In Chinese Astrology Ox Comes After Rat, And Is The Sign For 2009

In Chinese Astrology Ox Comes After Rat, And Is The Sign For 2009

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For many centuries constellations and Chinese astrology have been used for divination purposes. Over 3000 years ago the "10 Heavenly Stems" and "12 Earthly Branches" were invented for chronological reasons. They were used to differentiate time and seasons.

As time went by animals were used to represent the 12 Earthly Stems, this was mainly because the majority of Chinese people were illiterate and animals were simple to identify with. The 12 Earthly Branches, in order are: mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

Legend tells that Buddha was celebrating Chinese New Year and he invited all animals to partake of the festivities. Unfortunately only these 12 animals arrive. In honor of them he named the years after them. There are other variations of this story, but for the purposes of this information we shall use this one. People who are born in the year of the animal it is represented by are supposed to have some traits of these animals inherent in them.

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.

The animal zodiac consists of 12 and this is divisible by two, so each sign falls under the binary Yin and Yang years, with no two animal represented by both. They are either Yin or Yang and this is determined by if the year is an odd or even year. The combination of the animals, colors and elements leads Chinese astrology to have a 60 year cycle, and our present cycle began in 1984. The cycle always begins with a wood rat and ends with a water pig.

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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