Lau - The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes

Introduction:
The Animal That Hides in Your Heart

The Origin and Nature of the Lunar Signs

The Chinese lunar calendar originated with Emperor Huang Ti, who introduced the first cycle in 2637 B.C., the sixty-first year of his reign. A complete cycle of sixty lunar years is made up of five twelve-year cycles. The seventy-eighth sixty-year cycle, the one we are currently in, started February 2, 1984, and will bring us into the next millennium, ending in the year 2044.

The appointment of an animal sign to each of the twelve years is attributed to a legend about the Lord Buddha, who had summoned all the animals to come bid him farewell before he departed the Earth. Only twelve showed up and, as a token of his appreciation, he named a year for each animal in the order of its arrival. First came the Rat, then the Ox, the Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and, finally, the Boar. The animal that rules the year of your birth is said to exercise a profound influence over your life. Hence, the Chinese have coined the saying, This is the animal that hides in your heart.

There is also a secondary animal that hides in your heartyour ascendant sign. In the lunar calendar, the day begins at 11 P.M. and the twenty-four hours are divided into twelve sections of two hours each. Each section is again ruled by one of the animal signs (see Table 5). As in Western solar astrology, the sign which rules the time of birth is the ascendant and helps shape the personality. This birth hour influence can be very strong. For example, an aggressive Sheep person may prove to have been born between 3 and 5 A.M. , in the hours governed by the Tiger; on the other hand an uncharacteristically quiet Rat person was probably born between 9 and 11 A.M. , the hours ruled by the introverted Snake.

During the complete sixty-year cycle, each of the animal signs (also referred to as the twelve Earth Branches) is combined with the five main elements: Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth (see Table 2). These five elements are further divided into active and passive sides (or stems). The active side is identified as positiveyang, or male; the passiveyin, or female. The Rat, Tiger, Dragon, Horse, Monkey and Dog (the odd-numbered signs) belong to the positive yang. The Ox, Rabbit, Snake, Sheep, Rooster and Boar (the even-numbered signs) are negative yin (see Table 4).

Besides the element assigned to a year, which changes continuously (see Table 2), each of the twelve Lunar Earth Branches has a fixed element and season (see Table 4).

The only element missing from Chinese astrology that is featured in the Western horoscopes is Air. However, the Air element is prominently utilized in the Chinese art of feng shui and is loosely referred to as the feng or wind . Air is universally described by the Chinese as qi or the life force.

The ideal natal chart based on Chinese horoscopes should contain all the elements. For example, let us say a person was born in the year of the Fire Rat, 1936. The element of that year is Fire and the Rat sign has Water as its fixed element. Our subject was born in the month of the Tiger (see Table 7) whose fixed element is Wood. Finally, the time of birth was between 5 P.M. to 7 P.M. , the hours of the Rooster whose fixed element is Metal. Since the Earth element is automatically generated by the four others, this natives elements are considered to be complete or balanced.

Element deficiencies in the natal chart should be remedied. In China, the usual way to do this was to compose a name for the child which contained the character of the missing element.

The division of the sixty-year cycle into five smaller twelve-year cycles is also significant. Twelve was the age when childhood was considered over, since adolescence begins with the teen years. Someone who had completed two twelve-year cycles was usually married and a parent. At thirty-six and forty-eight, most people were, respectively, raising a family and preparing for the third generation. In the context of the Chinese lunar cycles, the charming Western custom of naming children after grandparents is more meaningful than we realize. If the grandparent is sixty years older than his or her namesake, then the lunar calendar will have come full cycleboth persons will have been born under the same animal sign and under the influence of the same element of the year. In China and Japan, ones sixtieth birthday was a very special event and celebrated with as many family members as possible. If a family had four generations under one roof or at a banquet, it was considered a great blessing.

It is interesting to note that countries are formed under lunar signs as welland their activities, choice of allies and form of government will display qualities common to their lunar birth sign. China, for example, was formed anew in 1949, the year of the Ox. True to form, she has progressed largely through her own hard work and the dedication of her people. In a given year, China will have different fortunes than, say, France, born in 1958 (the Fifth Republic), a Dog; or Canada, born in 1867 (British North American Act), a Rabbit; or colorful Hong Kong, born in 1842 (the Treaty of Nanking), a Tiger. Japan and Germany were formed anew in 1945 under the industrious Rooster, and Israel was born in 1948, the year of the innovative and progressive Rat. And is it a coincidence that America, born 1776, the year of the Monkey, is renowned for her inventiveness, communication skills and leadership in commerce?

While the Soviet Union was born following the communist revolution of 1917, the year of the Fire Snake, it was reborn as the Russian Federation in December of 1991, the year of the Sheep.

How to Use This Book

To get the most out of this book, you must study not only the animal of the year in which you were born (see Table 2), but several other factors as well: your ascendantthe lunar sign that rules the hour of your birth (see Table 5); the Western sun sign corresponding to your moon sign (see Table 7); the element of your birth year (see Table 2) as well as your signs fixed element (see Table 4); and the animal that rules the month of your birth (see Table 7). By integrating all these factors and assessing their effects, you should discoverif you dont already knowthe person you truly are. And by analyzing the horoscopes of others, you may discover the people they truly are as well.

Besides being able to understand your total self, you may be able to predict the course and nature of your personal and professional relationships in any given year. The knowledge gained by analyzing your horoscope may also shed light on why you dislike certain people, while with others you have an almost instant rapport.

The section in each chapter on how a particular sign fares over different years, as well as the marriage combinations and the compatibility tables, serve as general guides only. The assumption in these sections is that we are dealing with pure or strongly dominant lunar signs. For instance, a Snake born during the hours of the Snake is a pure sign. However, a Dragon born during the hours of the Rabbit will usually maintain his more dominant Dragon characteristics. On the other hand, a Sheep born during the hours of the Tiger may display the stronger Tiger traits of his ascendant sign and could be compatible with a Dog, which would not normally be the case according to the compatibility tables.

That is why when consulting the marriage combinations and compatibility tables, you should keep in mind other factors in the horoscope that may affect the relationship. For instance, most people display a strong affinity for persons born under their ascendant, even if that sign is the most incompatible with their own birth sign. Thus, a Boar lady born during the hours of the Snake may get along extremely well with Snake persons, even though the compatibility chart shows that a Snake is the worst possible partner for a Boar.