Nourishing Within – Qì of the Yīn Earth Pig – Jĭ Hài 己亥 – Year 2019/4717

道 – Dào/View 

Astrology, 星命家, and Geomancy, 風水, are two premier subjects of the Chinese Traditional Mantic Arts.  Their development in China over the last 2,500 years continues a tradition whose history is incalculable.

Many Traditional Cultures of the world understood cyclical or spiralic Time.  Unlike modern people, who are frantic and plagued by the anxiety of linear time, traditional folk possess a deep calm that lives in their heart of hearts. 

 This deep, abiding calm is a kind of memory that comes from the continuity of Life, a confidence that comes from knowing who you are and where you come from, a relaxation that comes from knowing there is neither a perfect future nor a sullied past.  It comes from the immortal cycles of Life, called birth and death, in the natural world, from generations surviving countless Winters only to witness the renewals of Spring.

It is hard to say what is remembered, so traditional folk call this memory the Ancestors…

All my life, I have been haunted by indescribable memories, too old to be from this life.  These memories do not have form.  A sight, a sound, a smell—the sparkle of light on morning dew, the call of ravens, the scent of wild flowers riding cool mountain air trigger something in me that is beyond the context and confines of my ordinary life.  

When I see humans engaged with the land, with craft, with food, using their hands to know and shape the world around them, I remember; I weep, for I know the continuity of Life.  In dreams, I have seen this continuity and know that I have been dreaming since before I was born.  

This dream, this memory is the temporary, compound condition of our many lifetimes and Ancestors, inherited at birth.  It appears as a “world,” and as a “self,” as our compulsion to do, make effort, reproduce, survive.  This memory, this dream appears in our stories, our intelligence, our wisdom, and in our ignorance, our patterns of pain, our unfinished business.                

The more I remember, the more I am deeply troubled, for the world around me seems to forget more and more each day—this technological culture is, as far as we know, unprecedented.  Yet, we are human, so we continue to tell stories and speak through symbols; our media, our movies, our entertainment all continue the same legacy once shared around the communal fire.

For long have we humans gathered around fires, under open skies, in ceremony and in ritual, to share in the naked experience of our humanity; this is the call of life, the call of the Ancestors.  

Traditional Cultures understood that substance is relative Time.  Nothing is solid; things only appear solid in Time—mountains flow like waves, gold eventually turns to dust.  Time as such is not a straight line but rather a series of spirals that appear to repeat only because they are constantly renewed.  In Chinese Astrology we call this Jiĕ Qì 解氣.  In this sense, humans have no history—we have memory.  We’ve all been here before, yet it feels like the first time…   
   
Jĭ Hài  己亥 – 
Year of the Yīn Earth Pig 

Welcome back to the Year of the Yīn Earth Pig!  As we yet again approach the New Moon of Spring Begins, and the Year of the Earth Dog shakes it tail one last time, we have so much to reflect upon.  The past Year brought many changes, and it will be a long time (decades) before we truly understand the value and consequences of what has passed.     

Before we continue, I encourage you to reflect, briefly, upon the major themes of the Earth Dog—loyalty, trust, safety, boundaries, argument, spite, territory, love, affection, companionship, in/out groups, stubbornness, connection, trauma, anxiety, solitude, privacy, protection, justice, inquiry, fairness, and equity, to name a few.  How have these manifested in your life?  In the world around you?  

Staring February 5th, we “officially” transition into the year of the Yīn Earth Pig, so put on your party hats!  As the 12th, or “last,” Animal in the Zodiac, the Pig is the party at the end!  All your Ancestors have ever wanted is for you to invite the people you love into your home, so you can cook, eat, and make babies—your enjoyment is their immortality!   

As we delve into the richness of the Pig symbol, I invite you to consider the possibility that life can be remarkably simple and that the deepest meaning of everything might be right on the surface.  If you ask a Pig—what is the meaning of life?  If they’re honest, they will probably say, “Food! Sex! Music, Art!”  So, relax.  I know the sky is falling, and we all have monumental ambitions to save the world, which seems to be spinning more out of control every day, but this Year is already inviting us to calm the hell down, eat a snack, get cozy with a loved one, and take a nap—the “future” might actually depend on it.  
    
