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 Chinese Zodiac - Year of the Dragon

While the astrology and horoscopes of the west look at the time of a person's birth in any given year, Chinese astrology places significance on the year itself. The Chinese zodiac is a 60 year cycle, containing five sub-cycles of twelve years, in which each consecutive year has its own animal symbol and horoscope.

Year of the Dragon

February 10, 2024 - January 28, 2025

Chinese Zodiac - Year of the Dragon
While the gentler Year of the Rabbit was a soothing tonic after the more challenging Years of the Ox and Tiger, we are ready to come out of convalescence and start living life again. For the Dragon, it is not just about being but about really living and from 10th February 2024 right through to 29th January 2025, this is what we will have a chance to do.

The Dragon also encompasses the concept of generosity and especially generosity to others, though what goes around will often come around. One myth that personifies this, is the myth that explains why the Dragon is the fifth of the 12 Animals in the Chinese Zodiac and not the first. In the Great Race that determined the placement of the animals, racing across the heavens it was almost guaranteed that the Dragon would get there first.

However, as the Dragon was flying through the skies, he noticed that people were suffering because of a drought, which meant their crops were failing. Instead of flying on the Dragon stopped and took the time to make rain in order to save the crops. By doing so the Dragon was late and arrived fifth in the Great Race instead of first. However, for the Dragon it was never about winning and more about the journey, the people he could help on the way and the experience and that is the way to approach the Year of the Dragon in your own life.

The Dragon is about enriching your life and that doesn’t necessarily mean with riches themselves, but from the richness of life. However, as the Dragon is spontaneous and passionate, there could be times when you get frustrated or impatient if the things you want aren’t happening quickly enough. In which case, remember that you have until 29th January 2025 to embrace all that the Year of the Dragon has to offer.

At the same time, not all Dragon years are the same and this year, we have the Year of the Wood Dragon. Wood, combined with the Dragon’s influence makes this a good year for formulating and implementing ideas, new concepts and for working in collaboration with others.

The Wood Dragon is curious and wants to explore concepts, understand how things work and explore theories. This might be a year when we start to hear of a lot more discoveries in the world of medicine, science, or archaeology or where our own journey of discovery might take us. The Wood Dragon is also more diplomatic, more willing to take the middle ground or let others take the glory. This is the less self-centred of all Dragon years and a year where real success comes from when we all win.

 About Chinese Astrology

In each of its years, the animals of the Chinese zodiac have an association with one of the five elements of metal, water, wood, fire or earth. Once they have all gone through these five elements, the 60 year cycle is complete, and starts again. The elements also affect the individuals born in their years. But their basic personality traits of the animals remain the same. Here is a run down of the twelve zodiac animals and their characteristics.

From all this, you can see that Chinese Zodiac is not a predictive art as it is for western practitioners. Instead it is an art that is interpretive and philosophical. It is perhaps a way to help us understand ourselves, our partners, and all the other people in both our work and social lives.

Western Astrology is very different from Chinese astrology. Chinese Zodiac is arguably the most developed and the most followed branch of astrology in the world. The portion of Chinese astrology that the Western world is most familiar with is the Chinese Horoscopes.

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