Tiger 2017
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.
Skip to: Tiger in Fire Rooster Year.
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 – the world needs predators – except that it can imply a very rigid viewpoint. 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 may go out of his way to acknowledge assistance and like the Lannister family, always repay debt.
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 (c0nsider Metal Tiger Richard Branson) 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 well than any other animal. Which means that since our gifts are generally concealed within our lessons (themselves concealed within the heartbreaks and triumphs of the dramas we weave for ourselves) a balanced, awakened Tiger is as open, alert and self-aware as a human being can become without disappearing in a puff of smoke.
That ruthlessness however, which is sometimes worn 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.
Metal Tiger Richard Bandler used to say that the person with the most flexible behaviour has control. The Tiger is the yangest and woodenest of the animals. He is so flexible that he can be completey immovable. This can be his role in the alliance with the Monkey, Pig and Snake sometimes called 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 (see elsewhere for explanation), be a seriously unhelpful combination, implying restricted movement. It was very common in 2013 and again in the Year of the Fire Monkey in 2016.
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 in Fire Rooster Year.
Stars include: gip sat.
East of Eden
The Tiger is a predator and the Rooster like the Sheep, is a meat animal. The temptation this year when the pressure is off may be to return to old habits that were blown out of the water last year. If you have heaved a sigh of relief and like Homer Simpson can boast “Marge, dear, I haven’t learned a thing,” there’s trouble to come and soon, because despite your sharp mind, you’ve missed the point.
The awakened Tiger, as I’ve said before, is easily misunderstood. You believe yourself to be practical and sensible but so often your dreams pass you by because you are being what you think of as realistic. Others might call this “realism” insensitive or even brutal. The Tiger is often what William James called “tough-minded. As a rule you have little time for the airy-fairy. But guess what? On one level there isn’t anything else. What’s for sure is that there are limits to what you can control and the limit is lower than you think. Too often your “realistic” thinking has actually been a lot less practical than that of those you’d like to call dreamers. In 2016 the opposition of the Monkey will have tended to rock your convictions. You may be smarting. The Rooster year won’t test you in quite the same way.
Among the principal issues of any Rooster year is jealousy. The typical Rooster is showy and the Tiger can be critical. Which sounds volatile, doesn’t it? You understand hierarchy and pecking order and your place in it and you pride yourself on your self-awareness. Self-awareness is so close to self- righteousness and while you’re happy to respect those who are appropriately there, you won’t tolerate perceived inferiors getting above themselves. Surprise! these are subjective views. As is everything actually. The one-liner about the Tiger is that she never forgets – a slight or a favour but mostly a slight. In the wild this serves you, in society it doesn’t. Perhaps consider letting it go.
Last year with the Monkey in direct opposition may have been fairly tortuous and you’re unlikely to have learned to contain that upset. This year you might just. If you believe you have mastered it, stop reading and open a bottle of champagne. Otherwise let’s think about it dispassionately.
It’s probable that you think someone else has something to which you’re entitled. And you know what? If you’re responsible for your life, your jealousy confirms that you are lesser. That is to say they are entitled and you’re not. I’m suggesting you drop it, even after a lifetime. Self-awareness, as I said, is so close to self-righteousness. I recommend you don’t read on till you’ve given this deep consideration.
During the Monkey year you have been in the cross hairs. Your progress is unlikely to have been that smooth because you naturally need a little more space than others and you may not have got it. Some long-laid plans may have fallen foul. But victimised. You? I don’t think so. Whatever issues of interdependence snagged your wheels last year had been a while in coming. You could without astrological interference have predicted them some while back. But you didn’t, did you? So I suggest you trace the causality, take responsibility and try not to keep making the same errors.
In matters of love, you may have been more fortunate. In 2017 however there could be disillusionment. So be careful how deeply you invest. The apparent love of your life may be a creature of passing fancy. Only invest if you’re truly going to go the whole distance. Be really honest about this because if they aren’t up for the whole trip, the truth is that you aren’t either. Best to get your head around that quickly. Pull the sticking plaster off in a single snatch. April’s probably the time. September’s too late.
Feeling aggrieved is such a burden. Best not to carry it into 2018 when the force in the form of the Dog is right with you. How do we drop that weight? By valuing others. Whatever that value may be. Everyone as Einstein wrote, is a genius but goldfish are terrible at climbing trees.
In point of fact your overriding feeling this year may well be relief. The Rooster is not your closest friend but you’ll have space and some breaks, including financial ones. Concentrate acquisitive activities on January, April, July and October. If you come into a major windfall, which is a possibility, cut me in.
Readers Digest version: time to value others.
What’s to be done about it: mend fences, give up on revenge.
Amulet: Dog
Feng shui advice: Water.
Helpful places: North East.
Helpful times: February, June, October, November.
Health: care of bones, ligaments, eyesight, hair.
Money: more out than in
Relationship: mixed.