which the Travelling Horse, Six Harms and Canopy fall are, in turn, the entering Samjae (들삼재), the staying Samjae (눌삼재) and the leaving Samjae (날삼재). For Snake, Rooster and Ox people, the 亥, 子 and 丑 years are Samjae, and the nearest are 2031–2033 (counted from Ipchun (start of spring), 입춘). Samjae, too, is only an old name that points to a time for care; it does not mean that bad things are fixed for those three years.

Spirits with frightening names

Some, such as Robbery, Calamity, Exposure and Heaven, sound frightening just from the name. These are names that people of old attached to mean "be careful," and they do not mean that such things will necessarily happen. Exposure can be read as "your inner self shows easily, so watch your words and actions," and Robbery as "prepare for sudden spending or loss." Halmeoni does not frighten people with the spirits either, and goes on to say what you can do about them.

The basis: your animal or your birth day?

Whether the Twelve Spirits are read from the animal (the year branch) or from the lower character of the birth day (the day branch) differs from school to school. Traditionally the animal is the basis, and these days many places look at the day branch as well. Halmeoni reads the Twelve Spirits by the animal, and for Peach Blossom (도화), Travelling Horse (역마) and Canopy (화개) it also looks by the day branch.

The Peach Blossom, Travelling Horse and Canopy found from the day branch are written separately from the Twelve Spirits, as "stars". For the example chart, read from the day branch 申, Peach Blossom is 酉, Travelling Horse 寅 and Canopy 辰, but none of these characters is in the chart, so no star is attached.

Each pillar's Twelve Spirit name appears at the very end of the lower row under that pillar on the chart card. In the reading, only one is mentioned, and only when it is really needed.

Common misunderstandings

• With the Travelling Horse you will wander and suffer hardship: today it is read as a grain of frequent movement and change. It is also seen as suiting things with a wide range of activity, such as business trips, study abroad and moving house.
• Peach Blossom (년살, also 도화살) means a roving eye: it is read as charm that draws people's attention. Halmeoni, too, uses it only in the sense of "charm, popularity".
• With the Canopy you will live a lonely life: it is read as the power to dig deep on your own, and spoken of in connection with absorption in things like study, art and religion.
• When Exposure comes, something embarrassing will happen: Exposure is a position where how you are shows on the outside, so it is read as a time when your words and actions are easily noticed. It is sometimes discussed together with things where you need to show yourself, such as presentations or interviews.
• Many spirits mean a harsh fate: the branches of the four pillars always carry one spirit each, four in all (three if the birth time is unknown). There is no such thing as having many or few.

Frequently asked questions

• If the animal is the same, are the Twelve Spirits the same too? If the animal group is the same, which spirit falls on which branch is the same. But the branches of the four pillars differ from chart to chart, so the spirits actually attached differ from person to person.
• Are the Peach Blossom, Travelling Horse and Canopy among the spirits (년살·역마살·화개살) the same as the stars of those names (도화·역마·화개)? They are names that point to the same positions. Halmeoni writes those found from the animal under the Twelve Spirit names and those found from the day branch under the star names, so you can tell which basis was used.
• What is the animal for someone born in January? If you were born before Ipchun (입춘), you are counted as the previous year's animal, and the Twelve Spirits are set by that animal too.
• What should I avoid in a year with a bad spirit? Halmeoni does not decide what to avoid from a single spirit. In a year when Robbery comes, it speaks in terms of preparing, for example by keeping some leeway for sudden spending.