It knows where the line is.
Xu is the double hour after dark, when the door is shut and somebody is listening to the street. The dog is the sign of trust, and of the boundary that makes trust possible — which are the same thing looked at from either side.
The stone is different on this one
Eight of the twelve pendants carry African opal. The Dog does not. It is set with natural garnet — named after the pomegranate, granatum, because whoever named it had held both. Rabbinic commentary has it as the single stone that lit the ark for a year while it rained: the light you take with you, not the one you leave behind.
Is this your sign?
The Dog years are 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018 and 2030.
But the zodiac year begins at Chinese New Year, not on 1 January, and that date moves between 21 January and 20 February. A birthday in January or the first half of February usually belongs to the animal before. The box on the product page does that sum for you.
The pendant
- Branch Xu 戌 · the double hour 19:00–21:00 · fixed element earth
- Set with natural garnet, picked by hand for your order
- Solid 925 sterling silver, gold plating on the animal and the mount
- White cubic zirconia accent stones — laboratory-made, not mined, and we say so
- Pendant roughly 25 mm across, on a box chain. No size to choose
- Made after you order it, up to 10 days. Free tracked delivery
Your own zodiac year
Every twelfth year is your own animal's year again — běnmìngnián. Traditionally it is the year people wear their own sign. The next Dog year is 2030.
All twelve signs · All garnet at Asi8
Carried as a mark of when you started. Some people feel something when they put one on. Some don't. Either way it is an old idea, accurately made. We make no medical or health claims.