The Dragon in the Year of the Wood Dragon 2024

Dragon Pic by @elliespinelli

Who is a Dragon?

Years: 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012.
Month*: April
Hour: 07.00 am – 09.00

Day: you’ll need a Chinese Calendar.

* Caution: the start of Chinese months can be as early as the 4th & as late as the 9th, depending on the year.

What is a Dragon?
The Dragon is yang earth, the most egotistical of the branches as well as perhaps the most powerful. Putting aside conventional rules of animal compatibility, many of us are either fascinated by the Dragon or suspicious. Or both. Shameless mischief-maker Vladimir Putin and Trump tribute act Boris Johnson are Dragons. So however is Marianne Williamson, whose Presidential ambitions may be over but whose influence continues to grow. It was she who wrote Nelson Mandela’s mantra:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are weak. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.”

These are powerful people. Be aware however that the Dragon is not always issued with a moral compass. He or she may take a lifetime locating it. Indeed they may have spent lifetimes already.

The Dragon is just as charming and affable as (s)he feels like being at any given time, but like the Pig, the Horse and the Rooster, they suffer the self clash which makes them unsuited to working with their peers. Dragons often live alone and enjoy their own company. Sometimes they claim to even when they don’t. Often what he experiences as joy is a subtle experience that others find puzzling. The Horse for instance who likes to dance on tables, may consider the Dragon a high maintenance prima donna. Even his ally the Monkey, contrasts his own goonish delights with the impassive Dragon and can make no sense of it.

And yet the Dragon delivers. Sometimes awkward and gauche, the Dragon can appear incompetent and yet still win. Steadfast Dogs whose workings lead to a logical answer detest this about the Dragon and may sabotage him. Put simply the Dog thinks the Dragon goes on a bit. The Ox and the Sheep share something of this attitude but are more passive about it. If you are a Dragon, know this: you are likely to induce jealousy. However gracious you are, they know the level of your self-esteem.

The Chinese ideogram for thunder is a Dragon under a raincloud. And all over the world rainclouds speak of plenty; drenched is good if you’re looking for growth. The Dragon month is April, the time of sudden change. Dragon times are the tense moments before a storm breaks.

The Dragon does not naturally co-operate or share confidences. He will however work with those he considers his inferiors as long as they are very clear about the pecking order. This is the central weakness of the unbalanced Dragon. King Lear was a Dragon, where Othello may have been a Tiger and Hamlet probably a Snake.

The Dragon’s traditional partners are the hands-on Monkey and the plotting Rat although these three may not mix socially. They need a task to cooperate upon, otherwise they find it hard to connect. Socially the Dragon will seek out the Rooster and the Horse both of whom can act as pr or spokesperson. Alone or teamed-up, the Dragon is just as creative as she wants to be. He can magic up wealth and as rapidly squander it. Neither Horse nor Rooster are much help to them in this regard although a benevolent Rat and a diligent Monkey can be.

Dragon and the Snake form the House of Magic#. Dragon is the Sorceror, the Snake their apprentice. Merlin was a Dragon and his story illustrates the other central weakness of the Dragon: that he can be beguiled by the glamour of the Rooster. This coupling takes the Dragon off track. In a Rooster year the Dragon may forget carefully laid plans and go off-piste, tempted – typically – by wealth or sex. In a Pig year they may have to re-think their approach to life ready for the boom times of the Rat year that follows. In an Ox Year there are break-ups, in this Tiger Year confrontation unless they think well ahead..

Note to Employers: A Dragon employee is the best there is if the task suits them. It had better suit them because they will do precisely what they feel like either way.

Final Note: As I said the typical Dragon has to seek her own moral bearings. Which means that unbalanced Dragons are the worst: take predators Philip Green, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. Who’d have thought these three shared ba zi charts?!? Or that they could justify the unjustifiable for so long? Of course as these guys show, the Dragon has the luck of the Devil – technically this is called fiu gong and calls for a preventative calculation.

Dragon in The Wood Dragon Year 2024

Wah Koi Clever but lonely

Tai Sui The Great Year

Not Tin Yute Nobleman Helper

A game of poker

The Dragon is generally reckoned the most powerful of the Zodiac animals. They are magical and transformational regardless of the year; Dragons can wiggle their noses and all is changed.

So with all this power at your elbow you may be expecting to make hay in your own year. And you may. But it’s unlikely to be plain sailing. You of all people know how easily power and promise can be frittered. This year is a minefield with occasional buried treasure.

