Observers who go unnoticed: this is your year. Take back authority through your revelations and actions. I’m talking to those who aren’t sleeping at night because they are making plans to protect their families and the planet.

We’ve been heading in this direction for some time and now we’ve arrived in a place where we are touched by millions of eyes without being perceived. We can be heard worldwide and still rebuffed. We knew each other once, but will we again? Who will be the first to witness another’s truth in the long winter?

Through bearing witness we participate in another’s experience. It’s time to realize how much we have in common. In 2020 we can trust each other but not the systems of authority and governance we have created. Let’s start there.

The original meaning of the word martyr, which comes from the Greek word μάρτυρ, is witness. The definition of a martyr was: a person who testifies to information they obtained from personal observation or experience. In the best sense, there’s no compromise of integrity here. No self destruction required.

Sometime between 29-100 AD the definition of martyr changed. It came to signify a person who could expect at any time to be asked to deny their testimony under penalty of death. Let’s go back to the earliest meaning.

Humans gain an added level of meaning to their experience when there’s someone bearing witness. Why else would we gather together for significant initiations such births, deaths, marriages, holidays and other events where stories of family history and culture are shared? A public recounting of a shared past (for better or worse) might be the thing we want most from each other. Like Water, we yearn to be admitted unreservedly; all carried in the same current.

During the Metal Rat year intergenerational conflict may deflect us from our purpose. Some will be questioning the value of their heritage while others will learn that not everyone wants what they have to give. Bearing witness builds the bridge that allows us to rejoin. If there’s going to be a Deus Ex Machina it’s us.
 

Four Pillars of the Metal Rat Year

Hour	Day	Month	Year
Yin Earth	Yin Water	Yang Fire	Yang Metal
己	癸	丙	庚
未	巳	子	子
Sheep	Snake	Rat	Rat
Hexagram 46	Hexagram 43	Hexagram 27	Hexagram 42
☷	☱	☶	☴
☴	☰	☳	☳

 

A Metal Rat arrives every 60 years. In other Metal Rat years there have been sweeping changes in American government but I know forecasting that for 2020 won’t be a revelation to anyone. I’ll leave it to others to make predictions of what we all know is coming regarding our planet too.

From December to March we can expect success with small challenges. Think of this as practicing crossing streams so you can be ready to ford the river later. Take this time to get yourself prepared to handle changes that may come quickly.

From March to June there will be events that cause food shortages and rising food prices. The advice from the I Ching is “Observe the ways people eat for guidance.” I’d say there’s a reference here to the impact of plant based or non plant based diets.

From June to September strategy will be more important than conflict when there’s a threat of attack.

From September to December it appears that women take charge. Expect sacrifice, charity and other actions that put the material world in order, i.e. the usual stuff.

In this Metal Rat year, as well as in bigger time cycles, Water is quite strong. The Fire element will become stronger as the year progresses but it’s embryonic and finite. The Earth element is weak. Metal is strongly expressed in a cold and possibly violent way because it’s indiscriminate. Wood is dormant.

In short, emotions will be running high and impulsiveness may lead to regret. There’s joy in the midst of loss. Calculations are required that cannot be made useful without faith.

The two Rats in the Four Pillars of the year start refer to ancestors and children. We will need to focus more on taking care of these and other vulnerable groups. Our loyalties will be changing at a time when we’re uncertain as to where we can be useful. Just look around you.

New ideas will be compelling simply because of their novelty so it will be important to distinguish between useful innovation and what seems useful simply because it’s new.

For example, Derek Walters, a 1936 Fire Rat without whom you would likely not be reading this, was the first to give access to authentic knowledge of Chinese Astrology to the western English speaking world through his books. Derek’s work sets a standard of scholarship in a field where calculation and precision meet magic. That’s a feat in itself. At the same time, in his most technical work The Complete Guide to Chinese Astrology, Derek’s innovation was to assign Roman and Arabic numerals to the branches and stems as a way to assist the reader. Many found this unhelpful. Interestingly, Lily Chung (who is also brilliant and whose Scholar Star is Rat), uses similar “codes” in her books. This is Rat stuff.

If we have any sense left this will be the year that we give up the idea that being the fastest, first or number one makes anything or anyone the most valuable or important. At the same time, in a way that is typical of yin and yang, we will need to question those who claim to be egalitarian because they may simply be uncaring.