Accordingly in 2012 I will be less available, as for me it will be principally about writing and research. I want to ground some Chinese material I’ve not fully grasped while I seek out some fine tuning. This will involve me in travel to the Far East and elsewhere to consult the authorities as well as some deep thought. Two books, a tv series and a suntan are expected to follow this. Watch this space.

Meanwhile two contrasting books have come out lately by guys I’ve known a long time. “Withdraw some of your energy from drama and re-invest it in creativity and building your life,” writes Nick Williams. Bringing light to the world is a challenging call and his Resisting your Soul is a treasury of encouragement and good heart for those who would call light in. Age of Bewilderment by polymath and grump bucket David Sherrington however, is a primer for those who are looking for the switch and suspect the power has been turned off. Very funny in a mordant sort of way.

“Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much…the wheel, New York, wars and so on…while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time…….the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man…for precisely the same reason.”
Douglas Adams.

Legless in Basra.

My earliest upbringing was in the village of Mullion, Cornwall in the remote South West of England, as far away from London as you can travel without getting wet; next stop Newfoundland. By the time I was four my mother had five children under seven, my father was often away at sea, there were no trains and a bus once a week, she didn’t drive and we were wild. I was climbing cliffs before I went to school and indeed before I could swim. So it was that as soon as I was literate I was reading pretty much anything I felt like without censorship or supervision. I knew Howard Carter, Leonard Woolley, HP Lovecraft, Lobsang Rampa and the Book of Changes before my voice broke. And Edgar Cayce.
Cayce (1877-1945) was a visionary and light worker who made a welter of predictions, many of which turned out to be false. One, as I recall was that the UK would be submerged by now, so that’s probably just as well. Global warming will lead to many changes but not that one. I intend to be able to be more specific by this time next year. I am myself a Water Dragon and working out what the 21st century may hold is a great deal of what 2012 is about for me.
When a particularly cataclysmic prophecy proved wrong, Cayce would express relief that good will had pre-empted the visions becoming facts. Which is the quandary I find myself in every year at this time. I have to incorporate the clouds while holding out for the silver lining. We are each responsible for our reality and mine seems to include some nastiness. You know the type of thing: Darfur, Gaza, Tibet, The Human Centipede, News International, Tescos.
Every Dragon Year ushers in a phenomenon known as the Four Earths. This is perhaps the most powerful combination known to Chinese Metaphysics and it is the conjunction of Dragon, Dog, Ox and Sheep, the Earth Branches, sometimes called the Four Vaults or Tombs. Some very powerful (and conflicted) people find these in their ba zis. The Earth Animals are the connections to the Ancestors, to our heritage and they offer both opportunity and challenge. In a Dragon year of course such a conjunction is present in the Earth months of January (the Ox), July (the Sheep) and October (the Dog) especially on the days ruled by these Animals when the heavy duty opportunities emerge. Many Masters simply think of the Four Earths as misfortune but I have found them to signify moments that can make a life but which neglected, can lead to despair. They often coincide with a project that requires getting ducks into a row over a long period of time. Sometimes this takes a huge protracted effort and one duck can fall out of place. At that moment we may find illness or injury preferable.
Cayce’s view was that responsibility commits us to creating better if we know better. One of my most powerful influences, Dr. Chuck Spezzano whose model the Psychology of Vision pervades everything I do, appears to be wrestling with a vision of epidemics in just this way right now.
Among the better prospects for the future is the continued presence of the campsite in St Pauls Churchyard. I expect those kids are pretty cold at the moment, bless them. Those confronting the shameless tax dodgers of the dark canyons of the City and of Wall Street are as I have said before, predominantly drawn from the yang (that is the energetic) side of the compass: Rabbits, Dragons, Snakes, Horses, Sheep and Monkeys born between 1987 and 1992. Too young to vote on either side of the Atlantic in 2004 and 2005, they voted in 2008 and 2010 only to be deeply disappointed with the outcome. They’re mad as hell and they’re not going to take it. No generation since the 60’s has been as prepared to take on injustice whether it’s the Inland Revenue for exempting bankers in return for a good lunch or shameless champion tax dodger Philip Green advising the Cameron government on waste. Whatever faecal heap my generation has bequeathed, there is hope while the next is holding Vodafone, Stagecoach and Arcadia to account.
Meanwhile across the North Atlantic in the direction of Newfoundland, my friend Rory Mackenzie is as I write, around a thousand miles short of the US coast. I met Rory in 2007 shortly after his leg had been blown off in Basra. Rory’s a medic. That’s a karma-free mission. He was not there to kill anybody. Now he and his multi-plegic comrades are rowing to the USA. Today they tell us their desalinator is malfunctioning which means they risk dying of thirst but it doesn’t seem to inhibit the banter. Rory reports that he has had to do imaginative things with (or without) underwear and lubricants. Ladies: look away now.
Imagine rowing four thousand miles. Now imagine doing it with one leg. Now imagine the pressure on the upper part of the missing limb. As his ba zi showed, Rory is impossibly brave. A sports-playing Action Man, when I met him he was so disconsolate he could hardly hold his head up. I told him however hard it gets, to trust. This too shall pass. It did and now with bottomless support from his family and especially his Mum Shealagh a heroine in her own right, he’s as fit as a man gets, limbed or limbless. There are few enough men who are prepared to feel and not to despair. Follow Rory on Twitter: @Row2Recovery .
I remain ambivalent about the whole Help for Heroes thing. I don’t want to encourage any more young men to be heroic for me. I don’t even buy a poppy for fear of being as Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance wrote, “another cog in the murder machine.” Somewhere in there I would end up endorsing the carve up in Iraq that Water Snake Tony Blair wished on Rory and his contemporaries. And more wars.
Rory was in Basra because the powers that be ignored a million-plus strong protest in 2003. We don’t er…need another hero. Someone described invading Iraq as like attacking Mexico in return for Pearl Harbour. What is to suggest they will take seriously a gaggle of kids shivering in the shadow of Goldman Sachs?
Nothing at all. But we must. I choose this despite what I know.
To pile on the agony the World Wide Fund for Nature says that as things are proceeding, there will be no trees or fish by 2050. They didn’t mention dolphins. What I know is that when investors can make more money solving global warming than by selling junk bonds short, the environmental crisis will be over. Since you asked, this will not be before 2016 but not later than 2043 which of course is a bit tight.
Climate is cyclical and the Earth has been this warm before. As a feng shui man, I work from the traditional Taoist axiom that history itself runs in cycles of sixty: there are twelve Chinese Year Animals (Rat, Dragon and so on) and five Elements (Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Metal). Twelve Animals, five Elements, that makes sixty discreet years: Metal Tiger, Water Dragon, Wood Snake and fifty seven more. The central principle is that Dragons which appear every twelve years are alike, Water Dragons which come up once in sixty are very alike. They are, as you might expect wet; the Lynmouth flood for instance was sixty years ago in August 1952. Dragons are years of mud and landslides. That year also, the last Water Dragon, saw the opening of the Korean War and it would not take supernatural powers to foresee trouble in that pocket of the World in 2012. The fact that the prevailing energy of the year travels South East-North West making both of these sectors trouble spots, just underlines it. There’s a decent chance though that the outcome in the South East of South East Asia will be good news for the one of the most deprived populations in the world.
There are other informative ways of tagging the year: the magic square or lo shu (above) for 2012 holds the 6 at its centre, the Xuang Kong kua is 6/4 which suggests the annual concerns are Father-Daughter issues and the lap yum, Long Flowing Water usually describes protracted discussions.
These, Rory and his mates in their boat, the shivering kids in EC2 and snatches of dialogue from the Lord of the Rings are what inform these views of 2012. Hold on tight.

“Five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.”

Sam: “I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.”
Frodo: “What are we holding on to, Sam?”
Sam: “That there’s still some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.”

