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Chinese New Year 2005Â Â [part two]
Malvin Artley continues his examination of the profound qualities of the Chinese Year of the Rooster in 2005, the Yin Wood Rooster. The element Wood is associated with the color green, so this year will sometimes be referred to as the Year of the Green Rooster. Malvin discusses the three main systems at work in Chinese Astrology, the Four Pillars, the Great Bear and the Imperial Chart system. What is not generally known is that every one of the animal signs has an element associated with it (of which there are 5 in the Oriental systems) and a polarity—Yin or Yang. So, in its fullness, the name of this lunar year is technically known as The Year of the Yin Wood Rooster, the Rooster Crowing at Noon. The element Wood is associated with the color green, so this year will sometimes be referred to as the Year of the Green Rooster. This Rooster also has some subsidiary qualities associated with it, having a sub-elemental quality of metal and a resultant quality of water—the Water of Rains and Springs. If this is all too confusing, not to worry. A bit of explanation is forthcoming. Chinese astrology in the vein that is used in describing the cycle of the years is, as we have discovered, actually a numerological system and it has very little, if anything, to do with the actual motions of the planets. There are actually three main systems of Chinese astrology. The one that is being referred to here is called the Four Pillars system of fate calculation. The next most popular system is known as the Tzu Wei (Purple Crepe Myrtle or Great Bear) system, which is also largely numerological but actually does use some of the stars and planets. And, finally, there is a system that uses the first system along with the actual planets and a chart wheel with which Westerners would be familiar. This latter system was reserved exclusively for the Imperial Court and only the Emperor and dignitaries of the court had their charts cast by that method. Commoners found to be using that system were summarily executed in the old days along with their astrologers because it put too much power in the hands of the common people. Hoping to avoid the wrath of the Emperor, then, we will explore a little of the Four Pillars and see what they can reveal to us. The Four Pillars system of Chinese astrology is based, as the name implies, upon the 4 main divisions of time that we know—the year, the month, the day, and the hour. There are some derivations of this system that also use the minute, which means that the system would tie in with the 5 elements in a more holistic manner. But, most people use only the four, and that system forms the backbone of several of the Chinese systems of divination, including certain parts of Feng Shui. Every Pillar thus has three elements, a polarity, a phase and its associated descriptors. There are at least four of these Pillars associated with any moment in time, and it is for this reason that they form the basis of Chinese astrology as we know it in the West-in the same wav that our determinators of any chart are the date, place and time of day. The Four Pillars for this year appear below, and we will reference them as we proceed through this article.
Each Pillar has a different meaning and rules progressively smaller and smaller groups of people in a mundane chart, from the Year Pillar to the Hour Pillar, respectively. In a mundane chart such as the chart of the year, the Year Pillar rules over the general populace and the world at large. The Month Pillar rules the governments of the world and the brotherhood of nations. The Day Pillar rules people of note, communities and important figures of state. It also rules the national identity if the chart refers to a specific nation. And, finally, the Hour Pillar refers to the children of the world, aid agencies and the produce of nations (inventions. exports. manufactured goods, etc.). There is so much more to these Pillars than we could ever hope to cover here, but enough has been said to give us an idea of where 2005 is headed so, with that, let us begin to unravel the year of The Rooster Crowing at Noon. Starting with the Year Pillar, the Rooster defines a phase of the great yearly cycle (the Chinese have a Great Year of 12 years in duration) wherein the gifts that have been garnered in the previous parts of the cycle are to be put on show and the wisdom gained is to be used for the common good. That is the intent, anyway. The phases, or animals, all come in pairs each having a Yin or Yang polarity. The Rooster is the Yin compliment to the Monkey. What is started in Monkey Years finds expression in Rooster Years. Yin phases describe parts of any greater cycle given to in-gathering, reflection, communication, nurturing, and building for the future. This would seem to be a contradiction to the statement about the gifts gained being put on show, but the reason the gifts are to be put on show is to ensure that they are made available to everyone, to draw attention to the things that are now available that perhaps were not before, to consolidate what has been produced prior to the next phase of the cycle and so things can be properly assessed and put in their correct perspective. This 10th Branch, as it is called, bears a likeness to the 10th house of a western horoscope, marking a period of achievement and recognition for tasks already done. Thus, this will be an especially important year for the governments of the world as an expression of the will of the people and we will be shown whether or not the efforts of the past are deserved or whether we need to change course or at the very least make adjustments. There will be a host of new administrations installed throughout the world this year, and we will see if they come up to scratch (barnyard puns aside) or if they need to be curtailed or even thrown out. We will also be shown this year if we, as the human race, are up to speed and have learned the lessons presented to us over the past 9 years and what we need additionally to help us all move more securely into the future. The past Rooster year was in 1993 and in the US we saw the installment of the Clinton administration and the move more toward the left of politics and thus toward social reform. This time around the pendulum is swinging the other way, so we shall have to wait and see where it is all taking us.  Â Read part three of The Year of the Rooster, where Malvin concludes his discussion.
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