I just went back to look through a few articles about the Chinese zodiac animals and fortune. I found that there’s quite a lot of incorrect information online—especially the part about phạm thái tuế, and even what hình thái tuế actually means, which only makes things even more confusing. So today, I want to share what I’ve learned, which may help you understand this issue more clearly.

First up is phạm thái tuế. This includes five types: trị thái tuế, xung thái tuế, hình thái tuế, hại thái tuế, and phá thái tuế. Among them, trị thái tuế and xung thái tuế are considered the two types with the strongest impact. Trị thái tuế (the year of your own zodiac sign) is regarded as the most negative influence, and your fortune and fortunes may fluctuate greatly. Xung thái tuế also brings many changes and setbacks—sometimes even heavier than trị thái tuế. When you encounter these two types, you need to be more careful with your health, emotions, career, and finances.

So what is hình thái tuế? This is something quite special. Hình thái tuế is a potentially negative influence that may appear at the same time as other phạm thái tuế types. The danger of hình thái tuế is that it can easily lead to legal trouble. Therefore, when you have hình thái tuế, you need to pay attention to contracts and monitor your work to avoid getting pulled into legal issues. Your health also needs to be watched. Hại thái tuế and phá thái tuế have slightly smaller impacts. Hại thái tuế refers to influences that cause disturbances, petty people, and disputes that harm reputations—while phá thái tuế refers to issues involving broken relationships, losses of money, or health problems.

But it’s not all negative. If there is unfavorable phạm thái tuế, there is also favorable hợp thái tuế. Favorable hợp thái tuế includes lục hợp (two zodiac animals forming a combination—very strong luck) and tam hợp (three zodiac animals forming a combination—luck that’s quite strong). In addition, the sinh–khắc relationships among the five elements (ngũ hành) between the zodiac animals also matter, and I’ll share more about that.

When it comes to the Year of the Horse, the best fortune belongs to people born in the Year of the Goat (lục hợp). Next are those born in the Year of the Tiger and the Year of the Dog (tam hợp). But if you’re born in the Year of the Horse, you should be careful, because you will face both trị thái tuế and hình thái tuế. People born in the Year of the Rat run into xung thái tuế, while those born in the Year of the Ox and the Year of the Rabbit encounter hại thái tuế and phá thái tuế.

I also want to add that all of these are just superstition and have no scientific basis. You shouldn’t place complete trust in them. Don’t take risks because of your fortune, and don’t worry too much because of phạm thái tuế. At most, you should treat it as a reference only. If your fortune is good, try to act reasonably; if you’re affected by phạm thái tuế, be more cautious in transactions and pay attention to your health. Understanding what hình thái tuế is and the other types of phạm thái tuế is meant to help you build knowledge—not to be afraid.

Finally, I wish all of you a very auspicious Year of the Horse! What you put in will receive many rewards. Wishing you good harvests in both finances and relationships, and that the things you hope for will come true!