Recently, a friend posted an article about a woman in New Zealand who in her fervant desire to have a Dragon Baby (hence, the article ‘Desperately Seeking Dragon Baby‘), has decided that she will do so by any means, including artificial insemination. Ms Chuang, who is a Rooster, “believes a dragon child will also be “perfect match” as the two zodiac signs are said to be most compatible.”
Needless to say, this article contains a voluminous quantity of astrological fiction (henceforth, Astro-Fi), which I shall endeavour to address. But first, let’s talk about this Dragon baby business because, you will not believe the number of friends who are also fixated on a Dragon child (a number of them, Dragons themselves, perhaps it is just glorious self belief in propagating one of their own eh).
The Dragon Drivel
First, let us deal with the notion of the SUPERIORITY of the Dragon Baby. For the sake of convenience, I will use the text from the New Zealand Herald because it sort of adequately sums up most of the misconceptions that most people have.
“Many Chinese consider the Year of the Dragon to be the most auspicious year to have a child. Those born under the sign of the dragon – the fifth, and the mightiest of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs – are said to be outstanding, driven, independent and destined for success.
Given that the Dragon is supposed to be the mightiest of the Chinese Zodiac signs, has anyone given any thought to why it is then that the Rat came in first in the famous astrological race?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn0W1sbQCWE
If old Dragon here is so amazing, how come it came in Numero Fivero then? Was the Dragon endeavouring to give face to the other creatures since it was so certain of its own supremacy? (as the above Onisuka Tiger cartoon suggests?) As for the outstanding, driven, independent and destined for success parts – there hasn’t been any study that has proven conclusively in the last 36 years that 1976, 1988 and 1990 have produced a disproportionately high number of “outstanding, driven, independent and successful” people. In fact, I know a couple of lazy Dragons myself. Or perhaps it is just because they know they are already superior that there’s no need to try eh?
[Point to note: the definitive modern text on how to be a pushy parent was not written by a Dragon, but a Tiger! sic: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Nuff said.]
“Feng shui practitioner Janet Chan said no other zodiac sign could be compared to the status of the dragon, which symbolised power, strength and good luck. She said the Emperor of China also used the dragon as a symbol of his imperial power.Emperors are believed to be no ordinary humans who rule the kingdom with the blessings of the dragon,” Mrs Chan said. “Many parents believe that babies born in the Dragon Year will also enjoy this same stamp of royalty and blessings.”
Well, without necessarily disparaging Janet Chan’s skills as a Feng Shui practitioner, all this is basically SYMBOLISM at best. And honestly, I think if one is intend on being symbolic, then they should be symbolic to the max. So, as an example, Dog Parents should only have Tiger or Horse babies – and they cannot just have Tiger or Horse Year born babies – they should make sure these children are not born in the Dragon Month (April), Dragon Hour (7-9am) and should ensure their children are born in Horse or Tiger months or days or hours. Oh, and heaven forbid if your spouse should be a Dragon. It’s a recipe for disaster.
Indeed, perhaps all these wannabe Dragon Baby mommies should go all the way and make sure their kid has FOUR DRAGONS in the chart. Yes, if you win the Dragon Year Baby Lottery, and your child miraculously appears on the dates of March 6, 2012 between 7-9am or March 25, 2012 between 7-9am, you can lay claim to the ULTIMATE Dragon Baby – Four Dragons for the price of ONE.
[in case some crazy uber-competitive or stupidly superstitious mothers are thinking wow, I’m gonna book a Caesarean on that day and at that hour, a cursory look at the BaZi for both those two days suggests you really don’t want the ultimate Dragon Baby. Best to let the cosmos decide really]
Let’s take up Ms Bevan Chuang’s belief that since she is a Rooster, therefore a Dragon will be perfect to’compliment’ her zodiac. I wonder if she will still hold this view when she realises that the Dragon-Rooster combination is considered a middling combo at best? In the pecking order of Combos, Dragon-Rooster loses to Dragon-Monkey-Rat and by extension, Dragon-Monkey or Dragon-Rat is a better combination that Dragon-Rooster. Further, if we are to take this ‘theory’ to its natural extension (and in the event someone actually thinks I am being serious about this…think again), Dragon-Rooster produces Metal whilst Dragon-Monkey or Dragon-Rat produces Water. In the Five Elements, Water and Fire are considered the two MOST elements that should NEVER be absent from a chart. So the Dragon-Rooster combo is seriously inferior by these arguments, to the Dragon-Monkey or Dragon-Rat combination. As such, the idea that a Rooster mother should have a Dragon kid in order to achieve astrological synergy is Rooster-poop at best. Message to Dragon moms out there – it’s a MONKEY or a RAT that you want, especially if your Spouse is one or the other. (assuming people want to take this astrological fiction to its natural extent).
Further, what is this rubbish that the Dragon is the symbol of the Emperor and so therefore anyone born in the year of the Dragon is therefore by extension a sort of mini-Emperor of sorts? Yeah well if someone grows up with the ridiculous sense of self entitlement that comes from thinking they are some kind of Son/Daughter of Heaven because of a quirk of biology, I am quite sure they will have Emperor-like tantrums and spoilt behaviour. And what a recipe for success THAT is. Further, if anyone has visited the Forbidden City, they will notice that the Dragon motif that supposedly represents the Son of Heaven is almost always accompanied by that of the Phoenix (for the sake of convenience, Rooster), as the symbolism of Yin and Yang. How come Rooster’s don’t have the kind of stellar cosmic reputation that Dragon’s enjoy then?
