The Tiger in 2020 ~ Metal Rat Year

Posted on January 12, 2020January 12, 2020 by Stephanie Stewart

Who is a Tiger?

Years: 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010.
Month*: February
Hour: 03.00-05.00am
Day: Ask Us

* Caution: the start of the Chinese Month of the Tiger falls on the 4th or 5th, depending on the year. I can let you know this too.

What is a Tiger?

Because the yang Wood Tiger is composed of three different elements, he is an especially versatile predator. There is nothing wrong with being a predator of course, except that it can imply a very rigid view of the world. Tigers often don’t play well with others, not because their egos are in the way (unlike the Dragon, the Pig, the Rooster or the Horse) but because for them, work and play are very distinct activities. They can up to a point frolic with other Tigers but broadly every alliance is focused on an outcome. It’s no coincidence that 1974 Tiger Victoria Beckham is the Spice Girl who never looked back; she’s moved on.

The Tiger never forgets. For the unbalanced Tiger no slight, insult or rejection can be allowed to go unredressed. He may wait a lifetime but he will get his revenge. Earth Tiger Joseph Stalin typified this approach to life as Leon Trotsky was enabled to confirm the hard way. On the other hand the balanced Tiger will always repay a debt and will go out of his way to acknowledge assistance.

The typical qualities of yang Wood are sharp eyes, a strong will and swift movement. The Tiger stalks his prey silently and pounces when he is ready. He can wait days as long as he is not hungry. A needy Tiger is very dangerous. Never scorn the Tiger.

The Tiger will often have a fresh view of things which makes him the eyes of the team he makes up with the Horse and the Dog. The Horse is front of house, the Dog the keeper of records and the Tiger the hit man.

In terms of human relations the Tiger may be the most yang of the animals; that is swift, sharp and unsubtle. The earth he inherits from his predecessor in the Zodiac the Ox, is turned miraculously from yin to yang when he receives it. The unbalanced Tiger knows no mercy and expects none. And in this he has altered the dogma he receives from the Ox – do as you would be done by – into a personal code. This alteration can amount to perversion and make for serious misunderstandings; the unconscious Tiger probably knows himself less well than any other animal. His ruthlessness which he can wear as a badge of honour, is often simply a failure to open up to interdependence with others. Of all insults “dependent” is the worst for the Tiger. He will not depend. This makes relationship an act of will. With a true act of will, the Tiger forms the most enduring relationships. If it is not truly a choice but a resigned agreement to bend himself out of shape, all around him will distort also. Sometimes the truly unconscious Tiger thinks this reflects a merciless world in which he has been clever in getting his revenge in first. This logic doesn’t work and the smarter Tiger knows this.

But even the smartest Tiger is not in the clear because the corollary of foregoing revenge appears to be falling on her sword. This is a mistake too. Most of us prefer not to live by the law of the jungle but then most of us are not as well-equipped for it.

Metal is generally considered to represent logical thought, authority and competition. The Tiger is elementally the opposite of Metal; the wooden Tiger likes to think of himself as logical but instinctive or even automatic is a better description. Generally he can only make use of Metal early on in life or at the inception of a process. After that he can deceive himself that he knows what to do and that he is beyond advice. The really unbalanced Tiger (yang Wood day stem for instance born in February) considers himself bold and resolute but truly is hanging onto past (mother) stuff that ought to have been completed. The admission of this would affront his pride and he is unlikely to do it.

Richard Bandler (himself a notoriously ruthless 1950 Tiger) the Godfather of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, used to say that the person with the most flexible behaviour has control. The Tiger is the yangest woodenest of the animals. He is so flexible that he can be completely immovable. This can be his role in the alliance with the Monkey, Pig and Snake sometimes called The Four Terminals: the Monkey sells the traveller a ticket, the Pig may offer to accompany him and the Snake can enchant with tales of exotic locations but the Tiger is liable to snarl and send the traveller on his way. Without the Pig in the ba zi this combination can like the Four Earths, be a seriously unhelpful combination, implying restricted movement.

A tender father and an implacable father-in-law, a good leader but an erratic motivator, at his worst, the keynote of the Tiger is an uneasy combination between a long memory and a short fuse. At his best he is the sort of leader you would gladly die for. Take short-lived (and deeply respected) Labour Leader John Smith as an example perhaps. At worst she’ll do the job for you.

