The 12 Chinese Animals

Create Harmony in your Daily Life through Ancient Chinese Wisdom

Zhongxian Wu

• Publisher: Singing Dragon
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781848190313
• eBook ISBN: 9780857010155
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy

* Silver Medal Winner in the 2010 BOTYA Awards Body, Mind and Spirit Category *

The Chinese horoscope holds the key to a better understanding of self and others, and to living a life of harmony.

Not just the year of birth, but also the month, day and hour have significance in true Chinese astrology. Master Zhongxian Wu explains how to find your power animal symbols, and how to learn from their wisdom. By fully understanding what each animal signifies, and how they relate to the major hexagrams of the Yijing, he shows that they can help you to find inner peace and live in harmony with family, friends, the wider community, and with nature. Using the wisdom of the twelve animal symbols as a guide, you will learn how to better understand your personality, and make choices that profoundly influence your health, relationships, career, and finances, allowing you to live up to your greatest potential.

Making the wisdom of the twelve Chinese animals accessible to the Western reader for the first time in its relationship with the Yijing, this book will be an illuminating read for anyone interested in understanding themselves and their life patterns better, Chinese astrology, and the Yijing.

The

ANIMALS

1

Rat and Fu
復 (Rebirth)

The rat is good at hiding in the darkness or in a hole, is most active at night, and is known for its strong ability to survive. Considering these natural characteristics, it may be easier for you to understand that the Rat is a symbol for wisdom and strong new life energy in Chinese tradition. It is the first animal symbol in the 12 Chinese Animals System. It is a time or a place where Yang or new life energy starts in a new life cycle, which we represent with the tidal hexagram Fu. We use Zi 子 to represent the Rat symbol in 12 Earthly Branches. Earthly Branches, you may remember from the introduction, represent the waxing and waning Yin and Yang throughout the 12 Chen (two hour segments) of a day and 12 months of a year. Zi is a symbol for midnight of each day and for the eleventh month in the Chinese Lunar-Solar calendar. In this calendar, the winter solstice falls in the middle of the eleventh month. As you can see, the Earthly Branch Zi represents both the beginning and end of a day or the beginning and end of a year.

Having a Rat animal symbol in your Chinese birth chart means you are smart, flexible, optimistic, and open minded. You have a great intuitive sense which helps you make decisions. This strong intuition explains why you have such a strong living ability – you are a survivor. No matter where you go, you have an easy time making new friends, and fit yourself readily into your new environment. People so enjoy your charming character that you often find yourself surrounded by people. It would be a wise choice if you have a creative job, like being a writer, musician, artist, inventor, or reformer. One warning to you: never overdepend on your great intuition; it is always good to deliberate your ideas before you make decisions based on your intuition alone. This is especially important when you start a new relationship – if you go around just spontaneously following your intuition, you will mess up your life!

If Rat is your yearly animal symbol, you will have an easy life when you are young. You can achieve your goals and have a successful business at an early age if you can be stable and commit yourself. A great opportunity may be wasted if you cannot be constant in your efforts.

If Rat is your monthly animal symbol, you have strong ambitions. You may have a weak body as a young person. Even though you are resourceful and can build a flourishing life by your own means, your honesty and trust will provide you with strong support from family and friends

If Rat is your hourly animal symbol, you have a strong personality, and it is important for you to cultivate the ability to consider other people’s feelings. You are very flexible, and it can sometimes be difficult for you to be consistent if you are in the habit of constantly changing your mind. Be careful, this changeability can make your life feel unstable! Generally speaking, you do not have trouble making money. Take care of yourself and be sure to go on nice vacations when you are 36, 46, and 58 years old, which may be challenging years for you with regard to your health.

Rat Landscape (Rebirth, Return to the Light)

Breathing through the dark period

White snow brings pure land

Thunder power hidden within roots

Know the Light is returning

I will categorize some general Rat features here for your further interest.

Personality

You are flexible, optimistic, and open minded; you are flowing like water in the social river and easily find your own way of life. Your good intuition will help you make decisions about your future direction very quickly. As uncontrolled water can cause disastrous flooding, it is important for you to practice meditation techniques to control your intuitive mind.