Better to be for things rather than against them. Exchanging Muslims for Russians or even Global Warming for Muslims doesn’t strike me as progress. The sooner none of us is against anyone else the better.
However, 2012 is a 6 year. Six is the number of Heaven and the Father, hence authority and getting things done and hence opposition. This is a year in which authority is challenged wherever it asserts itself. Also as the Rhyme of the Magpie goes, six is indeed the number of gold. A complex year but each of us – in so far as us means anything – is responsible for it. There may be a multiverse of possible realities but I’m right here.
I will be bringing the feng shui of each of my retainer clients into 2012 over the next few weeks but I can tell you now that when 6 is at the centre of the lo shu, there’s a buck to be made. And lost. My drill for 2012 outlines how to gain immediate benefit from the changed energy of the new year and will be available generally from early February but for now you might note that to profit from the Metal 6 you need to add Earth and Water. Ask me how.
Meanwhile it’s 2012 and we have a world to save. In a year when world leaders provided such an unhelpful example, what price the future? Cameron and Obama gain cheap approval points as 2011 ends with lazy postures of respectively knee-jerk opposition to the garlic eating, cheese making French peace monkeys and compliance with the insane family values of the Tea Party. But there is hope here. Obama’s one of the 1961 Metal Oxen who reassert their authority to a great extent in 2012. A re-elected Obama, free of the need to seduce voters may act as boldly as he talked in 2008. And pleasing the xenophobic wing of the Tory party is not going to gain Cameron’s uneasy coalition shelf life. I give it eighteen months, about as long as the Euro.
Because a Water Dragon is essentially Earth with added Water, wealth will be attaching to activities such as publishing, health and horticulture which can be labelled Wood and that thrive on Earth. Also favoured are Earth activities like building, property and spiritual endeavour that profit from Water, particularly towards the end of the year.
But don’t expect property values to recover. There is a whole new paradigm coming. I doubt that the notion of home as investment will survive the decade; 2012 is not the end of the world but it may be the year Marx gets proven right: when those who make the money do not pay the taxes, the majority tire of the rule of markets. If for “dolphins” we read Greece, Italy, Portugal and even France and for “humans” read Germany, it becomes clear why the Euro has such a short life expectancy. The b’ak’tun of the Mayan calendar is probably not about 2012 but 2013, focusing as it does on December 21st 2012, dung gee, the midwinter solstice which for many of us is the moment that indicates the character of the following year.
In any Dragon year change is rapid; not so great for Dragons like Philip Green who suffer the so-called self clash which means they tend not to play nicely among themselves. Nor on the face of it, is it promising for Dogs who often react poorly to the Dragon. In pole position are Pigs, Monkeys, Roosters and Rats who can expect to be at the top of their game.
But to use this information slavishly is to miss its point. Monkeys can easily fail to take advantage of the ball on the penalty spot in 2012 by simply not kicking it. Similarly the smarter Dragons will treat the probable turbulence and competition of the Year of the Water Dragon as a cue to learn, grow and change. A Water Dragon myself, I plan a very differently shaped year: I will be travelling and researching for two books and a tv series scheduled for 2013 and be very discriminating as to the surveys and new clients I take on.
Above all we need to remember that each of us is much more precious and more individual than any astrological definition. We were in any case, each born under Four Animals one for each of the month, day and hour as well as the year of our birth. As the introduction to the Animal Fortunes* page on my website clarifies each of these applies to a different sphere of our life. So if we find our year Animal (relating to heritage, family and our public persona) poorly augured we may instead like to focus on our month Animal (work, resources, immediate family, friends, peers, colleagues) or day (our truest self, relationship, spirit, psyche) or even hour (future, children, creativity, expression). Being born on an Ox day, I can anticipate an interesting and satisfying year relationship wise, something that is pretty essential if I am to push the boat out professionally. This is a rational way to employ essentially irrational material.
*If your immediate personal future is your main concern, click now and move on, I should.

Arab Sprung.

Chinese numerology is living algebra; like the other eight integers, there are literally millions of levels of meaning to the year number six. The 6 belongs in the North West and to the Dog and Pig. In classical feng shui nothing gets started if the North West is missing. Many times I have had to place something in that area of a house (generally outside of course) to compensate before I can make lasting changes. Every home needs a Father.
So by extension, we can expect a watershed year in which the trends of the 21st Century may start to become solid. If we take these trends to be towards the liberations of the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt we may perhaps take comfort, if towards the score-settling in Libya or the human ducks-in-a-barrel of Syria, not so much. As more dolphin nations are bailed out and more bankers paid bigger bonuses while more libraries and public toilets close (all of which is likely) the pressure for positive change will build. In the UK, expect further riots, probably in August and probably met with disproportionate force. In 2012 peaceful demonstration will tend to be wilfully confused with insurrection. Smaller banks may fail around the same time. Like several others (April and December most probably) August will be a wet month also.
In the USA, as the Presidential Election progresses, the fault lines between the Northern and Western states and the Southern and Eastern will become more and more clear. Intellectually, morally, politically and spiritually the US is two if not three or four nations. In 2012, this becomes stark. By 2030 it will be physical.
Authority and efficiency are interesting themes for a year in which elections are to be held in so many major nations. It should for instance come as good news to Vladimir Putin in Russia where election means “election.” In the USA the way forward is simple for Barack Obama whose best approval ratings followed the assassination of a suspected but unconvicted terrorist and his family. Expect Obama to achieve re-election simply because his opponent will be selected from a short list of the deluded, intellectually challenged and criminal, a line-up so obviously lacking a statesman that even the American electorate might notice.
The Water Dragon is, as I said, the year of the landslide: literal landslides in the North West and South East as well as metaphorical ones at the ballot box. Expect trouble leading to eventual reunification in Korea in the South East of South East Asia. But it will be a rocky and potentially explosive road. Some nations like some people, are so damaged that they see a lifeline as an opportunity to pull their rescuer into the water. What can men do against such reckless hate? Iran is on that troubled NW-SE vector also and is going to be asked to blink this year. In Mexico, the 14th largest economy in the world and the largest Spanish speaking nation, one of the focus nations of the 21st century, elections will be at best troubled.

A light that never goes out.

The Chinese character for the Dragon depicts a rain cloud about to burst. Dragon energy is pent up, uncontainable, even violent. It is the moment that the nagging high pressure before the storm becomes the storm itself.  This pressure – financial, social, political – has been building in a hundred locations during the Metal Rabbit of 2011. In Lhasa as on Wall Street, it feels like something has to give. There is if you like, a war going on between love and control. You could see the positive side of this in the protest camps in Boston and Oregon as well as St Paul’s Churchyard and in the scenes of joy in Tahrir Square in Cairo. But it’s a knife edge. The South holds the tricky 2 Star and the three curses of Place, Calamity and Robbery under the Water Dragon. Arab Spring II, This time it’s Personal looks like a very inferior sequel. The prognosis in Libya is delicate: replacing one murdering tyrant with several isn’t going to change much of anything. In Tibet, to the North West of China, so many monks have set fire to themselves that the (Chinese) police now carry fire extinguishers. This Fire is spreading. It brings enlightenment along with heat but we don’t need any more human candles.
While the principle is that the events of previous Water Dragons will be reflected, those who know only Western history will be expecting parallels that can be found in the predominantly Eurocentric sources of reference. As Grand Master Raymond Lo (whose own subtly perceptive predictions can be found at www.raymond-lo.com) bemoaned to me in Singapore earlier this year, Wikipedia is a relatively shallow source.
It does not for instance highlight the Water Dragon year 208 BCE when China was finally reunited by Qin Shi Huang Di after two decades of impossibly brutal civil war. Nor that Qin and his dynasty were gone within two years of this reunification. Nor does it point out that many Chinese did not consider the infant PRC complete until Tibet, lost since the mid-19th century, had been regained in the Water Dragon year of 1952. All of these facts suggest some sort of Chinese comeuppance over the next three to four years and this likelihood is echoed in a dozen other portents. Revolutions are started by the hungry and while the Chinese middleclass are driving Mercedes, they will continue to toe the line. Sometime between now and 2016 however, the legacy of poor domestic lending and the illiquidity of the rest of the world will burst the Chinese bubble. The following may suggest the shape of this.

