Tiger, Horse, Dog
Cycle branches: Monkey · Rooster · Dog
Entering · Middle · Leaving
Universe · Library
Three-year cycle
The three-year cycle, traditionally called Samjae, is a Korean folk caution window that repeats every twelve years from your birth year animal (the zodiac branch on your year pillar — Rat, Ox, Tiger, and so on). In the Universe view on the Chart screen we label active cycle years alongside yearly luck; we do not treat them as fate or predictions.
Modern framing in this app
The three-year cycle is not personalized from your full four pillars the way yearly-luck scoring is. Everyone born in the same birth-animal cohort shares the same cycle years.
We show it as a traditional caution window — extra friction may feel possible; leanings for awareness, not fate. When yearly luck reads demanding during one of these cycle years, both labels can appear; they answer different questions.
How we calculate it
One lookup from your natal year branch animaland the calendar year's branch animal.
Monkey, Rat, Dragon
Cycle branches: Tiger · Rabbit · Dragon
Entering · Middle · Leaving
Snake, Rooster, Ox
Cycle branches: Pig · Rat · Ox
Entering · Middle · Leaving
Pig, Rabbit, Goat
Cycle branches: Snake · Horse · Goat
Entering · Middle · Leaving
Within the palace, the first year is entering, the second middle, and the third leaving. The cycle repeats every twelve calendar years.
Birth-animal year is separate: when the calendar year animal equals your birth year animal. That year may also carry a reset-window tone — we badge it independently when it applies.
Three-year cycle vs yearly luck
- Yearly luck — yearly pillar scored against your day element, helpful/caution lists, themes, and branch interactions with your full chart.
- Three-year cycle — folk calendar label from birth cohort; the same rule for everyone in that animal group.