Dragon (zodiac)

The Dragon is the only mythical creature in the Chinese zodiac. In China, dragons are associated with strength, health, harmony, and good luck; they are placed above doors or on the tops of roofs to banish demons and evil spirits. The Year of the Dragon is associated with the symbol .

Years and the Five Elements

Persons born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the "year of the Dragon," while also bearing the following elemental sign:



* 16 February, 1904 - 3 February, 1905:

* 3 February, 1916 - 22 January, 1917:

* 23 January, 1928 - 9 February, 1929:

* 8 February, 1940 - 26 January, 1941:

* 27 January, 1952 - 13 February, 1953:

* 13 February, 1964 - 1 February, 1965:

* 31 January, 1976 - 17 February, 1977:

* 17 February, 1988 - 5 February, 1989:

* 5 February, 2000 - 23 January, 2001:

* 2012 - 2013:

* 2024 - 2025:

Attributes

The is omnipotent. He/she is flamboyant, attractive and full of vitality and strength. In China, the Dragon is the sign of the Emperor of China or the male element Yang. The Dragon is the symbol of power and wealth.



It would be right to say that people born in the year of the dragon have a natural charisma and are certainly gifted with power and luck. It is unlikely for them to escape unnoticed from a party or to take second place in a competition. The dragon person has an active mind and shows an unfeigned interest in the world around him/her. This person is also self-confident enough to know how to create a necessary impression. Because they are larger than life themselves, dragon people like to do everything on a grand scale. They are egotistical self-aggrandizing and ambitious, almost to the point of megalomania. They will stop at nothing to get what they want. A person born in this year wears the crown of destiny, and is capable of great achievements if he or she knows how to harness his or her tremendous energy, intelligence and talent. While these people enjoy being the center of attention, they also have a brave and charitable side to their personality. If a dragon's friend faces a problem or dilemma, he or she will be there to offer help, and when others leave the field of battle the dragon takes a step forward to solve the problem with authority and dignity. Dragons set a high standard of actions for themselves as well as for other people and are surprised when others cannot cope with a task; they are so carried away by the process that they fail to see other people's weaknesses.



Ideal jobs for dragons include kings, military officer, politician, musician, buffers, poet, artist, biological and environmental engineer, stockbroker, athlete, trade union leader, company director, explorer, and attorney.



The Dragon is most compatible with the , , and .

Traditional Dragon Attributes/Associations

Dog (zodiac)

The Dog is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Dog is associated with the symbol . The character 狗 refers to the actual animal while 戌 refers to the zodiac animal.

Years and associated five elements

Persons born within these date ranges for the zodiacal Dog bear the following elemental sign:



* 10 February, 1910 - 29 January, 1911:

* 28 January, 1922 - 15 February, 1923:

* 14 February, 1934 - 2 February, 1935:

* 2 February, 1946 - 21 January, 1947:

* 18 February, 1958 - 7 February, 1959:

* 6 February, 1970 - 26 January, 1971:

* 25 January, 1982 - 12 February, 1983:

* 9 February, 1994 - 30 January, 1995:

* 29 January, 2006 - 17 February, 2007:

* 2018 - 2019:

* 2030 - 2031:

Attributes

Like his animal namesake, he is Loyal. He is the one who people are most likely to turn to when they need help. The dog person will come through every time. That is because he/she is sensitive to others and empathizes with them, particularly if someone has suffered an injustice; he/she reacts quickly with the same feeling as though he/she had been personally offended. Friends know that they can rely upon their Dog friend to keep a promise or remain cool in a crisis. Dog People are somewhat selfish, terribly stubborn, and eccentric. They can find fault with many things and are noted for their sharp tongues. Dogs are also considered to be extremely good looking, smart, graceful, likeable and nice.



Dog types are honest, intelligent and straightforward. They will take on any responsibility that is given to them and you can be sure that they will do their job well.



People born in this year tend to be difficult, upset and shocked more often than the other signs.



Dog types do not tolerate weakness. They will work to push the weakness or the whole person with weakness out of their lives if the behavior continues.



Dogs ideal jobs: politician, scientist, actor/actress, teacher, writer, movie director, secret agent, pub landlord/landlady.