”Forever blowing bubbles.”

“H needed to provide a mechanism for funding government debt (but) he could not (by law) establish a bank. He therefore established what, on its face, was a trading company, though its main activity was in fact the funding of government debt.
The government and the company convinced the holders of millions of pounds of short-term government debt to exchange it with a new issue of stock in the company. In exchange, the government granted the company a perpetual annuity or a perpetual loan paying 6 percent. This guaranteed the new equity owners a steady stream of earnings to this new venture. The government thought it was in a win-win situation because it would fund the interest payment by placing a tariff.
Next the company proposed a scheme by which it would buy more than half the national debt again with new shares, and a promise to the government that the debt would be converted to a lower interest rate, 5% for ten years and 4% per year thereafter. The purpose of this conversion was similar to the old one: it would allow a conversion of high-interest but difficult-to-trade debt into low-interest, readily marketable debt. The price peaked in early August and the level of selling was such that the price started to fall drastically, triggering widespread bankruptcies amongst those who had bought on credit, and increasing selling, even short selling—selling borrowed shares in the hope of buying them back at a profit if the price falls.”

This is not (though it might be) an account of how Goldman Sachs suckered the EU into admitting Greece into the Eurozone. Nor does it concern the fall of Lehman Brothers or even that of Enron in the last Dragon year of 2000 though it describes the mechanism of both. You’d think, these bucket shops of manufactured fraud being ten years apart, something might have been learned. But no and the whirlwind is still to be reaped.
The year in focus is the Metal Rabbit of 1711 when the South Sea Trading Company was founded and the events illustrates perfectly the cyclical nature of time. During the Water Dragon year of 1712 and the subsequent decade, the company issued and traded a series of financial instruments, each more preposterous than the last until in 1720 it went down along with huge numbers of investors. This may well give us a clearer view of the meaning of the b’ak’tun as it suggests the likely pattern of the years 2011 to 2020. As we move into the next Chinese Fate Period -9- which relates to Fire and is likely to be dominated by global warming, we can expect six to seven years of financial crisis, paralleling those of 300 years ago.

Ronery no more.

The East is the place of hope in 2012 but India, the world’s largest democracy is a more likely industrial giant in the 21st Century than China, the World’s biggest command economy. The South East holds the baleful 5 wu huang Star which implies avalanches and mudslides in the Spring and Autumn along the NW-SE path of the year energy: Oregon, China, Korea, Ulster. Good news for Norwich City and Moscow Dynamo but suggesting a meltdown at FIFA. Good for Poland, poor for Italy, good for Mexico not so great for Argentina. There may be East-West wrangles over intellectual property.
Richard Ashworth © 2012

Short & Simple:

Oscars: Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Glenn Close, Viola Davis.
Euro 2012: England has a real chance.
Olympics: Disrupted and disappointing for England. Over policed.
Kate & William: happy announcement later in the year.
London Election: Livingstone despite surprise big guns behind Boris
Paul McCartney: dispute over intellectual property.
Iran: all down to Netanyahu.
Weather: prodigiously wet.
CERN: unexpected evidence of multiverse.
Cricket: England to beat South Africa despite intrusive political issues.
Facebook: extends reach, capital value increases massively.

My friend Dawn is a self-made not-so secret millionaire. She made her fortune in the flooring business. At pretty much every modern international airport you’ll find yourself stepping on her floors. And she’s been a pioneer in introducing non-toxic solvents and in fair treatment of the workforce too. Altogether she’s a remarkable woman. And she’s bonkers about feng shui though I’m sometimes not sure she’s quite sure what she means by that.

Last time I visited her big homestead high on the Cheshire ridge, she had just placed a pond. My compass said it was in the North East.

“Why now, why there?” I ask her. I know she expects me to scold her when she does these things. Why buy a dog and do your own barking?

“I just sort of thought it would be nice,” she says innocently.

She has of course placed the pond intuitively. Intuitively. What do we mean by this? Most Chinese Masters are dismissive of students who claim to be intuitive because it’s so often an excuse for not doing the homework. As it happens, all the great ones are deeply intuitive but don’t try getting them to own up.

I do some calculation. Dawn plays new age music that keeps hinting at tunes and then stopping short. It’s poignant and atmospheric. Once or twice I zone out and listen to Bon Iver’s achingly beautiful version of Bonnie Rae’s I can’t make you love me. If she wants my attention Dawn has a big Balinese gong she can hit from time to time.

Technically I’m identifying what palaces Dawn has put the doors into by placing water. The palaces are like a clock face. There are twelve of them, ranging from birth to death via maturity. Each occupies a position on the compass depending on the source the energy is coming from. And a massive external body of water will usually be that source. In other words the pond has altered the nature of the energy entering the house.

“Well?” she asks, bringing me a cup of tea just the way I like it; English Breakfast, strong, too much milk, builder’s tea, this is the North of England, after all.

“You’ve put your front door into mo yuk.”

“What does that actually mean? You know I can’t tell a ying tong from a ping pong.”

“Mo yuk means hanky panky. You’ll have been unusually frisky.”

She colours and tells me just how right I am. And her secrets are of course safe with me. Suffice it to say that she’s a recently divorced woman who has every right to a bit of fun.

She tells me she’s concerned that money is flowing only one way right now: out.

“Will that have anything to do with the pond?”

I look out across the vales of Cheshire where the disc of Jodrell Bank is shining in the distance. Her house is high up the slope and the long drive falls away to the West.

“The West is where money is this year.”

“OMG. Did I do that?”

“You’ll have made it more extreme. Next time I’ll balance it up.”

“How?”

“Height and weight. The West is best kept high and heavy long term. This year, if it’s not, it’s likely to mean money going out. You’ll need something very heavy.”

“I’ve been thinking of a stone circle,” she says and stares into the middle distance. I have seen that look before.

2. The ground beneath my feet.

On my way back from Singapore at Changi Airport, a month later I notice the particularly springy flooring and text Dawn.

“This one of yours?”

“Yep.”

In Singapore and Malaysia I have noticed so much building, so much busyness, so much commerce that Blighty seems very tame by comparison. It’s twenty degrees cooler back home in every sense I can think of. Singapore and Malaysia. are feng shui central of course. Nothing is built without involving the legions of feng shui men. You have only to raise your eyes to the skyline. At the junction of North Bridge Street and Pickering Street I see skyscrapers with missing corners, skyscrapers with holes cut out of them and skyscrapers in a sort of static Mexican stand-off where a very tall one is topped by another slightly taller one and this by another in a constant game of architectural top-handie.

Because Singapore is eight hours ahead, I’ve found myself working almost round the clock. By day I’m looking at buildings and researching, by evening handling emails and calls from England. I do a lot of my work in Starbucks because they’re the same wherever you go and I like to work surrounded by energy without having to get too deeply involved. For those studying ba zi btw, this gives away that I was born in the Monkey month.

One afternoon, for some variety I walk to the colonial Raffles Hotel, now dwarfed by its surroundings. Nearby there’s an extreme example of feng shui one-upmanship: a restaurant complex mirrors St Andrews’ Cathedral opposite with its tall spires. The surrounding high rises echo both but they’re so much bigger. Their towers dwarf the colonial markers that once established the supremacy of the British way of life. Not any more.

And there is no recession here. Everyone’s in business. The Metro teems and there are cranes all over. Everywhere there is building, everywhere competition. A generation ago Singapore had fishing villages and open space. It’s only about the size of the Isle of Wight and yet it competes on equal terms with vast nations like China, Germany and the USA. But it’s just about run out of space.

