Spirits and stars · Inauspicious
The branches three steps before and three steps after the year branch (also called Claw and Fang). Traditionally read as a note on entanglements.
San Ming Tong Hui (Siku edition), volume 3 (Gou Jiao, also called Claw and Fang): "hook means to drag in, bind means to tie up; for a yang-year man or yin-year woman the three branches before are the hook and the three after the bind, and the reverse for a yin-year man or yang-year woman." Example: for a jia-zi year, mao is the hook and you the bind.
Source: San Ming Tong Hui (Siku edition), volume 3
In practice it reads as a note to settle entangling commitments early rather than let them pull back and forth.
Listed as a note-only marker on the chart (not scored). Note: the classical gender distinction only decides which branch is named hook and which is named bind - the set of branches is the same either way, so we use a single code.
Rule of thumb: these markers are read from fixed classical tables, and the scores and advice come from a separate model. Both are laid out on the site, and neither is a claim about what will happen.
These readings follow the traditional Chinese system (BaZi / Zi Wei Dou Shu) and describe how the classics read a chart. They are not predictions and not medical, legal or financial advice, and no outcome is promised.
How is it taken?
From the year branch: three branches before and three after. For a zi year those are mao and you.