ABSTRACT
The Chinese calendar, commonly known as the Farmers’ Calendar, or the Hsia Calendar, is a fascinatingly accurate system, which not only records the passage of time, but is also a tool for fortune-telling. The famous traditional fortune-telling system – The Four Pillars of Destiny – is exactly referring to reading a person’s destiny from his birth data as presented in the Hsia calendar format. The unique feature of such calendar is that all information about time – year, month, day and hour are presented in terms of the five basic elements – metal, water, wood, fire and earth, which are believed to be the basic components of everything in the Universe. The relationship between the five elements accurately helps one predict what is to come by way of one’s fortunes and thus, one can by using this knowledge, multiply the good luck or minimize the bad luck in one’s life.
THE YEAR OF THE TIGER
The Year of the Tiger, 2022, in the Hsia calendar, is symbolized by two Chinese characters – with Yang Water sitting on top of Tiger which is Wood element. So it is a water year with Earthly branch wood being supported by Heavenly stem water on top. According to the cycle of birth and destruction, which governs the inter-relationship between the elements, if the two elements are in the birth cycle and have supportive relationship, then the year will have more harmony. This happened in the previous year of 2018 earth over earth. In 2018, the U.S.A. made peace with North Korea. But in 2019 when the elements are Earth conquers Water, the two elements are in destructive cycle, then the peace talk between U.S.A and North Korea broke down, and there is intensified hostility between U.S.A and Iran. The previous 2 years 2020 2021 metal sitting on water rat and metal sitting on earth Ox, even though both years elements are on birth cycle, there were relatively more tension between East West relationship as the nature of metal elements are related to weapon and war.
The 2022 water wood elements configuration in supportive cycle will help to resolve conflict and bring more harmony in international relationship. Indeed, since 2019 the world has been suffering from the influence of cold and dark water element which brings fear, the metal elements are also cold and harsh and there is total absence of fire to give warmth and confidence. However, into 2022, the Tiger wood is considered as birth place and mother of fire and there is yang fire hidden inside the wood bringing some long awaited warmth, happiness and positive energy. Only that the yang water on top represents fierce ocean water which sometimes become a tsunami. This may trigger impulsive and fierce violent actions without careful consideration and planning. Hence there could still be skirmishes and conflicts and even war and destructive actions but it appears the water Tiger year will be more positive and productive and there should be more desire to have peaceful, recovery and healing year after the disastrous COVID 19 pandemic which caused so much disruptions in the past two years. As such, it is easier to come to peaceful settlement to resolve tension and confrontations.
A person born on a Yang Water day often appears to be energetic, aggressive like an ocean and they are full of drive and passion to achieve their goals. On the outside, they can sometimes behave harsh, impatient and impulsive. However, water is by nature powerful and intelligent element, so yang water people often possess strong intelligence, enthusiasm, devotion and leadership ability and can take dedicated actions to meet targets and accomplish their goals.
One can listen to Beethoven Symphony No. 9 to get a feeling of yang water. Beethoven himself is a strong yang water person and his music very much portrayed powerful energy of yang ocean water. It is not surprising that we can find many powerful famous musicians born on the day of yang water. Quite a few of my most favorite rock stars –Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page and Joan Jett are all born on yang water day.
With the drastic and aggressive character of yang water, there is still tendency of conflict and tension and terrorist attacks. The Chinese calendar is on 60 years cycle which means we have the same yang water Tiger year 60 years ago in 1962. In 1962, there was Cuban missile crisis which almost triggered a nuclear war between USSR and the USA, also there is border conflict between China and India. Fortunately both crisis got resolved in November 1962 with Soviet Union removed missiles from Cuba and China declared ceasefire. And in 1842, 180 years ago was the end of Opium war between Britain and China resulting in signing the Treaty of Nanking on 29/8.
The Tiger is spring wood containing the elements of yang wood, yang fire and yang earth. Hence it is considered as the mother and birth place of fire and is strong in generating the seed of fire. And this will mean the long absent fire in the last 3 years will finally emerge to bring warmth, positive energy and confidence. These will very much supportive to economic activities, bringing strong recovery to the consumer market, such as entertainment and restaurant business. Tiger is also a powerful “Travelling star” which will trigger many people to travel and move around. As such, it will bring back international travelling with tourism and airline business returning to normal after two horrible dead years in 2020 and 2021. This should be the most important aspect 0f 2022-meaning the pandemic is under control and the world starts moving again.