Traditional Dog attributes/associations

Chinese constellations

Chinese constellations are the way ancient Chinese grouped the stars. They are very different from the modern recognized constellations, which were based on Greek astronomy, or the Nakshatras of the Indian astronomy. This is due to the independent development of ancient Chinese astronomy.



Ancient Chinese skywatchers divided their night sky into 31 regions, namely Three Enclosures and Twenty-eight Mansions . The Three Enclosures occupy the area close to the North Celestial Pole. The stars in the Three Enclosures can be seen all year around.



The Twenty-eight Mansions occupy the zodiac region of the sky. They can be considered as the equivalent to the 12 zodiacal constellations in the Western Astronomy. Contrary to the Western Astronomy, the Twenty-eight Mansions reflect the movement of the Moon in a lunar month rather than the Sun in a Solar Year.



The Three Enclosures and the Twenty-Eight Mansions are further divided into 23 s. Each visible star is assigned into one of the asterisms. Some of the asterisms only have one star. Traditionally, a star is named by combining the name of its asterism with a number.

Three Enclosures

The Three Enclosures are the Purple Forbidden enclosure , the Supreme Palace enclosure and the Heavenly Market enclosure . The Purple Forbidden Enclosure occupies the northernmost area of the night sky. From the viewpoint of the ancient Chinese, the Purple Forbidden Enclosure lies in the middle of the sky, and is circled by all the other stars.



The Supreme Palace Enclosure lies east and north to the Purple Forbidden Enclosure, while the Heavenly Market Enclosure lies west and south. The Three Enclosures are separated by "walls", which are asterisms with their shapes resembling their namesakes.

The Twenty-Eight Mansions

The zodiac is listed below,

The Southern Asterisms

The sky around the south celestial pole was unknown to ancient Chinese. Therefore, it was not included in the Three Enclosures and Twenty-Eight Mansions system. However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Guangqi introduced another 23 asterisms based on the knowledge of western star charts. These asterisms were since incorporated into the traditional Chinese star maps.

Chinese Star Designation

Ancient Chinese astronomers designated names to the visible stars systematically, roughly more than one thousand years before Johann Bayer did it in a similar way. Basically, every star is assigned to an asterism. Then a number is given to the individual stars in this asterism. Therefore, a star is designated as "Asterism name" + "Number". The numbering of the stars in an asterism, however, is not based on the apparent magnitude of this star as in Bayer designation, but rather its position in the asterism.



For example, Altair is named 河鼓二 in Chinese. 河鼓 is the name of the asterism . 二 is the number designation . Therefore it literally means "the Second Star of the Drum at the River.



Some stars also have traditional name, often related with mythology or astrology. For example, Altair is more commonly known as 牛郎星 or 牵牛星 in Chinese, after the mythologic story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl.



These designations are still used in modern Chinese astronomy. All the stars using the traditional name in English are routinely translated with traditional Chinese designations, instead of the translation of its catalogue names.

Chinese bronze zodiac

The Chinese bronze zodiacs were a set of 12 bronze figurehead sculptures that were looted from the Old Summer Palace by British and French expeditionary forces during the Second Opium War in 1860.

History

The 12 bronze figureheads were part of a water clock fountain at Hall of the Calm Sea situated in the Garden of Eternal Spring



The 12 bronze figureheads represented the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac with the main bodies carved out of stone and heads cast from bronze. They were designed by the European missionaries serving the Qing Court at the time, and were made by court artisans.

Current status

The recovery of the 12 figureheads have become a national priority in recent years. The current status are as follows:





The Chinese collection are being housed at the Poly Art Museum, Beijing. The Rabbit and Rat are part of a private European collection housed in France.

Celestial stem

Celestial stem is an ancient cyclic character numeral system: Jia , Yi , Bing , Ding , Wu , Ji , Geng , Xin , Ren , Gui . They were first used for dates in the Shang Dynasty, and are now used with the twelve Earthly Branches in the Sexagenary cycle. They are associated with the concepts of yin and yang and the .

Table

Origin

The Shang people had a myth in which there were ten suns, each of which appears in order in a ten-day cycle . The Heavenly Stems were the names of the ten suns and were found in the kings' of the Shang given names. Some historians think the ruling class of the Shang had ten clans, but it is not clear whether their society reflected the myth or vice versa. The association to Yin Yang and the Five Elements occurred later, after the collapse of the Shang Dynasty.



