Welcome to the Year of the Metal Ox or Cow!

The Lunar New Year celebrations begin on the new moon and finishes with the full moon two weeks later.  In the previous post, Year of the Rat – in review, isn’t necessary before reading this post, it might be helpful. There’s likely to be some duplication in this post.

One of the things you’ll notice is that I like referring to the Year of the Ox as the Year of the Cow, this is because the Asian Lunar signs follows the yang-yin pattern.  Yang is considered to be masculine and yin is considered feminine.  Therefore, the animals of the yin years should reflect the female of the animal.  

While I suspect that the naming convention comes from the days where men were the jewel in the crown because they had more muscles than women and therefore more physical strength.  Physical strength which was required for battles and wars.  Men born in a yin year did not want to be perceived as weaker and therefore chose to name even the yin years by the name of the male counterpart.

Reluctantly, there is logic to using the yang counterparts, especially where the female counterparts – when translated – could be confused with each other. Such as the ox and boar in particular.  The female version for both can be called a cow.  Although, Year of the Sow would work for the boar. 

If the animals you are referring to is the Year of the Rabbit, then the female would be the Year of the Doe, which could get confused with the more common use of doe for deers and the year might get confused as being the Year of the Deer – oh dear! *smile*.     If it’s the Year of the Goat, then the female can also be called a doe. If the year is being referred to as the Year of the Cat, then it would be the Year of the Queen (unsplayed) – possibly giving women ideas above their designated station. Note, I am not sure that the female versions would translate the same way into Chinese characters.

It’s all about balancing the yang and yin and honouring both, wherever I can.  Honour the male in the yang, honour the female in the yin.  Both are strong in different ways.  In Year of the Rat – in review I mentioned that over the years I’ve made some observations about what might get you through each of the years.  For details on what your year is going to be like you’re best off seeking out the latest, “Your Chinese Horoscope for 2021” by Neil Somerville or the like.   

In the Year of the Rat – in review post, I referred to the characteristics identified by centuries of Chinese astrologers.  Various authors have written their take but the ones that have gravitated to be were written by Paul Rigby and Harvey Bean in “Chinese Astrologics”, and a book written by Neil Somerville on the current year’s sign on your own.  Somerville includes a bit of a personality profile for each sign before he talks to the impact which is what helps me work on what I honour for that year.   

The Year of the Dog was always my challenge, it was the final year at high school (age group 17/18 years).  At 18 you’ll encounter your opposite lunar sign for the second time, the first time is at the age of six and most of us don’t remember it too well – or I don’t anyway.  

My 18th birthday was in the Year of the Dog and I was in my final year of school – this is the final year before University where I grew up.  For most of my school life, I was fortunate to get through school using natural intelligence.  If I wasn’t able to get a concept, I was able to “fake it until I made it”.  At the time, my parents were going through a bitter divorce. My mother had to work long hours (double shifts at the kitchen – she was a Swiss trained traditional Chef) to get food on the table, and didn’t get much time to push us to do our homework.  As children, my sister and I thought we were living the dream!

However, that meant hard work was a foreign concept to me – my sister was naturally more studious, probably because she’s smarter than me on many levels.  In my final year at school, the lack of discipline around doing homework was a complete disadvantage.  In short, I failed my final exams.  There were a lot of reasons for this, in part, it was my stubbornness within an one exam to not do the whole exam (Physics) and in part because I hadn’t studied hard enough.  

There were some mind games of rebellion against my father that didn’t help matters.  Nonetheless, I failed and that’s what I needed to live with and within me I knew it was my lack of devotion and dedication to my studies.  After all, what you invest your time in is where you will gain your rewards – right?.

By comparison, those that had dedicated themselves to homework, assignments, and study all did well. Those like me, got a rude shock. Not that I was an exceptional student, I wasn’t.  I was good enough to pass most things either physically, intellectually or artistically better than most, but not as good as those that are gifted.  The goal I had was to be average, people and everyone liked average!  It didn’t attract too much attention either good or bad.  Since, the earliest school years, I’d been a good all-rounder, or as they say, “a jack of all trades but a master of none”.

Dealing with the results were a kick in the teeth, guts, and emotions all at the same time!  It was what started the questing for answers and possible ways to handle years like the Year of the Dog again. Some influence of the 60s still lingered in my parents and their friends enough that star signs played a part in my upbringing.  Doing karate as a extracurricular activity also brought Chinese star signs into my life.

By 1994, I was at the very invested in how to deal with the Year of the Dog.  That’s where I got Neil Somerville’s “Your Chinese Horoscope for 1994”.  Someone had mentioned that you needed to honour and respect the year that you’re in.  You honour it by including the traits of the year in your daily life and these things will attract favourable energy and outcomes. Somerville’s book provided me with the knowledge of the traits and I embarked on honouring those traits. 

At the end of the 1994 Year of the Dog, regardless of the challenges faced in my working life.  I made it through the hard work had been reflected in an appreciation award for the company.  It was a much better feeling than that of failure 12 years earlier.  From there, I continued to use Rigby & Bean and Somerville’s books as a guides around the traits to honour in each year.  It doesn’t mean that my life is a charmed life but it does round out my ability to adapt and strengthen my weaknesses.  Like that of hard work, I no longer solely rely on my natural abilities, knowing that I can work hard too. 

At this time, I’ll point out that I have not purchased any of Somerville’s other yearly guides.  Aiming to experience the years for myself.  Sometimes, I absorb the guidelines too much and prefer to look at it in retrospect.  Unsurprisingly, you’re unable to purchase last year’s  predictions at the end of the year *smile*.

So, what are the traits for the year of the Cow that need honouring?  Let’s take a look!