Yang Water symbolize powerful ocean water. It is also representing intelligence, enthusiasm, devotion and pioneering. As such, it is associate with positive drive and innovative ideas. They are usually masculine, powerful, straight-forward, forceful. A typical yang water person is Bill Gates. He is energetic, intelligent and innovative. Not only he is successful business leader he is also philanthropist donating plenty of his money for society and charity.
Other famous yang water celebrities Include Tom Cruise, Jimmy Page, Prince Harry, Anthony Hopkins, Warren Buffet,.. Yang water ladies are equally charming and successful with examples like Kate Middleton, the US vice President Kamala Harris, Jennnifer Lawrence, Sammi Cheng, Joan Jett…..
The Chinese calendar is on 60 years cycle, hence we have same year of Water Tiger 60 years ago in 1962. This is a significant year when the world entered a phase of serious tension between the U.S.A and the USSR. It was the year the US President J. F. Kennedy, took up challenge to confront the Soviet Union President Khrushchev over placing missile in Cuba, resulting in a secret deal between USA and the Soviet Union to remove the missiles from Cuba in end October. In October 1962, a war broke out between India and China over border issues, and fortunately it ended with ceasefire in November. So the water Tiger year was not so peaceful but fortunately the conflicts quickly settled with compromise and restraint.
The Tiger is considered a “Travelling horse” which will trigger plenty people to travel . As such, owing to frequent movements and travelling it will also bring traffic accidents. In the past, as Tiger is land animal, so it is believed that accidents are more related to cars and land traffic, however, looking at the record 60 years ago in 1962, it seems there were plenty of air traffic accidents as well. On 1st March, 1962, American Airlines airplane crashed during take off at New York International airport with loss of 95 people. And on 16th March, a US military aircraft vanished over Western Pacific Ocean losing 107 people, on 22nd May, Continental Airlines plane crashed in Missouri with 45 passengers killed. On 3rd June, Air France plane crashed during take off in Paris with 130 killed. And on 22nd June, another Air France Flight 117 crashed in West Indies killing all 113 on board.
There is also plenty of train accidents recorded in 1962. In Japan, on 3rd May, a train crash in Mikawashima near Tokyo occurred killed 160 people. A Harmelen train disaster – the worst Dutch train disaster occurred in Jan. 1962 killed 93 people.
As it is water and wood year, the earth element becomes relatively weak. So there can be more earth disasters. Looking back in history, there are also serious earth disasters back in 1962. Just pick some significant examples from the previous water tiger year 60 years ago in 1962 –There was avalanche in Peru on 10th Jan. caused 4000 deaths. On 7th February, there was coal mine explosion in West Germany killed 299 people. On 27th May, there is serious mine fire in Pennsylvania and on 5th November, a coal mining disaster occurred in Norway killed 21 people which forced the Norwegian ruling government to resign. One can notice there are more under ground fire or explosion disasters and the fire is hidden inside the Tiger in the Earthly Branch.
In the system of Four Pillars of Destiny, the Tiger is part of Three Fire Penalty. When the Tiger encounters Snake and Monkey, it will create massive amount of fire element. If it is unfavorable element to a person, he will encounter trouble related to fire, such trouble may range from bad relationship, legal trouble to even blood and heart problem and inflammation or even encounter fire disaster. An example of people died of Tiger, Snake, Monkey penalty is the famous King Elvis who collapsed at home on 16th August, 1977 due to heart disease and inflammation problem. The moment this happened was Snake year, Monkey Month, Snake day and Monkey hour, and Elvis was born at hour of Tiger making Tiger Snake Monkey fire penalty. Tom Cruise was born in year of Tiger and day of water Tiger at the hour of Monkey, so every time the Snake year arrives, he will suffer from Tiger, Monkey Snake penalty which affects his day pillar – the House of Spouse. Hence he divorced Nicole Kidman in the Snake year of 2001 and again divorced Katie Holmes in the Snake year of 2013. Michael Schumacher was born in Monkey year and Tiger day, hence he encountered accident when skiing in Snake year 2013, on the day of Snake, and at the hour of Snake. The Tiger, Monkey, Snake configuration creates strong fire, which is also heart and blood circulation problem. So such fire penalty caused serious bleeding in his brain.
In 2022, some celebrities have Tiger, Snake, Monkey penalties in their chart. Examples are Bob Dylan, Mark Zuckerberg, Emperor Naruhito, Roman Polanski…….
Tiger combines with Horse and Dog will create big fire element. Hence there will be more chance of fire disasters and explosion during Tiger year. If fire is not favorable element to a person’s four pillars, such strong configuration of fire may trigger heart and blood problems. Examples of such Tiger Horse Dog combination will occur to some celebrities such as Donald Trump, President George Bush, Paris Hilton, Sylvester Stallone.
