Viewpoint

Working the Year of the Metal Cow!

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!

"... this is the year to achieve through hard work and conscientious endeavour. it is a time to put business and home affairs in order. It is not a year for flamboyance or hasty decisions."

Paul Rigby & Harvey Bean

For the short version of what to emulate in 2021’s lunar year, I would use the following paragraph from Somerville. From it I would pick out the traits of equilibrium, tenacity, conscientiousness, resoluteness, methodical, determined and dedicated to an objective.

The Ox is born under the signs of equilibrium and tenacity. Oxes are hard and conscientious workers and sets about everything in a resolute, methodical and determined manner. Oxes have considerable leadership qualities and are often admired for their tough and uncompromising nature. Oxes know what they want to achieve in life and, as far as possible, will not be deflected from their ultimate objective.

Your Chinese Horoscope for 1994. Neil Somerville

Personally, the words that I would keep in mind for the year are, “equilibrium and tenacity”. Everything else will fall into those to characteristics. For instance, the qualities listed in the Rigby & Bean book are:

Perseverance (tenacity)
Being practical. Avoid being too sentimental. (equilibrium)
Balanced (equilibrium)
Tenacious (tenacity)
No-Nonsense with a touch of cheekiness – it’s not all hard work (equilibrium & tenacity)
Aggressive (tenacity & equilibrium. Do not confuse aggression with violence, giving birth is an act of aggression, seedlings breaking through the ground is an act of aggression, chicks hatching out of shells are acts of aggression. These aren’t delicate matters but they are not of violence)
Family-minded family focused (equilibrium)
Devoted and independent (tenacious & equilibrium).
Cautious at first then resolute (equilibrium)
Actions will speak louder than words this year (tenacity and conscientiousness)

Being a yin sign, the cow is also nurturing (milk) and peaceful that likes equilibrium. Yin balances out the yang from the year before and prepares us for the next touch yang in the Year of the Tiger ahead. Being a yin year, it will favour the feminine and women. It will be beneficial to honour the women in your life and indulging in your own feminine side.

So, by being methodical and conscientiousness this year might win you favour with the year. When I say, “win favour”, I don’t mean that a cow will rock up on your doorstep and give you a reward. It’s simply saying that life will be that bit smoother.

Don’t take my word for it, try an experiment – a safe one! (remember number nine above: Cautious) In the first month you could try honouring the cow’s traits and then the next deliberately reverse your approach. Then compare the two month was easier. Of course, don’t try doing all the traits at once, just stick with equilibrium and tenacity as guide words with maybe methodical in there for good measure.

Special note to those who are born in the year of the Goat/ Rabbit/ Cat, where the appreciation of the finer things in life might be tempting as well as indulging in art. This is not a year where, “art for art’s sake” will pay off. If you are going to create something, make sure it’s “practical as well as being an artwork”. Lean into your strength of “diligence” for best results because this works in nicely with the conscientiousness of the Cow/ Ox.

Good luck!

References

Paul Rigby and Harvey Bean, Getting it together with Chinese Astrologics, independently published, link to a source is here but the site was “not secure” at the time of writing. Therefore, I do not recommend purchasing from the site until it has become secure, whitelotusbooks.com. If you do decide to purchase use a “burner” credit card (gift credit card).

Neil Somerville, Your Chinese Horoscope for 1994, The Aquarian Press 1993, ISBN 1-85538-290-3

Disclaimer

Advice given above is not professional and should be read with humour. Following suggestions does not guarantee results and information contained herein is based solely on personal experience and not factually recorded in anyway.

Michaela

Year of the Rat – in review

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!".

Paul Rigby and Harvey Bean

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

Random thoughts on Australia Day!

For those unaware 26 January in Australia Day in, you guessed it, Australia. This is when the European settlers claimed Australia as its own. Unfortunately, this neglected the thousands of years of occupation by the incumbent indigenous population, the Australian aborigines. To them Australia Day is known as Invasion Day.

Thankfully, society has moved from the barbaric actions of the new comers to finally acknowledge and treat with respect the indigenous population. There has been talk of moving the day, however, I think this is unlikely.

Australia Day is a day where the efforts Australians have made to Australia for whatever reason receive awards. The problem with this is when it comes to acknowledging the outstanding indigenous contributors who struggle with the day.

Now, I am far from an expert in indigenous affairs and therefore anything I put forward is not meant to be offensive to anyone at all. But there’s a part of me that has always thought that there should be two days for Australia Day. The 25 January celebrating the indigenous population’s contribution. Being on the day before Australia Day being symbolic of their existence before European’s landed.

Twenty-six January can then be for the celebration of landing on the wonderful soil that is Australia for the European settlers. Perhaps we need another day, the 27 January to celebrate the harmony between the two parties. But perhaps 13 February “Sorry Day” is a better day to celebrate the coming together of the traditional owners and the new settlers. It’s probably too messy for me to figure out.

Day 008 – Doing things Properly

8 January 2021

Today's Cards

Context

This morning I woke up, shuffled the cards laid them out and noticed that Thunderbolt appeared in the deck. Last time Thunderbolt graced my cards while I was on vacation I got back to work and discovered that my job had changed.

It meant that I was going to move physically but more importantly the result of the move and change of job would mean a complete stocktake of my life. Unfortunately, there was no extra money. The change prompted doubts, suspicion, and flattery all mingled in together.

