In Chinese Astrology Ox Comes After Rat, and is the Sign for 2009
Posted: Thursday, April 23, 2009
by Henry Fong
Feng Shui Absolutely
The Chinese have made use of constellations for over 3000 years for the purposes of astrology. In Chinese astrology Ox comes after Rat and this year, 2009 is the year of the Earth Ox. When Chinese astrology first began they names 10 Heavenly Stems and 12 Earthly Branches, chiefly for chronological purposes to tell apart time and the season.
According to Chinese legend the zodiac animals originated from the fact that Buddha invites all the animals to his Chinese New Year celebrations and only these 12 turned up for the party. To honor these animals he named a year after each of them and people who are born for instance in the year of the Rat like I am, are supposed to display some of the traits of these animals.
On top of each of the animal cycle, you find a cycle of the five elements; these are wood, fire, earth, metal (gold) and water. Unlike western elements, earth, wind, fire water and surprise (just kidding about the last element!). The year sign of the person would then be a gold dragon, wood dog, etcetera. In ancient times match making took place in China and couples were brought together under compatible signs. The elements also have a traditional representation in color, with fire being red, wood green, earth brown, metal white (not gold) and water black.
These elements are enlarged into a cycle of ten and combined with the binary "Yin and Yang" cycle. Odd years being Yin and even being Yang! As there are 12 animal zodiac signs which is divisible by two, each zodiac animal is only able to appear in either a Yin or Yang year. For instance the dragon is always yang, while the snake is Yin. The combination of the zodiac animals, colors and elements makes for a 60 year cycle which starts with "Wood Rat" and ends with "Water Pig". We are currently in a cycle which commenced in 1984.
The Ox is a very similar zodiac sign to the Rat in Chinese Astrology. It is significant in that it symbolizes a sure and steady building action so good decisions have to be made in 2009, as there are long term implications attached to your decisions. 2009 is an earth Ox year and this has destructive potential as the ruling element of Ox is water. However the past 6 years have been fraught with conflicting Chinese zodiac years and elements, out of these 6, there have been four. Apparently this is why Chinese astrologers believe the world has experienced such conflict during these years.
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