In Hong Kong the property tycoon Peter Woo was born on water Horse day in the Dog year. These join up with the Tiger year to generate a combination of big fire, meaning his money. So it is a sign that the property market in Hong Kong will be prosperous and go up again.
An example of Tiger, Snake, Monkey penalty caused explosion is the 1986 Challenger space shuttle exploded during take off. It was fire Tiger year on horse day and Snake hour. And one of the famous victim in the disaster is Christa McAuliffe, she is the school teacher selected to join the crew, was born in Monkey month and Tiger day, and the tragedy happened during her luck pillar of Snake. In same Tiger year 1986 was the famous Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Also the Japan 311 tsunami triggered explosion at the Fukushima nuclear station on 12th March 2011, this date is also a fire Tiger day.
The Water Tiger year of 1962 was very active year of travelling including space exploration. On February 20, the USA sent John Glenn to space, he orbited the earth 3 times. 2 more spaceman were sent to orbit the earth in May and in October. And AT & T sent the first commercial communications satellite into orbit on 10th July. On 18th August, Norway also launched rocket into space. And also in August, NASA launched the Mariner 2 space probe. 2021 was very active year in space exploration with China sending spacecraft to explore the moon and also to planet Mars. Such activities will become more frequent in 2022.
In the five elements system, fire is happiness and optimism which prevailed in the previous years of fire from 2013 to 2017. However when the year of Dog 2018 arrived, the fire enters the grave hence it brings pessimism and caused setback in the economic atmosphere. The Pig year 2019 represents the termination of fire element and the return of water element which symbolizes fear. Hence the world economy is very much affected by the Trade war talks between USA and China which generated a lot of uncertainty for investors. Coming to the year of the Rat 2020, it is the most powerful water element and fire is totally absent. Such fearful water element brought the global disaster of COVID-19 which cast the dark shadow of fear all over the world. 2021 the year of metal ox continue to be under strong water influence and the atmosphere will be dull, cold and grey. However, coming Tiger year in 2022, the Tiger is the wood bearing the seed of fire so is considered as birthplace of fire. Hence the positive optimism will return and it will bring recovery to the economy. It will be a year of resuming business and travelling activities and the world becomes vibrant after 2 gloomy years. The Wood element exactly symbolizes growth and activities. Hence economic growth will return and the stock market will become very active.
In Traditional Chinese medicine, wood element represents the liver. It is also responsible for growth and activities and motion of our limbs. So there is tendency for people to be more keen to move around and do exercise and sports. The water element on top is related to kidney, Urinary system and sex organs. However, such water sitting on wood is weak, so it is still necessary to take supplements such as Omega 3 oil to support the water aspects. Both water and wood are against earth, which is our stomach and digestion system. So it's also good to take fire supplements such as COQ10 to support earth, and more anti oxidants to regulate our earth element which also refers to our cells.
Yang water sitting on Tiger is described as Academic star in the system of Four Pillars of Destiny. Academic star is symbol of intelligence and intellectual ability. People who possess such star in their birth chart may not get high grades at school but they are keen to explore and absorb knowledge of their interest, hence they will be successful in the field where they enjoyed and find interest. Such people include Albert Einstein, Mark Zuckerberg, Beethoven, Vincent Van Gogh, Stephen King…….So all babies born in 2022 automatically possesses academic star Tiger in their birth year. This is particularly beneficial quality in the modern world when high tech business base on knowledge is of paramount importance.
The water Tiger year, with water producing wood, also symbolize creativity and growth, which injects a lot of creative activities in art. The Tiger Academic star not only supports culture, art and science. It is also stimulating entertainment and restaurant businesses. I have found many celebrity cooks such as Jamie Oliver, Maria Cordero also possess academic star, as cooking is also an intellectual art. Looking back at 1962, it is the year when pop culture became very active with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan starting to gain popularity and made revolutionary change to pop music. Also Andy Warhol premiered his Campbell’s soup Cans exhibit in Los Angeles on 9th July, 1962. The first James Bond 007 movie Dr. No premiered in London in October, and West Side Story won the best picture in the 34th Academy Award in April, 1962.