You see, Thunderbolt is about a dramatic shift in the physical surroundings – that’s at least how I’ve always interpreted the card of The Tower – in some other decks this card is called the Tower. The imagery or how it is depicted is similar too.

As you can imagine, I got nervous. Without really focussing on the other cards and not wanting to until the day passed so I could form a retroactive perspective on events.

It turns out the change to my physical surroundings was announced on the news and to me when my mother and husband rang to advise me of the Premier’s decision.

Yep. It’s the greater Brisbane area of Queensland, Australia. We were going into level 4 lock down as of 6:00pm for three days. Thunderbolt card now makes complete sense sitting in the Future Energy position.

It also makes sense for yesterday’s Change card . And although I refer to the position as the Feelings position, the position has typically also covered on upcoming feelings. The timeframe I’ve read this at is within the next one to seven days. The duality of meaning was there yesterday, I just hadn’t had my precognition turned on :).

Now you have context, let’s see what the other cards had to say.

The Cards

Position one had Friendliness. The night before I talked with my husband about getting the dinners for the weekends. We had used all the HelloFresh meal kits for the week and decided that we needed a few things from the supermarket.

Not thinking the shops would get too busy for a three day lockdown I didn’t rush. But I did decide to go earlier rather than later so I could get back to doing things for the website. Kind of like, the sooner I go the sooner I’ll get back.

Glad I did, the line at the local supermarket was already quite long 200 metres, maybe. Anyway, in line which was the Now position when I did the cards this morning. While waiting there was a bit of solidarity. If you like, a Friendliness.

Totality as the Influencer in this circumstance meant that I need to commit totally to the shopping. But there is the subtle hint at the total lockdown to come. The nice part of going into lockdown was all the support from family and friends we received. Very touching.

Silence in the Goal position can be read as literal or figurative. The Osho book refers to Silence as a quietening of the mind. For me, it’s bliss. A time to turn inward. It is like a sense of being one with the universe.

The Distant Past has Postponement. So, there were certain things I was postponing yesterday; going to the shops, contacting the web developer and approaching a friend to help me out with some editing. Most of which I had dealt with.

Naturally, dealing with things that I’ve stupidly been postponing brought with it the cause for Celebration. And look at that, the Celebration card is in the Recent Past position. What else can really be said? Postponement overcome created the Friendliness I felt with my fellow line-upperers (yes, I know that’s not a word) which in turn is cause for Celebration.

Now, how does all this fit in with the Future energy position of Thunderbolt. Remember that the Thunderbolt card is about the change to physical circumstances and the trigger for a reassessment of one’s situation. Just because I know its coming doesn’t mean I’ve lived it :).

I fully expect that the Future energy card will last the three days. It will be interesting to see if Thunderbolt appears at all. Personally, I’d be surprised if it did since it’s the future position.

The Feelings position has The Creator. The Creator is about working on oneself to improve oneself. So, the card and position implies that I will be working on myself creatively.

On the other hand, I have found that this card can have the other kind of creator that works with nurturing something beautiful and physical into being. There is a plan to put together a media gallery tomorrow. We’ll see if I do any deep diving on myself.

Others’ views is Past Lives. Not quite sure how to interpret the Others’ views position when I’m reading for myself. It’s much easier reading this position for others. I find there’s more of a distorted view on anything I think other people might be thinking – as good a guess as it can sometimes be.

No! In the beginning I said that when I view Past Lives it is for this life time only. The cards or I know this. So, this is why it has come up to read with that interpretation. Others’ views then means that I am bringing back what I used to do. That’s for those that have known me for some time, that is. Makes sense. There’s a lot of my Past Lives cropping up at the moment.

This next card in the next position does not come as a surprise to me. Laziness is one of my greatest Hopes & Fears. Oh! To fully enjoy the contentment of being able to sit back and not worry about things slipping.

On a more serious note, I go into overdrive whenever Laziness crops up in a reading. There’s a make sure that I’m kicking myself off the lounge and cleaning, reading, typing, creating or just doing something. Then the fear sneaks in that I will miss something. Especially the thing the card is actually referring to, which is probably what I’m lazily avoiding because I’ve “been there done that”.

The title of this post is “Doing thing Properly” and the card of Morality’s appearance in the Outcome position had me pursing my lips. Had this post been written before the day had transpired the “irkiness” I felt at seeing it would have come through.

However, here is a situation where the card makes complete sense. The Morality card symbolises societal conditioning and conforming to expectations. Words that usually arouse the prickliness in me and whispers for me to see if the boundaries are spongy or breakable :).

It took quite a bit of self-discipline to quell that rebellious reaction. Luckily, I’ve learnt not simply to blindly rebel to something when someone says it’s moral and assess whether is has validity for me. Of course, in this case it completely makes sense to follow the “right thing”.

Yet the COVID lockdown announcement encourages people to conform to do things properly – social distance, wash hands, wear a mask. Ironically, by conforming and doing these things you are actually heroic. You are contributing to stopping the spread of the virus and potentially saving lives. All by doing things properly.

Morality from Osho’s intent, is about being sequacious (thank you Susie Dent – UK Countdown for the word of the day) and unthinking. It’s all about revalidating what the right thing to do is. From a Chinese proverb, “he who believes too long in something soon becomes wrong”.

It’s the “half life of facts”, if you don’t keep renewing the data you have it will become outdated. Basic mathematics is used daily and is tested for validity and is therefore kept up-to-date’ so too should morality be tested to retain validity.