Dragon 2014

Who is a Dragon?

Years: 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012.
Month*: April
Hour: 07:00 am – 09:00 am
Day: ask us

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

What is a Dragon?
The Dragon is yang earth, the most egotistical of the branches as well as being generally considered the most powerful. Putting aside conventional rules of animal compatibility, everyone is either fascinated by the Dragon or suspicious. Many are both.
Though charming and affable, like the Pig, the Horse and the Rooster, the Dragon suffers the self clash which makes him unsuited to working with his equals. 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 shamelessly extrovert Horse for instance, sometimes thinks the Dragon is a high maintenance prima donna. Even the Dragon’s 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. The steadfast Dog whose workings always lead to a logical answer detests 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.

The Chinese ideogram for thunder is a Dragon under a raincloud. Remember that 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. The character of the Dragon is like the awkward times before a storm breaks.

The Dragon does not naturally co-operate or easily share confidences. He will, however, grudgingly 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. These three may not mix socially however. 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 he feels like being. He can instantly magic up wealth and as rapidly squander it. Neither Horse nor Rooster are much help in this regard, although a benevolent Rat and a diligent Monkey would be.

The Dragon and the Snake form the House of Magic. The Dragon is the Sorceror, the Snake his apprentice. So 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 all his carefully laid plans and go off-piste. In a Rabbit year he may have to defend himself but either is preferable to the Tiger year which will have found him settling into quicksand.

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

Dragon in Wood Horse Year.

Stars include: jie shen, bao wei conflict.

Not an easy year. Grand Master Tan Khoon Yong refers to “pressing issues”. The Dragon – inherently yang Earth – will feel the pressure of a year of prevailing Fire. It’s like the baking of clay. Raised heat can make for hardened attitudes, a loss of flexibility and a short fuse. And if there’s one thing the Chinese Masters concur on, it is that 2014 will be warm.

Also turbulent. And where there’s turbulence you’ll find Dragons. The Dragon is the sorcerer of the zodiac. The Dragon like the thunderstorm, brings things to a head which leads to transformation. You are turbulent because you are magical. Sometimes the magic is for you, sometimes like this year, mostly for others. You are the opposite of a mediator; however contained and open you are, somehow people know you bring change that they can’t run from. There will be many opportunities this year to bring benevolent transformation to others; actually not so much opportunities as hurricane force gales pushing you into compromising and compromised positions. Don’t – especially you older Dragon – run from them. This is who you are. That’s the way it is. Step up to the plate.

The upside of this is that the Horse pushes you to commit, to take up a position and sets you up for the future. It may not be comfortable. For Metal Horses, it may be unhealthy but ill health is essentially a distraction. As a rule, we become ill when we’ve run out of ideas. Where all this takes you is to certainty. If you’re at a cross roads, this year you will make that turn. Not before time. Trust that the wind is blowing you in the right direction. This year you burn boats.

This is true in relationship also. You may jettison those ideas you have of alternatives and settle. The last few years (since about 2007) may have buffeted you in this regard. And your partner. The physical universe doesn’t tell lies and if you’re together you probably belong that way.

Stay as cool as you can. There’s a lack of Water. And as Lillian Too says “Fire must be controlled, not extinguished.”

Your magic relies on Water/Fire balance; an ideas/articulacy balance. Too much talk may dowse the brightest idea but too little may leave it to burn out. This year invite reflection, invite second opinions but act. The summer months could for this reason be quite uncomfortable but the discomfort is likely to be an opening, a purging beyond which lies major positive change.

In relation to health, there is some risk of injury. The orthodox advice is to pre-empt it with the giving of blood. The more enlightened Dragon might instead become conscious of the frustration that opens us to risk. Nothing happens by chance; everything has meaning. Which is why some things can be predicted. Know yourself, make firm long term positive choices and act upon them. That way you’ll stay healthy.

Health: travel carefully. Attention to weight and blood pressure.

Money: best after June.

Relationship: emotionally challenging.

Feng Shui: the Rat in the North brings you Water.

Readers’ Digest Version: trying, ultimately defining.