Year Highlights
Tiger years are years for changes in direction, for passion, for excitement, for doing
Yang Water quality of the Tiger year will make the Tiger’s natural tendencies even more apparent
Change is guaranteed but the quality and impact of that change will depend on how we used the stable, predictable energy of the Ox this past year
It will be easy to get over excited this year and to make quick and passionate decisions. We should lean into those feelings but remember to not let our larger goals be undone by the potency of the Tiger year
And so the cycle begins again, an ever-turning wheel backward and forward through all of time and all of space, pushing and pulling all of creation inexorably through its own experience. Dramatic, right? A little flashy, right? Maybe a little egoistic and overwrought? Well, the Tiger year brings with it a kind of dramatic intensity that we haven’t seen in a while and, combined with the Yang Water modifier, gives us a coming year with a lot of potential for explosive change and intense shifts in trajectory.
In order to understand how this Tiger year is likely to feel, it might be best to put it in the context of the Yin Metal Ox year we just finished. The ox is a beast of burden, focused on getting the job done no matter the weather, the demands, the level of exhaustion. As a year, it is intensely focused on getting through and preparing the way for the next thing to come along. Oxen represent an adherence to tradition, to the ways that things have always been done, and they provide a kind of continuity with the past that is essential for building strong foundations for the future. Oxen are confident and strong, but they are not aggressive, not self-starters.
Many of us felt that plodding quality throughout much of 2021. The pandemic stretched on endlessly, work and activity fell into a kind of complacent repetition and the idea of going out and doing new things, traveling to new places, starting new projects, for many people felt exhausting and distinctly uninteresting. Better to just keep on keeping on. That Ox energy was compounded by the general qualities of the Winter season where we are drawn into reminiscence and nostalgia; reflection and melancholy, by the natural depth and intensity of the Yin portion of the year. By the time Lunar New Year rolled around this year, I know a lot of us were ready for a change.
The Tiger year, in general, is a stark departure from the traditionalist continuity of the Ox year. That this Tiger year is a Yang Water Tiger, further indicates the that the aggressive transformative energy of this year will be even that much more potent. Let me explain:
Without getting too deep in the weeds, it’s important to remember a few basic tenants of Chinese cosmology:
There are 12 animals that represent the qualities of a standard 12 year annual cycle: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig
Each of those animals is assigned a Yang or Yin Quality and a qi phase (sometimes called element) in an alternating order: Yang/Yin Wood, Yang/Yin Fire, Yang/Yin Earth, Yang/Yin Metal, Yang/Yin Water.
The combination of an animal and a Yang or Yin marker and a qi phase creates 60 unique combinations that repeat over and over again. This larger pattern is called the Sexagenary Cycle
This cycle is derived from some complex math rooted in the movements of celestial bodies like Jupiter and the Moon. Those astronomical observations served as pre-modern time-keeping devices and allowed ancient people to observe that seasons, environments, individuals, and societies were influenced by the qi present during their gestations and life spans and that such effects were repeated and somewhat predictable.
Now it is important to note that CHINESE COSMOLOGICAL WORK IS NOT ABOUT FORTUNETELLING. I know we have a predisposition to seeing a discussion of trends, norms, and pronouncements through the lens of carnival charlatans and UsWeekly horoscopes, but instead, try to couch the qualities of any upcoming year or season in your own experience. What do you feel in your body? What is the state of your mind? Are you motivated and if so, by what? Knowing more about the qi qualities of any particular moment in time can help us to compare our experience to what is happened around us and inform us if what we are experiencing makes sense with our context or if it is somehow aberrant, something for us to take a look at and maybe correct.
So back to the Tiger Year. Tigers in general are strong, quick, and aggressive. They are flashy in their coloration and historically, Tigers occupied the apex predator position with humans, often themselves responsible for human deaths. Tigers stalk their prey and can be patient in the pursuit of such a lofty and important goal nabbing their next meal, but by their natures, Tigers pace and stalk, they don’t sit and wait. This behavioural variance is the root of the shift from Ox to Tiger. While Ox was content to walk forward in a straight line, doing what is right and good and reasonable, the Tiger has no such patience. Tiger is ready to move, to do, to pounce. Thus, the Ox helped to carry the energetic hoarding of the Rat year forward to build a strong and resourceful foundation so that the Tiger has the best perch from which to take action.
Additionally, Tigers express complimentary but sometimes opposing qualities. They are primarily solitary creatures, but they have a strong urge to mate. Tigers present with aggressive posturing like growls, glares, and fang-baring but in fact rarely fight among themselves, instead choosing the show over the actual event. Tigers are incredibly quick and strong but also spend a lot of time relaxing and lounging. This type of opposing energy manifests in a Tiger year as well, where we can easily be caught up in something and taken to new places or levels of excitement, but we can just as easily find ourselves bored with the new activity and disinterested, looking for the next big thing. Tigers are a mighty force but are fundamentally unreliable, favoring action and passion over stability and predictability. This propensity for forceful and expansive movement has earned the Tiger image an association with the Wood qi phase (which also has an upward and outward movement) as well as the Yang quality (which is active, agitating, and ephemeral). Thus, all Tiger years are rooted in Yang Wood qi.
All of these Tiger qualities are all the more emphasized because, while all Tiger Years are Yang Wood years, each of them is further modified by its position in the sexagenary cycle, which gives this Tiger Year the addition of the Yang Water quality. In the 5 phase cycle of qi, Water is considered the mother of Wood, providing the necessary resources for qi to transform from the internally focused and contracting quality of water to the expansive and outwardly moving quality of wood. In this case that means that all the natural qualities of a Tiger year (action-oriented, impulsive, impatient, passionate, enthusiastic, dramatic, flashy, etc…) are made more obvious and more pronounced because water encourages wood to grow and expand. Add to that mix the Yang marker for the water part of this Tiger year, and we have an even more potent boost to Tiger’s natural qualities. In fact, the combination of all these particular pieces of the puzzle put the Tiger’s qi into an excessive position, asking all of us to pay extra attention to the flow of our bodies, minds, and emotions in this upcoming year because it will be very easy to be swept up into the intensity of the Yang Water Tiger.
These last few years have been challenging on so many levels and while the Tiger Year promises to help break us out of our rut, exactly which way that break will fall remains to be seen. Change is guaranteed but depending on how solid a foundation was built during the Ox’s tenure, will certainly shape how productive this Tiger change will be. All things must end though so even if the change is destructive and far reaching, it will be part of our challenge this year to incorporate that energy into our experience, not minimize judgement of one type of activity over another, and to recognize that nothing is exempt from the cycle of qi.