Year of the Yin Wood Rooster: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | The Imperial Astrologer

Malvin Artley has been a practising astrologer for the past 10 years. He is an accredited member of the American Federation of Astrologers.
Malvin is the author of Bodies of Fire: An Exploration of the Lesser Chakra System. He has authored numerous articles and was a member of the faculty of the University of the Seven Rays, a non-profit organization dedicated to the teaching of the Trans-Himalayan tradition as expressed through the books of Alice Bailey, Helena Blavatsky and others.
His primary focus over the past 25 years has been on the sciences as they express occultism and with bridging work between the two. His special interests are the human subtle energy system and all the chakras, or energy centres, physics and technology, astronomy and all aspects of Chinese occultism. He has done extensive work with Chinese astrology and the cycles they use and seeks to synthesize the great Western and Oriental systems on such matters.
Malvin lives in Adelaide, South Australia. He also works in the engineering trades and sends out periodic emails about astrological happenings and developments. Click here to subscribe to Malvin's periodic letters.

Chinese New Year 2005
The Rooster Crows at Noon

Malvin Artley, our regular esoteric commentator, is as accomplished in the mysteries of Chinese Astrology as he is in the esoteric secrets of the West. In this new article (delayed somewhat by a major computer meltdown), Malvin discusses the meanings of the Chinese Year of the Rooster in 2005. The Chinese New Lunar Year began on February 9, 2005, in association with the New Moon in Aquarius, but the effects for all of us cover the whole of the twelve months ahead.

Happy New Year, my Friends!

Life is full of surprises at times—and sometimes we get some good ones. I went along to a birthday celebration for one of my Aquarian friends last weekend—at least, that is what I thought I was attending. The evening was going along well and it was a good gathering with some of my closest friends here in Adelaide. It was your traditional summer party with the barbie, beer, South Australian wine—all the Aussie trimmings—and a fire going in the wheelbarrow (Well, it has been a bit cold here for February.)—and then there was the surprise.

Since I had just been made a dinkum Aussie the week before (been neutralized, as I had it described to me), my friends had all conspired without my knowing and decided to make my new citizenship truly official. I got put in a chair center stage, was presented with all sorts of Aussie icons and memorabilia, had to listen to tributes from each of them as I was made to generally feel both embarrassingly uncomfortable and truly blessed to have such great friends. It was an evening I will not soon forget! Now I have to figure out what to do with all this strange stuff—some of which I will never use (Anyone want a jar of Vegemite?). Of course, I know the real reason for the surprise was to take the heat off the birthday gal. Folks with Leo rising, as she has, don't really go in for those sorts of things, you know? (You're not fooling anyone, guys!) But, if this was to be an indicator for the coming lunar year, then it should be a very good year, indeed. It was certainly a great way to start the Western year!

At A Crossroads

The solar year for 2005 has already commenced and we find ourselves at crossroads in so many areas of life. We have a new US administration installed now. The Tecumseh curse is upon us and we wait with bated breath to see if the president will finish his term. Uncertainty with financial markets increases daily. There have been some major earth changes since the holiday season with the tsunami in the Pacific, hundreds of unreported earthquakes and more and more volcanoes becoming active. The weather patterns over the past few years continue to be unsettled, and people seem to have less and less time with more and more heaped upon them. Will it ever stop? Will there be a respite in the lead-up to the much-awaited epochal change of 2012 as marked in the Mayan calendar?

Well, the Chinese New Year always offers a change of pace to us Westerners. We always tend to see it as a quaint sort of celebration, complete with dancing dragons, colorful displays, great food and fireworks shows. In reality, though, the chart for the lunar New Year shows a lot about the subjective state of affairs for humanity and the world in general, and it is no less accurate than Western methods of prognostication. So, instead of a Western-style monthly forecast this year, I thought it would be better to see what is in store for us this lunar year of 2005 and to give us a peek at a virtually unknown (to the West), but no less effective, side of the grand Art of astrology.

