CHINESE ASTROLOGY
History of the Chinese Zodiac
With their civilization dating back over 5000 years, the chinese have found some of the best ways by which fortune may be met and misfortune kept in check.
12 characters for a cycle of 12 years help to understand people, friends, partners, parents and of course ourselves much better.
Based on an ancient agricultural calendar, the chinese system is based on the influence of different forces. Basically there are two kinds of forces they use
to predict our fortune.
The two forces are:
Terrestrial: The five Elements (Earth, Water, Fire, Metal and Wood)
The cardinal points of the compass (North, South, West, East)
The polar opposites (Yin and Yang)
Stones (Precious and Semi-Precious)
Astrological: 12 Two Hour Periods
12 Months and the four seasons.
Using all of these forces, avoiding risky constellation and
watching out for interesting situations influences all of the 12 characters differently. Although the origin of the succession and appearance of the animals
still remains a mystery there are hundreds of stories carried forward through generations how it came to be.
This is one of them:
Yuhuang Dadi (the Emperor of Heaven) invited all the animals on earth to join the celebration of his birthday. But of all the animals only 12 showed up.
Those were: The Rat, The Ox, The Tiger, The Rabbit, The Dragon, The Snake, The Horse, The Goat, The Monkey, The Rooster, The Dog and The Pig.
For their effort, the Emperor honoured each animal with a year of its own in order of their appearance. He also decided that those who are born in the year of the animal will assume
the characteristics and the nature of that animal. In fact the Ox was first, but the rat sitting on the Ox's head,
bet with the Ox, if they were walking around the holy grounds, it will emerge as the bigger animal. The Ox agreed. As they were walking around they heard all the other animals and
even the fairies say: "What a big and disgusting looking rat!". "You see", said the rat, "every being in this holy grounds sees me as the bigger animal."
So without any further arguments the tolerant Ox carried on. This is one of the stories how it came to that the rat is the first in the chinese zodiac.
Do
you know your animal sign? Well you are about to find
out.
|
|
|
Make Us Your Home Page
Bookmark This Site NOW
Astrology Store