象 – Symbolism 

First, in order to understand the nature of the Earth Pig, we must examine the Chinese Character for Family, Jià, 家.  The character contains the radical mián, 宀, which means roof, and the radical shĭ, 豕, which means pig/boar, so it’s a pig under a roof, and it is the Chinese word for family or blood relations.  It also means household, home, and domestic, and it is also a term for a lineage, tradition, or school, such as Chánjià, 禪家, or Dàojià 道家 (Buddhist/Daoist).  

The Character Jià, 家, and the symbol of the Pig, are intimately related to the Chinese principal of family, continuity, immortality, and procession, which exemplify the nature of Traditional Culture itself.  The Pig is at the heart of what it means to be Chinese, for "China" was the decision of about 80 cultures to stop being nomads and to farm grain instead.  That meant no more herds,  and since there are no herds of pigs, the pig became their meat of choice.  

There is an expression among Chinese farmers that goes, “we only dig in our Ancestors.”  Meaning the family has been there so long the soil is made of their dead relatives—this is Earth Pig Qì.  This Year will bring forward memories and values so ancient they can’t be named.  This is a year to remember what we are trying to save and to rest so that we can do so.  

Wealth in Chinese culture was often measured by the number of Pigs you owned, for Pigs were and still are a mainstay of the Chinese diet—fatty pork, rice, and cabbage.  Many other ancient traditions outlawed pork, but the Chinese made a different decision, in part because Pigs don’t need to be grazed like cows and sheep.  Everyone in China eats pigs, and as any vegetarian who has traveled in China can attest, it is very common to order a vegetarian meal only to find big hunks of pork in it.  

Of course, this sounds strange from our perspective, but take yourself back to an early agrarian people, transitioning from a nomadic to a domestic relationship with animals.  Within a few generations, the wild boar transformed from a big black hairy tusked beast to a fat pink pig that could give birth to and nurse 60 piglets in a litter—this is the very meaning of family, reproductive essence, and motherhood.  The Pig is therefore the ultimate symbol of nourishment, nurturing, and generosity.  

Furthermore, the Chinese were astounded to find that Pigs ate everything; they are garbage disposals and were sometimes kept under the outhouse.  Yet, their flesh is white, cool, and sweet, with no toxicity, which may not have been the case with the pigs in the Middle East.  Lamb, in contrast, the food of nomads, whom the Chinese were trying to distance themselves from, is very warming, and their marrow is bitter and hot and makes you want to ride into battle.  The cool nature of the Pig, however, makes you want to wallow, to stay in the same place and give up fighting.      

To the Chinese, the value of animals lies in their capacity to transform, and Pigs are the “great transformers,” able to digest anything!  This capacity will be at the heart of the upcoming Year, for Earth is the element of nourishment, inner transformation, and digestion.

In Chinese Medicine, the Pig is associated with the Sān Jiāo, or “Triple Burner,” a mysterious and much debated Organ Network that has no physical reality as such (although many are trying to make it physical to appease materialists).  While the function of the Triple Burner is manifold, we can summarize it as “metabolism,” divided into "upper, middle, and lower;" it is the unseen Qì that governs the processes of transformation, the conversion of our intake to Qì and Blood, and the harmonizing force that allows our Organ Networks to flow and work together as a whole.    

The symbol of the Pig in China came from the wild mother boar, so like many Animals of the Chinese Zodiac, the Pig has a dual image—domestic yet fierce.  The wild mother boar was seen as a god of forest fecundity and a protector of forest spirits, for she is the fiercest of protectors.  Unlike many wild animals, she will die to protect her young.  A mother boar will charge at a tiger three times her size without a second thought.  Pigs, then, carry this element of ferocity despite their Yīn nature.  

