Time to Celebrate the Year of the Metal Tiger

By Leann Lester

It’s February and lots of things are happening this month!  It’s the month of Valentine’s day and time for romance!  It also happens to be the Chinese new year. This time it falls on February 14th!  For the year 2010, we are entering into the year of the metal tiger. I would like to wish everyone ~ “gung hee fat choy” or “happy Chinese new year.”

The tiger year runs from February 14, 2010 thru February 2, 2011.  The energy mode will be in yang or positive and feminine.  During this tiger year we will be dealing with things like ambition, drive and business skills.  Some things that will feel out of place  are complacency, feelings of inferiority, and sense of purpose.  Some will be dealing with aggressiveness and selfishness.  The main ideals for the year of the tiger are reverence, idealism, and most importantly, respectfulness.

Chinese astrology has many factors that come into play.  There is the zodiac aspect which is associated with an animal and its correspondences.  There is a planetary aspect as well as numerology, which is used with the current year.

Let’s take a look at how the planets will affect us.  Chinese astrology is founded in the elements metal, fire, earth, wood and water.  Each element is represented by a planet.  The element wood is Jupiter and stands for expansion, money, prosperity and generosity.  Mars is represented by fire and stands for passion, sex , courage, aggression and protection.  The element earth is represented by Saturn and stands for longevity, exorcism, endings, homes and houses.  Venus is associated with the element metal and is associated with love, friendship, beauty and reconciliation.  Last we have the element water and the planet here is Mercury, which stands for conscious mind, study, travel, divination and wisdom.  Because this is a metal year, Venus will have great effect.

Now each year the “yearly gods” or “your current fortune” changes. I took the universal year for 2010, which is a 3 (when reduced) and this is what it has to say.  For the number 3 it is the moon god.  What this means is it brings good fortune to the home.  It also heralds the birth of a child in the family.  Now remember this can mean a two legged or a four legged “child” ~ a human child or a animal.  It also states that we should be alert during the year to any unexpected personal opportunities.

The following are other things that go with this cycle we are entering.  The color white deals with releasing and cleaning, the season is early spring and means to expect the year to go like spring; “rain here and there and at times either heavy or light.”  Also think of it as a cleansing time and new starts.  Some cycles will also follow direction in a straight line.  The one for this new year is in a east – north – east one.  Think if you will “winds blowing from the east,” other words “unexpected happenings.”

One of the correspondences that go with the year of the tiger is the dragon.  The way to look at this would be to think of the characteristics of a dragon. They would be brave, defensive, on guard and deals with lots of deep thinking or wisdom.  So expect this to be a year for manifesting and grounding.  In other words expect lots of changes as well as trying to avoid a repeat of the past.

This brings us to the end of this month’s article.  I hope you have enjoyed it and will check back next month to see what March’s article will be.

Until next time may the spirits be kind and smile their blessings up on you.

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