Now, let us look at the more accurate assessment of this whole Dragon Baby phenomenon:
The Five Dragons
There are Five Dragons in the Chinese Astrological cycle, which comprises of 60 Jia Zi (5×12 animals) – your average bog standard free-online Chinese astrology guide is now sophisticated enough to discern these and they are often described as Wood Dragon, Water Dragon (2012), Earth Dragon (1988), Fire Dragon (1976) and Metal Dragon. In BaZi, they are 甲 辰， 壬 辰，戊 辰，丙辰 and 庚 辰. For the sake of brevity, we shall refer to the Five as the Dragon Pillars. (and in case there are questions – yes, there are Rat Pillars, Snake Pillars, Goat Pillars etc. I’m just not talking about them here)
Broadly speaking there is some basis in which to justify the Dragon Pillars as being superior slightly to the other Animal Pillars – in each of the Dragon Pillars (the exception being Geng Chen), the Stem element is rooted (Ren in Gui in Ren Chen, Jia in Yi in Jia Chen, Wu in Wu in Wu Chen), denoting a superior quality element and/or the pictoral image is a beautiful one (as in the case of Bing Chen), again, denoting a measure of natural energy harmony. The series of images below demonstrate why 甲 辰， 壬 辰，戊 辰，丙辰 are considered pictorally superior.
Bing Chen - Sun rising over the mountains
Wu Chen - Lush Verdant Mountain
Jia Chen - Tree on Hill
Ren Chen - Water on the Mountain Top
On the basis of the superiority of the pillar by way of either rooting of the element or the pictoral beauty, it *CAN* be argued that Dragon Pillars are better because 4 out of 5 of them are actually ‘good’ pillars when compared to the other pillar groups. Accordingly in a sense, Dragon years ARE superior (excepting Geng Chen, which is the worst and weakest of the Dragon Pillars). Dragon Pillars have a higher number of ‘good pillars’ and most of these pillars can be said to be quite formidable – Ren Chen for example, is Ren controlled by its own 7 Killings Star, Jia Chen is Jia seated on Resource and supported by Companion, Wu Chen is a solid clump of rock, which is what Wu should be and finally, Bing Chen is Bing seated on Eating God, Resource and Direct Officer. Each of these involves positive stars to some degree.
But it is important to understand what is the point of having a good year pillar in order to appreciate the REAL value of a Dragon Baby. The year pillar covers approximately the first 17.5 years of a person’s life (assuming an average lifespan of 70 years). As such, having a Dragon Pillar in your year is strongly suggestive (outcomes vary of course depending on what is in the month) of a good childhood and teens. This is broadly considered important since psychologically, the formative years of a person’s life are critical to some degree to informing their future outlook.
But more relevant from a BaZi standpoint, a good Year Pillar affords strong protection against unfavourable Annual Luck Pillars. Having a good Year Pillar is like wearing a bulletproof vest – you still might get shot but at least something is taking the bulk of the blow for you. So having a Dragon Pillar in your Year does afford some perks (again, assuming it is not Geng Chen).
That being said, people often forget that Ren Chen and Geng Chen are part of the Fui Kong group of Stars and Wu Chen is considered ‘slightly’ Fui Kong ish as well. Fui Kong means hardship, a tough life but also loneliness and solitude. So, 2012 babies are going to have a tough time growing up and is it any surprise given that there is HUGE pressure on moms to have a Dragon baby in 2012? Your 2012 baby is in for a competitive life and probably a hard childhood and adolescence competing for places in school and coping with massive classes, not to mention having to life up to this absurd mantra of being ‘the greatest’ by virtue of some quirk of biology (or fertility treatment as it were).
By extension of classical BaZi theory, only certain stars should appear in the Year Pillar in order for the BaZi to truly qualify as having a good start – usually either Direct Resource or Direct Officer – you can have Direct Wealth as well but that might suggest a crass or in the best case scenario, working class made good background. So, this means that unless you get a Yi Wood Day Master OR a Ding Fire Day Master in 2012, the ‘benefits’ of the 2012 Water Dragon are questionable at best by way of giving junior the best possible start in life by way of astrological manipulation. And if you get a Gui Day Master in 2012, then your kid really hits the BaZi tough luck lottery – he/she starting out life with a HUGE competitive disadvantage since he/she will now have Ren Chen (a very FORMIDABLE pillar) as their competition in life AND for life.
I wonder who still wants that Dragon baby now.
With all the frenzy that is swirling around the Dragon, the 2013 Snake is somewhat overlooked. Gui Si is actually NOT a bad pillar at all (certainly preferable to the year after which is Jia Wu) and doesn’t come with all the attendant inconveniences of the ‘Dragon’ frenzy. Those in the know of course will be aware of this and so will not compete with the rest of the masses chasing after a Dragon that may not have a pearl.