Together, the Pig and Dog Years share the theme of protecting that which is most valuable.  The Dog follows orders and is selective, tribal, but the Pig is not; to the Pig everyone is family. As such, Pigs are considered the ultimate protectors, associated with the power and wrath of the feminine—the energy of momma bear, and originally the Pig was related to the Bear in Chinese Cosmology, associated with the Milky Way, the Big Dipper, and the House Constellation of the Northern Palace.  The Pig and Bear are associated with the Daoist Ritual Dance of Thunder Magic called the Pace of Yu, which mirrors the cyclical creation and destruction of the universe.  

In Chinese Astrology, the Pig is the most “domestic” of symbols, exemplifying our most cherished notions of "home."  It shares this quality in a trine with the Rabbit and Goat.  Pigs make family wherever they go.  Of all the signs, the Pig is the most personable; they are “people” persons, and as such, they are the most humanitarian, accepting, and concerned with the welfare of others.  This connection to people, to the home, to reproduction is why the Earth Pig is the most connected to the Chinese teachings on Ancestors, which will be heightened in the coming year.
  
氣 – Qì Dynamic

The “Native Element” of the Pig is Yīn Water—release, sleep, dissolution, death, collapse, return, resolve, completion, “the end,” which in the Chinese View are a cause for celebration, because there is no end!  The nature of Water offers us the possibility of relief, of being finished, to feel accomplished and relax because the work has been done.  However, the Outer Element of the Year is Earth, so the Qì dynamic will manifest the relationship patterns of Earth and Water, which we call controlling/restraining.

This is not a “big” ending like the Water Pig but rather a big procession, a party rolling out the fruits of our labor, a massive banquet of Life to appreciate and digest before renewing our inspirations in the years to come.  This Year will be one of great abundance.  

Many interpret the control cycle as “destructive” or “conflicting,” but this is not always the case, and each controlling dynamic manifests differently.  The outcome of Earth controlling Water is fertility.  Earth sucks up Water and produces new life in the form of “Wood,” which renews the cycle of Time.  Earth can “dam” Water, meaning it can be shaped to control the flow of Water, which has no shape, into the form of rivers, aqueducts, canals, and so on.  As such, the Earth Pig is more controlled and contained than the Water Pig.  Earth harnesses the power of Water, which creates flowers, food, and new life.  If Earth overacts on Water, or if Water is excess or deficient, we get “dampness,” mud, congestion, stickiness, and floods, or dryness, drought, famine, and dust, which we will discuss later.  

For the Pig, Yīn Water represents a strange paradox called extreme Yīn.  This paradox says that when things become extreme, they turn into their opposites.  So, although the nature of the Pig is the most Yīn, the most connected to death and dissolution, they are the most “manifest,” the most embodied of all the signs.  Pigs are deeply sensual; for them, the senses reveal the nature of reality through direct experience, which is found this Year in the controlling Earth phase, where everything is most apparent, most obvious.

Yīn Earth is full manifestation, and Yīn Water is full dissolution.  The Earth Pig, then, is the ultimate paradox and, in a way, offers a deep celebration of life in all its forms, fully expressed on the surface for all to see.  In general, Pigs don’t have a “hidden” nature; they might as well be naked.  Therefore, they are the antithesis of the Snake, who is the most secretive, hidden, mysterious, and ineffable.  Pigs can be very deep, spiritual people, but they’ll tell you all about it.  They’ll share everything about themselves whether you ask or not.      

Pig Qì itself, embodied in human individuals, is this impulse to let go, to release all conceptualization into direct experience through the senses.  In one sense, Yīn Water represents emptiness, but it does so in the Buddhist sense, as in the emptiness of our concepts, not our direct experience.  The experience of Pig Qì, then, is the fullness of life beyond conceptualization, seeking fullness/completion through the senses.  Our senses offer us the most direct experience of life; our body is how we know manifest reality.  

Pigs, then, see and experience everything material, physical, and manifest to the senses as art, as food, as the reason we come into being.  If you were to ask a Pig—why are people born?  They may respond—food!  And this is not shallow.  Perhaps the only reason the universe manifests is so you can enjoy the taste of ice cream.  Losing yourself in the moment is a Pig moment. 

