The Chinese New Year of the Horse.

Hi gang Julia here! Yes it's all happening - everywhere I guess - but here in Sydney it's fascinating and stunningly beautiful with a vast parade this evening (Sunday the 2nd) including dancers from Beijing and displays of everything festively Chinese.   So the Year if the Horse will be enthusiastically welcomed!    The twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac are as fascinating as our Western creatures, and in some respects the characteristically they give, often compliment ours.  For instance both Derek and I are Monkeys - which share quite a number of the characteristics of Gemini (His Sun sign,  and I have Venus and Mars in that sign) If you want to learn which is your animal  you'll need to go to Google and refer to your birth year, because the dates when one animal takes over from a previous one varies because of the slightly changing dates of the Chinese New Year which are related to the movements of the Moon.   The cycle of the twelve animals comes round once in twelve years - we have to wait until 2016 for our next batch of good luck from the Monkey.   But if you like to be your own astrologer and would be interested to know just another snippet of real astrology, read mark, learn!    I blogged the other day about 'Many Happy Returns' and how it relates to the Sun on our birthday, well, several other planets also have their 'Returns.   Jupiter take about twelve years to travel right round the Sun and through all the signs, so every twelve years we get an interesting and very useful Jupiter Return.- when we are 12, 24, 36 and so on. So it's quite useful to know when, generally speaking, we shouldn't be backward in coming forward.   These are years to be assertive. Also I've always found that Jupiter likes to be given a little push in the direction we want him to go!  Having said that of course, many other planetary directions will also be having their say too, and you would discover these if you decide to learn more about astrology.   One thing is certain:   any Chinese person will tell you when it's the year of your animal that it's good for you and any western astrologer ( or you in future, if you remember this) will say the same thing, as Jupite rand the Chinese animal more or less coincide!   Happy New Year of the Horse!  Bye the way the best ever book on Chinese Astrology is  The Complete Book of Chinese Horoscopes by Lori Reid, published by Element.     The writer also compares the Chinese and Western disciplines, making it e for us U.S of' A and Europeans, easier and more interesting to understand - it's brilliant.   More later!