This new year forecast is based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar. Last year was the year of the Rat and on February 12th, 2021, we will enter the year of the Yin Metal Ox. In Chinese astrology, the Rat and Ox make a perfect yin-yang pair. What the Rat starts, the Ox finishes. Like a bull in the ring, this year will command us to summon our grit and stamina - to dig our heels deeper into the historic challenges exposed by 2020.
Last year was also ruled by Yang Metal, represented by the sword of justice penetrating our reality and the closing of metal gates enforcing limitations. This year we are engaging in Yin Metal’s theme of refinement. Yin Metal is symbolized by refined metal like jewelry and wire, which are pliable and flexible. It will require us to contend with truth’s more mutable and subtle nature. In our current reality wars, the battle for truth has never been so elusive. What we are asked to refine and let go of this year is our desire to know, and our conviction that we are right.
We are living in a “post-truth” era of media consumption that has left us exhausted and frustrated. It has become increasingly difficult to talk to people you disagree with, as well as to identify sources of trustworthy information. We are living in an infodemic - there is so much information that it is futile to keep up, and near impossible to know what information to believe.
The way to deal with this climate is not to expect easy answers, but to develop a working relationship to the unknown. Life is filled with the unresolved and incomplete. The Yin Metal Ox year will be full of events that will leave you feeling more unsatisfied, not less. Be wary of the ways your desire for closure is being taken advantage of. This is the type of false security that conspiracy theories, propaganda, cults and fringe religions offer by exploiting your inability to cope with the unresolved.
What does the incomplete leave us with? The creative mystery of potential. In Chinese astrology, the Ox rules the life stage of pregnancy, representing nurturing and hidden work. The embryo is incomplete - it has much to develop and grow before it is ready to manifest. This year is about nourishing the smallest possible thing, the seed of creation that is barely visible, but is the precise emergent point that heralds change.
Rather than feeding your need to know what will happen next, meditate on the idea that not knowing is a form of protection. This time is like a shell or womb, a protective covering that will be broken through only when the time is right. To emerge too early before the fetus is ready would be catastrophic. Those living in the protection of the womb are not hiding in ignorance, but becoming attuned to an inner awakening, a blossoming of unknowable potential.
We are engaging in a new model for change. The patriarchy-colonialism paradigm of change has been implemented through sudden insurrection and revolution, often turbulent and violent. What would be truly revolutionary is to invite transformation through the power of yin - a slow, stabilizing, inclusive and integrated process that is focused on development, not on a hasty outcome. This type of change is akin to pregnancy, which makes space for hidden and mysterious processes. This is change based on earth wisdom and a geologic perspective (the Ox is an earth sign). Like a mountain, what has developed over time cannot easily be taken down.
I am not promoting incrementalism. It is more important than ever to hold ourselves to the highest ideals, to dream bigger and more courageously. If anything, 2020 showed us the capacity for our world to transform beyond what we thought possible. But in order for change to be meaningful and have lasting impact, we must respect the time it takes to put roots down and become established.
We can’t hurry a bud to bloom any more than demand a fetus to be born. We must learn to love the delicate and sometimes tumultuous process as much as the beauty of the fully emerged flower or adult. This is the Daoist concept of wuyu or “objectless desire.” It is not to rid ourselves of desire, but to love things as they are - in process and incomplete. It is a desire predicated on our capacity to allow things to change, and at any moment to let go.
One of the organs that can become stressed this year is the spleen, which is associated with worry. Last year has already conditioned us to think about the future in catastrophic terms. You may now routinely find yourself entering a worry spiral that is characteristic of this time of generalized anxiety. Remember that you can’t eliminate risk from your life. The pandemic has highlighted how much our lives are comprised of unknowns, but we still fail to realize how much our everyday is run on faith. Each time we get into a car, we have faith that the speeding metal contraption does not malfunction and send us careening into the guardrail. Everyday we wake up with faith that the earth’s magnetic field will shield us from solar storms that could result in a geomagnetic apocalypse. The fact is, the fabric of reality is composed of much more uncertainty than certainty. If we lived our life based on fear rather than faith, we could not function.
Psychoanalysts describe two ways of relating to uncertainty as dynamic safety and static safety. Dynamic safety allows for breaches and ruptures in safety, and consequently repairs. Static safety is defined as a flaccid, permanent coziness. Dynamic safety is measured by resiliency - having been stress-tested, this safety develops strength and integrity. Most importantly, in its inclusion of discomfort and risk, dynamic safety makes space for our evolution and nourishes our appetite for adventure. Safety in its “flaccid” form is not the goal for living life. To truly live in these times requires an immense bravery. To truly live means that you allow life to touch you in all of its danger and wonder, suffering and ecstasy.
Rumi, the great Sufi poet said it best: “Many actions which seem cruel are from a deep friendship. Many demolitions are actually renovations.” Whether change is good or bad evolves with our perspective. The greatest change that can happen this year is the transformation of yourself. Make choices that are based on your life changing, not staying the same. Nourish the seeds of transformation growing within you. A life that dances with the unknown is an exciting life. Revel in the mystery and embrace who you are becoming.