Pig Qì sees the fullness of the manifest world as art, as food, as something to be devoured, savored, and enjoyed.  Pig Qì revels in music, food, dance, clothing, painting, and the sensations they inspire.  Pigs collect material items and derive great power/sustenance from them, for objects are not mere symbols but energy.  Pigs, therefore, are sensuous Characters who make great chefs, artists, musicians, lovers, parents, and nurtures.  

病 – Dampness – 濕 

I know we’re all very concerned with problems, so what can go wrong this year?  The main pathology for this Year, as I mentioned earlier, will come from imbalances of Earth and Water.  Too much Water and we get dampness; not enough and we get dryness.  

First, I want to say that people in Chinese Medicine are often obsessed with pathological thinking, and so any mention of dampness brings up our protestant obsession with murdering the devil, the “evil qi.”  Dampness is not a pathology. Period.  Soil must be damp to grow life.  Our bodies, our lives need dampness and moisture—this is the principal of fertility.  Life requires lubrication! We also need dryness, otherwise we get moldy!  

We obviously don’t want too much or too little of either, and be warned, this may be the juiciest year in 60 years!  So, what will dampness and dryness look like?  In short, think mud.  When Earth and Water become imbalanced, we get stickiness—things get slow, stuck, stagnant, messy, insensitive, stupid, and unresponsive.  We wallow in our crap.  

We want dampness and moisture to move like a cool refreshing wind.  Damp Earth is rich, sensitive, and sweet.  If you have ever held rich fertile soil, you know the feeling.  If fluids don’t move, they build up.  So, without circulation, this Year could get sticky.  Watch out for lethargy, laziness, boredom, depression, tiredness, congestion, and indigestion in all forms.  

You may feel physically and emotionally stuck in life, unable to move forward.  But remember, this is not a year to move forward but one to get all snuggly, rest, and appreciate where you are.  Imagine a happy Pig rolling around in the mud.  They’re not going anywhere, but they’re having a blast getting muddy!  This is the Earth Pig.

When we get too damp, we get dumb.  Nothing goes in.  We get clogged.  Without circulation, we don’t have room for new ideas, and so we replay the same old stories.  Our culture reaches for stimulants for inspiration, but this is like running on fumes.  So, keep things moving, not with “progress” but with enjoyment.  Stimulate and nourish your silly side!  Humor is the key word for circulation this year.

Sorry for the graphic image but think constipation and diarrhea, metaphorically speaking.  What would this look like in culture, relationships, or politics?  Imbalances in Earth and Water lead to bad digestion and elimination.  Too much, not enough, we get problems.  Medically, constipation and diarrhea can be caused by either, so the key for understanding the pathology of this Year is “FOOD.”  What are you taking in in terms of nourishment?  And are you lubricated properly? This includes ideas, entertainment, friendships, sex, causal conversations…everything that goes in the sense doors.  What you take in, and when, determines what comes out the other side! 

形 – Manifestation/Character

What about those born in the Year of the Pig?  The key words for the Pig Character are honesty and enjoyment.  The direct experience of our senses beyond thinking is a kind of honesty.  We all wish we could let ourselves enjoy without guilt, but so many of us feel guilty when we indulge.  We over think, justify, and strategize when it comes to our senses.  We “treat” ourselves for hard work, as if enjoyment must be earned through suffering.  

Pig Qì is enjoyment without the guilt.  If we’re truly honest, we all want to eat, sleep, and screw, and sometimes that’s just fine.  This honesty manifests as plain-speaking, confessing to deep sensual desire, seeking simplicity.  Enjoyment is human honesty.  

Pigs Qì is blunt and to the point, yet it is also caring and compromising, like a grand-mother who wants to see everyone happy.  This grandmother energy of the Pig is associated with the family, and Pig Qì is again the very symbol of family life.  As part of the “domestic trine,” alongside the Goat and Rabbit, Pigs are often homebodies who would rather throw a barbeque and socialize than be alone and meditate.  Pig Qì is gregarious; it enjoys people and relating to others, especially through enjoyment.  So, Pigs are often fun loving and fun seeking.  

