Hello Everyone!
Today is the Lunar New Year! Happy New Year!
I wrote up this short overview for the year of the Metal Ox, and wanted to share it with all of you. I am hoping to return with more in-depth astrological writings soon! In the meantime, please feel free to follow me on Facebook or Instagram for some of my more spontaneous, off-the-cuff astrological posts :)
Enjoy :)
2021: Year of the Metal Ox
As of today (February 11) we officially cross the threshold from the Yang Metal Rat to the Yin Metal Ox. With the Western charts showing a 6 planet stellium in Aquarius squaring both Mars & Uranus in Taurus, this is not likely to be a calm, uneventful year. However, the Ox does bring with it a sense of firmness, resilience, and strength that might make weathering the changes of this year feel a bit more graceful than the last.
Both the Rat and the Ox have a quality of resourcefulness and resilience. The Rat's native energy is water -- and it therefore relies on its flexibility, cleverness, and intuition to adjust to afflicting forces. The Ox on the other hand is native to the earth element, and relies on its steadiness, literal heaviness, and unperturbed discipline to endure and overcome all obstacles. Those who have Ox prominent in their Chinese astrological nature have an iron will and determination to overcome that allows them to outlast their peers in any area of their interest.
Ox energy encourages us to cultivate the discipline necessary to stay focused towards our long term visions. Everything about 2020 and the coming years is about major overhaul of systemic issues — those of society and our personal lives. There are no more bandaids to the problems that have erupted, and so we are faced with the hard work of changing deeply ingrained patterns and social structures in our lives and in our world. The Metal Ox provides energetic support for us to face these difficulties with strength and motivation, and to maintain faith that our work is ultimately meaningful.
The Metal element (which is the elemental influence for both 2020 & 2021) is an extremely intense phase of energy. It is sharp, conductive, mental, and ordered. Metal element is about purity and clarity — and when impurities are present it can become chaotic. Because the Metal element loves order, it helps us see what we need to cut out (like a knife) and what we need to contain and set boundaries around (like a bowl) in order to restore order. Disordered Metal is like a ball of ungrounded wires — ordered Metal is like a smooth circuit that conducts high amounts of electricity. In my observation, this element is the most extreme in how it operates. Its response to stress tends to go back to how well the base structures are functioning. Metal tends to be inflexible and so it either performs extremely well, or is blowing fuses, with nothing in between. Thus, the reflection of poorly managed structures in our society today is all the more evident to us.
Along with the Western Astrological emphasis in these years on Capricorn (old structures, authorities & powers) and Aquarius (new ideas, visions, technologies, individualism, society as community) energies, the Metal element is presenting an important opportunity for us to take stock of what is happening, and acknowledge how many of our long wrought systems have failed humanity time and again. This gives us the fodder for change, clarity on what needs to be changed — and ultimately a real time experiential encounter with these flaws that will lead us to the “How” of future resolution.
Key words for the Ox are: Endurance, Patience, Resilience, Hard Work, Faith, Good Will, Methodicalness, and Honesty
So after all of the scurrying that the Rat brought about in 2020 in order to adjust to the upheaval, 2021 is a year to slow down, be a bit more reflective, and take our time with all that we are creating. The Ox energy will influence us, also, to be more decisive with our time, actions, and many other issues that arise in our lives. Many of us might feel the sternness brought on by the Ox energy is a welcome shift to assist in dispelling distractions.
I hope that you all have a wonderful 2021 — Wishing you all love, prosperity and peace. :)