It’s monsoon season, very hot and uncomfortably humid which makes it a relief after Raffles to enter the air conditioned malls again. Monsoon season means storms every afternoon, some of them spectacular electrical spectacles. It also means that the pavements are slick from about 4pm. In Singapore much of the pavement is shiny terracotta and I’m wearing rather natty red Converse All Stars which have virtually no grip. Cue feng shui man in the frozen lake scene from “Bambi”.

3. Strait Story

I take the bus North into Malaysia. It’s a high tech double decker which gives me a wonderful view across the Straits of Malacca. Any ship sailing East-West whether Royal Navy aircraft carrier on the way back via the Red Sea to the Mediterranean or Fuchuan warship of the fleet of Admiral Zheng He en route to Malindi on the Indian Ocean coast of Africa, has had to pass through here since navigation began. The coach eats the miles and I eat a cold curry served by the young Muslim steward.

Although Singapore and Malaysia are very different, they share this constant hum of building. Only Malaysia has more real estate. There’s no hardwood any more but there are at least real mountains to the North and open space.

Jim and Tessa’s condo in Kuala Lumpur is typical. It’s so new that the load bearing columns are too full of wires and technology to afford me an accurate take on my compass. The needle goes haywire and I have to stand back yards. I conclude it’s East-West though.

Tessa is a sweet lady with roots in half-a-dozen cultures. Malaysian is one, Welsh is another. Their last home was in the valleys outside Cardiff. This is a bit different.

Tessa is also a big fan of feng shui. For her though it is a Chinese thing with strict rules and traditions. She loves to pore over the almanacs produced by every Master in South East Asia with a following and her shelves are stacked with technical books on feng shui, ba zi and other aspects of Chinese metaphysics. She plies me with tea and sandwiches and tasty Malaysian delicacies. My being a vegetarian doesn’t faze her at all. Her ba zi suggests next year she takes her cooking skills seriously.

I show them both on the development plan how the guard house is appropriately to the North West and the external water of which there is a great deal – fountains, swimming and infinity pools – North and that there’s an alternative exit South West and a substantial shrine to the East. When Jim takes me out past the armed guards to measure up, I see that the shrine is loaded with recent offerings: fruit, joss sticks, tealights. The Buddha is as golden as a koi carp.

I explain that these positions spell a dwelling deliberately positioned in Wood chi formation. Furthermore there’s a chunk left out of the floor plan, making for a classic “hatchet” shape which is I imagine to stimulate trading of the apartments.

Tessa’s mostly concerned that the condo is safe for 2012.

“Where can I put my candles this year?” she asks, house proud and concerned about cooking smells.

I generally treat a condo as a room in a bigger building. Theirs is in the West of the development which means they are sitting both on the wealthy Water star and the healthy Mountain star. So that’s alright then.

Jim good-naturedly shows me round. They banter. Tessa pretends he’s totally useless and he pretends not to be a man who commands silly fees for repairing the IT systems of big corporations. He’s on the cusp of a decision: is the future of his business East or West? In 2012, the Year of Sudden Change, both East and West are prosperous. The long term is East though.

The kitchen is in the South East which is ideal in 2012 when the nasty wu huang 5 star will arrive. A kitchen activates so much contradictory energy – Wood in the form of food, the Fire of cooking, the Metal of cutlery, the Earth of simply eating and of course a great deal of Water – that it is the perfect place to hide poor flying stars.

Jim and Tessa have put me up in the very smart East Inn Hotel. They buy me dinner there the first night. Tessa flirts outrageously with the very French head chef who I take at first to be gay. He’s not and he’s a rather interesting man whose cv includes a two month spell as a human shield hostage in Iraq. He also makes a world class Thai red curry.

In the bar a pretty Muslim girl is fronting a covers band; voices, guitar, backing tracks. She of course knows and loves Tessa. She sings “Run” with great sensitivity and afterwards I congratulate her on “that Snow Patrol song”.

“Snow Patrol?” she questions. We settle for Leona Lewis.

Tessa buys an ornate water feature from the feng shui shop. I think it’s mostly to terrorise the nervous Chinese guy who owns it. She haggles without mercy. Jim and I hang back, neither of us brought up for this.

I set their condo up for 2012. There are fresh places to stimulate for wealth and safety in the Water Dragon year. And I get a first hand look at the new condo they’re buying across town. I’ve only seen it on paper before. Once again I can see that there is feng shui intelligence at work in the orientation, the way the blocks are positioned relative to the river and the two promontories have been kept West and North East relative to the buildings. It’s so clear, it’s as if I know the thinking of the Masters responsible. Which may actually be the case.

Jim takes my picture: feng shui man sweltering in front of apartment block.

Before they found their temporary accommodation, Jim and Tessa stayed at the number one hotel in KL for several months.

“Wonderful hotel, the best suite,” Tessa says with a twinkle. “You’ll never guess who had slept in my bed.”

“Try me.”

“Robert Mugabe.”

“Robert Mugabe slept in your bed,” I repeat back to her.

“Robert Mugabe slept in my bed.”

Jim is falling about laughing.

“I’m not a bit surprised,” I say.

4. Hanky, no panky.

Back in Cheshire, Dawn has ordered two trucks of huge stones.

“You’d better tell me where to put them,” she texts me.

Indeed I had.

From my Chinese calendar I choose a very special day. She meets me at the railway station in her coupe with a purple Dragon stencilled on the bonnet. It has state-of-the-art mp3 hi fi that only plays U2.

Next morning I’m up early. I’ve calculated positions for the stones that will balance the house. When you calculate where to put Mountain (that is height and weight) and Water (that is er… water) in a Xuan Kong pattern there are two main considerations: what suits the house and what suits the person. Often these contradict and usually they require compromise. Remarkably the locations are pretty much precisely those that I would have chosen if I were calculating something specially to suit her which isn’t how I arrived at them. There are huge odds against this fortunate occurrence. No such thing as coincidence.

In my faux Paul Smith coat I venture warily into the freezing morning to locate the sites in the landscape. Dawn’s excitable about the ley lines her dowsing rods have unearthed running across her garden. She’s always excitable actually. Paul Smith doesn’t keep the chill out and she lends me something more Arctic, a fetching little blue number. But still my thumbs are so cold it’s hard even to rotate the rings of my luopan.

Affable Northern workmen are already outside with anglegrinders and mallets and drills. My meticulously calculated Xuang Kong positions fall almost precisely into her ley lines. This is pretty interesting too. This woman is certainly a Master of something.

The stones arrive, huge irregular shapes of local sandstone. The guy who delivers the first consignment explains to me that the hoist on his truck can take precise volumes of weight out a certain distance from the flatbed. The hoist lifts first one stone then another into position. The low winter sun emerges dazzlingly from behind the trees above Dawn’s home. He manoeuvres the last stone into precisely the correct location. It’s bloody cold. Dawn makes tea. One of those moments of perfect poignance.

It’s been a very special day. Dawn tells me that today she has been able to dowse without her rods.

“Dowsing rods are just an excuse not to take responsibility,” I say.

“I know, I know,” she says. “Those stones look bloody good though, don’t they?”

Years:  1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999.
Month*:  March
Hour: 05.00 am – 07.00

* Caution:the start of the Chinese month can be as early as the 4th & as late as the 9th, depending on the year. I can let you know this too.

