The Oracle

Chinese Astrology - Part 1

The Years of the Zodiac

Like the Western Zodiac, the Chinese Zodiac consists of 12 'signs'. But while our more famliar Western Zodiac is made up of a mixture of animals/concepts/figures the Chinese Zodiac is made up purely of animals. There are many versions of how the Zodiac came into being, which will be discussed later, but most of these agree on the order and species of animals. Most descriptions of these have this order, although there are some variances.

1 - The Rat

2 - The Ox

3 - The Tiger

4 - The Rabbit

5 - The Dragon

6 - The Snake

7 - The Horse

8 - The Sheep

9 - The Monkey

10 - The Rooster

11 - The Dog

12 - The Pig

These Zodiacs are each assigned a year, giving us a 12 year cycle. But...its not that easy, oh no! In addition to the animals, are the 5 elements - (in order) Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water. For each 12 year cycle, each Zodiac has an added element. So instead of a 12 year cycle animals, you have a 60 year cycle of animals with an added twist.
For example, the latest cycle began after Chinese New Year 1984 (wouldn't you know it, thats the year I was born!), and it was the Wood Rat. Ready for another twist.......each element is divided in two - its Yin and Yang components. So each element dominates two years, the first being Yang, the second Yin. So the first few years of the cycle go like this....

Yang Wood Rat
Yin Wood Ox
Yang Fire Tiger
Yin Fire Rabbit
Yang Earth Dragon.....

You get the idea.
The cycle continues through the five elements so when the next cycle of animals begin, the element assigned to the Rat is Yang Fire, the next animal cycle would start with Yang Earth and so on.
For a full table of the cycle of years go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_as ... r_calendar

Confused yet? Yeah it took me reading it a few times to get it!