The main similarity between the two systems is that they both start from the same hour and date of birth, relating to 12 signs.
The name of each sign has a different meaning. Clearly, there are significant differences between the Chinese Zodiac, as a divination system, and western astrology.
In the Chinese zodiac, everything starts with a legend that tells about the Emperor of the gods, who organized a competition, naming the signs after the first 12 animals who crossed the finish line: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig.
In the western astrology, the 12 stars are based on the position of the constellations relative to Earth.
The names are taken from Greek mythology, and transmitted on the roman pathway: Aries , Taurus , Gemini , Cancer, Leo , Virgo , Libra , Scorpio , Sagittarius , Capricorn , Aquarius , Pisces.
The pillars of the zodiac
The Chinese and Western zodiac both overlap for half a month.
In western simplified astrological diagrams, the zodiac signs are divided by month, whilst those from the Chinese folk astrology, signs are divided by year.
This means that, in the case of the Western zodiac, it is considered that people born in the course of one month have similar character traits, whilst in the case of the Chinese Zodiac, it is considered that people born in the same year, have a similar character.
Moreover, in western astrology, besides constellations, planets and their position are considered to influence the human psyche.
In the Chinese zodiac, 4 elements are considered: year of birth, month of birth, day of birth and the hour of birth.
In conclusion, in the Western zodiac, the position of celestial bodies, and the way they align, is important.
It is believed that they could influence characters and human destinies. In the case of the Chinese zodiac, temporal alignments are very important.
Lunar or Solar Calendar?
In Chinese folk astrology, it is used for the Lunar calendar; each month starts with a new moon and lasts 29 or 30 days.
Professional astrology, however, uses the Solar Calendar, when compiling the horoscope and making predictions.
By using this method, the start of the Chinese New Year is considered to be around the date of 4th of February.
The Western astrological Calendar is established based on the Earth's orbit around the Sun, which creates the celestial alignments, according to which, each zodiacal month is given a starting day and a duration between 29 and 31 days.
For this reason, zodiac signs of the Western zodiac are also named Solar signs. Chinese astrology refers to one of the 4 phases of the moon corresponding to the time of birth: the new moon, the rising moon, the full moon and the waning moon.
As a general appreciation of the character traits, people born during a new moon are innovative, adhering to what is new and fresh, people born during the rising moon are hard working, those born during the full moon are born diplomats, whilst those born during a waning moon are pacifists by their nature.
In comparison, the Western system uses 2 Lunar nodes (points on the Moon's orbit where it intersects the elliptical orbit of the Sun): North or The Ascending Node and South or The Descending Node.
The importance of these elements, in comparison to that of the planets, is much lower, in western astrology.