What is a Rabbit?
The Rabbit is  yin wood essentially gentle and domestic. Her time is early morning; the legend has it that she and the Rooster swapped places which is why the cock crows in the Chinese Zodiac not at dawn but at dusk. The Rabbit rules the Spring therefore – think of March Hares and Easter Bunnies – and the Rooster the autumn.
The Rabbit is subtle, in keeping with her yin nature. She provides service readily and is often suited to catering and caring. But her preparedness to roll up her sleeves makes her the unexpected queen of networking. If you want to be introduced to the person in charge, ask a Rabbit.
The Rabbit can wait her turn; vigilance and patience are typical.
Her natural allies are the Pig and the Sheep. This is a house-proud team and the Rabbit is a team player. Her unexpected friend is the Dog who values her ability to charm without threat.
The Rabbit also belongs to the gathering known as the Flowers of Love (or Plumflowers) along with the Horse, the Rooster and Rat. She may often find herself clearing up behind these three extroverts and quite often the cuddle-bunny will obtain a life partner from the leavings of her more obviously glamorous colleagues.
The Rabbit tends to be conservative with a small “c”. Early rising is typical but this tendency to the yang of early alertness may be demonstrated by the yin of sleeping in. Lazybones or insomniac, sleeping is an issue.
Because of the unflattering connotations of the local word for Rabbit, in Vietnam this branch is called the Cat. Intuitively this does not sit right. The ideogram so clearly has ears. Yin wood relates to the eyes and to the Spring, leaves and flowers and grass, none of which are feline attributes.
In some ways the Rabbit epitomises yin. Yang wood may be best characterised as an upwards movement like the growth of a tree. Yin wood is more of an outward expansion like the spreading off grass. What these two expressions of wood have in common is irresistibility. But they are very different types of irresistibility. To counter yang wood we need yang metal: an axe will cut down the biggest tree. But you could attack a lawn with that same axe and not remove all the grass in a lifetime. This is the power of yin wood.
Wood is both stubborn and flexible. Yin wood (as characterised by soen, the wind of the South East) is thorough as well as organised. Hexagram 53 of the Book of Changes, Gradual Progress describes this: the tree grows against all the odds either because it throws itself absolutely upon the mercy of the tao or because it has a detailed plan that it follows meticulously. Or both.
The Dragon is said to lose money when the Rabbit arrives. This may be because the Dragon is distracted by his neighbour who is so apparently different in nature. This is not a great pairing but the fact is that the Rabbit sitting between the Tiger and the Dragon shares qualities with both. Partnership with the Tiger is sometimes formalised as the House of Diplomacy. The Rabbit offers carrot while the Tiger wields a stick. This arrangement exemplifies the truism that more is achieved with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone.
Wood represents bone, spine and hair as well as eyes: the light is fire but the receiving organ is wood. The Rabbit is often not strong in these regards unlike the Tiger. This is yin and yang.

The Rabbit: Outlook for 2012

The Rabbit is yin Wood and Wood is at a premium this year. Traditionally the Rabbit draws heavily on the Dragon. For buck Rabbits this is relationship stuff; be aware just how demanding you are especially when it seems to be the other way round. For does it’s about money; you might make some this year. Such wealth will be hard earned but could be substantial, and quite out of proportion to your previous achievements. For the male Rabbit this translates that by year’s end the strength of your relationship will have been well tested. If you didn’t think you could rely on your wife/mistress/lover/partner before, you will know that you can by then. You may be distracted but they won’t.

Most of this will be apparent early in the year: February, March and April. These are the Wood months. As the Fire arrives, you may be less energetic and you would do well to care for your diet. Most Rabbits gain from a spell of vegetarian fare and in the summer of a Dragon year,  it may be important. As a rule also, too much sun doesn’t suit you.

The Rabbit is the most domestic Animal; although you may travel in July, February and November of 2012, travel may be over shorter distances than you have become used to.

Don’t be over ambitious this year. Some tasks are beyond you and you may have to choose between objectives. It’s unlikely your dreams will  come true without risk, in fact being over safety conscious could snooker you. You need to look closely at what is risky and what is not as you may have these things the wrong way round.

But above all this year is about cooperation. You are the host/ess, the diplomat of the Chinese Zodiac. You know how to do this.

However one of the characteristics of 2012 is that change is sudden while the causes are indirect. The Rabbit, for instance suffers the “Ingratitude Clash” with the Rat. The Rat is the Dragon’s organiser, factotum, confidante and right hand man. So as the Rat’s influence grows, the Rabbit finds that those things she has taken for granted are threatened. What is called for is probably an examining of roles. Do what you do best not the jobs you appear to be left with. This is true also for your partner or partners.

Similarly your opposite, the Rooster, is the Dragon’s sidekick of choice. If you can, hitch your fortunes to those of a Rooster. You have to be both strong and honest for this because there is antipathy between you at some level. If you don’t know a Rooster, this is about grooming and record keeping. Be meticulous about your appearance but also be very clear what your assets are in every sense.

This looks like a fun year relationshipwise. Could be hot actually which may be good or bad news depending upon your marital status. Like your nemesis the Rooster, the Rabbit’s weakness can be a failure to be true to yourself. Use this (self-) knowledge as you will.

Years:  1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006.
Month*:  October
Hour: 19.00-21.00
* Caution: the start of the Chinese month can be as early as the 4th & as late as the 9th, depending on the year. I can let you know this too.

What is a Dog?
The Dog is yang earth and a byword for good faith and consistency. Terriers and Rotweilers are both fierce as well as loyal. In mediaeval heraldry and Renaissance painting, the greyhound symbolises constancy.
So a Dog can be expected to revere tradition and have a strong family background. If a Dog commits to something they can generally be relied upon to see it to completion. The difference between male and female Dogs can be that the female gets the message quicker. Interesting to note that Kate Middleton and Prince William are twin Water Dogs of 1982; a very solid match because as a yang earth sign, the Dog is pretty immovable, an ideal best friend or protector. These two are first and foremost, good friends.
The Dog’s thinking may not always be flexible but when he gets an idea, he really gets it. His natural grouping is with the hunters, the Horse and Tiger. The apportionment of tasks here is obvious: the Horse provides pace and the Tiger ferocity while the Dog watches the rear. If hr people studied Chinese metaphysics, more workplaces would zing: in business the Horse will tend to be the sales person, the Tiger the closer or credit controller and the Dog the provider of after-sales service or er…hr department.
The Dog excels at service because he never gives up. He will return your phone calls and keep that appointment. He’s the friend who sends a card every birthday and the spouse who remembers every anniversary.
The Dog perhaps surprisingly, also mixes well with the gentle diplomatic Rabbit. The Rabbit schmoozes while the Dog ensures that his openness is not abused. The Dog makes a wonderful bodyguard and middle manager. A Dog employer will have achieved that position by sheer hard work and will demand the same from all around.
The Dog doesn’t like the Dragon because he’s such a smarty pants. Also the Dog hates success without effort and the Dragon creates with such apparent ease. The Snake too; he’d resent the Horse except that he is scrupulously loyal to his own team.
An unbalanced Dog is a bit of a shop steward. He knows his rights and the way things should be – often the way they always have been. An unbalanced Dog (such as one with an October or mid-evening birth) is just too respectful.
The Dog will often have a strong spiritual agenda and if he has a blind spot it may be an inability to tell the difference between religion and spirituality or spirituality and therapy. Because this means he sticks to his guns, the Dog is suited both to new age therapy and religious persecution. He will not be thrown off by the opinions of others once he has committed to a line of action. In fact the unbalanced Dog can be thick skinned in matters of belief; this Dog would be ideally suited to being a Grand Inquisitor. The problem is that his motto ought to be “Do as you would be done by,” and he thinks it already is.
The Dog can work well with other Dogs and with the Pig. With the Pig he shares a love of home and team and they are so different they don’t crowd each other. Sometimes the Dog and Pig can be telepathically close; this is because they are adjacent signs in the calendar linked by the yang earth that is a feature of both. Sometimes this earth is expressed by banter or earthy humour. They can have a lot of fun together while getting the job done.
But the most powerful and most demanding role the Dog can play is in a creative team including the irritating Dragon, the autocratic Ox and the soft Sheep. If the Dog acts as conscience and bookkeeper, the Ox will relax, the Sheep toughen up and the Dragon acknowledge someone else for a change. If you are a Dog recruiting for non-executive directors take note. What is great about the Dog is that if he finds advice that works he will adopt it as if it were religion. Bless.