Richard Ashworth© 2020
www.imperialfengshui.info

The Tiger in 2020

Tigers are often active at night. This year could be a long one. It may be tough to find the time to rest. The public and private successes you celebrated in 2019 may give way to old patterns of handling conflict when there’s public exposure of your past “failures”. Be gentle with yourself. You deserve forgiveness too.

A Metal Rat year indicates experiences that shape you and losses that increase vitality in the long term. There are many new ideas to process, mainly regarding the amount of space you’ve been taking up. If you are open to the learning you can change the embarrassing outcome of a potentially juvenile confrontation in August.

If you need a retreat for healing and restoration, do it in January because later you won’t feel like you have time. Don’t expect to be able to keep up with everything you think you need to do. Choose what can slip through the cracks rather than just letting it happen. There will be losses. You’re likely to be moving house too, maybe even as early as February or as late as November. Being the Tiger that you are, you’ll probably be upgrading somehow.

A close friend, partner or child also has the itchy foot, and how they cope with this could lead to an urgent situation in November. If a breakup is coming that’s when it will happen.

In May, it might be that this same person doesn’t share your definition of commitment. Be clear about yours and open to believing them when they tell you theirs. That’s what you do if you want to change November. You’ve got the power to rebuff or to share your bright light. Knowing your flexibility, you’ll try to figure out a way to do both. Don’t hurt yourself.

A Tiger is a natural leader but you’re not currently at the top of the food chain. In 2020 Tigers who continue in leadership roles will do so by way of their ambush* rather than autocracy. Tigers don’t normally work as a group so it could be awkward at first.

It’s time for Tigers to prioritize domestic affairs. The Rabbit month of March could be your best month for connection and cooperation. This is a year to be patient, change your vantage point and learn.

Get in touch if you were born in the first fortnight of the Tiger Month (between Feb 4th-20th roughly – this varies according to the year). It may be that you are in for some special luck. The following days may be uncannily helpful for making good choices:

February 27 2020
April 27 2020
June 26 2020
August 25 2020
October 24 2020

Celebrate the freeing power of failure. Respect the delays of the year’s timing and you’ll find joy in the midst of what might seem like obligation. Perspective is everything and you’ve got the gift of sight. Use it. Sort out those available to support you from those who cannot even though they are doing their best.

In July and September you may think someone is limiting you by falling short. Think again. It’s your life. You are responsible for it.

*A group of Tigers.

The Ox in 2020 ~ Metal Rat Year

Posted on January 11, 2020January 12, 2020 by Stephanie Stewart

Who is an Ox?

Years: 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009.
Month*: January
Hour: 01.00-03.00am
Day: Ask Us

* Caution: the start of the Chinese month can be as early as the 4th & as late as the 9th, depending on the year. I can let you know this too.

What is an Ox?

The distinctive quality of the Ox is insistence, not persistence because the Ox’s yin Earth makes for a certain fragility, more of a curtain than a rampart. The Ox is in many ways, the most sensitive Zodiac Animal. This is often expressed in what looks like obstinacy but is better understood as puzzlement at being disagreed with. In discourse you may find that an Ox has firm principles that on examination are more like prejudices or assumptions. They are often nonetheless firm as well as correct for all that. As a rule, don’t expect flexibility of mind from an Ox; they know what they know and are often not keen to venture beyond. Never forget however how sensitive they are.

The Ox’s gifts are very often practical rather than intellectual. The intellectually gifted Ox is extraordinarily powerful. Because of her position between the Rat and the Tiger, the Ox can sometimes vacillate from a fierceness – that does not really suit her – to a Rat-like charm that she may not be able to sustain. Watch out for the Ox who you seem on first acquaintance to have known all your life but then becomes uncontactable. In certain contexts this is called “ghosting”

With her allies the Snake and the Rooster, she forms a team which is of the Metal element. That is to say that the alliance is linear, judgemental and competitive. Where the ground rules are clear, this is an unstoppable combination, not when they’re not. But these three make a great legal team with the Rooster charming the jury, the Snake unearthing information that no one else could find and the Ox sticking to the point. When the rules are unclear however, the Metal alliance can falter. Then the Ox can become judgemental in a more covert sort of way, being less liable to argue than to judge silently. Without the Snake and the Rooster, the Ox is more barrack room lawyer than barrister.

