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2003,
THE YEAR OF THE GOAT The Chinese calendar, commonly known as the Farmers
calendar, or the Hsia calendar, is a fascinating system, which not
only records the passage of time, but is also a tool for
fortune-telling. The famous traditional fortune-telling system – the
Four Pillars of Destiny – is exactly referring to reading a
person’s destiny from his birth data as presented in the Hsia
calendar format. The unique feature of such calendar is that all
information about time – year, month, day and hour are presented in
terms of the five basic elements – metal, water, wood, fire, and
earth, which are believed to be the basic components of everything in
the Universe. The Year of the Goat, 2003, in the Hsia calendar, is
symbolized by two elements – with water sitting on top of earth.
According to the cycle of birth and destruction, which governs the
inter-relationship between elements, earth will destroy water.
Therefore, water sitting on its destroyer – earth, is a symbol of
disharmony and this may lead to international conflicts. In my last
year’s prediction, I also forecast a year of international conflict
in 2002, a year of water sitting on fire. This prediction is quite
accurate, as soon as we got into the year of Horse, President Bush had
taken a hawkish attitude in foreign relationship and declared North
Korea, Iraq and Iran as the axis of evil. There had been serious
conflict between Israel and Palestine, disharmony between Pakistan and
India …etc. As such, the conflict between water and fire in 2002 had
brought serious consequences. However, I am a little optimistic about
2003. The water fire is a pair of elements seriously in conflict. In
2002, the water is yang water, powerful water of the ocean. But the
fire is not weak as it is in the Earthly Branch – symbolizing the
foundation. So the fire can resist the water and fight back. But in
2003, the water is yin , the very weak small drop of morning dew
water. This water cannot resist the powerful earth at the Earthly
Branches. So I do not expect 2003 will bring a large-scale war. The
nature of yin water is humble, tolerate, patient and accommodating. So
there will be disharmony, but the situation is generally under
control, and world leaders will be more patient to negotiate peach
settlements on various important issues. According to feng shui flying
stars, the bad star 5 Yellow will be present in the Southeast in 2003. As such, tension areas are China and Taiwan, South east
Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, or even South East Coast of USA. The Chinese calendar year goes on 60-year cycle. This
means that we had experienced the same year of yin water on earth in
1943 when the world is deep in trouble at war. However, the tide began
to turn as Hitler began to suffer defeat in several battlefields,
leading to the Allies counter attack on D –day in 1944. 2003, sixty
years after, the same pair of elements water on earth may not bring
such serous trouble, and we should see improvement in world peace
compared against 2002, but conflicts and skirmishes here and there
will be inevitable. The Goat – in the system of Four Pillars of Destiny,
is the strongest earth element appearing in summer and supported by
summer fire, according to our experience, is the driving force behind
economic activities. This earth is dry without water content. So the
water standing on top of such dry earth will be extremely weak. As
such, we expect this year will experience dry weather, and drought in
many areas will occur. In the Chinese Almanac, there is a “Mother
Earth’s Poem” for each year and for the year of Yin water goat, it
says “ There will be poverty and one hundred family has to share one
water well”. It also follows that fire disasters will be more
frequent. Furthermore, a year of strong earth usually brings earth
disasters such as serious earthquakes, landslides and collapse of
buildings. Dry earth could also mean desert. As such, more events may
occur in desert area. Take for example, the “Desert Storm” of the
Gulf War in 1991, happened to be a year of the goat also. The elements appearing in each year in the Chinese
calendar is a signal revealing areas that we should pay attention
during the year. With the strong appearance of earth in 2003, it is a
warning that there could be problem in earth area. Besides natural
disasters like earthquake and drought, we can project that troubles
may also emerge in area of agriculture, forestry area, as the Goat is
also considered as “Grave of wood”. In 2002 the strong fire brought about some recovery in
the US and Asian economy. In 2003, the goat is continuation of a fire
cycle so international economy will continue to improve and stabilize. The five basic elements also represent different parts
of our body, water is the kidney, and earth is the stomach, muscles
and cells. As earth is very strong this year, it means it will easily
trigger diseases related to the cells, which means cancer . It will
not be surprising that more celebrities or famous people suffer from
cancer in the year of the goat. As the water is weak this year, it
could symbolize sickness related to kidney as well. As such, it is