The Dog: Outlook for 2012

Dog and Dragon of course are  at each others’ throats. Typically the Dragon thinks the Dog is ponderous and typically the Dog thinks the Dragon is away with the fairies.  Standard advice is not to face South East in a Dragon year as the energy comes from the direction of the Dog in the North West, bringing trouble for both. In short, they are not natural mates.

What is this likely to mean? One answer is that as both are yang Earth creatures, they will take up entrenched positions. Earth is constant, persistent, determined, that is to say stubborn as hell. Both are like this but the Dragon is also the bringer of sudden change. One reason Dragons can be so infuriating is that they create spontaneously. Once he has stopped sulking, a Dragon can release himself from a fix with a wiggle of his nose. Which just upsets the typical Dog more. And this is a year in which time after time, Dogs may find themselves in the kind of trouble that the more flexible Animals will overcome instantly. The Dog could learn from this. Volatile 1970 Metal Dog Naomi Campbell may be a good subject.

Keeping this very simple, in 2012 the Dog can expect much of what he has long taken for granted to shift. It is time to adapt. Learn to live with the new circumstances just as the Dragon does. This may as easily relate to work (more likely for male Dogs) as relationship (more likely for lady Dogs) and if it appears to apply to neither, it will apply to health.

The Dog is dogged, consistent, loyal, faithful, very often stubborn as hell. In the Dragon year, her ideas may not be timely. The Dog often believes that everything has a rational explanation. Even if it’s irrational, it’s simple. In a Dragon year however, things keep happening suddenly and without apparent reason, cause or precedent. This is very confusing for a Dog. 

Your best bet is to get flexible. Know when you’ve made a mistake. Particularly know when your fixed position no longer makes sense. And er….adapt.

The Dog may have felt exploited in 2011. The Rabbit bakes him out of shape with Fire which tends to make him certain about things he should be questioning.  This is the Dog’s perennial puzzle: who to trust? The answer is yourself. You can not be exploited if you are making sound choices. 

In recruiting, choose carefully and be vigilant. Sometimes what the Dog does is to choose carelessly and not stay up to date. He thinks the way the relationship was at the beginning is how it will always be. Call it loyalty or call it laziness, this is a blueprint for exploitation. And for “recruiting” read choosing romantic as well as commercial partners. Stay engaged. The Dog, I have found, is the most likely sufferer of the condition known as sleep apnea when a sleeper momentarily stops breathing. It can be very distressing to wake up next to. To some observers, holding your breath while staying fast asleep describes the Dog’s decision making process. Whether we are talking romance or business, this is no way to live happily ever after.

So Dogs: get flexible. Take nothing for granted but don’t use this as an excuse for paranoia. Stay awake and be ready for occasional breathtaking moments.

Years:  1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000.
Month*:  April
Hour: 07.00 am – 09.00
* Caution: the start of the Chinese month can be as early as the 4th & as late as the 9th, depending on the year. I can let you know this too.

What is a Dragon?
The Dragon is yang earth, the most egotistical of the branches as well as being generally considered the most powerful. Putting aside conventional rules of animal compatibility, everyone is either fascinated by the Dragon or suspicious. Many are both.
Though charming and affable, like the Pig, the Horse and the Rooster, the Dragon suffers the self clash which makes him unsuited to working with his equals. Dragons often live alone and enjoy their own company. Sometimes they claim to even when they don’t. Often what he experiences as joy is a subtle experience that others find puzzling. The Horse for instance who likes to dance on tables, sometimes thinks the Dragon is a high maintenance prima donna. Even the Dragon’s ally the Monkey, contrasts his own goonish delights with the impassive Dragon and can make no sense of it.
And yet the Dragon delivers. Sometimes awkward and gauche, the Dragon can appear incompetent and yet still win. The steadfast Dog whose workings always lead to a logical answer detests this about the Dragon and may sabotage him. Put simply the Dog thinks the Dragon goes on a bit. The Ox and the Sheep share something of this attitude but are more passive about it.
The Chinese ideogram for thunder is a Dragon under a raincloud. Remember that all over the world rainclouds speak of plenty. Drenched is good if you’re looking for growth. The Dragon month is April, the time of sudden change. The character of the Dragon is like the awkward times before a storm breaks.
The Dragon does not naturally co-operate or easily share confidences. He will however grudgingly work with those he considers his inferiors as long as they are very clear about the pecking order. This is the central weakness of the unbalanced Dragon. King Lear was a Dragon where Othello may have been a Tiger and Hamlet probably a Snake.
The Dragon’s traditional partners are the hands-on Monkey and the plotting Rat. These three may not mix socially however. They need a task to cooperate upon, otherwise they find it hard to connect. Socially the Dragon will seek out the Rooster and the Horse both of whom can act as pr or spokesperson. Alone or teamed-up, the Dragon is just as creative as he feels like being. He can instantly magic up wealth and as rapidly squander it. Neither Horse nor Rooster are much help in this regard although a benevolent Rat and a diligent Monkey would be.
The Dragon and the Snake form the House of Magic. The Dragon is the Sorceror, the Snake his apprentice. So Merlin was a Dragon and his story illustrates the other central weakness of the Dragon: that he can be beguiled by the glamour of the Rooster. This coupling takes the Dragon off track. In a Rooster year the Dragon may forget all his carefully laid plans and go off-piste. In a Rabbit year he may have to defend himself but either is preferable to the Tiger year which will have found him settling into quicksand.
Note to Employers: A Dragon employee is the best there is if the task suits him. It had better suit him because he will do precisely what he feels like either way.

The Dragon: Outlook for 2012

The central piece of advice for Dragons like George Papandreou in 2012 is to seek alternative employment. In their own year Dragons suffer what is called the “self clash” this means that Dragons (like Horses, Roosters and Pigs but for different reasons) don’t play nicely among themselves. By extension a Dragon year is not unreservedly great for a Dragon.

The Dragon’s demon is ego. The hook you are likely to get stuck on is pride. In your own year, it is as if the air itself is filled with rivals. This weakness is a function of the Dragon’s strength. No Animal is more powerful, more creative or more capable of transformation. But there is nothing more determinedly pathetic than a Dragon stuck on a point of pride. Best to play fair with the Dragon because he may think you didn’t, even when you did.

So this year, Dragons, be flexible. Take advice. Assume your peers have human but essentially benevolent motives. Some will want to put you down, steal your job, or steal your wife but to assume that of all of them will tend to debilitate. Nonetheless 2012 is likely to be a contentious year. Stick to your guns when you honestly ought and back down otherwise. I know you don’t need me to tell you that.

However to mark someone’s card and still love them is among the hardest tasks presented to us: hard to love someone and see their faults, sometimes even harder to despise and remain evenhanded. And the powerful, magical, multitalented Dragon has one central weakness: once he has faced you down, he drops his guard. And he remains -often secretly – pathetically grateful for the friendship of anyone around whom he may keep it down. That’s why at the heart of every feud or vendetta you’ll find a Dragon. He opened up and you abused him; that’s his view. Never again.

Disputatious Dragons include neo-con historian Niall Ferguson, maverick film maker Terry Gilliam and of course idealist/troublemaker/genius John Lennon. Each of these appears to have believed themselves affable and reasonable but possessed of a vision that would not be compromised. And each might have achieved more or for longer had they compromised. Or would they? You get the picture. This is interesting company to keep..

None of the above is a forecast of your reaction. We are all a great deal more than our horoscopes. We can choose. Knowing these probabilities about the year of the Water Dragon doesn’t commit you to any pattern of behaviour. Think of yourself as forewarned and therefore forearmed. You don’t have to fall into the simple but beguiling pitfall of ego. And it’s about time you reviewed whether you are actually getting anywhere. If not, change now. If you are, be ready and waiting for novelty or a new way of doing what you do. This applies as much in the areas of relationship, family and indeed health as it does to career.

It is an ancient Chinese adage that the only constant is change. My advice is to tattoo that  truth somewhere prominent.