Because Pigs want everyone to be happy and enjoy themselves, they are among the most tolerant and accepting of Characters.  Pigs are often very humanitarian, unselfish, and interested in human rights and dignity.  Yīn Water, the end of the cycle, has seen it all and done it all and so accepts everything in totality and just wants to have fun before we all bite the dust.  

This accepting quality of the Pig is a form of generosity.  Pig generosity would give you the shirt off its back.  As the end of the cycle, Pig Qì represents everything being let go of, given away.  If a Pig had only one bowl of soup, they would most likely divide it up and give away spoonfuls so everyone could taste it.  And they really want you to taste it and enjoy it in the same way they do.  

When describing themselves, Pigs may very well describe their favorite food, let’s say strawberries, and in tasting that strawberry, you taste them.  Ming once described a fellow Pig he met travelling who kept a journal of all the deserts he tried in each country; for him, these tastes represented the quintessence of his experience.   

However, this sensuous nature of the Pig is not stupid.  Pig Qì is the height of eloquence, for they experience words, ideas, and symbols too as food and art, and they revel in finding delicious ways to express and say things in the hope of evoking deep feelings.  Liu Ming was like this; he was a gifted speaker, and his talks evoked deep experiential rather than conceptual understanding, as if his wisdom came directly from unmediated experience.  Liu Ming was also a natural comedian who spent most of his life giggling.  Pig Qì is naturally funny, and their humor comes from their honesty.  Being honest with ourselves about our selfish desires should make us laugh because laughing at ourselves is the highest wisdom.  

Pig Characters are naturally spiritual, for Pig Qì and Yīn Water represent the fluidity, interconnectedness, emotion, and empathy associated with the profundity of chaos, death, and dissolution beyond reckoning.  Pig Qì represents the headlong charge into letting go, giving everything away into direct experience.  

Pig Characters are often unstoppable and have a unique kind of aggression.  Their fierce and protective character lends to a hardworking nature that stops at nothing to get what it wants.  This struggle feels heroic to the Pig because they share the rewards of their struggle with others and give everything away for the greater good.  Pigs often start out aggressive and end up heroes.

Pig’s natural experience of the senses can lead to self-indulgence.  The image of the Pig is often associated with overeating, and in our culture calling someone a “pig” is very specific.  This revelation of the senses and the nature of Yīn Water can lead to drugs, drink, risky sex, and depletion through hedonism and self-destruction.

The artistic and sensual nature can also become an addiction to comfort and luxury as well as a kind of flamboyance, spending money thoughtlessly on material objects and finery.  This comfort seeking can turn to lethargy, laziness, and aimless loafing, especially in the form of the Earth Pig, which is the most prone to stagnation.  Pig Qì is well represented by the character Pig-Pen from Charlie Brown, a disheveled kind of dust cloud associated with a lack of care.

The desire for material objects can turn greedy towards a selfish secretiveness that strives to get what it wants so it can indulge.    

The generous, accepting, and loving nature of the Pig can easily turn to gullibility.  Pigs are the most likely to trust and can be easily duped, likely to give everything away to the first stranger with a sad story.  Their honesty expects honesty, and so Pigs may believe everything you tell them.  And they can be generous to a fault, giving everything away until they have nothing.

Pig tolerance can turn to long suffering abuse.  Known as “great transformers,” out of all the Characters, Pigs (and Ox) can take the most abuse and are likely to stay in bad situations for a long time, especially in domestic situations, and especially because they love so deeply and want to help their abuser.  Pig Qì can handle anything without trauma because Yīn Water lets everything go.  The Great Transformer can turn any difficulty into enjoyment and humor, and Pigs are able to laugh at the most difficult situations.   

Finally, the eloquence of the Pig can turn to what is commonly known as “Pig Headedness.”  Pigs can be forceful, aggressive, argumentative, and can hold very strong opinions.  Their honesty in speech can also get them into trouble, for they are likely to say anything despite the consequences.  

These qualities of the Pig are available to everyone during this Pig year, and will be heightened during Pig month, on Pig days, and during Pig hour.  Pig Hour is between 9-11 pm and is the time for relaxation, sex, and sleep, all very “piggy” experiences.  

