It’s the year of the Ox, but since it’s a yin metal year, it could be also be called the year of the Golden Cow. The yoga practice this week at Rexburg yoga will feature cat/cow pose, and cow face pose. Also a few movements from the QiGong tradition.
The lunar New Year begins this week and we know it better as Chinese New Year. Anything I have to share on the subject of the Chinese astrology, its characteristics and meaning is just for fun. I do not know enough to understand all the nuances and layers. But I think it is fun and interesting and it illustrates that nature and our lives has daily cycles, monthly cycles, yearly cycles and multi-decade cycles.
In East Asian cultures (China, Japan, and Korea), the lunar new year always has three different attributes. There’s one of twelve animal spirits, one of five elements, and a yin or yang energy attribute. This year (2021) is the year of the yin metal ox.
2021 is the Yin (Female) Metal cow year so I have seen this called the year of the Golden Cow. If you were born after Jan in the years 1961, 73, 85, 97, 2009. People will focus on their income, investment, and national economy, stability and nourishment. The Ox helps us plough fields, plant crops, harvest food, and the cow or ox itself is the source of food, milk and clothing.
The ox shows up in East Asian lore as a reliable beast of burden. It’s symbolic of wealth (because in an agrarian economy they’re not cheap animals), hard work, honesty, diligence, and faithfulness.
Putting these combinations of energy, element, and animal together, we end up with a year heavily focused on persistence, diligence and faithfulness, in an environment which allows us to catch our breath. After the craziness and chaos of the year of the yang rat, the year of the yin metal ox is what you’d call a rebuilding year .
This is the year to double down (as both metal and the ox) on the traits of persistence and diligence. Look for those friends who bring out the best in you, those disciplines you’ve always wanted to study, and building habits and traditions to stick with. The year of the yin metal ox is the year to take a hard look at your personal network, cutting loose those who take more than they give. Conversely, it should spur us to action to make sure we’re giving as much or more than we take for ourselves.
This Ox characteristics certainty and very strong willed. They can be blunt and direct in their views and not afraid to say what they have to say. The Ox can get heavily involved in their objectives and goals which makes them unaware of other people’s thoughts and feelings at times.
The Ox takes responsibility very serious and will take full advantage of any opportunity by being quick and decisive. The Ox is sincere and puts a lot of trust in their friends and colleagues, they are however a very quiet and private person who often keeps their thoughts to themselves. The Ox adores their independence and prefers to do things the way they want rather than to follow rules and regulations. The Ox usually has a calm and restful attitude, but if something stresses them or they feel that someone has let them down then they can have a frightening temper.
The Ox can be very stubborn at times; this can cause arguments with others. They will usually get their own way but if things don’t work out how they planned then the Ox will become a poor loser and take defeat very badly. The Ox is somewhat of a deep thinker and can be quite serious. They are not really known for their sense of humor and do not take kindly to new ideas or anything too pioneering, they are quite old fashioned and do not like change and new ideas.
The Ox is an easy going person; they are genuine, faithful and modest. The Ox appreciates their home very much and this often becomes their place of refuge. Their family is usually very close and functions extremely well together; the Ox will make sure that all of the family members pull their weight around the house.
This is why Yin Metal people can exhibit harsh and drastic behaviors with a tendency to take extreme actions to achieve their goals. Yin Metal is often compared to that of a delicate piece of jewelry, beautiful and graceful. However, the opposite nature of Yin Metal is cold and brutal, similar to a dagger. What’s more, the Ox sign is considered “winter earth” without warmth. When adding these cold Elements together, you’ll come to understand why the outlook and sentiment of 2021 will seem quite bleak, scary, and even dangerous.
In general, the Yin Metal Ox Year, is a symbol of a harsh and cold atmosphere that incites disharmony, conflict, assassination, and terrorism. As the world economy continues to decline, the atmosphere of distrust will lead to more social unrest, political struggles, international tensions, assassinations, subversions, and coups.
Plus, with the drastic and extreme nature of Yin Metal, brute force will frequent the news and heighten the emotional intensity of the year. People may choose to resort to violence in achieving their ideology and bring about more protests, demonstrations, and anti-government sentiments.
References for the information: Raymond-lo, Christopherspenn, fengshuiweb
