Tiger 2013
Who is a Tiger?
Years: 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010.
Month*: February
Hour: 03:00 am – 05:00 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 Tiger?
Because the yang wood Tiger is composed of three different elements, he is an especially versatile predator. There is nothing wrong with being a predator except that it can imply a very rigid view of the world. Tigers often don’t play well with others, not because their egos are in the way (unlike the Dragon, the Pig, the Rooster or the Horse) but because for them, work and play are very distinct activities. They can up to a point frolic with other Tigers but broadly every alliance is focused on an outcome.
The Tiger never forgets. For the unbalanced Tiger no slight, insult or rejection can be allowed to go unredressed.. He may wait a lifetime but he will get his revenge. On the other hand the balanced Tiger will always repay a debt and go out of his way to acknowledge assistance.
The typical qualities of yang wood are sharp eyes, a strong will and swift movement. The Tiger stalks his prey silently and pounces when he is ready. He can wait days as long as he is not hungry. A needy Tiger is very dangerous. Never scorn the Tiger.
The Tiger will often have a fresh view of things which makes him the eyes of the team he makes up with the Horse and the Dog. The Horse is front of house, the Dog the keeper of records and the Tiger the hit man.
In terms of human relations the Tiger may be the most yang of the animals; that is swift, sharp and unsubtle. The earth he inherits from his predecessor in the Zodiac the Ox, is turned miraculously from yin to yang when he receives it. The unbalanced Tiger knows no mercy and expects none. And in this he has altered the dogma he receives from the Ox – do as you would be done by – into a personal code. This alteration can amount to perversion and make for serious misunderstandings; the unconscious Tiger probably knows himself less than any other animal. His ruthlessness, which he can wear as a badge of honour, is often simply a failure to open up to interdependence with others. Of all insults “dependent” is the worst for the Tiger. He will not depend. This makes relationship an act of will. With a true act of will, the Tiger forms the most enduring relationships. If it is not truly a choice but a resigned agreement to bend himself out of shape, all around him will distort also. Sometimes the truly unconscious Tiger thinks this reflects a merciless world in which he has been clever in getting his revenge in first. This logic doesn’t work and the smarter Tiger knows this.
But even this one is not in the clear because the corollary of foregoing revenge appears to be falling on his sword. This is a mistake too. Most of us prefer not to live by the law of the jungle but then most of us are not as well-equipped for it.
Metal is generally considered to represent logical thought, authority and competition. The wooden Tiger likes to think of himself as logical but instinctive or even automatic is a better description. He can only make use of metal early on in life or at the inception of a process. After that he can deceive himself that he knows what to do and that he is beyond advice. The really unbalanced Tiger (yang wood day stem born in February for instance) considers himself bold and resolute but truly is hanging onto past (mother) stuff that ought to have been completed. The admission of this would affront his pride and he is unlikely to do it.
Richard Bandler used to say that the person with the most flexible behaviour has control. The Tiger is the yangest woodenest of the animals. He is so flexible that he can be completely immovable. This can be his role in the alliance with the Monkey, Pig and Snake sometimes called the The Four Terminals.
The Monkey sells the traveller a ticket, the Pig may offer to accompany him and the Snake can enchant with tales of exotic locations but the Tiger may simply snarl and send the traveller on his way. Without the Pig in the ba zi this combination can like the Four Earths, be a seriously unhelpful combination, implying restricted movement.
A tender father and an implacable father in law, a good leader but an erratic motivator, at his worst, the keynote of the Tiger is an uneasy combination between a long memory and a short fuse. At his best he is the sort of leader any man would gladly die for.
Tiger 2013:
Stars include: Fu De & Fu Xing, Juan She Dispute, Jiao Sha.
You are the most patient of the Animals but this is still not quite your moment. Sorry. Preparation not yet over. You remain one step away from completing this cycle; which may be a job, a relationship or some other long term project. It could involve (re-)training or apprenticeship. But in the year of the Snake, the sorceror’s apprentice, this issue of low status indenture is very alive. You will not be second best! You may have thought this project was done but it still isn’t. You thought you’d have settled but you still haven’t. You thought you would have been recognised but no. Not quite yet.
This is a very powerful transitional year for you. But it is transitional. You don’t achieve pole position till 2014. And let me remind you of something else about learning: it’s a lifelong thing.
Swift action is called for. You are especially sensitive to pecking order. This year your task is less about ensuring that you get yours than that others in your charge do.
The auguries suggest you will invoke jealousy this year. Some Masters see “obstacles and scandals” in your immediate future. Why would that be? Could it be that outstretched index finger of yours?
The Tiger never forgets. Most of this retained information is about hierarchies. If you’re a smart Tiger you’ve learned where you fit in and worked with it. If you’ve been more resistant to date you’ll still be seething at the unfairness of it all. This can make you impossible to teach because you tend to reject all teaching as intrusive. You like to learn but you hate to be taught.
First port of call in 2013 is to seek out those you upset gratuitously in the Dragon year. Oh, you thought it was them? That’s unlikely if you are a 1950 or 1962 or 1974 Tiger and pretty much impossible if you were born on a Tiger day. But it doesn’t matter anyway; life’s too short and this is your life, not anybody else’s, hence you are responsible. Get with the programme. There’s no future in either blame or justification.
Tiger, Monkey and Snake despite their affinities- they are for instance, all about movement – form a pattern called the Fire Penalty. When they coincide, there’s interruption and interference. For the Tiger this peaks in the Snake month of May and even more so, in the Monkey month of September.
Pretty much all your difficulties derive from the length of your memory. The degree to which you let the apparent miscreants of your past off the hook is the degree to which you are yourself redeemed. Your chart this year features the stars mong san and goo san. These are the Stars of blame without awareness. Despite your remarkable retention, learning may prove hard; if you can’t forget, go straight to forgiveness. You’ve got it all wrong anyway.
Health: may not be consistently great. Worst in February and August.
Money: best towards the end of the year. You have a lot to learn first.
Relationship: some thrills for the unspoken-for female. Otherwise this year does not pulsate with opportunities for new liaison.
Feng Shui: claim your position at NE3 and activate it along with S2 (Horse) N2 (Rat) and (caution) SW3 (Monkey).
Readers’ Digest Version: let go of grievances and the world is full of friends.
Richard Ashworth©2012