Chinese New Year 2004 - Year of the Yang Wood Monkey

By: Malvin Artley

More than the 12 Animal Signs

Chinese astrology is actually an ancient, august system of divination that has evolved quite independently of the rest of the world and is, in fact, the sister system to the astrology we know in the West, giving us - as it were - the missing pages of a long-sought chapter on the mysteries of astrological art and practice. I will also give out more of the relevant information on the year data than I did last year (my last forecast was not a general mailing). With that, let us begin.

As stated above, this marks the year of the Yang Wood Monkey. This is also called the year of the Yang Green Monkey in some circles, denoting the element of Wood. It may be of interest to note that schooled Chinese astrologers do not use the animals at all in their delineations. They use, instead, the Branch, which the animals represent. A Branch is simply a notation of a portion of the greater cycle. It is always a division of the cycle by 12. In this way, we could say that Aries would be the 1st Branch in Western astrology, were we to use such terminology. These Branch numbers have no numerical values. They are simply labels. Animals are a convenient tool for memorizing what the intrinsic meaning of each Branch is, and there is some parallel between the zodiacal signs (Aries=1) as phases of the Western Zodiac and the Chinese Branches, although the 1st Month Branch (Rat) corresponds loosely with Sagittarius, not Aries. Seeming inconsistencies aside, the animal symbolism in Chinese astrology is actually an esoteric blind for what is really a much more profound meaning and mechanism. But, for now, the animal symbols will suffice.

When we sit down at our favorite Chinese restaurant and bemuse ourselves with what we believe to be the quaint and very simplistic system of astrology being presented to us, there are several things we should keep in mind. First of all, the year "animal" is only 1/8 of the birth data from which the Chinese astrologer would work. When we give a Western astrologer our birth details - date of birth, time of day and city of birth - we get a natal horoscope derived from that, which is simply a map of the planetary positions at the moment of our birth. We get that from a Chinese astrologer as well (at least, from a good one), but we also get quite a bit more.

The 4 Pillars

From the Chinese astrologer, as well as getting the natal chart, we also get what are known as The 4 Pillars (Year, Month Day and Hour) - the foundation of their fate calculation systems - the possibility of at least 100 derived "stars" in addition to the actual planets, the further subdivision of the zodiacal wheel into 28 lunar mansions with all those resultant meanings and the inclusion in the analysis of many other cycles--planetary and otherwise - of which Western astrology knows little or nothing. So, when we read about the animal associated with the year, we might be mindful next time that there are "animals" associated with the month, day and hour, as well as one of the 5 Chinese Elements being associated with each one. The learned Chinese astrologer would smile quietly to him/herself at the blissful ignorance of the restaurant patrons so delighted with their new animal labels. To top it off, the Year Pillar does not really describe the person anyway. It describes social contacts, ancestors and extended family. It is the Day Pillar that describes the self.

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