The literal meaning of the characters was roughly as follows:

Current usage

The Stems are still commonly used nowadays in China in counting systems similar to the way the alphabet is used in , namely,

* Students' grades: with an additional ''Yōu'' before ''Jiǎ''　.

* Names in legal documents and contracts where English speakers would use A, B, C, etc.

* Choices on multiple choice exams, surveys, etc.

* Naming of s

* Naming of diseases

* Naming of sports leagues

* Vitamins' names

* Naming characters entertaining a dialogue in a short text



China, Korea and Japan also use heavenly stems on legal documents in this way. In Korea, letters ''gap'' and ''eul'' are consistently used to denote the larger and the smaller contractor in a legal contract, and are sometimes used as synonyms for such; such usage is common in the Korean industry.

傷官 (Four Pillars of Destiny)

The 傷官 is a pronoun and a concept in Four Pillars of Destiny.



For the complete research of Four Pillars of Destiny , it is the most important concept.The ''傷官'' worker is too complicated and sometimes chenges into an extreme effector.

The Definitions of ''傷官''

The ''傷官'' term is also the relative pronoun among the ''Heavenly Stems''.When we have our birthday as ''甲子'' , ''甲戌'' , ''甲申'' , ''甲午'' , ''甲辰'' , ''甲寅'',in Chinese calendar,

the will belong to the ''傷官''.

;On the Other Heavenly Stems

*When we have the Heavenly Stems as ''甲'' in our birthday , the ''丁'' acts as a ''傷官'' factor.

;as follows

* 乙 : 丙

* 丙 : 己

* 丁 : 戊

* 戊 : 辛

* 己 : 庚

* 庚 : 癸

* 辛 : 壬

* 壬 : 乙

* 癸 : 甲

The meanings of ''傷官''

*Generally speaking , the ''傷官'' is the symbol of our splendid talents , our brilliant appearances , our academic seekings .

*The freedom of speech , freedom of thinking , freedom of expression are releted to the ''傷官''.

*When we have not the appropriate ''傷官'' in our dayly life , we may be in confusions.Often we will be involved in the terrorism.

*The ''傷官'' is also the symbol of sword , slash.Consequently the 傷官 will be no preferred in our usual society.

*The figures with ''傷官'' is usually bright and beautiful , however the true and real successes in the life is another.

Examples

*Hirohito : His birthday is 29 April 1901.We call the Greenery Day in Japan.

The chart is as belows.

**The year of birth : 1901 : 辛丑

**The month of birth : April : 壬辰

**The day of birth : 29th : 丁丑

**The time of birth : one quarter past 10 at night : 辛亥



:The main structure of his chart is ''傷官'' ''格''.

:The day of 丁 meets April , the month of , the month of ''戊''. Then we gain the ''傷官''.

:The most important elements and workers in his chart is the ''甲'' or ''乙''.

:The is also the worker for the controlling of ''傷官''.

:In 1945 , in the year of ''乙酉'' , the Inju has no working.

:The Heavenly Stem ''乙'' is in . We had been defeated in World War II and atomic bomb explosions have been suffering since then.

;Additional

The ''Dai Un'' is as belows.

The beginning of April in Lunar calendar is the 5th day. So we have 24 days from 5 to his birthday.One month is equivalent to ten years in ''Dai Un''.The 24 days are equivalent to

8 years.

*From the age of 8 to the age of 18 : 辛卯

*18 to 28 : 庚寅 : corresponding the reign and beginning of Showa Period in 1926

*28 to 38 : 己丑 : the beginning of Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937

*38 to 48 : 戊子 : World War II

*48 to 58 : 丁亥

*58 to 68 : 丙戌

*68 to 78 : 乙酉

*78 to 88 : 甲申 : The end of Showa Period in 1989

*88 to 98 : 癸未

Zi wei dou shu

Zi Wei Dou Shu is a form of fortune-telling in Chinese culture. It remains one of the most well-respected process for laying out "The Destiny Path" or "Fate".