This lunar New Year started on the 9th of this month at 7:29 AM China Coast Time (CCT). As many people already know, this is to be the Year of the Rooster, the "Rooster Crowing at Noon". Every year we hear what the Chinese year is supposed to be, yet we take little notice of it. The Chinese have a system of 12 animal signs, in a similar manner to our 12 western zodiacal signs. But, that is where the similarity ends. The Chinese signs do not equate in any great degree with the Western zodiac, nor do they correspond to any Western constellations, either. Their system is actually a numerological system, of which I will not go into the mechanics here. Suffice it to say that the cycle of the 12 “animals” is actually a veil and popularization of a deeper, more esoteric system of divination, and that the cycle of 12 is only one of many such cycles that the Chinese use.

What we hear about with the animal sign for the year is actually a denominator of a particular phase of the Chinese Great Year of 12 years. It is a cycle related to Jupiter and the particular phase of their year in which we now find ourselves is the 10th one—one that is called “Yu”. What follows is excerpts from the tutorial of the upcoming Chinese astrology program my friends at Esoteric Technologies and I have been developing. This is a deeper exposition of the phase of the Great Year this year represents. It should give more a lot more detail than what we normally get from the “parlor table” Chinese astrology and show a bit more of what Chinese astrology is really all about:

“BRANCH X: YU The tenth branch is the phase of cessation of outer activity. The work has been done and it is time to retire from further labors. It is a Yin phase and has the conjectural name of “Liquor”, suggesting a time of refreshment. In the hour pillar this is the 10th double-hour of 5-7 PM. It is the time of sunset, when the Sun casts its final glorious rays into the clouds and gives a final burst of its resplendence before fading into the night. It is a time of reflection over the day's labors and a time of relaxation and enjoyment after a hard day's work. In the day pillar this marks the 10th segment of the month, encompassing 3 days and the 19th, 18th and 17th Xiu (Lunar Mansions)-the “Net”, the “Pleiades” and the “Stomach”, resp. The day constellations are the Crow, Cock [Rooster] and Pheasant, resp., and it is generally considered to be lucky. In both the Month and the Year Pillars it is known by the animal sign of the Rooster. In the month pillar it marks the 10th lunar month of the year and is the time of year when the fields are plowed under. The harvest is complete and the crops are stored away. It includes the autumnal equinox. In the year pillar it describes the 10th segment of the Great Year, known as “Danger; controlling the Tail of Tou (the Great Bear)” This is when the Year Star (Jupiter) goes past the tail of the Great Bear. In human terms, it is the time of birth—the sunset of the Soul and its final bondage in matter. On the outer planes it is a time of welcoming the new life, of celebration (“Liquor”), and is also a time of greatest danger for the mother and the newborn-both in animal and human life. Along with the 9th Branch it shows the full artistry of the creative process, because all is now complete and can be shown in fullness. There is nothing left to do now other to than to enjoy the fruits of one's labors. Branches 9 and 10 [Monkey and Rooster] define the House of Artistry.”
From The Imperial Astrologer, text by Malvin Artley

As you can see, you don't get this sort of information from popular books on Chinese astrology. Just as with the astrology we know from Western books, this system has its orthodox interpretations which are the ones everyone hears, and an esoteric counterpart such as this excerpt, defining the real nuts and bolts of the system. Reference is made in the preceding excerpt to 4 separate Pillars in which the Rooster can appear. These are the Hour/Day/Month and Year Pillars. It is the Year Pillar after which the year takes its name.

Read part two of The Year of the Rooster, where Malvin continues his discussion in the light of the Four Pillars, the combined element of Water, Rains and Springs and other little known, revealing secrets of Chinese Astrology.

Malvin Artley is an accredited member of the American Federation of Astrologers. His primary focus over the past 25 years has been on the sciences as they express occultism and with bridging work between the two. His special interests in those fields are the human subtle energy system and all the chakras, or energy centres, physics and technology, astronomy and all aspects of Chinese occultism.
He sends out periodic emails about astrological happenings and developments. These email messages are sent as a gift and a sharing. They are sent to people of many persuasions, not just astrologers. Blessings. Click here to subscribe to Malvin's periodic letters.

Year of the Yin Wood Rooster: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | The Imperial Astrologer

Chinese New Year 2005The Rooster Crows at Noon

At A Crossroads

Chinese New Year 2005
The Rooster Crows at Noon