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An introduction to
Chinese Astrology
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2. — How Chinese astrology works
In the last analysis, Chinese astrology is nothing else than an enormous catalog of the innumerable circumstances which result from the intricate interplay between Yang and Yin as well as between the Five Elements, and are translated into the human sphere. Each moment of a person's life is believed to correspond to a definite state of this interplay.
To pinpoint definite states of the cosmic interplay in people's lives, Chinese astrology makes use of two principal tools — the Chinese twelve-year zodiac (or cycle), and the Chinese stars.
The Chinese twelve-year zodiac
As has been said, the duodecimal zodiac is composed of twelve Chinese years. Each of these years is placed under the jurisdiction of a symbolic animal.
All people of the same sex born under the same animal symbol — in the same Chinese year — are believed to undergo the influence of the same set of Yang-Yin interactions and, consequently, to have the same destiny capital; this means they are assumed to be endowed with about the same character traits, the same assets and liabilities, the same potentialities and limitations, the same strengths and weaknesses, the same opportunities and problems, the same preferences and aversions, the same health privileges and pathological predispositions, the same reaction patterns and emotional makeup, and so on. To put it differently, they are assumed to fit in with the same general mold. To know the Chinese birth year of a person, therefore, means to have access to knowing the main features of his (or her) personality and destiny.
On the other hand, each Chinese year in the duodecimal cycle is supposed to bring about a definite course of events in the world's affairs, and also to exercise a different influence on people born under different animal symbols.
The influence of the Elements, although important, is secondary to that of the Yang-Yin interplay. It brings some precision to the character portraits symbolized by the animals. The role of the Elements in Chinese astrology is somewhat similar to that of the Ascendants in Western astrology. Thus, while all Horses possess the same set of primary destiny features, a Fire Horse differs slightly from his brother Metal Horse, and the latter's traits are not quite similar to those of a Water Horse, and so on.
The Chinese stars
One hundred and eleven stars (or planets) are used in Chinese astrology. Only ten of these stars are known to Western astrology — Jupiter, Mars, Moon, Mercury, Neptune, Pluto, Saturn, Sun, Uranus, and Venus. The other hundred and one stars are celestial bodies or constellations whose nature had been studied by the Chinese for thousands of years.
Unlike what happens in Western astrology, the Chinese stars are not believed to exercise direct influence on people and the world, but are used only as symbols of various sets of cosmic interactions — just as the twelve animals represent other sets.
The combination of the twelve-year zodiac and the 111 stars gives us a total of 512,640 personality charts. This means that, out of more than a million persons, only two individuals would fit in with about the same description! These two individuals may, furthermore, be somewhat different from each other due to their respective social and geographical environment as well as to other factors.
On the other hand, the combination of the twelve-year zodiac and the 111 stars allows the astrologer to know probable past and future events in his consultant's life, and also to advise him on how to favorably modify the course of his destiny.
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