器 – Application and “Predictions”

Now that we understand the Pig symbol, Qì dynamic, and character manifestation, we get to the good part—what about the New Year?  How will all this manifest?  What will happen to me?  To the world?    

Well, as usual, I will reiterate that astrology is not fortune telling, we each have our own unique Character and Fate through which we experience the Qì of the calendar.  There is no auspicious year; the Qì of the Year is a buffet, and you eat what your appetite demands.  I have so far offered you an exploration of the Pig’s symbolism so that you can explore it for yourself in the following year.  

Nourishing Within

Out of all 60 years, this one demands that you ENJOY and NOURISH yourself, so if you’re prone towards anhedonia, this one could be rough.  This Year will be a mirror reflecting your relationship to pleasure, enjoyment, and satisfaction.  If this relationship is troubled, you will be prompted to examine this.  It could be a rude awakening.     

This is not a year to “start” things, to frantically move forward, which comes next year in the form of the Metal Rat.  The nature of Yīn Earth and Water is the complete return to stillness, characterized also by the Ox and the heart of Winter, by 1-3 am, when you’re supposed to be deep asleep.  If you expect to go forward with great ambition, you will probably deplete yourself.  In the cycles of Time, this is an “ending,” time to slow down and relax because we “start,” energetically speaking, again next year.

This is, however, a great year to learn new things—not because it’s good for you, but because you enjoy it.  Learn to cook, dance, sing, whatever, but please follow the enjoyment factor.  Pigs follow their fun.  Don’t get caught up in whether you’re good at things.  Just ask—do I enjoy myself?  What is the yumminess factor?  Does this nourish me?  Learn “useless” things with no productive value.  

Please take the time to SLOW DOWN and REST!  If you want to make the best out of Pig Year, you should enjoy your breakfast.  You should nap—Earth Pig = nap time.  Take the time to savor your food and feel it nourish you.  With each bite, ask—am I satisfied?  And stop when you hit satisfaction.  Let your appetite inform everything.  Ask your body what it needs.  Does it need a carrot, a song, a nap, some sexy time?  Don’t look at your watch to tell you if you’re hungry or tired.  The old Zen saying—when hungry eat, tired sleep is the perfect motto for Earth Pig Year.

Learn new recipes.  Pay attention to the vegetables at the store—how they change; some get big while others small; some are scarce while others abundant.  Go the Farmer’s Market and eat what’s in season.  And please cultivate a “staple food” – this is basis of Chinese Medicine and the essence of the continuity of your ancestors; they worked their butts off to harvest a staple all year long and cultivate diversity along with the seasons.  This is Earth and Water, the basis of your body and digestion. 

Open yourself to the rich world of your senses.  Indulge in the sound of bird song.  Go into a strawberry.  Let a hug linger.  Notice how your senses generate the world around you, and notice that they’re all forms of touch—light touching the eyes, sound touching the ears, and so on.  Let the meaning of life be right on the surface where sensation arises.  No need to overthink reality, because there isn’t one...except for the one you make up.  So, stop spinning out—again, this is a time to LET THE MIND REST.  But when you do think, which you will, let your thoughts dance and play—Pigs are never seriousness!  Seriousness will cause stagnation.    

This is a year to kick up your heals, enjoy what you have created over the last 12 Years, and share it with others.  What do you have to offer and share?  If you have struggled and feel you have nothing to show then you may feel depressed.  However, no one cares, so relax.  You don't have to do anything with your life.  You were not born to be productive.  We abide nowhere and possess nothing.  

This is a year to remember, to reflect, to revalue, and to reconnect with core human values.  This is a year to savor and appreciate everything that we’re normally too busy to notice.   Next Year, the Metal Rat, will feel much busier and more anxious, so better to take stock now before we all start scrabbling for resources. 

We must eat, we must sleep, we must reproduce—this is where we find human life.  The world seems to be more complex and more doomed every day, but this may be a trance created by the media, so double check yourself.  If we want to change the world, we must take the cycles of time seriously, and this part of the cycle = rest.  Pigs can be rather heroic, but what they work to save is not abstract ideology but universal human values.    