There are several reasons for this: the first is that people born under the Year Animal are reckoned to be “poked” by that Animal. So if you were born in a Dragon Year such as 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988 or 2000, you’re going to be tested somewhat – just as you will have been in those years. I emphasise this is not necessarily negative. But you’re best not sleeping through it. Peak poke is the Dragon Month (of April) of course, emerging first in March (Rabbit) and recurring in October (Dog)

The testing may be of your ability to put together a major project, one that requires getting several (at least four) major ducks in a row. The indicators of these components are Ox, Dog and Sheep. You’ll likely experience surmountable obstacles in January and July (Ox and Sheep Months) and more stubborn ones in October (the Dog Month). This may mean they present themselves at those times or are in some sense identified by these characters; for instance people born in Ox, Sheep or Dog Years.

Second reason is that the Dragon suffers the so-called “Self Clash” meaning they don’t play nicely among themselves. You may remember this from childhood: a school year predominantly made up of Dragons will feature brilliance and all sorts of valuable quirks but it won’t be a naturally cooperative group. Unlike for instance the Rabbit year previous or the Snake year following.

So it follows that this penalty extends to the calendar. The Self Clash indicates that Dragons are – in the nicest possible way – discomfited to a greater or lesser extent in Dragon Months, Dragon Days and Dragon Hours as well as Dragon Years. Furthermore if you were yourself born in the Dragon Month (broadly April), Hour (7-9am) or Day (you’ll need a Chinese Calendar) much the same applies. Be ready for the Dragon days in April (they’re the 16^th and the 28^th) when the obstacles alluded to may peak.

Why would Dragons put themselves through this? Well, typically the Dragon has ego. We all do of course but the Dragon’s ego can be more obvious and less house trained than most. The Dragon can easily generate envy. And unruly ego is usually the reason. Especially with the Dog your nemesis: the Dog is slow and steady, you’re not. Indeed you may be known to be intermittently brilliant but haphazard. The Dog can’t stand this.

To compound this the Dragon often considers introspection the best way to straighten themselves out. They’re usually wrong but either way they often do not, for this reason appear touchable. This year’s Wah Koi Star magnifies the effect. Career advice for Dragons is almost always to teach and/or heal, not to analyse. Such vocations demand that your attention comes off yourself; you focus on someone else’s self-esteem and your own will peak. The big life lesson for many Dragons – highlighted this year) is to put the egos of others first. This is the year to congratulate, acknowledge and appreciate. That’ll straighten things out – including long-lived feuds and cut-offs..

What can you expect this challenge to be like? As I said, one way or another, it will be a demanding project that refuses to fall into place. An example would be a movie where you have a writer producer, director and star when the star drops out (June, the Horse Month most likely for this). You replace the star and the producer’s funding falls away (November). You obtain fresh backing and the director has to go off on a bigger project for the rest of the year and so on. Such a project could be professional, educational or domestic. We are not all of course in the movie business.

How can you expect to react? Some Masters read this conundrum simply as being prone to sickness but I think that misses the point. Given the above situation (or something more like your own life but of the same shape) might you not be tempted to be ill? I’m not of course denying the power of microbes and viruses, simply suggesting we have choice in these things – you don’t have to agree – but it is a commonplace that so often when the tasks before us seem insurmountable we fall ill.

To be more specific about this we have to consider which Dragon you are. If you’re a Wood Dragon born 1964 (or corresponding days, hours and months – with different nuance) it’ll be some form of self-sabotage and the project may be ambitious and fragile; a Fire Dragon (1976 etc) may experience a serious energy dip; an Earth Dragon (1988) struggling to turn her mercurial nature into creativity, mood swings; Metal Dragon (1940/2000) a shorter fuse than usual especially in relation to technology and the technical and the notable articulacy of the Water Dragon (1952) by which he makes his living, may descend into a rash of blurting and being misunderstood.

If you respect the instructions on the packet, December that is the Rat Month which for you is the most helpful, will see all the balls dropping into the cups. You can expect a foreshadowing of this in the Monkey Month of August but you are best advised not to effort through that time. Or at all.

Trust. Feel what you feel. Ensure that your objective is truly chosen and allow things to be done for you and through you rather than by you.

Romance: stable

Wealth: could go either way

Health: a tendency not to take good care of yourself. Stay warm and dry.

Hexagram: 51 Zhen The Arousing.

This forecast is prepared by comparing your own Chinese year Animal with the Wood Dragon of 2024. Your Year Animal is just one of the four that make up your Ba Zi or Four Pillars of Destiny. A fully-drafted ba zi can indicate possible futures and probable pasts as well as moments of decision. Knowing these moments can heal and prevent heartbreak as well make success and happiness more easily achievable. What is a ba zi?

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