Years:  1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002.
Month*:  June
Hour: 11 am – 13.00
* Caution: the start of the Chinese month can be as early as the 4th & as late as the 9th, depending on the year. I can let you know this too.

What is a Horse?
The horse is yang fire, the charmer, the extrovert, the seducer of the Zodiac, the Horse is rarely caught out despite his high-risk strategy. He has an ego of course but is better able to laugh at himself than for instance the Dragon. Like the Dragon, the Pig and the Rooster though, he can not work with his own kind. The typical Horse is not a deep thinker and his ego leads him to suppose that no one else is either.
There tends to be a belief in shortage, at work in the Horse. He thinks he must be the first to the trough if he is to eat. In romance the Horse like the Rooster, can be what Leonard Cohen calls “a thin gypsy thief”. This means his weakness can be a failure to respect boundaries and property. Of all the animals, the Horse and Rooster are typically the marriage breakers and the home wreckers. This is not inevitable of course. If we know this about ourselves we can make wiser choices. Just because today is a good day to die, it is not necessarily a good day to kill.
Predictably the Horse is often not great at commitment. The yin and yang of this by the way is that a self-aware Horse is the most constant partner there is.
Success matters a great deal to the Horse. He is not generally subtle. It is the winning not the taking part that tends to concern him.
The fiery Horse is not keen on water. He experiences this element whether expressed as a Rat year or as excessive communication, dampening his enthusiasm. Water slows him down but does not halt him.
Interestingly the Horse’s charisma is best expressed either in a team with the other Plum Flowers, Rat, Rabbit and Rooster or with the Sheep. You will often find Sheep and Horse out and about together, the Horse radiating charm and the Sheep reflecting it. This actually is a good partnership; the Sheep is in awe of the sheer daring of the Horse and the reckless Horse may often need grounding, safety and a short term loan.
The Horse’s home team all of whom have fire in common, is with the Tiger and the Dog. These are the hunters of the Zodiac: the Tiger kills, the Horse chases, the Dog guards. This support system is the most likely to bring the Horse rewards. On his own he is prone to burn brightly and extinguish early. He’ll have a good time though.
The Horse finds the Ox hard work also. There is metal hidden in the Ox which the Horse can turn to his advantage but the Ox’s preferences are humdrum to him.
The Horse has visual, imaginative and intellectual gifts but is unlikely to value them enough to put them to good use. So many of the words we use about the virtue of work illustrate the unwillingness of the Horse to stick at things: harness, yoke, saddle, blinker etc. Again the yin and yang is that a conscious Horse never quits.
A Horse who works with a Snake may achieve greatness because the Snake understands the Horse just as she understands the Dragon, additionally the Snake will not need to compete. In many ways the Snake is the perfect partner but it is more likely the Snake will recognise this than the Horse. The Snake suffers in the short term and the Horse in the long.
Racing, partying, playing, the danger for the Horse is burn out. The challenge is to defer gratification long enough that there remains a future.

The Horse: Outlook for 2012

The Dragon is yang Earth to the Horse’s yang Fire. And this year the Horse’s earth – to the  South – is scorched. In feng shui terms, the South is host to the Three Curses: Robbery Curse, Place Curse and Calamity Curse. Orthodox advice is not to build, dig or drill there for now. So the Horse is going to be prone to insecurity.  By extension, this is a year in which hitherto safe territory may be contested.  Freshly married, unflappable Paul McCartney, born in the Horse year of 1942, could for instance find himself involved in issues around intellectual property.

There’s more: like the Dragon, the Horse suffers the self-clash which is to say that Horses don’t get on with Horses. Unlike the Dragon however, the Horse also has issues with the other three Plum Flowers or toe fars: the Rooster, Rat and Rabbit. The Plum Flowers are the Animals of romance and the Dragon favours two of them – Rooster & Rat – but not the Horse. In point of fact as the Horse is ill at ease with both of these, the Dragon reacts by being uneasy with the Horse. It follows then that this year with the Dragon in power, is unlikely to be comfortable in relation to romance but like all threats, within it are both the key to its solution and a gift. Irascible Fire Horse Gordon Ramsay might find the following useful.

The charm of the Horse is guileless spontaneity. In 2012 you may see a threat to your job, your friendships, membership of organisations and your closest relationships and unless you pay close attention, you may react with guileless, spontaneous foolishness. You might even occasionally become abusive. This is a function of spontaneity but it doesn’t actually work for you. The best response to a threat is to understand how it is that you caused it. Yes, you.

You are quite likely however to react with threats, abuse and miscellaneous forms of attack, all of which seem justified to you. Don’t. If you see your responsibility, there is no need for you to lose anything. That which is threatened, will if it truly belongs to you, return to you. The gift here is that of patience. The lesson is to look within yourself for authorship of your life.

The Horse’s health could be up and down this year. The yang Earth of the Dragon which implies frustration to your yang Fire, suggests its corollaries: potentially raised blood pressure and issues of blockage. The Horse also may have problems with skin and eyes. Appropriate diet is the key: water, green vegetables, exercise and sunshine. Often the answer to all of a Horse’s problems is a spell in the sun.

In commerce, you may bite off more than you can chew. This is a signal to pace yourself. Everything is cyclical. This too shall pass. If you are patient, the moment will come around when even the most demanding tasks become child’s play. You are the Lord of Fire which rules 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Years:  1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004.
Month*:  August
Hour: 15.00-17.00
* Caution: the start of the Chinese month can be as early as the 4th & as late as the 9th, depending on the year. I can let you know this too.

What is a Monkey?
The image of the Three Wise Monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil is a mediaeval Japanese summary of the qualities of the metal Monkey who is yang metal and a particularly unbalanced primate. The image is of someone of course who shrinks from involvement. In elemental terms, this is about too much yang metal. What is meant by yang metal essentially is competition. Often the Monkey is so competitive he dare not enter the race. For many Monkeys, a man is an island. He is, like Hugh Grant’s character in About a Boy, “bloody Ibiza”.
As well as competitive, the Monkey is typically charming, loveable, dextrous, logical and quick witted and has a gift for precision. The balanced Monkey uses these qualities constructively and in the service of his fellow man. The unbalanced Monkey (with say an August birthday and a late afternoon hour) does not clean up behind himself. He is in short a monkey.
The Monkey is often the most acquisitive as well as the gentlest beast but he is above all, competitive. In the extreme this means warfare. In its milder forms it is the ruthless competition that involves the belief that another’s gain is our loss. This is a mistake. It’s what leads to steroid abuse in athletics and ballet dancing in the penalty box; Metal Monkey John Terry can take a bow here. The metal Monkey may learn this lesson early; it’s what makes him gentle and all Monkeys subscribe to this delusion to a greater or lesser extent.
Just as you’d expect, the pitfall of the Monkey is frivolity. If he can’t win he takes the Mickey. The Monkey’s natural allies are the Rat and the Dragon. This is a pretty heavy-duty grouping, perhaps the most powerful in the Chinese Zodiac. The naturally dominant Rat and the egotistical Dragon are not, as a rule a bundle of laughs. But they get stuff done; most of the big revolutions of ideas involve this team. The influence of this trio spreads everywhere: Sigmund Freud perhaps the most influential thinker of the 20th Century, Michele Obama possibly the most influential woman in the world, Dragons. Even Jesus if you take AD32 as his birth year.* And somewhere in there if we delve deeply enough, we find unsung Monkeys and Rats making it happen. The Rat plots, the Monkey gets out there and competes. Probably St Paul was a Monkey, the man who sold Christianity to the world. Someone who is a Monkey for sure is Karen Armstrong author of a History of God, founder of the Charter for Compassion and arguably the most important thinker of the 21st Century. This is a Monkey who has learned to speak no evil while seeing much.
The Monkey tends to understand engines; he is the grease Monkey. He also tends to understand maths, science and argument. He is suited very often to a career in engineering or the law, also accountancy. Unbalanced, he neglects all of the above. The Monkey month of August spans Leo and Virgo and to see him as a hybrid of Virgo control and Leo passion is not far from the truth.
When the Tiger and the Snake meet the Monkey there is trouble. The Monkey both co-operates with and fights the Snake. The presence of the Tiger pushes this competition over the edge. Keep them apart. So the Monkey should mind his p’s and q’s every  February, the month of the Tiger and every May, the month of the Snake.
So that’s the Monkey:  argumentative practical, mischievous, so competitive he can withdraw altogether. But you knew that already didn’t you?
* That’s up for debate of course but presumably he was a Capricorn anyway.

