It's the year of the horse, with the associated fifth element of wood:
It’s the Lunar New Year and the Chinese Year of the Horse. The horse is part of a 12-year-cycle of animals that make up the Chinese zodiac. These interact with the five elements: wood, metal, fire, water, earth. 2014 is the year of the wood horse, taking over from the year of the water snake.
GET READY TO RUMBLE
It will be a fast year full of conflicts according to some astrologers, who see wood as providing fuel for the energetic horse sign. The later part of the year is “yin fire”, increasing the potential for heated clashes even more. Feng shui practitioner Raymond Lo told Reuters: “The upcoming Horse year is also a 'yang wood' year, when people will stick more to their principles and stand firm. So it is hard to negotiate or compromise as there are more tendencies for people to fight for their ideals.”Having US of American politics in mind, that's a grim prediction by Feng shui practitioner Raymond Lo. I'm not a student of geomancy, but perhaps it would've served us better if the fiery horse had paired up with, say, earth. Then we could go around ordering the extremists of all political parties to stop imagining zebras running amok.
"That's the good, solid sound of a fiery, fierce, proud horse running freely across hard dirt," we could tell them. "That's not endless herds of wild, displaced, burning zebras tearing about the Capitol Rotunda." It is bound to come up during immigration reform discussions, and Lord help us later in the year, when mid-term elections bear down upon our National Sanity Reserves.
But why borrow trouble on New Year's very first day? Instead enjoy some of these representations of the blazing steed known by Westerners as an unadorned, unpretentious 2014. For an excellent short explanation of the well-kept "Chinese" lunar calendar, check out this Christian Science Monitor article.
The art/graphics were found HERE, and are, for the moment, offered for use as cards, calendars, and such, free of charge.
© 2013 L. Ryan
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