Solar Terms for the month of Gui Mao, Yin Water / Rabbit 癸卯 in the year of Ren Yin, Yang Water / Tiger 壬寅

We have already moved into the second month of the year of the Water Tiger, Ren Yin 2022 in the Chinese luni-solar calendar on 5 March 2022. 

The beginning of the month is marked by the Solar Term "Jin Ze" or translated as "Awaken Insects" that started at 22:43 hours on the 5th of March, 2022. 

In the Chinese luni-solar calendar, the 60 sexagenary pairs sequence alternate on a Yin - Yang - Yin - Yang basis, and so while February was a Yang Water Tiger month, March is a Yin Water Rabbit month. April will be Yang month again, and so on and so forth. 

The elements of the month are Water (癸 Gui / Yin Water) and Wood (卯 Mao / Rabbit).

You may be wondering why the name Jin Ze / Awaken Insects was used to name this second month. The ancient Chinese observed the natural phenomena in their surrounding environment. It was observed that insects were beginning to awaken from their winter hibernation, and hence gave this name to the second month. It is useful to note that it is not the other way around, as in, the observed phenomena of insects awakening from hibernation and hence it is the second Solar Term month. China covers a huge geographical area with varied weather systems according to the latitude. The months are calculated on the solar path of the earth's orbit around the sun (via Gnomon stick sun shadow recording) and then names assigned (and not via observed seasonal phenomena). To further explain, Gregorian calendar months are named after Roman gods, leaders, festivals, and numbers. It does not mean that if you don't have Roman gods, leaders and festivals then the calendar is not applicable.  

Spring Equinox falls on 20 March 2022. Due to the tilt of planet Earth's axis, the various geographical zones on the surface of the planet experience seasonal changes, caused by the changing amount of sun light and heat received. On the day of the Equinox, planet Earth gets approximately equal 12 hours of day and night. Also the sun rises exactly at cardinal due East direction (90 degrees) and sets at cardinal due West direction (270 degrees). 

In Ba Zi birth chart analysis, we use the Day Master element (the Tian Gan representing the day of your birth) and compare it with the year's and the month's elements to get what we call the 10 Spirits / 十神 / shi shen. From the 10 Spirits, we can decipher the signals and information from the universe according to one's Ba Zi chart for the annual and monthly dimensions. You can go deeper into the day and the si-chen (2 hour block) but usually the annual and 10-year pillars are cover sufficient grounds already in a Ba Zi birth chart appointment.  

Book your Ba Zi appointment today. 

 

Five Tigers - 5 Elements Tigers 壬寅，甲寅，丙寅，戊寅，庚寅

Five Tigers - 5 Elements Tigers 壬寅，甲寅，丙寅，戊寅，庚寅

The popularity of the annual Zodiac sign predictions reaches its height during the Chinese Lunar New Year period. They are simplified readings to cater to the masses as the whole population is grouped into twelve Zodiac signs; which means that hundreds of millions share the same reading per sign. Too general to be precise, and so it is infotainment. In modern days, the annual Zodiac sign readings serve a largely commercial purpose as many capitalist business entities use the predictions as marketing and promotional events for news and publicity. Temples and religious organisations use them as annual fund raisers. Historically these readings were done by scholars working at temple fairs as a side income while waiting to take the Imperial Examinations in the ancient cities of China. 

The annual Zodiac signs predictions are simplified to twelve, which is already quite lengthy to write and talk about. To bridge the gap to the actual 60 Jia Zi pairs of the sexagenary cycle, it is good to learn about the additional Five Elements. 

Simply put, take 12 (Zodiac signs) multiply by 5 (elements) and you get 60 pairs.

For example, the year of 2022 is not just the year of the Tiger, but the year of the Water Tiger. The next year of the Tiger in 2034 will be the year of the Wood Tiger, in 2046 will be the year of the Fire Tiger, in 2058 the year of the Earth Tiger and in 2070 the year of the Metal Tiger. It loops back to Water Tiger again in 2082, and so on and so forth. 

In the illustration above designed by myself,  I use shapes and colours to help you see the elements:

Water drop shape = Water element

Tall rectangle shape = Wood element

Triangle shape = Fire element

Square shape = Earth element

Circle shape = Metal element

For colours, yellow, green and red are easy to apply to design but Water's black and Metal's white are replaced with blue and grey so that they don't disappear into white and black screen backgrounds on the computer and mobile devices, and on paper.  

Also, the 地支 / Di Zi for Tiger is 寅, pronounced yín, second sound intonation and not the same as 阴 yīn, first sound, light or rising intonation.  

And so, baby steps, learn a little more than just your annual Zodiac sign. The actual Ba Zi birth chart readings are based on the Five Elements Theory, and personalised to the day and hour of birth. So before you start lamenting about how the past year was bad for you because you have self read an annual horoscope booklet based only on your annual sign, please get yourself a Ba Zi birth reading. Sometimes it is just your own mind making the classic "cognitive bias" used by marketers. (Google search "marketing bias" or "cognitive bias" to read up about it).