Traditional Chinese Astrology System

Traditional Chinese Astrology Lantern

The Traditional Chinese Astrology System

In the traditional Chinese astrology system, it is believed unlucky if the element of the year of your birth coincides with the same element of the same year. Therefore this year if you were born in the Year of the Pig (1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007 or 2019) you could take special precautions such as wearing jade accessories or doing rituals. It is said people should not wear brown, black or red as it is a brown year. Traditionally, they should choose complementary colours such as blues, greens, yellows and white.

I must say I have not found the traditional belief to be accurate. The year of one’s birth when recycling around, has not been at all unlucky for me personally. Quite the opposite in fact, I have experienced liberation and increased good luck in fact. I have always found the year beforehand to be more restrictive. But if you think you need to, you can always employ a remedy such as a ritual to diffuse bad luck.

Chinese Ritual Ideas

Ritual Ideas

Some people still believe that offering sacrifices to the god Tai Sui will avert bad luck, particularly during ‘Ben Nian Ming’ – when the current zodiac animal year is the same animal as that in our year of birth.

My personal belief is that there are no rules – do what you feel drawn to do.

I would sit down and draw up a list in groups of 12 years since the time of your birth and list the main events of what happened to you in that year. As an example, if you were born in 1971, every 12 years your animal will repeat. I would make a list like this:

1971 Year of the Pig – born (list what your first year of life was like – talk to your mum or relatives).

1983 Year of the Pig – went to high school etc.

1995 Year of the Pig – got married and so on… 2007 etc.

All animal signs can do this. Now classify these 12th years as lucky or unlucky. This exercise indicates whether you need to do something extra doing your Ben Nian Ming, your 12th year of the Chinese Zodiac. Personally, I haven’t found the need to take any special precautions or do any special rituals.

Instead of making sacrifices in a traditional sense, we can do personal rituals at an altar (which alters the energy). There are no hard and fast rules about how you structure your ritual, you could set up a shrine or place where you meditate.

  • Follow the cycles of the moon
  • Check out the meanings of Colour Therapy
  • Check the meanings of numbers at our Free Numerology page
  • Get ideas from our Moon Rituals
  • Adopt the best qualities of Pigs this year. Meditate for patience, trust and hope. Be faithful, hardworking and honest. Don’t allow people with negative Pig characteristics to be around you.
  • Spend as much time as possible with pigs (the animal!) You will then better understand the qualities of pigs which will help you to cope with the Pig year.
  • Have a mud bath or a mud facial and reflect on the positive qualities of Pig energy.
chinese horoscope sign tai sui

Ritual with Tai Sui

Some Chinese people also believe it is important to face the correct direction – that is away from the God Tai Sui, this will bring you good luck (if you believe in the concept of luck). In 2019 you should avoid facing northwest, so facing southeast is preferable when you do a personal ritual. You could also design your home and decor around the principles of Feng Shui. I would be more inclined personally to face west when wishing to use the forces of destruction and death to end something. I would face east when wishing to use the forces of creation to birth something in accordance with the death and subsequent birth of the sun every day. Nature gives us life clues if we follow her cycles so use your own intuition.

Position of Tai Sui ‘God of Age’

According to Chinese tradition, face the opposite direction away from Tai Sui when you do your Ritual. These are the directions NOT to face until 2028:

Year 2019 | Pig | Northwest (330 °)

Year 2020 | Rat | North (0 °)

Year 2021 | Ox | Northeast (30 °)

Year 2022 | Tiger | Northeast (60 °)

Year 2023 | Rabbit | East (90 °)

Year 2024 | Dragon | Southeast (120 °)

Year 2025 | Snake | Southeast (150 °)

Year 2026 | Horse | South (180 °)

Year 2027 | Goat | Southwest (210 °)

Year 2028 | Monkey | Southwest (240°)

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