Chinese
New Year 2006 - Year of Fire Dog
Welcome
to the Chinese year of the Dog.
Chinese New Year is the main holiday
of the year for more than one quarter
of the world's population and the Chinese
New Year commences each year
in February, according to our Western,
Gregorian calendar. Using their
traditional Solar calendar, the
Chinese start a year on the 4th
February, which begins the new zodiac
animal cycle. Notwithstanding, the New
Moon day of 30th January 2006
(Australian and Asian time) is the
official Lunar New Year celebration,
when the dragons and fireworks come
out into the streets. This occurs on
the 29th of January in Europe and USA,
due to timezone differences.
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2005 was
the year of the Wood Rooster and it's been
quite a rollercoaster year. Now in the cycle
of twelve animals comes the faithful Dog. The
Dog in Chinese astrology expresses
its principle qualities of loyalty,
faithfulness and unselfishness. The Dog is
active and honest and is appreciated by his
superiors and those under him due to giving
priority to the collective interests of all
rather than his own. His best role is as a
prophet of future events and he barks to
draw attention to the events of the day as
well as to the injustices of the world. He
does look to how wrongs can be corrected.
He's forever on guard to look after his
property and so anxiousness is a
characteristic of his personality. Money is
important for his family and so he will earn
it to support them; however, he thinks of it
as mere 'paper'. He delights in anything to
do with the occult, the mysterious, the
bizarre and the unusual so he yearns to
investigate these things in his life.
Click
here to read how the Year of the Fire Dog
affects you!
Wild
and Romantic
The
Dog's favourite places are wild,
romantic landscapes and the remote regions
of the world. He feels at home in the wilds
of Tibet or Mongolia, the windswept islands
of Scotland and the jungles of the Amazon.
For this reason he is an explorer, but he
also prefers the comforts of peaceful
evenings by the fire where it's far from the
business of the everyday world. As a
profession he is suited to be a manager or
head of companies, but he cares very much
about the quality of the work environment.
He can be a priest, nun, missionary,
teacher, nurse, magistrate, judge, lawyer,
doctor, scientist, researcher or preacher.
More than any other animal of the zodiac,
the Dog is always asking itself, "What
am I doing here on earth and what is my
purpose in it all?"
A special feature of the Dog-born person is
that he or she is the one who sits at the
gates awaiting nightfall, wherein the Dog
will prowl and keep watch. He is a faithful
watchdog and is the guide and guardian in
the underground invisible worlds and thus,
lying at the gates of the underworld, is a
figure of the subterranean world of life and
death and is symbol of initiation into the
rites of death and rebirth. He pleads
mankind's cause with the gods and especially
brings questions for us all about our life
purpose. Cerebus, of Greek mythology, was
the dog who lay at the cave entrance by the
River Styx, the river that souls crossed in
their passage from life to death, guarding
the Gates of Hell and Pluto's underworld. In
the Egyptian Book of the Dead it was the dog
who guided souls on their journeys into the
next world. This year then, will bring a
certain edge to us questioning why we are
all here.
What
will make the Dog year a special one and
what will be the qualities of the coming
year?
This
Year of the Dog is composed of two elements,
as is normal in the Chinese zodiac. Each
animal has its own element· The Dog is an
animal ruled by Earth. The yearly quality
moves through the Chinese Five Elements
every ten years, so this year is a Fire Dog
year. It's Fire burning on top with the
Earth underneath. The last time we had a
Fire and Earth Dog year was 1946 at the end
of World War Two, the first year of peace
and recovery. The United Nations General
Assembly had its first meeting in London in
1946 and elected its Secretary General. The
verdicts of the Nuremberg Trials were first
handed down and many Nazi war criminals
condemned to death. Leaders of many world
governments stepped down as the war ended
and new leaders took their place· France,
Argentina, Italy, Albania, Hungary, Japan,
Sarawak and Czechoslovakia all experienced
changes in leadership and status.
In the arts, the first Cannes Film
Festival in France was held and the
Emmy awards for film were founded in 1946.
Buckminster Fuller designed the first
Dymaxion House. Picasso founded his pottery
works in Vallauris, France. Irving Berlin
staged the musical comedy 'Annie Get Your
Gun' in New York.
In the scientific fields, the Atomic Energy
Commission was formed. The US Navy tested
the first atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll.
Pilotless missiles were first tested and
constructed en masse. Admiral Byrd took his
famous expedition to the South Pole. Sun
spots were found to emit radio waves and the
first electronic brain computer was built in
the USA.
Click
here to read how the Year of the Fire Dog
affects you!
Optimism
and Honesty
With the Fire
sitting on top of Earth, according to the
Chinese cycle of birth and destruction, Fire
will give birth to Earth. This is more a
symbol of support and harmony and may bring
a relatively more peaceful year with less
international conflicts than in the past few
years. Fire sitting on top in 2006
is yang Fire, which is like the Sun. It
symbolises openness, optimism, warmth,
politeness and care. There can, therefore,
be more open and honest peace talks and
settlements, leading to a more harmonious
atmosphere, which has been lacking for many
years.