Working in such a team, Metal, that is the qualities of logic, reason and competition, is less important than consistency. In dealing with the Ox, it is important to remember not only that the Metal is there but also that the Ox may deny this fact even to herself.

The hour of the Ox (01-03.00) is when the worlds of spirit and flesh are closest. She has a deep spiritual agenda. The gifts of mediumship and divination are essentially Ox gifts. He is above all extraordinarily sensitive.

He may nonetheless be attached to ancestral dogma. Fundamentalism of all sorts – political and social as well as religious – is a common trait. She is not always good at questioning tradition or second-hand wisdom that has come down on good authority. So she will often quote great men not because their words are wise but because they are great. Bob Dylan’s advice “Don’t follow leaders and watch your parking meters” goes over the head of the immature Ox but is the credo of the life-wisened one.

With the Dragon, Dog and Sheep, the Ox forms the Literary Alliance. Some call this confluence the Four Earths and think of it as negative. The fact is that it is a demanding combination. If the Dragon is missing from it, for instance, many think of the alliance as poisonous but to see this as an assembly of the vehicles of expression without anything new to say is probably more like it. The coincidence of these four animals in time and space is a challenge to a strong ba zi and can be the ruin of a weak one.

Barack Obama may be the world’s most famous Ox and a good example. He actually has a Sheep in his month pillar. This makes for a home-loving and secure man. This is heightened by his day stem (the character that rules the day he was born) which has a special affinity both with the Ox and the Sheep. This like so many Oxen, is a man who loves his babies. Both UK Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn – reluctant to let go of influence in a Rat Year as you might expect – and Presidential contender Elizabeth Warren are Oxen also. Watch this space. Ox is the Wizard behind the curtain this year.

The challenge to the Ox in 2020 is to topple the toxic Fire Dog. Three of the last four American Presidents (Clinton, W. Bush, Trump) have been Fire Dogs born 1946. The Fire Dog is past his peak now; it’s time to make way. The current chaotic world order may represent this shift of power.

Fire Dogs btw may be best suited to light entertainment as David Gilmour, Roy Wood and John Prine among many others, demonstrate. It may be that the above presidents took an important wrong turn.

The Ox has a love-hate relationship with the irritatingly spontaneous and extrovert Horse to whom she can not help nonetheless being drawn. Nor is she that keen on the Rabbit who can help herself to the Ox’s fresh vegetables or the Tiger who somehow often manages to exploit her.

For the Ox however, there is a foreshadowing right now in the Ox month of this Pig/Rat handover; real power beckons. Don’t waste it.

Richard Ashworth© 2020
www.imperialfengshui.info

The Ox in 2020

It’s the Rat year and you rule. You even have a regal quality. You have followers and you are meant to serve the people. Your job, if you choose to accept it, is to find the remedies and solutions others are seeking. Team up. There’s another leader who will empower you to complete their project.

Your increased authority is due to a boost from the work of others. Listen to the observant Rat if you want to know what they think of you. You may be out of touch with that. Your thoughtful withdrawal could be interpreted as snobbery. Remember this in January.

2020 will be a lucky but demanding year requiring a faster pace than is your wont. Don’t worry. You will have enough time to accomplish everything. As the Emergency Warning Broadcast System says: This is only a test. Don’t hurt yourself (or others) in the rush to get back to your quiet place. Set an example for friends Snake and Rooster who will also be feeling impatient with the noise this year. Give blood or have teeth cleaned to decrease the chance of physical harm.

If there’s justice to be dealt check in with colleagues for a balance to your strictness. As a guide to action, consider the outcome you want to experience in 2022.

Oxen are not known for taking the initiative. This is the year to do it willingly if you want advancement. Expect a breakthrough with that in September. Be careful not to block your own success and creativity or that of your partner. It’s often your way to take small measures to slow things down. This year your job is to remove them. Both Ox and Rat may experience fertility issues in the Rat and Ox years. Be gentle with yourself and your partner.

Your best advice is inadvertent and comes from your common sense, not from your position of authority. If attention passes you over in favor of those who are flashier and faster, it doesn’t matter. For better or worse you’re in charge for the next two years. You are the influencer. When you are at your best, your consistency brings relief in the midst of chaos. We all know 1949 Earth Ox Elizabeth Warren is going to keep plowing the same field regardless of the outcome of the presidential race. She is making a difference in American politics. No acknowledgment or endorsement is needed to make that true.

