The Pig in the Year of the Water Rabbit 2023

Pig Pic by @elliespinelli

Who is a Pig?

Years:         1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019.
Month*:      November
Hour:          09:00 pm – 11:00 pm
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 Pig?

The weakness and the strength of the Pig (who is predominantly yin Water and therefore often reluctant to communicate) is that they think they know what is good for them. And they are right often enough to make advice close to impossible. By extension this means you Pigs may believe you know what is right for everybody else.

Technically the Pig is a cocktail of Water, Wood and Earth. This makes for extraordinary versatility. But this combined with the Pig’s weakness at emotional disclosure, can mean that they lack a support system just when they most need one. Consider Fire Pig Hillary Clinton and her rogue email account; the story goes that she simply could not master her Blackberry and could not bring herself to seek appropriate help. That’s a Pig.

Versatile and wilful, gifted at whatever they do, the Pig is the sign of the inventor. Edison was a Pig and Elon Musk, as is recently deported Wikileaker Julian Assange. Perfectly-balanced Pigs can literally do almost anything but they don’t much like reflective advice from others and they are liable to hate uncertainty. Remember Fire Pig Elton John in “Rocket Man”? And Elon Musk’s social media tiffs?

Vagueness is uncomfortable for the Pig: Edison was of course an obsessive patenter, Hillary determined to get Wall Street onside while retaining her liberal credentials. And Assange, confident that he knew better than anyone else what the world needed to know – and he was mostly right btw. Brexit and the Trumpreich might have fallen differently but for some of these guys. This does not mean they were mistaken but the truth can be a moveable feast.

A balanced Pig (perhaps March birth around mid-afternoon) is a great audience and typically gets the listening/talking ratio just right. An unbalanced one can shoot off at the mouth and give (or take) away the farm before she knows it. Does any of this sound like – to pluck a name from nowhere – Earth Pig Simon Cowell?

More likely, you are prone to withdrawing into silence. Sometimes the Pig sulks but more commonly withdraws out of pure disinterest and can be perfectly cheerful when challenged on the withdrawal.

The Pig child needs just the right mixture of carrot and stick. Too much disincentive and he is suppressed or resentful. Too much carrot and he can be smug. The balanced Pig is the most sensitive of the animals; the unbalanced one has undergone an empathy bypass. As the parent of a Pig, just remember you are instrumental in this process. Your Piglet does not need to become a boor.

The Pig harbours the Wood of creativity so they can be as adept with the written as the spoken word and indeed the yang Earth of deep concentration. Many Pigs prefer to study in noisy rooms and many are effortless A-students as teachers of brilliant 2007 Pigs may notice. Bear in mind though that there is a near-epidemic of depression and anxiety among millennials and post-millennials and that Water is the associated element. Don’t ever take a 1995 or 2007 Pig’s good cheer for granted or their call for help as crying wolf.

The Stevie Smith poem “Not waving but drowning” is about a Pig. They look so competent. And they are. Until they’re not. If you care for a Pig beware of their apparent endless confidence. There are crucial gaps.

The Pig does not tend to like the Snake; one way or another they immobilise each other; there are mutual issues of trust, truth and sincerity. And the Monkey, the Snake’s intimate, can be a source of annoyance also. The Pig’s most natural team is with the Rabbit and the Sheep. This alliance is quintessentially domestic; together these three can make anywhere home. A perfect family might be Pig father, Rabbit mother and Sheep first-born. Once home, the Rabbit entertains while the Sheep ensures compatibility and the Pig performs the tasks that are beyond the scope or interest of her partners.

Traditionally the Pig also enjoys the company of the Tiger as Elton John’s husband Water Tiger David Furnish can attest. You might think a Pig would be more cautious but they know that the Tiger is uninterested in conquering anyone he considers easy meat. Of course he’s missing something here but the Pig’s fearless approach often disarms the Tiger before they realise. And by the bye, Pig’s literary ambition often burgeons in a Tiger year and flourishes in a Rabbit one.

Although she may herself be more adventurous, the Pig also understands the loyal and consistent Dog. She respects the fact that every home needs its guardian. These two will tend to develop a camaraderie with its own distinctive banter but it will probably never be a meeting of souls as each is technically the other’s gip sat or force of obstruction. The Pig respects the Dog’s diligence and the Dog knows the Pig will compensate for his weakness.

The Pig also operates well as factotum for a group consisting of the Snake (whose company she can’t otherwise stand for long) the Monkey (see above) and the Tiger. For these she is, interestingly, the peacemaker and setter of standards. Without the Pig this grouping whose common interest is travel and mobility, can’t get off the ground. Taron Egerton interestingly who impersonated Elton so effectively in Rocket Man, is a 1989 Snake as is Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.

One final note: the Pig suffers what is called the self curse. That is to say that she has limited patience with other Pigs. And as Rocket Man illustrates, a huge capacity for self-loathing. The Chinese character for a house is one Pig under a roof. Just the one. Approach them gently and listen.

A Curly Tale: The Pig in 2023

The contrast between Dog and Pig fortunes this year illustrates the connections and disconnects between the Animals and their locations. The North West is a very poor place to loiter right now because of the wu huang (or Five Yellow) and yet it holds both the Dog, who has a bit of free ticket and the Pig whose fortunes are more mixed. Pigs need to know right away that breakthrough is coming.

This year they are transformed. The good side of that is that a great deal of luggage is let go; on the other hand there is often discomfort in change. Breakthrough – finally – follows forgiveness and a big shift. You don’t get the shift without the forgiveness. This means you move on from grudges and slights including those you claim not to be bothered by even when the mirror tells you something different. March will be the easiest time to address this.

Your objectives peak in July following a good deal of book learning. Old contacts are re-established and there’s advocacy and representation in place. The late summer remains very creative but with some big challenges. Focus your research; plan your time well ahead as there are actions to perform that are time sensitive. Before July its preparation, after July it’s attention to detail.

Pig and Rabbit combine uneasily, they need the Sheep to cement their connection. So seek Sheep people (by Day or Year most powerfully) locate South West, concentrate on what matters most during the early afternoon and in July (the afternoon of the year).

That combination is to Wood. Which simply means movement. The early morning Rabbit Hour is the time of stirring. But it is not until the Sheep hour of 1-3pm that the full combination takes place. This is a recipe for ongoing frustration: ducks not quite getting into a row, arrangements without participants and vice-versa.

So the kinds of challenge you face are frustration, injury and ill-temper. When Pig, Rabbit and Sheep combine whether by Hour, Day, Year, Month or positioning, all three turn into Wood. We know that a plant is alive because it is in steady (but often slow) motion; that’s Wood. But all three are needed to bring this transformation about. Hence throughout a Rabbit Year, the Pig is subject to frustrations but may sidestep the worst by constantly seeking the completion of Wood that the Sheep offers. Facing or locating South West1 will tend to grease the wheels.

Remember that we live in halls of mirrors, so these obstacles appearing before you will reflect your own blockages. If you swallow anger it will appear before you until you own it, the same applies to every emotion, including the good ones.

Lesson: Focus.

Best Months: February, March, July

Worst Months: May, November, October.

Theme: Staying in contact

Hexagram: 35 Jin Progress.

Health: = Wealth: = Relationship: =

This forecast is prepared by comparing your own Chinese year Animal with the Water Rabbit of 2023. 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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