The fire element basically symbolize happiness in the Five mood of people, and it will generate optimism and confidence. As such, fire years often boost people's confidence about the economy bringing good performance to the stock market. This has been the driving factor behind the stock market boom since 2013 until 2017 with strong presence of fire element in these years. However, the cycle of fire elements ended in 2017 with the yin candle fire, and as 2018 year of Dog represents Grave of Fire, it means the optimism of fire is going down and the pessimism of water will come up. The years of 2019, 2020, 2021 are all years of water and metal and the fire element will not return until the next snake year in 2025. 2019 the Pig year represents termination of fire, 2020 Rat year represents fire in the embryo stage. 2021 Ox year the fire is in the embryo nourishing. therefore the general economic atmosphere is entering a bearish cycle and the economic pace will be gloomy and slowing down in 2020. And the absence of fire continues from 2021 until the next snake year returns in 2025. However, we do not need to wait until 2025 for economic recovery, 2022, the Tiger year will already bring improvement with the seed of fire inside the wood. Particularly it is first year when we can expect COVID-19 is more under control and people are eager to get back to normal travelling and normal life. So the optimism after the COVID-19 plaque will be strong drive behind the economy, particularly in the field of entertainment, restaurant and travel business. Even the fire element is not out in the open like 2025, I can expect the eagerness to regain normal life after the pandemic will create economic boom and bullish market in 2022.
The Tiger is the animal in clash against the Monkey. It is clash between wood and metal land animals and they are considered as travelling stars. So it will trigger traffic accidents. So there will be more car, train, airplane crashes. The Tiger is the birth place of fire and is strong in stimulating explosions and fire disasters. In the human body, fire represents blood circulation and the heart, so it is a year with more inflammation and heart and blood diseases. .
People who are born in the year of Tiger are offending the year, People born in year of Monkey is in clash against the year. They usually have more movements and travelling in 2022, it is ok to take such chance to make necessary changes such as moving house, moving office, or changing job or taking trips. However they should take extra care and refrain from risky sports such as driving fast cars, driving airplane, skin diving, parachuting etc. It is recommended that they carry the pendant of a Pig which will help to attract away the Tiger, so as to minimize the negative influence of the clash. For people born in year of the Monkey, it is good to minimize travelling direct towards the northeast direction as it is the direction of the Grand Duke in 2022.
The water wood element of 2022 is expected to bring prosperity to metal industries and earth industries; this is because metal conquers wood, so the wood element is a symbol of money to the metal industry, which includes banking, high tech, car, machinery, engineering, beauty and skin care….. The second best industries could be earth, as earth conquers water so the water means money to the earth industry. Earth industries are property, mining, insurance, computer software…. Water industry sees wood as productivity, so water industries will also benefited from the growth and movement nature of wood. Water industries are communication, transport and shipping. Wood industry is facing serious competition, wood industries are textile, media, paper, magazine. Fire industry is not making money in Tiger year as there is total absence of metal which is their money. .
In summary, the industries that will perform better in the year of the Tiger will be industries related to Metal element and Earth element. Metal industries are banking, machinery, engineering, car , beauty and skin care….. Earth industries are property, insurance mining, high tech….The other industries of fire, wood are into not so prosperous year in 2022.
In general, the Yang Water Tiger year, with yang water on top and wood tiger below, is symbol of creativity, growth, movement and travelling and there will be good recovery from the dormant atmosphere of 2020 and 2021. As the world economy also recovering there will be more joyful sentiments bringing back entertainment and travelling which are almost totally absent under COVID-19 in the last two years. There are still international tension and social unrest as people are in liberal mood and more desire to make changes. Also tiger is not peaceful animal and wood is often associate with wind. Therefore we can expect stormy weather. Looking back history in 1962, there were plenty of weather related disasters. It was the year Hong Kong encountered severe typhoon Wanda on 1st September with 130 people died. In February, heavy storm flooded Germany’s North sea coast around Hamburg, more than 300 people died. On 27th September, there was flash flood in Barcelona, Spain, killed 440 people. On 12th October, there was big storm attacked USA Pacific Northwest coast killed 46 people. Also in December, there was big freeze in the UK with severe cold weather.
The Tiger year is Nobleman year for people born in Ying Metal year or Ying Metal day. These are years ending with 1. Such as 1951, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991….etc. Nobleman means angel coming from Heaven to provide rescue and support and such Nobleman often bring solution to troubles and making the year more comfortable and smooth. People who are having Nobleman in 2022 can take the chance to make progress and develop new projects.
The animal sign which is most unfavorable is the Monkey which is in direct clash against the Tiger. Such clashes will usually bring about turbulence, movements, accident or changes...As it is travelling stars clash, it will stimulate misfortunes related to traffic accidents. People born in the year of the Monkey will anticipate more travelling, or movement sch as changing job or moving house. It is necessary to carry the pendant of a Pig as protection to attract the Tiger away. For people who are under clash with the year, it is ok to travel more, making changes such as moving house, or change job.
