The Rooster in the Year of the Wood Dragon 2024

Rooster Pic by @elliespinelli

Who is a Rooster?

Years:         1945, 57, 69, 81, 93, 2005, 2017.
Month*:      September
Hour:          17.00-19.00

Day: you’ll need a Chinese Calendar.

* Caution: the start of the Chinese month can be as early as the 4th & as late as the 9th, depending on the year. We can let you know this too.

What is a Rooster?
The Rooster is yin Metal, the night bird, glamorous and with an eye for detail. She appreciates an argument and likes to win but has little patience for causes that drag on. She will appreciate jewellery, fine art and good living and create wealth easily; she can spend it as easily too. Conversely of course a wide-awake Rooster like Aung San Suu Kyi can reject such distractions in order to serve a cause that has indeed dragged on for decades. And like Aung San Suu Kyi can suddenly and mysteriously change their mind. This is yin and yang. The Rooster’s moral compass is often a learned thing. Glamorous and fickle are words often associated.

The rule this illustrates is that a typical Rooster is suited to work such as that of an advocate involving short decisive arguments. Her brief passion is the perfect support for a client. She can defend with enormous commitment and then move on to the next one. Rooster’s commitment is 100% but often short lived. If she is in a job that involves holding her peace she may fret and become ill.

Osama bin Laden may be a good example of a typical 1957 fire Rooster: just the one big splash to his name. A car must be fast, a partner challenging and life full of twists and turns. The Rooster is likely to be quick witted rather than profound, with concentration focused tightly before moving on. Attention span is usually short.

Her allies the Snake and the Ox are sometimes impatient with her because she can digress so widely and so easily but she brings to this Metal alliance the pure competitiveness that the Ox might otherwise misuse and the Snake misunderstand – or is it vice-versa? She is pure Metal – that is determined to get it right at all costs – and Ox and Snake are not. They will not win many cases or many contracts without her and they would do well to pay and respect her appropriately even though she expects longer holidays and more money. A support system that dots t’s and attends to punctuation will tend to empower the Rooster’s intuitive flashes. She needs a team to generate opportunities which she will exploit. Respect – especially of such a support system – is so often a life lesson. For team read “spouse”or “family” btw.

Your most dangerous pitfalls however are sex drugs and rock’n’roll. You probably like to party and your personality may be addictive. You are likely to prefer dusk to dawn and also to the small hours.

The Rooster enjoys a powerful alliance with the Dragon in which they may hold the whip hand. This may be unique in the Dragon’s experience. They can bend the Dragon out of shape just as the Ox can bend the Rat. This is not always entirely healthy, such sway must be employed responsibly otherwise both can be damaged. With that proviso this is one of the strongest and longest lasting alliances in the Chinese zodiac.

The Rooster predictably is one of the charismatic Flowers of Romance. Success and glamorous partners come easily to her. Often a Rooster can punch above her weight in this regard. Cinderella was a Rooster as is Yoko Ono. This effortlessness can make for complaisancy, bitterness is common among middle-aged Roosters. Growing old is hard for the Rooster who can so easily become Snow White’s stepmother. Who is the fairest of us all? Consider these aspects in the contrasting lives of Mick Jagger and Che Guevara both of whom were born – in different years – on the day of the Rooster. “You’re so vain you probably think this song’s about you.” Carly Simon (1945 Wood Rooster), was clearly concerned with vanity. Why would that be, do you think?

With the Monkey this wily, numerate bird can form a commercial alliance. A business co-run by these two will be irresistible but may not open on time. It may not close promptly either and may also suffer the cash flow problems that come from poor financial prioritisation. A marriage would risk the same types of problem: great parties, early divorce.

The cautious domesticated Rabbit is the nemesis of the Rooster. The Rooster likes bling and the Rabbit can see no life in a stone. Any relationship would generally be full of obstruction and passive aggression as well as disappointment and a failure to keep agreements. The insistent wood of the Tiger is almost as maddening although his fierceness would at least engage the Rooster’s attention. The loyal, consistent Dog usually bores her rigid though she may in extremis fall upon him for support.

Rooster in The Wood Dragon Year 2024

Xian Chi Bad Romance

Xiao Hao Indulgence

It’s not about you.

The Rooster is considered by some the most alluring of the Zodiac Animals; her yin Metal character h in fact stands for beauty. Your own charm may be physical, philosophical or exemplary but it’s a power that is easy to wield without consideration. The Rooster is fond of shiny things, bling and smart cars, and her attention span may be short, all of which of themselves are neutral but they can be a disproportionate distraction.

Of course no astrological analysis can truly capture you and you have free will and Four (five if you count the Life House) Pillars. But the above – perhaps frivolous – qualities can define the unconscious Rooster. This year is very much a wake –up call as to what you want your life to mean.

You are likely to be persuasive and insistent and quite likely influential. And since you two are what is known as Secret Friends, it may be time to be especially conscious of how you use your power constructively.

