Welcome to the East Asian Lunar New Year!
Since China has been around for many centuries and developed what is today the Chinese Astrological signs. Like with most things with a mystical element, I enjoy watching to see what parts of assigned characterisations apply. The role I play is that of curious observer.
Like with anything there must be a time when it transitioned from, ‘not existing as a thing to being a thing’. Basically, from non-existing to existing. The next set of questions are: “what person/ people made these observations?”, “why did it take off?” and “why are they male when it follows the principles of yin and yang?”
The next thing I do when I’m looking at things like the astrology signs and the like, is that I assume that some of the belief is superstition and it is coupled with some astute observations. Let’s face it, looking up at the stars won’t tell you what they mean. It requires a degree of observation and memory of the stars placement and an observation of mankind’s for personalities of people born within or against that placement. Then it requires years and centuries to validate anything.
With the Chinese astrological cycle being made up of 60 signs, memory and observation needed to be good for a long period of time to even observe the cycle. Did the person who first started with the observations go, ah this is similar to what happened 12 years ago but the people are a little more forthright than normal, they seem to have …. ah… how do you say it? …. Fire!
If it were superstition by itself, none of these “beliefs or observations” would have stuck around for so long. And then there’s the part of environmental conditioning and being born into a world that observes it.
I became interested in Chinese Astrology back in the mid 1980s. At first, it was observing the year I was born in and those of my family and friends as objectively as I could. Then in the 1990s I managed to stumble across a couple of Chinese Astrology books made super simple and super fun. Nothing too serious. Surprisingly, two of these books have followed me around. When I want to know what a year is going to be like, I look up the “fun” version for the very concise advice on how to honour, respect and deal with the year. To-date the observations have been pretty on-point. For me at least.
For instance, Chinese Astrologics (p. 13, Rigby and Bean) summary for the year of the Rat was/ is:
"... this is a good year for commerce, speculation and the economy in general. It is a time for sensible investment and fluctuations will be beneficial. There will be some arguments and a few surprises!".
Did you just go… “Ha! How wrong is that!”. Not so fast Kimosabe! Last Lunar year was the year of the “Metal Rat”.
Metal adds a whole new dimension. It is associated with cutting tools. Metal is great if you are a chef, surgeon or lumberjacks for knives, scalpels and axes, respectively. When it comes to the economy we’d need to go back 60 years to look at 1960 for the last Metal Rat. It looks like the USA, at least, also had its economic challenges and like 2020. By the end of lunar 2020 year things were beginning to settle down. It’s probably fair to say that it should be worded that “this is a year for commerce, speculation and the economy in general”, omitting the word “good”.
As for the rest of the statement, it’s fair to say “bingo!”. Heads of state clashed with each other over how to handle the Coronavirus pandemic. Obviously, COVID-19 was a “surprise!” in and of itself. Other stuff the year focussed on were: energy, charm, self-control, opinionated, shrewd, social, congenial, clever, resourceful, and generous.
From my own observations over the years, if you exhibited and honoured the traits pertaining to that year, the year would look more kindly on you.
So, in a few quick words against each point from a general perspective:
1. Energy or energetic – There was certainly a lot of hustle happening around getting technology up-and-running for a work-from-home world. There was certainly a lot of activity in the medical and health sciences arenas too. Ah, what am I saying, it at some point you were expending energy to do something different in your life.
2. Charm – from a personal perspective, the leaders of each of the Australian states, mostly fostered or displayed charm. The states with leaders that began their communications on COVID with displays of positivity in the form of thanking people for getting tested and thanking others for isolating and following the health advice restrictions fared better than those when they were frustrated with parts of the population for doing the wrong thing.
3. Self-control – A big year for mental health. Self-control to me is all about mental health. It’s how you cope with change and pressure. If you’re charming and appear in control the year will reward you.
4. Opinionative – while every country had their share of rightful skeptics regarding the restrictions for COVID-19. Those who thought they were right and everyone else was wrong or those with strong opinions regardless of the correctness of the statements also got attention. This most prevalent in my world during the US election.
5. Shrewd – in a year like this year, you needed to be shrewd to survive. If you were shrewd you were most likely rewarded for your shrewdness or resourcefulness.
6. Social – definitely a focus for the year was the way we interacted with each other socially. Etiquette around socialising aspect shifted. In a year when socialising was hard if you socialised or found new ways to socialise you could avoid “cabin fever” for the most part.
7. Congenial – how often were we “in this together but apart?”. This year in particular if you were congenial, the year would by rights reward you with congeniality right back at you.
8. Generous – those with a generous spirit hidden inside came to the fore this year. Again, if you were generous with something you got repaid in kind. Caution: if you were generous with anger you that energy back just the same.
That’s it for the “Year of the Metal Rat”. It was a tough year and one unlikely to be forgotten in a hurry. Next we move on to the year of the Metal Cow.
References
Paul Rigby and Harvey Bean, Getting it together with Chinese Astrologics, independently published, link to a source is here but the site is “not secure” and therefore, I do not recommend purchasing from that site until it has become secure: http://whitelotusbooks.com/bookdetail.php?id=N2691