However, for people born in the year of the Monkey, it is recommended not to travel directly towards the direction of the Grand Duke, which is the northeast direction. . The other animal’s signs facing unfavorable positions is the Tiger which is offending the Grand Duke. It is also good to carry pendant of Pig to reduce any negative influence. Another negative aspect is the Three Fire penalty among the Tiger, Snake, and Monkey which will affect people who have Monkey and Snake in their Four Pillars chart. Such fire penalties will usually bring disharmony, irritation, worries and frustrations, as well as sickness related to fire element which can be heart, blood circulation and inflammation. For people anticipating clash or penalty with the Tiger, It is also good to carry pendant of Pig as protection to minimize the negative effect.
The animals combining with the Tiger year is the Pig, the Dog, the Horse. These animals are into a year of harmony. However, such animal astrology is not totally reliable as the system is not recognized as a formal type of fortune-telling. For more reliable assessment of one’s fortune in the year of the Tiger, it is recommended that one checks the full Four Pillars of Destiny, which requires full birth data information of the Year, Month, Day and Hour of birth. As the animal signs can appear in all four pillars in a person’s birth data, the clash and penalty relationship with the Tiger will not only cause impact on people born in the year of Tiger and Monkey. Such clash and penalties can also impact anyone who has such animals in the birth month, or day or hour.
Some examples of famous people born in the year of the Tiger and offending the Grand Duke t in 2022 are Tom Cruise, Jodie Foster, Lady Gaga, The Queen, Modi Narendra, Terry Gou, Stephen Chow…….etc. There are people born in the year of Monkey so they are in clash against the Tiger year, these people include Celine Dion, Will Smith, Tsai Ing-wen, Jared Kushner…..There are people not born in year of Monkey but they are born in a day of Monkey, they will also face a challenging year especially in relationship aspect. Some examples of these people are Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, David Beckham, Jimmy Page….. … The clash against the Day Pillar will usually cause movement or conflict in the family or human relationship area, especially in the relationship with the spouse or opposite sex.
People born in year of the Snake and Monkey will have penalty relationship with the Tiger, and if fire is not their favorable element, they will suffer from sickness or other kind of irritation and worries. An example is Mark Zuckerberg. He was born on Monkey day in the month of Snake. The Tiger year will come to trigger his fire penalty which involves his Month representing his parents, and his Day, representing House of Spouse. This means he will have to face issues regarding parents and wife. To reduce any negative influence, it is good to carry pendant of Pig to reduce the effect of the Tiger.
Feng Shui energies also change from year to year. Therefore, it is necessary to watch out for the re-allocation of good and bad energies at the beginning of each year, so that we can take necessary precautions if some bad energy happens to arrive at important locations of our residence or offices. In the year of the Tiger, the bad energy called “Five Yellow” – symbolizing obstacles and misfortune, arrives at the Centre. It is recommended that one hangs a metal wind chime in the Centre of the house to dissolve this bad energy. The worst months will be in February, August and November 2022. Another bad star number 2, symbolizing sickness, will arrive in the Southwest in 2022. The traditional method to dissolve this 2 is to hang a string of six metal coins in the affected area in the Southwest of the house. The Grand Duke this year is in the Northeast, hence it is not favorable to “move earth” or make substantial construction work in this direction. It is also not recommended for one to sit with back against North as you will be sitting against the unfavorable energy called “Three Shars” or “Three Killings”. The Southwest is the “Crash position” against the Grand Duke which is also not good to sit. The bad star 3 is a star of conflict and robbery. This is present in the east. It is necessary to put a piece of red paper in this position to minimize such bad influence. Also the bad star 7, representing scandals is in the west, the traditional solution for this bad star 7 is to place 3 piece of bamboo plant grown in clear glass vase of water in the west location.
A few interesting points related to world leaders in 2022 – Tiger wood is favorable elements to President Biden so he will be more stable into his second year of presidency. But Donald Trump has to face Tiger Horse Dog fire combination which is not his favorable element. So he will have obstacles reducing his chance of running for second time presidency. Putin is extremely weak fire and does not like wood. So the Tiger year will bring some trouble to Russia. Tsia Ing wen of Taiwan is born in Monkey year and Monkey month, there will be double clashes against Tiger year and her Tiger luck pillar – as she is strong metal lady, the activation of double monkey means she has to face powerful competitions and big challenge. In China, Tiger is also not very favorable element to Xi Jinping, there will be obstacles but he is still in strong favorable noblemen luck. Also wood is supportive of the big high tech businesses in China, so China is still leading the economic recovery.