Most years feature a pattern that runs through like the letters on a stick of rock. Last year it was the Ingratitude Penalty which tied up Rats and Rabbits, most visible of which were the Rats (no disrespect intended) of the House of Windsor. The mutually destructive Rooster/Dragon combination is one such.

Technically a Two-Combination, the Dragon turns from Earth to Metal when they meet. This like the other Two Combinations (see Module III of Discover the Secrets of the Four Pillars of Destiny, my starter ba zi course for the full list) entails a certain bending out of shape. But the Rooster/Dragon is the bendiest and out-of-shapest.

If you look at the Chinese Almanac (or T’ung Shu) you’ll find that though the Rooster sports helpful Stars, several not-so-helpful accompany them. These four include the Bad Romance and Indulgence Stars which offer a clue to the details. If the Rooster is in effect in charge her task may be to empower the Dragon usefully, to turn the thrust of the year from meaningless change to meaningful, to use her charm and persuasiveness for the good. This may be at the modest level of good neighbourliness, political activity or anything in-between. Either will have disproportionate impact. Your voice will be heard and measured in this Dragon Year. As Chuck Spezzano says “It only takes one to tango but it has to be you.”

Dragon and Rooster are Samson and Delilah, Merlin and Nimue. The old wizard is lured from his cave by the nymph who steals his power and imprisons him in a block of ice; the Hebrew champion is betrayed by pillow talk. You may recall that it was Samson who was “eyeless in Gaza” after his hair and sight had both been taken from him. His was the original “dark night of the soul”. In despair he pulls down the temple upon himself and his tormentors. This kind of bloody mindedness is abroad as I write.

To make it tougher, the Rooster’s location (West) houses the Wu Huang or “Five Yellow” this year. If the consequences of this Dragon Year hang in the balance, whether it is the scorched earth policy of the oil giants or governments, events to the West – of here, of you, of me, of the River Jordan, the Atlantic and the Pacific – can with simple benevolence bring that round.

We are entering a decade that spans 2024-2034 just as the last Wood Dragon presided over 1964-1974. That last one didn’t end so well. When you are in any case as powerful as your privileged pairing with the Year Dragon makes you, you would be wise to think long term and karmically. We are all karmic loaded guns. So consider the repercussions of any action you take that is likely to impact others negatively. In a Dragon Year the bounce back is multiplied many fold. With charm and smarts come power and with power comes responsibility. Your attention needs to be out.

The Dalai Lama once said that his religion was kindness. Perhaps it’s as simple as that. He also said that the world would be saved by Western woman.

This year you can make money, which elementally is Wood to you – meaning among other things, that the first third of the year and last two months are the wealthiest. You’re likely to start off hot in the Ox Month of January. Because you are pure Metal, Ox’s yin Earth gives you fuel to overcome the small obstacles that arise before the Spring Festival on February 4th.

The Rabbit of March brings success, spoils and partners for male Roosters, prey and prizes for all genders. Keep your word. The Dragon Month of April, generally a lucky month for you is where it all changes as the distinctive Rooster/Dragon combination strikes strongest. Time to step up.

I’m suggesting that this is a year of power with proviso for the Rooster. We live not in a just universe but a causal one and Samson and Delilah stand proxy for the thousand-and-one-opportunities the Rooster may be presented with to sow peace this year.

The threat is that the Rooster is tempted to behave at his very worst and the Dragon too. Obviously the Dragon is responsible for their own actions but that does not acquit the Rooster. You know your own power and you know this territory too.

Here’s my advice: enjoy your magnetism but don’t abuse it. You may well find yourself making decisions on behalf of many this year. Even when unsupervised and secret you must be even-handed or by the time of the Dog Year of 2030, you may have run out of motivation altogether.

This May brings you company that may be resistant to your charisma and the Horse month of June quietens you down generally but as autumn gathers so does the tendency to bamboozle and manipulate. You may be that wise Rooster who has learned these lessons. And there is a middle ground.

Pay attention to the long game. The very long game. That’s a question of integrity. “Destiny emerges from character” as the Book of Changes tells us.

The good news remains that you are in a powerful position. What you choose this year is law. So be careful what you wish for. “Sometimes,” as Chuck Spezzano also says : “the door to Hell is marked Heaven and vice-versa.”

The Water of the Dragon brings you unusual articulacy especially in the later month of the year; its Earth offers you support and a base to sally forth from; the beam of Wood within the Dragon, cash flow and some limited success. But the repercussions of thoughtless behaviour could be massive.

So for you an “interesting” year in the sense of the Chinese curse. If you follow your inclinations but maintain your ethical sense, you may well prosper in a big way. As will the rest of us. You’re that important.

Romance: treacherous

Wealth: yes

Health: hypertension possibly.

Hexagram: 58 Dui The Joyful

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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