The Monkey: Outlook for 2012

Nobody ever told you to lighten up. The Monkey is the sign of the joker, the trickster. The Monkey is naughty, cheeky, impish. Funny how these apparently negative words carry such approval. We all like the person who can stay cheerful. There is in point of fact, pretty much nothing to which the most appropriate response is not a smile and the Monkey knows it.

The Monkey’s weakness however is a reluctance to become involved. The most extreme of these is the Metal Monkey of 1980. If your good cheer is a function of withdrawal this is a year that will change you. For some people it is only possible to be frivolous while they remain uninvested. This year you are offered long term opportunities that will change your life. Take it or leave it but know that it’s your choice either way. There are no ironies in real life.

Many Monkeys are financially aware. Not necessarily astute. The traditional time for financial crises is the first week in August when the optimistic Fire of the Sheep, the last summer month, gives way to the reflective Metal of the Monkey. The riots took up that slack this year. Rebellion is a central Monkey characteristic not shrewdness. This year, if you stay open, you become part of a team which offers you wise reflection on your every choice before you leap. There are few greater gifts in life.

The Dragon is the Monkey’s team mate, roomie and homie but the Dragon is also the bringer of sudden change and as you are in the team, this is going to include you. You are involved deeply whether you thought so or not. This year you are likely to be faced with the opportunity to commit.  It’s your decision but my advice is to take it. You may be terrified of the end to your freedom but you may never have tasted the true freedom that comes with mature cooperation. It may be your nature to dread even asking for directions but you may be being offered a co-pilot who can map read while you drive. Your relationship with the Dragon is going to be focused and personal with a measurable outcome.

This is not just about sexual politics. At work you will be offered preferment that tends to make you even more vulnerable to the decisions of others. Seek Rats to work with if there is a choice. If you employ Snakes let them know you will take them at their word.

Money probably flows out more than in this year but especially in April and May, there are big opportunities for long term prosperity that may not pay off for some time.

Your health will be generally sound. The Monkey’s weaknesses are to do with skin and breathing. Support yourself with sound lifestyle choices.

Years:  1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009.
Month*:  January
Hour: 01.00-03.00am
* Caution: the start of the Chinese month can be as early as the 4th & as late as the 9th, depending on the year. I can let you know this too.

What is an Ox?
The distinctive quality of the Ox is insistence, not persistence because the Ox’s yin Earth makes for a certain fragility, more of a curtain than a rampart. The Ox is in many ways, the most sensitive year animal. This is often expressed in what looks like obstinacy but is better understood as puzzlement at being disagreed with. In discourse you may find that an Ox has firm principles that on examination are not principles at all but more like prejudices or assumptions. They are often nonetheless firm as well as correct for all that. As a rule, don’t expect flexibility of mind from an Ox; they know what they know and are often not keen to venture beyond.
The Ox’s gifts are very often practical rather than intellectual. The intellectually gifted Ox is extraordinarily powerful. Because of her position between the Rat and the Tiger, the Ox can sometimes vacillate between a fierceness that does not suit her and a Rat-like charm that she may not be able to sustain.
With her allies the Snake and the Rooster, she forms a team which is of the metal element. That is to say that the alliance is linear, judgemental and competitive. Where the ground rules are clear, this is an unstoppable combination. These three make a great legal team with the Rooster charming the jury, the Snake unearthing information that no one else could find and the Ox sticking to the point. When the rules are unclear however, the metal alliance can falter. Then the Ox can become judgemental in a more covert sort of way, being less liable to argue than to judge silently. Without the Snake and the Rooster, the Ox is more barrack room lawyer than barrister.
Working in such a team, the metal, that is the qualities of logic, reason and competition, is less important than consistency. In dealing with the Ox, it is important to remember not only that the metal is there but also that the Ox may deny this fact even to herself.
The hour of the Ox (01-03.00) is the time that the worlds of spirit and flesh are closest.  She has a deep spiritual agenda. The gifts of mediumship and divination are essentially Ox gifts.
The Ox may be attached to ancestral dogma. Fundamentalism of all sorts – political and social as well as religious – is a common trait. She is not always good at questioning tradition or second-hand wisdom that has come down on good authority. She will often quote great men not because their words are wise but because they are great.
With the Dragon, Dog and Sheep, the Ox forms the Literary Alliance. Some call this confluence the Four Earths and think of it as negative. The fact is that it is a demanding combination. If the Dragon is missing for instance, many think of it as poisonous but to see this as an assembly of the vehicles of expression without anything new to say is probably more like it. The coincidence of these animals is a challenge to a strong ba zi and can be the ruin of a weak one.
Barack Obama may currently be the world’s most famous Ox and a good example. He actually has a Sheep in his month pillar. This makes for a home-loving and secure man. This is heightened by his day stem (the character that rules the day he was born) which has a special affinity both with the Ox and the Sheep. This like so many Oxen, is a man who loves his babies.
The challenge to Obama in 2011 was to make up for the missing Dog. The Rabbit is the secret friend of the Dog and will tend to make this an easier process than otherwise. Without the Dog. the Ox and Sheep squabble over detail. The Dog stands for completion. Obama must see the job through. I’d suggest to Barack that he wears a Dog amulet by the way.
The Ox has a love-hate relationship with the irritatingly spontaneous and extrovert Horse to whom she can not help nonetheless being drawn. Nor is she that keen on the Rabbit who can help herself to the Ox’s fresh vegetables or the Tiger who somehow often manages to exploit her.

The Ox: Outlook for 2012

The Ox is yin Earth. Her weaknesses are a tendency to stay stuck when it’s no longer necessary and mistaking preferences for principles. Also a belief, often correct, that she was born to rule. Margaret Thatcher features, for instance among famous Oxen as does Barack Obama. The Ox may also be the most spiritual  and most loyal of the Chinese Animals. It is hard to put anything past the Ox and often she would be smarter actually to get out of the way.

But you know all this. Traditionally the Dragon year is not especially comfortable for you. It’s all a bit fast. You like to feel your way at your own pace. This may characterise Barack Obama’s campaign for re-election. He’s already President, why he does he need another show of hands? The state-hopping velocity of the modern campaign is a serious drawback to the Ox seeking office which may put him under serious physical strain.

So first piece of advice for the Ox: soft pedal on the imperiousness already.

Next: this is not a year to overdo it. Small blockages are the bane of the Ox. You may be held up a great deal. This is not a year of freeflowing travel for you. And your notorious stomach may play up. Oily food is not for you nor bitter.

The yin Earth of the Ox that implies small blockages, perversely also signifies property acquisition. This is the year you may enjoy rental or other passive income.

You exert a powerful indirect influence this year. Your advice will be listened to if it is channelled correctly. Your most glamorous friend the Rooster will be a good go between to power as will the Snake who knows just how to couch things. Use these connections rather than relying on a direct approach.

Traditional feng shui advice is for you to carry a Rooster amulet which brings you indirect support from the Dragon. But generally this is a year in which your characteristic bluntness is not your strongest asset. Affrontery will see the carpet pulled from under you. This is no year for arrogance. If you remember that you’ll be ready for your position of special influence in 2013.

As far as relationship is concerned, this is an exciting time for you. There’s a decent chance of new love, very possibly involving someone you’ve known some time. Keep your antennae out.