Those born in the second fortnight of the Ox month can expect an especially lucky year. Those birthdays could be as early January 19th or as late as the first week of February so ask if you’re curious. Here are the days where you can get away with almost anything:

February 27 2020
April 27 2020
June 26 2020
August 25 2020
October 24 2020

Use them wisely. With great power comes great responsibility.

All Oxen are in a for a powerful year but the Wood Ox is special. They can expect to receive more authority as a result of conforming to certain standards and alliances. Make it temporary if it’s not a good fit.

The Rat in 2020 ~ Metal Rat Year

Posted on January 10, 2020January 10, 2020 by Stephanie Stewart

Who is a Rat?

Years: 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008.
Month*: December
Hour: 11:00 pm – 01:00 am
Day: ask us

* Caution: the start of the Chinese month can be as early as the 4th and as late as the 9th, depending on the year. I can let you know this too.

What is a Rat?

The Rat is yang water but with a hidden stem of yin Water, that is to say pure Water, the only Chinese Animal that is so pure. All Water on this planet, unless interfered with by outside forces, is connected with and on the same level as all other Water. Sea level at Zeebrugge is the same as sea level at Miami. If I spill my cup of tea here in Surrey and you spill yours in Taiwan, sooner or later they’ll mix. It may take aeons but they’ll mix. This powerful idea may clarify the connection between Water and communication.

Someone said that we have two ears and one mouth for a good reason: that we should listen twice as much as we speak. The issues relating to Water are listening and speaking while keeping the ratios right. The Rat can easily miss this. Some of us are elected primarily to talk and the yang Water of the Rat says it’s you. The Rat is the talker of the Chinese Zodiac. As you know, an unbalanced or distressed Rat tends to clam up or run off at the mouth. Which will it be this year?

Interestingly both Prince Harry and his father Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales are Rats. Charles’ career has been one of juggling his often outspoken opinions with the privilege of his position. I observed some while ago that Harry’s lessons might be correspond; wise Rats tend to blurt or have learned to be shtum. Under considerable provocation Harry seems to have learned from his father’s example.

The Rat is supreme in the realm of ideas. It is said that when you can tell Fire and Water apart, you are their master. The blue of the sky at mid-summer, for instance is not Water but Fire. Who can identify this consistently? The Rat who is a planner and a plotter and a deep thinker, is the most likely candidate. He thinks ahead, sometimes to the detriment of his awareness of the present. This makes him a good chess player but not so great at poker. He is apt to be too controlling for games that require openness – even to good fortune. That sort of uncertainty can be painful. Your average Rat wants the credit and to get that he has to be in control.

In conversation you may find that the mature Rat second guesses in a very distinctive way: typically he gets his correspondent to commit to a position before he states his; a very useful quality in a teacher but not everyone’s cup of tea in a collaborator. The Dragon and the Monkey, even the Ox, may find this reassuring but it drives the Horse and the Tiger wild and to some extent even the Dog.

Being big talkers and travellers, Rats are traditionally suited to work involving communication: sales, oratory and persuasion. In the collaboration with the Rabbit, Rooster and Horse that Derek Walters (himself a Rat) calls the Flowers of Love, the Rat is the talker, the chatter-up if you will, where the Rooster provides the glamour, the Horse the passion and the Rabbit the accommodation. A Rat with the assistance of these other Animals is effortlessly successful and charismatic. Whichever of this quartet may be missing at any given time indicates his weaknesses.

None of the others however is ever much at ease alone in the company of the Rat. The Rooster appears to be on another planet and the Rabbit resentful, especially if that Rabbit is parent or child to the Rat; yang Water is a little too much for the Rabbit’s delicate yin Wood. Creed, Black Panther and Just Mercy star Michael B Jordan may have these dynamics to juggle this year.

An unbalanced Rat talks too much and listens selectively. A balanced one gets it exactly right; he is fascinating talker and a skilled listener. But this wilful deafness can be a point of pride. Blessed with an orderly mind and excellent retention, a Rat can consider his ignorance of a subject a reflection upon the subject rather than upon himself. This sort of Rat needs to learn to value the convictions of others, especially if they are derived from premises he does not accept.