The earth underneath, in the Dog, has the
symbolism of the Gates of Hell. This carries
spiritual and religious implications for all
of us. The year 2006 will
likely focus on seeking more spiritual
meaning and answers and more people will be
drawn to religious and philosophical
questions and growth.
The Fire Dog is very
socially conscious of rights and wrongs, so
we can expect that this coming year will
bring a strong focus on injustices in the
world, on political policies that are wrong
and the ordinary person will be more
questioning of their leaders and their
leaders' decisions. Issues over the war in
Iraq for example and any possible invasion
of Iran or North Korea will be strongly
contested by public debates; any decisions
that the public perceives are done for the
wrong reasons will bring much debate and
media discussion. Many will throw their
principles on the line for what they see as
truth in international and national
politics. Debates in many countries could be
fierce and accompanied by much barking and
noise as the Dog exerts its strength in the
principles of justice for all.
With Fire over Earth, the earth can be
strengthened, but if it gets out of balance
we'll have the earth erupting, so expect
many great fires, the eruption of volcanoes
(fire in the earth) earthquakes, landslides,
explosions due to earth causes or perhaps to
fossil fuels, and other influences emanating
from the earth that can upset the balance of
the environment. Many environmental issues
could come to a head this year as our
consciousness of the connections between our
economic system and the world's climate
become clearer.
Global Warming
Debates
Expect
great debates about the role of mankind and
our combined impact on the natural world to
reach peaks in 2006. Many people will make
changes in their lifestyles under this
influence to help save the planet. Expect
more environmental shifts in government
policies forced by people pressure. It's to
be expected then that there will be more
cooperation among countries this year, aimed
at setting up an effective system for the
protection of global interests, such as
resolving environmental conflicts, global
warming issues, religious differences and
the prevention of disease. The ongoing
debate about the Kyoto Treaty may be
resolved in 2006.
The Dog character in Chinese is one
of what is called the 'Stars of the Arts'.
This indicates that great academic
achievements are possible this year, as well
as issues around the role of humanity, so
new knowledge about humanity will come to
light. Illumination of mankind will be an
important outcome from this knowledge and we
will all benefit. Discovery of new truths
about ourselves is very possible, especially
related to our past on the earth. Since fire
rules illumination and the earth is our
home, many new truths will surface about the
origins of mankind this year. The much
touted connection between science and
religion (or spirituality) will be made very
clear this year and bring us a revolution in
science and its place in the world. Movies
such as 'What The Bleep...' will be accepted
in the mainstream and more will come forward
to express the same truths.
Click
here to read how the Year of the Fire Dog
affects you!
Famous
Dogs
What
sorts of people have been born in Dog years?
A look at some famous ones will give you
ideas on what to expect this year.
- Sophie Loren was a Dog · she pioneered
independent women's images in film.
- So too was Albert Einstein, who
fundamentally turned science on its head.
- Marconi pioneered radio transmission
- Benjamin Franklin a scientific
experimenter
- Bizert, Gershwin and Debussy wrote amazing
music for their times
- Elvis Presley transformed modern music
- Bridgitte Bardot changed attitudes to
sexuality in cinema and then went on to
champion the cause of animal rights
- Robert Louis Stevenson wrote adventure
literature
- Vladimer Lenin helped to transform Russian
politics and ideology
- Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space
and
- Von Zeppelin gave us the helium balloon as
transport.
Financial Security
Because the
Dog is a bit of a worrier and suffers from
anxiety, it's not a good year to be
over-extended financially. The occurrence of
natural disasters and alterations in the
environmental status quo, brought on by
earth shifts and changes, plus new policies
from governments to reduce the effects of
pollution and mankind's impact on the world,
will transform economies drastically (in
some countries). It's best then, in the Fire
Dog year, not to overextend your credit and
to look after long term planning for
yourself in the future. This revolves around
the state of the world's weather, as well as
long term climate change. Look to longer
term contingency plans for yourself and your
family. What would you do if a New Orleans
style disaster happened to your city? Could
you cope with losing your home and all your
financial assets? Where would you go? Who is
your community that you would turn to for
help? Make plausible plans based around
these types of events. Draw up possible
escape routes from cities or urban areas and
see where your personal support lies amongst
the people you know.
This is not meant to scare you, dear reader,
but to prepare you for all possibilities in
the coming future. The Fire Dog year
is a good one to start where
support for people issues and personal
justice is high and people are looking for
greater purpose in their lives. The
Chinese Year of the Fire Dog is
going to be one where many environmental
problems will come to a head but also a year
where you can see the greater possible
future for yourself and family and to make
sure you know why you are here on earth and
what the true soul purpose is for your
existence. |
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