When you’re used to walking on Fire, always growing and expanding, it takes a little longer to learn to walk on Water. For some, contemplation is a downer. Even though I had some ideas about what was coming, I didn’t take in the scale. And it has taken me a little longer than I thought it would to get my Rat year legs. How about you?

I like to think that when this is over we will be as sailors just returned from a long journey. Wobbly off the boat; joyful but still cautious. That’s when we will fan the flame together. Oh yes.

Tomorrow we enter the Metal Dragon month. Here in Washington State we’ve been advised to stay home until May 4th. I had already been thinking that certain types of businesses will ask that employees return to their workplaces in the Snake month. First day of the Snake month is May 5th this year. It’s a Metal Snake.

Snakes have been on my mind since 2016. In 2020 Feng Shui forecasters, masters, and others commented on how the Snake was a lucky sign this year. Many of them included people born on a yin Fire day in the same group. One question is: Is the luck for the Snake or does the Snake bring the luck to us?

The yin Fire of the Snake makes it the most unpredictable sign of the Zodiac. Yin Fire is also the tamer of Geng; the yang Metal of the Metal Rat. I’m mostly talking Ba Zi here, but in terms of Qi Men Dun Jia, to paraphrase my teacher Master Richard Ashworth, “Geng will usually tell you where the trouble is”.

The idea is that the unpredictable yin Fire tames the yang Metal problem. I’m always looking for the patterns and this year I see one iteration of the yin Fire as the doctors and first responders. Asclepios comes to mind, because of the Snake.

It’s All Greek to Me

Asclepios was the son of Apollo, the god who drives the chariot of the Sun across the sky each day, and Coronis(!), a mortal woman. Some versions of Asclepios’ birth say he was cut from his dying mother’s womb by Apollo as she lay on her funeral pyre. Coronis was then transformed into the constellation Corvus. Obviously this is sacrificial stuff. It reminds me of Eve’s relationship with the Snake. Both the power and the price of “forbidden” knowledge can be high.

Asclepios was raised for awhile by his father Apollo who taught him about medicinal herbs and healing. He was then sent to live with the Centaur Chiron for further education.

Known as a mythological healer, a doctor, Asclepios ultimately became so good at his work that he was said to be able to resurrect the dead. For that reason, he was killed by Zeus who felt that bringing people back from the underworld was destroying the balance of power. Tyrants often show their sociopathic natures when they are not the ones acclaimed as the givers of the miracles. This is familiar to us.

The myth goes that Asclepios’ abilities were enhanced because he did a favor for a serpent and the serpent “licked his ears clean”. The snake taught him the secrets of healing. After Zeus killed Asclepios he turned him into the constellation Ophiuchus. The staff Asclepios carries is depicted with the snake twined around it.

Coronation

Back to Chinese ideas now. The Snake, Rooster and Ox make up the Metal Triple combination. The Snake starts a new cycle.

If you’ve read my forecasts you’ll already know I have talked about the Ox being in charge this year even though it’s the year of the Rat. The Ox month is most of January in case you didn’t know. That was when we recognized the presence of the virus.

By my calculation the Ox also has a Special Star this year called Wah Koi or Magnificent Crown (I know). It often signifies heightened talents and creativity, but can also indicate a self imposed habit of social distancing: introversion, withdrawal or even celibacy. For those with the Wah Koi star in their Ba Zi, work may seem/be more compelling than intimacy, however, they get lonely too. That sometimes provides the raw material for their work. I’m not making this up.

People with the Ox or a Wah Koi in their BaZi may find it easiest to ride this time out by way of productivity. That’s not true for everyone so give yourself (or someone else) a break if you’re not feeling particularly artsy, contemplative or philosophical.

Back on the Horse

So far this has been a year of plans that require changing. That didn’t come as a surprise. The fear first hit me when I was writing this year’s Horse forecast in late December. I wish I had kept the original versions. I’m also kind of glad I didn’t. There’s always a part of forecasting that involves creation so you have to be careful with your projections.

Part of my plan, which I had been working on since September, has been to clash myself; to choose the impact so to speak. And that is why I’m not living in my house now. We moved out to make way for big renovations on March 8th; the day before many Seattle employers sent employees to work from home. That was the beginning of our social distancing. As I write this it’s been 25 days.

I’m kind of homesick but there’s no going home right now because my kitchen and bathrooms are down to the studs. Although I miss my garden there are so many others to enjoy here where I am. If this is my “disaster” I’ll take it and be grateful. In know I’m going to be alright, even if I don’t know exactly what that will mean.

I’ve been helping my parents in Arizona and my children in California and Oregon as best as I can, but going to the post office in order to send toilet paper through the mail is a tangible experience of my helplessness. So is learning how much of my anger comes from anxiety – duh.

Anyway, I’m still here and working, for which I am thankful. I do know that good things are still happening beneath the surface of this epidemic even if we are unable to identify them right now. If I can help in some way please get in touch. My fees have always been negotiable.