The Rat is a guardian, a watcher. Sometimes he is self-appointed and the unbalanced Rat has a particular blindness that leads him to believe that his opinion is an absolute. This is more accentuated and less well-informed in his partner the Ox in what some call the House of Creativity (or Cleverness). The relationship between the Ox and the Rat is less that of partners than of pupil and tutor but the Ox can be a particularly obdurate and dominating learner, sometimes drawing conclusions to which he is not entitled and sticking like a limpet to any conclusion he can justify. In these circumstances the Ox is not so much partner or indeed student of the Rat as tormentor. When Ox and Rat are together it is the Ox who calls the tunes.

A very conscious Rat can make good use of his blindness to the value of other people’s positions. She is likely to be able to explain things that baffle others and to derive laws from this gift. To have no explanation however is to open himself up to chaos. If he knows this about himself he can master even the most abstract discipline.

The Rat is versatile and multi-talented though not as notably so as the Pig of whom he is often jealous or the Dragon who can baffle him despite their mutual affinity. The yang Water of the Rat can speak of profligacy with money. Rats are brilliant small businessman but often poor tycoons. In the power triad with the Dragon and Monkey, the Rat may appear to overvalue the hands-on deftness of the Monkey because he finds the Monkey easier to control and may envy the Dragon his magic. Twin Rats Robert Plant and John Bonham and Monkey Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin (formed in the Monkey Year of 1968) may be a good example of this creative tension.

And it is this potential for envy that is the other big weakness of the Rat. Often in dispute with Horses, the full-on spontaneity of Fire has always drawn resentment from certain Rats. He can’t admire what he can’t himself master. This can lead to him not getting credit for originality of mind. Consider Water Rat Alan Turing of Imitation Game fame who was not exonerated of the “crime” of homosexuality let alone appreciated until decades after his miserable death. And finally the Rat can be a fickle partner but an attentive parent, albeit one who may have favourites. The awakened Rat is absolutely even-handed; that in itself is quite a gift.

The Rat in 2020

The cheapest price to pay is attention.
1960 Metal Rat Chuck D.

In a Rat year, Rats are going to be questioned about, and questioning, experiences of childhood, parenting and parents. I doubt that is welcome news, but why not treat it as the opportunity it is? We often avoid subjects we consider difficult with the excuse that we can’t find the right time to address them. I’m telling you it’s right now. This is the year.

Rats have a love/hate relationship with attention. They like to hide out in plain sight but often feel left out because they are so good at it. In 2020 your habits of observation and your secret shortcuts will be exposed and even coopted by partners, friends, children; also accusers. The boundaries you’ve crossed with your diplomatic privileges are common knowledge.

Over the holidays you may already have been accused of not doing enough or not being more helpful in the context of family relationships. That will likely peak again in March. Take a deep breath. You know that your best has improved over the years. Don’t look for anyone to confirm that though. Let your self knowledge be enough. It’s not your fault when others don’t notice your contributions. It’s not theirs either.

In 2020 your natural gift for powerful words is enhanced. Spend time studying, reading and writing. Craft what you want to say carefully because your words are a catalyst; a magic spell. Stay on script when the moment arrives. You will find you can truly speak things into existence when you get them “right”. Don’t turn this blessing into a curse.

Those born in a Rat year and/or on a Yin Water day have the Star of Fame present bringing solid return for efforts so make the most of it. The attention you get for your work brings an attempt to displace you in June but unless you’ve got a Horse in your BaZi it probably seems more threatening than it is. Deploy your charm. Calmness and care with words will win the day. Stay in your flow. Someone is going to give feedback to your boss about your performance.

1972 Water Rats and those with a Yang Water day stem may be accident prone as they try to rush through these unwanted feelings and experiences which will only exacerbate the fallout. If you feel so pressured or anxious that everything has become an emergency then slow down. Literally.

Rat in the day pillar? You may be working towards promotion only to discover in September that the coveted executive power belongs to the Ox: a partner, friend or co worker who is already present in January. The job was already taken before you arrived at the interview but you can ride the coattails of the Ox to boost your future plans.

Choose your Ox early on rather than letting them choose you. A 1985 Wood Ox may be the most successful one. If you feel blocked I know you can find ways around it. That’s what Rats do.