Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Year of the Tiger!

These days, she says, I feel my life
Just like a river running through
The year of the cat..
— Al Stewart

According to the Chinese Zodiac, today is the beginning of the Lunar New Year, ushering in the Year of the Tiger. The Tiger is the third sign in the cycle of Chinese zodiac, which consists of twelve animal signs. Each of the twelve also cycles through the five basic elements of the Chinese system: wood, water, fire, earth, and metal.

This year is one that is the Metal Tiger, which some are calling the Golden Tiger, while others refer to it as the Iron Tiger.

The tiger in all cases is a sign of courage. A fearless and fiery fighter, the Tiger is revered by the ancient Chinese as the sign that wards off the three main disasters of a household: fire, thieves and ghosts.

On this New Year’s day itself, it is beneficial to celebrate, to smile and be happy, and to refrain from scowling, quarreling, or criticizing anyone. For, like your mother used to warn, your unhappy face might well stick.  Like many New Year’s customs, what you do on this day sets the tone for the coming year.  So it is recommended that you focus on joyful activities and loved ones.  You might make an offering of fruit, placed in the middle of the living room, and also offering your prayers of thanks to the Gods on Earth and in the heavens. One should include and honor one’s ancestors in prayers.

The lunar New Year begins at the (western) Aquarius New Moon. Astrologer par excellence, Dan Furst, writes “The last and most powerful of the three consecutive Super Moons that began last December comes at the Black Moon of Feb. 13 – 14. A few hours later, World Sound Healing Day, held once again on St. Valentine’s Day, will unite millions of people all over the world in the chanting of an Ahhh for the peace and healing of the universal heart.

“As the New Moon appears the next day, the new Year of the Iron Tiger begins in the Chinese calendar, and other calendars aligned with it. And then, a day or two later, depending on your location, the great Conjunction of Chiron and Neptune, which we have been tracking [on his website] for these last two years, finally comes into precise, perfect alignment…”

For folks interested in the amazing chart for this Moon, I highly recommend visiting Dan’s website.

He then summarizes what we may expect in a Metal Tiger year. He writes, “The Chinese Tiger often appears as we see him in this painting by Le Feng, with his tail wrapped around the Full Moon. Why is this? No one seems to know, unless the symmetry-loving Chinese may like to pair this most yang of animals with the yin symbol of the Moon.

“While Chinese see in the Tiger the same qualities of loyalty, generosity, courage and magnanimity that Western astrology sees in Leo the Lion, all bets are off when the Iron Tiger arrives.

“He combines this predator’s pitiless force with the densest, least pliable of the five elements, as though to announce that in the year ahead the mighty will pursue their aims with implacable resolve, as they did in the cycle before this one, when the Chinese launched a war in Korea in 1950. The Iron Tiger is said to be motivated by an intense, aggressive self-interest. This may be why Tiger years are volatile, with disputes taken to extremes, and this may be why, as Karyn Easton puts it, the Iron Tiger brings ‘a year for massive change but this can also bring out the best.’”

Astrologer Lynn Hayes will be broadcasting a web radio show today discussing and taking questions about this pivotal time.  She also writes brilliantly of this Super Moon, with its powerful conjunction of Eastern and Western myth and history, as well as astrological forces of Power, Healing, and Love:

“New Moons are times of new beginnings, when the solar principle of consciousness and ego development (Sun) conjoins the lunar instinctive principle governing that which is more hidden (Moon). This New Moon is in Aquarius and aligns within a degree with Chiron and Neptune, so the Sun, Moon, Chiron and Neptune are all powerfully aligned as a tremendous force for healing and integration on a soul level.

“With the energy of this New Moon it’s time to integrate all of the lessons of emotional balance that Chiron and Neptune have been teaching since February of 2009 when they first aligned, and move forward in a completely new direction. This visionary Aquarian influence is all about getting un-stuck and using the power of the mind and reason to move us out of dead areas of our lives and into new beginnings.

“This New Moon also includes a harmonious sextile from Venus (relating) to Pluto (transformation) that helps us to get real in all of our dealing with others, and another pleasant sextile from Mars (assertiveness) to Saturn (discipline) which helps us to create a solid plan in our life to help us to move forward.

“These two influences culminate on the 15th, followed by the exact conjunction of Chiron and Neptune along with a fusing of Venus to Jupiter that showers good fortune and the ability to recognize it.”

As Lynn concludes, and nearly every other astrologer out there would agree:

“There’s a lot of good juju in this New Moon! All we have to do is take advantage of it.”