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If you were born in the Year of the Rat, you are expressive
and quick-witted. If your birthday falls in the Year of the Rabbit, you are
diplomatic and well-liked. There are similar pronouncements for the Year of
the Dog, the Ox, the Tiger, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Goat, the
Monkey, the Rooster and the Pig - but to think that this is all there is to
Chinese astrology is as simplistic as believing that you can know everything
there is to know about a person if you know that they are a Capricorn. The art of Chinese Astrology is based on the Chinese lunar
calendar. Unlike Western astrology, which bases its major system - the Sun signs
- on a 12 month cycle, giving a different influence to each month, Chinese astrology
is based on cycles of 60 years. Each year is assigned both one of the 12 animals
and one of the five elements - wood, water, air, earth and metal - and so the
years are more properly defined as the Year of the Water Tiger, The Year of
the Earth Pig and so on - sixty in all. Western astrology focuses on defining personalities and
influences. The purpose of Chinese astrology is more direct - to define 'cures'
for unfortunate stars by correcting imbalances in the natal chart. Thus, systems
like Feng Shui use the astrological chart as a starting point to prescribe ways
to bring balance into one's life. The concept of balance and of Yin and Yang is one that
is vital to every aspect of Chinese astrology. Each animal, each element and
each year is either Yin (soft) or Yang (hard). Thus a year may be Yin, but represented
by a Yang animal like the Tiger. A Tiger born in a Yin year will be softer and
less aggressive than one born in a Yang year. If that Tiger was also born in
a Water year, he will be intuitive, persuasive and magnetic - a born charismatic
leader. Obviously, every person born in a particular year doesn't
share the exact same fate and personality, any more than every person born under
a Western astrological sign does. To refine predictions, Chinese astrology uses
a complex system of twelve Palaces, similar to the twelve astrological Houses
in Western astrology. Zi Wei Dou Shu is used to create a person's entire astrological
chart by assigning each of the 'stars' to a Palace. It is the arrangement of
these Palaces and stars that determine the influences that a person must affect
in order to affect his fate.
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