Terminology

* Zi Wei - Literally translated as the "Purple Emperor", it is the most auspicious star in the chart.

* Dou Shu means calculation.



Zi Wei Dou Shu thus means the study of a person's life based on the movement and location of the Zi Wei Star and 100+ other stars at the specific time the person was born.

Additional Terminology

The procedure is sometimes loosely called as a street term. Literally meaning to cut or "split life" in phases for analysis.

Practice

The requester, or the person seeking the fortune telling advice, presents the Four Pillars of Destiny to the fortune interpreter. This information covers a person's moment of birth: year, month, day, and time. Without this crucial information, the analysis cannot take place. Chinese name or strokes in the characters that make up one's name is also requested at times for further refinement in the analysis at times.



Using Chinese astrology in combination with Chinese constellation, calculations are worked out to chart the stars into 12 different palaces or Gong . This would then be one's Natal Birth Chart or Mìng Pán .



By integrating the stars and palaces, their attributes, environmental factors, the , Yin and Yang concept and all the possible combinations and variations, not only can personalities be understood, but personal and professional relationships can be predicted. The end result is a calculated translation of one's destiny in detail including events that have already happened in the past for verification purposes.



The plotting of one's birth chart is not difficult. What is difficult in Zi Wei Dou Shu is the complex system of interpretation that allows us to 'see' the blueprint of our lives.

History

The Zi Wei Dou Shu concept was devised by a Taoist named Lu Chun Yang . It was then developed by Chen Xi Yi during the Song Dynasty and later on Luo Hong Xian 羅洪先 during the Ming Dynasty to the present day format. Its exact origin, however, is still debated among the different schools, and should not be taken as a guaranteed historical context.



Chinese Astrology has always been closely intertwined with Astronomy. Gifted astronomer/astrologers were recruited as officials to work in Imperial Courts during the . In those days, astrological charts were delineated for the as his personal fate has a direct bearing on that of his kingdom. The court astrologers played an important role in determining the successor to the throne also.



Astrologers observed the stars and noticed that among so many stars, only one was seemingly stationary while the rest revolved around it. As it was also the brightest, the star was named the "Emperor Star" - the celestial equivalent of the Emperor.

Interpretation

The most basic interpretations should be able cover the following. These are just examples.

* Position of birth within family. Such as whether one is the oldest, middle child, youngest child.

* Shifts in luck.

* At which age will there be a shift in "phase" in your life.

* Era of fortune.

* Romance and relationships.





The more advanced interpretations may reveal the following. These are just some examples.

* Class in society. For example, an individual born a peasant, does not mean that he/she will die as one. Vice versa, a king may not live like one.

* Possible time of death, and means.

* Information about one's soulmate.

* Personality matching of compatibility and incompatibility.

* What climate or region is most beneficial.

* Is your mindset of eastern or western origin. Such as will you actually find it easier learning Chinese than English.

* Information regarding your parents.

Chinese Society

As with all other forms of fortune-telling, the Chinese do not generally see astrology as an infallible guide to what will happen, but more as a form of weather forecasting in detail. Knowledge about events to come, may allow one to gauge the situation and make decisions from a position of strength. Zi Wei Dou Shu approaches the world and events from the idea that, to view things in their proper context, it is important to recognise the spiritual dynamic of the universe to find the pattern of change that leads to fundamental truth.

Zi Wei Birth Chart

The 12 Palaces, or Shí ?r Gōng are arranged in Anti-clockwise direction in this fixed sequence.

# Life Palace

# Siblings Palace

# Marriage Palace

# Children Palace

# Wealth Palace

# Health Palace

# Travel Palace

# Friends, Servants Palace

# Career Palace

# Property Palace

# Fortune, Virtue Palace

# Parents Palace



In addition, there is a 13th Palace called or literally, Body Palace. It is as important as any of the other 12 Palaces in interpreting one's life events. Palaces, or Gōng originated from the concept of house or temple or a space where spirits or souls live in. "Space" does not exist outside "time",

so each palace can relate to the time span of events happening in the particular Gōng.



As mentioned earlier, the essence of Zi Wei Dou Shu lies in the interpretation, and not the plotting of a Birth Chart. Thus, a lot of masters spent years or decades doing case studies before seeing their fruits of their labour.