good to include more fresh fruit and vegetables in ones diet this
year. The yin water this year is in clash against yin fire, which is a
symbol of heart, nerve system of blood circulation. Therefore, the
other area to be careful will be sicknesses related to heart, blood
circulation and nerve system, and mental problem. It will not be
surprising that cases of psycho killer and suicide will be on the rise
in the year of the goat. Regarding the economy, the year of the Horse brings
strong fire element, which is the driving force behind the old
economy. This is particularly important for Asia, as the economic
powers in South East Asia are close to the equator – in an area of
fire element. The
1997 Asian currency crisis was actually brought to Asia by the demise
of fire element. In 2003, the goat - being the last stage of the fire
cycle, will continue to give momentum for economic activities and the
stock market in the first half of the year. However, as this is the
last fire year in the current cycle, the fire element will demise and
give way to metal monkey in 2004. Therefore, a more serious setback in
stock market may occur when autumn arrives in August. With respect to the new hi-tech economy, as represented by the NASDAQ, I
have postulated that this industry is mainly represented by metal
element. So I have accurately predicted that the NASDAQ will fall
during metal months of 2000, a year of strong metal, and will also not
do well in 2001, a year when metal showed up again. This was true in
August 2001 when the metal month brought a drastic fall in NASDAQ. In
2003, the water element symbolizes the creativity and output of the
metal industry. This is positive. But the earth underneath will
support more metal; this will bring more competitors into the hi-tech
industry to erode the money profit. However, the optimistic view is
that the Goat –even though it is a strong earth element, is
considered as “storage of wood “ and wood is the money to metal
industry. As such, I am more optimistic about hi-tech industry this
year. I will expect there could be a mini boom in this sector in the
first half of the year. However, one has to be careful about the stock
market setback anticipated by autumn of 2003. As the months of August,
September, and October are very strong in metal and earth this year, I
anticipate the hi-tech industry will be leading the nosedive in this
year down turn. In summary, the industries that will perform well in the year of the
Goat will be industry related to wood, earth and fire elements –
Wood industries include fashion, retail, textile, paper, publication,
agriculture, food. Earth industries including property, insurance,
mining, and chemicals. Fire industries are energy, electricity and
entertainment. On the other hand, industries related to water element
– such as transport, travel, shipping, communication, bars, drinks,
spa….. may not do well this year, as both fire and wood, symbolizing
money and productivity to the water industry are missing. Metal
industry such as engineering, heavy machinery, computer, and banking.
is better off in the first half of the year but may suffer set back in
the second half. In general, the yin water goat is symbol of patience, Torrance,
accommodating and acceptance. So it will be a year good for peace
settlement, compromising, resolving differences, and come to terms
with reality. There will be conflict and disharmony in international
relationship but there are good chances of peaceful settlement. The
animal sign, which are not so favorable, is the Ox, which is into a
year of clash against the Goat. Such clash usually bring about
movements. So people born in the year of the Ox will anticipate more
changes and moves this year, such as traveling, moving house, changing
job…etc. It is necessary to carry a pendant of Horse as protection
to attract the Goat away. For the Ox people, it is also recommended
not to travel so much directly to the Southwest especially in the
month of July, as southwest is the position of the Grand Duke of the
Goat year. The other animal sign under negative influences is the Goat, which is
offending the year. Also the Dog is having a penalty relationship with
the year. Penalty is related to hidden danger, hidden sickness. So
people born in year of Dog, Ox, or Goat should also be careful of
their health this year, as excessive earth element may bring stomach
problem, and even cancer if it gets more serious. Also it is not
advisable for people having too much earth elements, Dog, Ox or Goat
to travel to desert area, or to travel to mountainous area, to avoid
any danger related to the earth element. The better animals signs in the year of the Goat are the Horse, the Pig,
and the Rabbit, as they are in combine relationship with the Goat, so
will be into a more harmonious year. There is some good news for
people born in the year of the Rat, they will be into a year favorable
for romance. However, such animal astrology is not totally reliable as
the system is not recognized as formal kind of fortune-telling. It
requires more information than just the birth year to determine a
person’ s luck.
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