What it means
驛馬 is the post horse: the relay stations of old Korea and China kept horses ready for couriers, and a rider changed mounts and kept going. A chart with this star does not stay put. It moves house, changes jobs, travels for work, or settles far from where it was born.
In a farming society that was a misfortune: leaving home meant leaving land, family and protection, which is why the star carries the suffix sal (殺). Today movement is an asset. Koreans say someone “has yeokmasal” of a friend who is always abroad, and readers point to it in the charts of people in trade, sales, logistics, aviation, media and anyone whose work crosses borders.
How to find it
Take the branch of your Day pillar and find its group. If the branch on the right appears in another pillar, that pillar carries the Travelling Horse.
| Day branch is one of | Travelling Horse |
|---|---|
| 寅 Tiger, 午 Horse, 戌 Dog | 申 Sin (Monkey) |
| 申 Monkey, 子 Rat, 辰 Dragon | 寅 In (Tiger) |
| 巳 Snake, 酉 Rooster, 丑 Ox | 亥 Hae (Pig) |
| 亥 Pig, 卯 Rabbit, 未 Goat | 巳 Sa (Snake) |
SajuPaste also counts the same table from the year branch, as one of the twelve year-branch stars. Both are labelled Travelling Horse.
Why these four branches
The Travelling Horse is always one of 寅, 申, 巳 or 亥, the four branches that open a season and are the Birth stage of an element: beginnings, each of them. The rule picks the one that clashes with the first branch of your own group. For the 寅 午 戌 group, which begins at 寅, that is 申. A start colliding with a start is what sets the chart in motion.
Reading it by pillar
- Year pillar: a family that moved, or an early life spent in more than one place.
- Month pillar: a career that involves travel or frequent changes of workplace.
- Day pillar: a partner from far away, or a marriage that means relocating. This placement is possible only when the star is counted from the year branch.
- Hour pillar: movement later in life, or children who live far away.
When another branch clashes with the Horse, tradition reads the movement as larger and more sudden.
What to watch
Restlessness. The same energy that carries a person across the world can keep them from finishing anything in one place: starting over too often, leaving when staying would have paid. Readers advise giving the star a legitimate road, work or study that requires moving, so that it does not find its own.