The Qì of the Earth Pig harkens back to the core values of our Ancestors.  Honor and remember where you come from, and if you don’t know, find out.  And remember that you got here because your ancestors had sex; they nourished themselves and worked hard to do so.  And they want grandbabies.  

Eat the food your ancestors ate, which sorry to say might include gluten, lol.  I know it’s the devil, but if you’re human, it nourished your Ancestors for the past 12,000+ years, so calm down .  If you’re Polish and starve your Ancestors to death by eating salads all year, they’ll come for you.  This is a year to back up and revalue how you nourish yourself in every sense of the word, so start with food.  We’re most of us uprooted immigrants living on stolen land, eating completely out of whack with the seasons, estranged from our ancestors, so it’s understandable.

The inner and outer nature of the Year, Water and Earth, create a paradox—what is hidden becomes fully revealed.  Our darkest desires to eat and sleep and screw may bubble up to the surface, and in the current culture of repression this may manifest as a lot of strangeness, or I should say more strangeness than usual, which could manifest everywhere from the media to your personal relationships.  Expect a little weird, and if you’re comfortable with your weirdness, then it’s all good.  

Expect hidden and repressed things to make themselves known.  Expect unrelenting honesty.  All the dirty secrets, all the skeletons in the closet, all the ghosts you thought were buried will rise from the Earth.  This is a great year to look at your shit and laugh at it.  Get naked, look in the mirror and tell yourself your darkest story.  Giggle at it.  It's over.   
​
In the Dog Year, relationships were on the forefront, but they may have been tentative.  Dog year was about sniffing people out, finding your tribe; it was about trust or lack thereof.  It was about boundaries, intimacy, bonding, and facing the traumas around your heart.  Many relationships may have ended, and many new ones may have begun.  How’d that go for you?

Pig Year is a pig pile!  The Earth Pig is the ultimate humanitarian sign.  It invites you to open your heart and your doors to everyone.  This is a year to break down that wall!  Earth equals equality, harmony.  In our progress to save the world, this year we MUST LOVE.  We must say a serious fuck you to borders and walls, and we must be deeply concerned with nourishing everyone.

Friendship, love, community, and especially family—all kinds of relationships are on the forefront.  Last year they were revalued, this year forget all that stuff and just have fun with people.  Let go of all the stupid expectations that no one will ever live up to.  Thomas Merton once said, “our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy.”  Very Pig Year.

What will happen in the world?  I’m just not the kind of astrologer to guess.  Astrology is not fortunetelling.  My hope is that you take this all to heart--PLEASE REST and HAVE FUN! But not too much!  Too much will get you muddy.  

​Tigers, Rabbits, Goats, and Pigs are the most apt to digest this Year; Snakes are the opposite of Pigs and may struggle the most!

The happy Pig is plain speaking, caring, sensuous, compromising, eloquent, tolerant, humanitarian, reliable, unselfish, funny, hardworking, luck, and gregarious.  The unhappy Pig is self-indulgent, indulgent, oversexed, luxury loving, flamboyant, secretive, long-suffering, gullible, and self-destructive.  Best of luck in the New Year! 

Every harmful action I have done
With my body, speech, and mind
Overwhelmed by attachment, anger and confusion,
All these I openly lay bare before you.
While circling through all states of existence,
May I become an endless treasure of good qualities--
Gathering limitless pristine wisdom and positive potential.
May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness.
May they be free of suffering and the cause of suffering.

May all beings remain in boundless equanimity, free from attachment and aversion!

FATE IS NOT ACTUALLY CREATED (HAS NO BEGINNING) BUT
IS THE PREDISPOSITION TO RECREATE AND SOLIDIFY KARMIC PATTERNS.
THE EVER-PRESENT OPTION/DISPOSITION TO OPENLY EXPRESS OUR TRUE NATURE IS FREEDOM.
TOGETHER FATE AND FREEDOM CONSTITUTE THE NATURALLY DYNAMIC
DIMENSION WE ARE IN.
-Liu Ming

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