The Chinese have made use of constellations for over 3000 years for the purposes of astrology. In Chinese astrology Ox comes after Rat and this year, 2009 is the year of the Earth Ox. When Chinese astrology first began they names 10 Heavenly Stems and 12 Earthly Branches, chiefly for chronological purposes to tell apart time and the season.
Later on in time, as so many Chinese people were illiterate animals became used by people to represent the 12 Earthly Branches, these are used today, and in order are: mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig, in Chinese astrology, Ox is representative of 2009.
Legend tells that Buddha was celebrating Chinese New Year and he invited all animals to partake of the festivities. Unfortunately only these 12 animals arrive. In honor of them he named the years after them. There are other variations of this story, but for the purposes of this information we shall use this one. People who are born in the year of the animal it is represented by are supposed to have some traits of these animals inherent in them.
On top of each of the animal cycle, you find a cycle of the five elements; these are wood, fire, earth, metal (gold) and water. Unlike western elements, earth, wind, fire water and surprise (just kidding about the last element!). The year sign of the person would then be a gold dragon, wood dog, etcetera. In ancient times match making took place in China and couples were brought together under compatible signs. The elements also have a traditional representation in color, with fire being red, wood green, earth brown, metal white (not gold) and water black.
The elements are then arranged in a cycle of ten and combined with the binary Yin and Yang. Together with the animals and colors this forms a cycle of 60 years, with no animal appearing twice in either the Yin or the Yang years. The animals are divided by two and are either Yin or Yang. For instance a snake is Yin, while a dragon is Yang. We are currently in a 60 year cycle which commenced in 1984 and all Chinese astrology cycles begin with "wood rat" and end with "Water Pig".
The Ox is a very similar zodiac sign to the Rat in Chinese Astrology. It is significant in that it symbolizes a sure and steady building action so good decisions have to be made in 2009, as there are long term implications attached to your decisions. 2009 is an earth Ox year and this has destructive potential as the ruling element of Ox is water. However the past 6 years have been fraught with conflicting Chinese zodiac years and elements, out of these 6, there have been four. Apparently this is why Chinese astrologers believe the world has experienced such conflict during these years.
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