Classtrology
online discussion about the sense and nonsense of astrology
Unedited and unmarked text
An Old Chinese legend tells us that Buddha once invited the whole animal kingdom for a new years party. Nevertheless, only twelve of these animals accepted the invitation and showed up on Buddha's party. The first guest that arrived was a rat followed by an ox, a tiger, a rabbit, a dragon, a snake, a horse, a goat, a monkey, a rooster, a dog and finally a pig. Buddha was so touched by the fact that they - in contrast to the other animals - did show up, that he decided to name a year after each one of them to show them his gratitude. In Chinese astrology each year is assigned to one of these twelve animals. The animal ruling the year in which someone is born, will have a profound influence onhos or her life because every single person who is born in that particular year is assumed to inherit the characteristics of this year animal. "This is the animal that hides in ones heart".
Maybe you sometimes may have gotten the feeling that you and your classmates were very different from older or younger students in your school. I know I have. And you might have noticed that your classmates were much more alike, they were rather like you…All this is actually very logical, because in most cases you will have been brought up in the same social settings and - more important to us right now - you were probably born in the same year.
But the year someone is born in is not the only fact that is significant to the Chinese astrologers. Chinese astrologers also divide those years according to the five elements of nature, which are: fire, earth, metal, water and wood. As a result, the cycle that at first appeared to consist of merely twelve years (twelve animals, starting with the year of the Rat and finishing of with the year of the Pig), actually takes 60 years (12 x 5) and is made up of five simple cycles of 12 years each. So, although it is true that each animal returns every twelve years, it will always be in another element. Thus, the combination animal/element will only appear once in 60 years.
This will be illustrated by a small example: the year 1906 was the year of the Fire-Horse. The next Horse-year, 1918 (1906 + 12), was the year of the Earth-Horse. 1930 was the year of the Metal-Horse, 1942 of the Water-Horse and 1954 of the Wood-Horse. And then we are ready for another cycle.
The 78th cycle started on the second of February 1984 and will end in February 2044.
Chinese astrology is a bit more complicated than merely the study of
the 12 animal signs though. It would be a bit crazy to state that people
who were all born in the same year and hence all have the same lunar sign
(f.e. Rooster), would all have the same (or at least homogeneous) characteristics.
Aside from the analysis of the year of birth, Chinese astrologers therefore
also use the month, day and hour of birth to predict cycles in our life.
Consequently a person never is only one animal in Chinese Astrology. On
the contrary, a person exists of 3 animals: the year
animal (year of birth), the moon
animal (month of birth) and the inner
animal (hour of birth).
The moon animal helps us to understand our relationships. The inner animal
gives insight into our true nature, our deepest being: our inner self.
Suppose someones year animal would be a Tiger, his moon animal was a Rabbit
and his inner animal a Snake. At first sight this person might seem sturdily
and reckless and he probably prefers to show the world that he is adventurous
(Tiger), in personal relationships - with people who know the person a
little bit better - though, he is intuitive and sensitive (Rabbit), but
his true inner self is deep and unfathomable (Snake).
Furthermore, Chinese astrology knows 28 signs of the Zodiac, takes into account the influence of specific stars and is built around a number of philosophical similarities between the five planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn), the five (!) seasons (summer, fall, winter, spring and the 'dog days'), the five cardinal points (north, south, east, west and middle), Yin and Yang and the five Chinese elements (fire, earth, metal, water and wood), which are all assigned to one particular year.
Catharina's Chinese Astrology Pages offers a combination of the 12 Chinese animal signs with our 12 Occidental birth signs. The combination of ones Chinese year animal with ones Western birth sign provides a much more specific and refined image of who someone actually is. An Aries-Rat for instance, will behave differently than a Pisces-Rat.
The Seven Rays website offers an online search engine for books
concerning Chinese astrology. To study the Chinese astrology in detail,
'The Secrets of Chinese Astrology' of Lau Kwan is recommended.
Sources:
Astrology for Dummies (Dutch edition) by Rae Orion, pp.296-301
Catharina's
Chinese Astrology Pages
We wish you all the best in the year of the Horse!
Unedited and unmarked text