Pneumatised!

Happy Pig Year!!!

Yes, I realize this blog entry is a little late, but better late than never.

Chinese New Year’s was on February 18, which brought in the year of the pig. Pig years are 1911, 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, and 2007. The next pig year is 2019.

Some people are already familiar with the Chinese zodiac and know that each year is represented by a different animal or sign (in order, rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig). What people may not know is that the month, day, and hour of birth is also represented by one of the twelve animals as well. In order to determine your luck in life, the Chinese would take your full birth date and time, then look at different variables in your chart.

As with modern Western astrology, each sign is associated with a different element. However, there are five elements in traditional Chinese philosophy – earth, fire, water, wood, and metal/gold – instead of the four commonly known air, fire, water, and earth (which come from Greek philosophy). (Note also that the Chinese elements are different from the Buddhist elements. The Buddhist elements consist of the four elements from Greek philosophy plus aether or void, which tends to be more commonly used in Western occult practices than the traditional Chinese ones.) Also just like modern Western astrology, the Chinese signs get along better with some signs than others. Signs four signs apart get along best, basically a trine aspect like modern Western astrology. For example, oxen, snakes, and roosters will get along with each other.

Now, I did mention that your birth month, day, and time are represented by an animal as well. This needs to be calculated (I have yet to find a Chinese astrology program that does calculations for you.), but can be done with the correct tables. For example, my Chinese signs are ox (year), sheep (month), dog (day), and ox (time). This provides more insight into my personality as well as my “fortune”. The year represents heritage (what you have inherited from your ancestors and family), the month represents supporters (people who were part of your upbringing and influence you), the day represents self (your personality, basically – you!), and the time represents production (your life accomplishments including whether or not you will raise a family). Putting this all together, Chinese astrology is more complex than how it is currently used.

A good book to help you determine your Chinese astrological chart is The Traditional Art of Chinese Fortune Reading by Peter Shen. The book uses tables and charts to help you draw up your own chart, but it is well worth working through to find out your “fortune”. In my chart, it says I have seven “fortune stars” of “major income” and two “fortune stars” of “lucky money”. Guess that means I have to keep working for my fortune!

May the stars shine on you!
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame