It’s that time of the year again when I get asked randomly how ‘next year’ is going to be and everyone is worried because maybe, their year clashes with the Horse or not worried because they are NOT born in the year of the Rat (which clashes with the Horse). First off, I think maybe just a little education is in order.

The Year…Schmyear…

It ALWAYS comes as an absolute shock to laypersons I meet when I tell them that they are born in the Month of the Rat, or the Hour of the Rabbit. It seems most people still (despite the considerable efforts of the English speaking Metaphysical world) think that everything is determined by the year. So let me dispel this myth once and for all.

Yes, the year matters. But ultimately, the ENTIRE CHART matters more.

And guess what, having a Year that clashes with the incoming Grand Duke (which is basically just the metaphysics term for ‘Animal in Charge of the year’) is not necessarily as bad as having a MONTH or DAY that clashes with the incoming Grand Duke. Once again, in this age of the Internet and Google, anyone can find a BaZi calculator online that will compute their BaZi chart for them and accordingly reveal if they have a conflicting animal or not. In the case of 2014, the most obvious conflicting animal is the Rat, which clashes with the Horse.

The pros of course, can tell right off the bat somewhat (for example, anyone born after December 7th in a given year is likely to be born in the month of the Rat, and anyone born between the hours of 12-1am or 11-12am is born in a Rat Hour – all these people will obviously experience a PROBLEM in 2014 – exact nature of problem depends on chart but the point is, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM ON YOUR HANDS).

So please, if someone tells you the Year is good because they are not a Rat, do the rest of us a favour and dispel them of that notion please.

To those who are inclined or remotely interested in knowing if the year holds anything positive or negative for them and are serious about it ( I mean come on, does anyone actually ask their broker JOKINGLY if the stock market is going to be good or bad?), please then bother to at least plot your own BaZi chart before you arrive at the conclusion that it is going to be a good or bad year. For that matter, please don’t bother to decide if the year is good or bad based on one of those 25 dollar astrology books. Any forecast that is based on the Year of Birth alone, without consideration for the ENTIRE CHART or for that matter, the DAY MASTER at least, is …yes, I’m going to say it…

AN UTTERLY USELESS FORECAST that is likely to be

completely unreliable, uninformative and frankly, a waste of time.

First off, if you happen to have a Clash this year, please note that you are not particularly special. This is because EVERY YEAR, there is a Clash involving two of the 12 animals. So if you have a Clash this year, well guess what, someone had a clash last year. This isn’t about whether clashes or good or bad or cause for concern or not. Rather, it is to make the point that such things are not uncommon or somehow astrologically disastrous.  Secondly, knowing you have a Clash is maybe one quarter of the battle at best – figuring out how to manage the situation, risk manage the outcomes and just generally be smart about how you deal with the Clash, is what matters more. In fact, it is what really matters. Because Astrology is not a woe is me thing where you bemoan your fate and sacrifice yourself on the altar of OMG. The point of knowing is to do something about it. Otherwise, it’s as good as NOT knowing.

In short: if you have a Clash, that is meaningless if you don’t know what it means (and you can only know what it means if you read your entire chart, or at least, know your Day Master for goodness sakes). Otherwise, it just means ‘Rat clash Horse’. Nothing else. And when you know the meaning, you can DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

Further newsflash: there is something called Destruction, Harm and Punishment that also come into the equation in a given year. Clash is not the only astrological activity going on. These interactions matter if not more than a Clash. So just because you DON’T have a clash, doesn’t mean you have no OTHER interaction going in on your chart.

For the uninformed, this year, the Grand Duke of the year is the Horse (Bazi lingo: Grand Duke basically means, Animal in Charge of the year). Which means any Animal that is against the Horse is fundamentally against the Year. The most obvious enemy of the state is the Rat 子, which clashes with the Horse 午 but there is also Harm which involves the Ox 丑, Destruction involving the  Rabbit 卯) or Self Punishment from the Horse 午.

So those who think they have no Rat in the year (or month or day or hour) may not necessarily get off lightly. If you have a Horse, Ox or Rabbit anywhere in your chart, you will still experience some challenges in the year of the Horse (exact nature of course, depending on your Day Master, and more broadly, your chart)

The Day Masters

If you cannot be arsed for some reason to find a BaZi calculator that plots your entire chart (and there really is no excuse for that), please at the very least, bother to find out your Day Master so that you will at least be able to have some semblance of a half decent shot at a astrological reading of some value.

Shameless promotional link: I have a simple Day Master calculator that will run on iPhones. It is only 99 cents. Download it here.

Using your Day Master to get an astrological forecast is going to be infinitely more accurate than some random prediction based on your year of birth but it will not be as accurate as a full blown annual assessment.  It’s free right – you can’t expect the same level of accuracy. But, it’s going to be more informative and precise than ANY Animal based astrological forecast without a doubt.

Next: The outlook for the 10 Day Masters.