Not only the Chinese celebrate the beginning of spring
The beginning of spring is celebrated across the globe in countries that celebrate Carnival. In Christianity, Carnival is the last opportunity for indulgence before the 40 days of Lent, while also celebrating the return of the light. Winter spirits are chased away, so spring and fertility can return. It often involves wearing colourful costumes, making a lot of noise and burning a symbolic object to mark the defeat of winter.
The year of the Pig
You may have already heard that 2019 is the year of the Pig. You may have read some descriptions of what “Pig people” are supposed to be like, which animal signs are they supposed to be a good match with, and so on, and so forth. I’m not going to add more to that. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a credible source that explained how the animal associations came about, if you know of one, please comment below!
Did you know that the calendar used to calculate one’s birth chart in Chinese astrology was initially used to predict the weather? The Chinese observed that whatever goes on in the world, goes on inside us too. The laws of nature that guide the workings of the universe, guide the workings of our bodies too. To take a step further, the climate in which one is born, to some extent, influences the basic makeup of that person. If you think about it, this isn’t such a far-fetched idea. Take foxes for example: the desert fox has huge ears, while the arctic fox has tiny, barely noticeable ears. The desert fox lives in a hot environment, it increases its ability to cool down by increasing its surface, hence the large ears. The arctic fox on the other hand, tries to preserve heat, so over the centuries it developed to have minimal protrusions that could lead to increased heat loss. The same is true for humans, we are genetically so diverse, as over the course of our evolution, we adapted to a variety of living circumstances.
That is all nice, but what does this all have to do with astrology? The Chinese say that we are all, in subtle ways, influenced by the climate in which we are born, and the climate where we live affects our health and well-being. Based on our constitution, different climates influence us differently. The point in astrology isn’t to predict whether you are going to win the lottery or meet the love of your life, but to estimate whether the year ahead will be beneficial for your well-being, or you will need to take very good care of yourself in order to stay healthy.
Acupuncturists who are familiar with Stems and Branches are able to use their clients’ birth charts as an extra tool to further understand and benefit their patients. Send me a message if you are interested in yours!