Health

You do not have major health issues and will live a long life. A little thing you need to be careful about is your digestive function. When your digestion is troubled, it may also affect your kidney and heart function.

Relationships

A Monkey or Dragon person may be your soul mate, or at least your close friend. An Ox or Pig person can be a great business partner for you. Be aware of the Goat person because there are always some conflicts between you guys. Try to make peace with the Horse person because you both get into fights easily – sometimes for no real reason! You will have simple relationships with people who have the other animal symbols in their chart.

Career

With your creative ability, you can be a writer, musician, artist, inventor, reformer, or political leader very well. Being your own boss is always a smart choice.

Finance

Money will come to you if the purpose of your work is to help others with enthusiasm. You are likely to have good financial returns if you do so, and may have a more difficult time making money if you work only for money. In general, spring and summer are good seasons for you to make new financial plans.

Color

Black is your spiritual color – like it or not! The color black will help you feel deeply connected with your spirit. Green is the color to help you find your own potential energy and talent. You should wear green clothes when you have social activities, especially public speeches or lectures. Yellow or brown colors will help you feel grounded. Red is your financial color. Having some red in your office will bring you good luck with your finances. White is your spiritual source color: you should have it in your cultivation room or bedroom, which will nourish your body physically and spiritually.

Food

Root vegetables, black beans, pork, beef, and fish are good for you.

Fu (Rebirth)

Fu is the tidal hexagram that represents the energetic pattern of the Rat animal symbol. The Chinese character Fu means return, repeat, recover, and rebirth. The symbol of the hexagram is made with one Yang line at the bottom and five Yin lines on top, which represents Yang Qi, or new life energy, returning back in a natural cycle. It is the symbol for rebirth and rejuvenation.

In an annual cycle, Fu represents Zi – the month in which the winter solstice occurs. Zi lasts from approximately December 7 to January 5 in the solar calendar. The winter solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year, which in Chinese tradition means that Yang Qi has dropped to its nadir and Yin Qi has climbed to its zenith. Literally, the winter solstice marks the point at which we begin to experience the gradual reversal of lengthening nights and shortening days. The winter solstice is the turning point of Yang energy. Depending on the sun’s changing position, the winter solstice occurs some time between December 21 and December 22 each year (in the northern hemisphere).

In old Chinese tradition, we have a big winter solstice celebration. It was one of my favorite childhood festivals. In my memory, families gathered in the kitchen to prepare the sacrificial food on the winter solstice eve. My grandmother made many kinds of animal dolls from rice flour. My brother and I would help make the TangYuan (small rice balls). In the early morning of the next day, the first thing my family did was bring out rice animal dolls and TangYuan and other sacrificial foods to offer to nature. Although most modern city people in China do not make this kind of offering, most northern Chinese families still eat JiaoZi (dumplings) and most southern Chinese families still eat TangYuan at the winter solstice.

Both JiaoZi and TangYuan are symbols representing Yang Qi. Eating JiaoZi or TangYuan during the winter solstice is a way to remind us to hold Yang energy within and keep warm during the cold winter. In Chinese wisdom traditions, it is one of the best times of the year to do your inner cultivation because the universal Yin energy will reach the peak level and the Yang energy will be reborn. We need to spend more time doing Qigong and meditation to support the rebirth of our inner Yang energy on the winter solstice day.

In the daily cycle, Fu stands for Zi time, which is 23:00–00:59. Like the winter solstice, midnight is the time when Yang Qi regenerates in your body and begins to increase. Zi is a great time for you to do inner cultivation. Or, if you are not practicing any inner cultivation, it would be a good habit to go to bed before 23:00.

Let us uncover more information about Fu from Yijing wisdom. Like all hexagrams, the hexagram Fu is made up of two trigrams. In this hexagram, the top trigram is Kun (Earth) and the bottom trigram is Zhen (Thunder). It is ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• By the Same Author
• Title page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: The Wisdom of 12
• The Beginning: Finding Your Animals
• The Animals
• Afterword: Living in Harmony
• About the Author