Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! According to Chinese Astrology, the year of the Water Tiger begins on February 1st and will end on January 21st 2023. The Year of the Water Tiger and Feng Shui within our homes: how to harmonize the astral energies of the new solar cycle.
Keywords for the Water Tiger: sensitivity, effectiveness, creativity, passion for life and sex. Equivalent zodiac sign: Aquarius.
Symbol: wave crest
Under the combination Tiger + Water element (Black Tiger) there are those born from February 5, 1962 to January 24, 1963.
Those born in 1974, 1986, 1998 and 2010 also belong to the sign of the Tiger, but their combination with the Earthly Branches is different and they are subject to other energies of the cycle of the 5 elements or 5 phases.
The corresponding sign of the zodiac is Aquarius (Western astrology).
The Tiger is big, bold and powerful. Four proud tigers guard the Four Directions: the Black Tiger of winter watches over the north, the green one of spring over the east, the red one of summer over the south and the white one of autumn over the west. In the center, the Yellow Tiger, representing the Sun, watches over. The Chinese god of wealth, Hsai Shen, rides a tiger, and therefore this animal brings good luck. All tigers scare away thieves, ghosts and fires. The tiger is therefore a formidable totem animal to contact in the shamanic world to support exile and purification.
The Year of the Tiger is explosive, wildly creative, of great depth and daring. All areas of life can be experienced on a large scale. It is the time of extremes – tempers flare up and excitement reigns, while the craziest dreams can come true. Social changes, political revolts and military coups are to be expected.
In ancient times, the lion was included in the Chinese zodiac; and there was no tiger. However, the lion was very cruel, so the supreme god wanted to take away the status of the Chinese zodiac from the lion. But the supreme god could not do it because the lion is the king of all animals. If the supreme had god got rid of it, he would have needed a new animal to control all animals. Then the supreme god remembered the tiger. The tiger was just an insignificant creature in the human world, but when he learned the fighting skills from the cat, the tiger became a ferocious warrior. All the animals challenged were killed or mortally wounded. After the tiger had emerged victorious from all the battles, the tiger became very famous for its skills. In fact, it became so famous that the supreme god summoned it to heaven. When the tiger arrived in heaven, she defeated all the warriors of the supreme god. After the fight, the tiger became one of the warriors of the supreme god. It happened that after the tiger had become the warrior of the supreme god, the animals began to attack humans due to the tiger’s lack of control. This problem attracted the attention of the supreme god, who sent the tiger down to earth to protect humans. The tiger, however, required a reward for each battle won. The supreme god accepted its request. When the tiger returned to the human world, and it learned that the lion, the bear and the horse were the strongest animals, it challenged them all and won them. When the other evil beasts heard the news, they all hid in a forest where no one left and were never seen again. The humans thanked the tiger for defeating the wild beasts. The tiger was then called back to heaven, and because it had won three times, the supreme god placed three horizontal lines on its forehead. A little later, humanity was again disturbed this time by a magical and evil turtle that had flooded the world. The tiger was again sent to earth and killed the turtle. The supreme god then added a vertical line in the center of the three horizontal lines, creating the Chinese word “king”. The figure can still be seen on the foreheads of all tigers today. When the infamy of the lion was recognized by the supreme god, he decided to remove the status of the Chinese zodiac from the lion and the tiger was chosen to replace the lion, king of animals, in the Chinese zodiac.
The most favorite signs in 2022 along with the Tiger are the Horse (1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014) and the Dog (1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018), which in the Western tradition correspond respectively to Gemini and Libra.
The most disadvantaged sign in 2022 is the Monkey (1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016) but the Dragon and the Rat can also encounter some difficulties.
HOW TO HARMONIZE THE YEAR OF THE WATER TIGER AND FENG SHUI AT HOME?
The earthly branch corresponding to the Tiger is the third, yìn (寅), its azimuth direction is 60 ° and the corresponding element in Wuxing is Wood. This means that, whatever our sign, in order to prepare well our home well for the energies of the Chinese New Year we must favor the direction (60 °) and the reference element (Wood), which, being the combination of the year 2022 with the 12 Terrestrial Branches corresponding to Water, is found in the role of Son in the cycle of the 5 elements or phases (Wuxing), therefore in a favorable condition.
Going into greater detail, the 60 ° direction should be understood as an angle of 30 ° between 45 ° and 75 ° within the Chinese Compass (Ba Gua); therefore our 2022 direction will be northeast-east.
Taking into account that the elements involved are a positive combination of Wood and Water, we will have to take care of the Water-Wood-Fire energy chain with attention to the Fire which will be the outlet of the Wood if it is too abundant under the pressure of the Water of the Black Tiger.
We then identify on the Ba Gua which areas of our house fall in the directions of Water (north) and Wood (east and southeast) and we check if colors, materials and shapes harmoniously follow the sequence of the 5 element cycle, strengthening it where we realize that there are shortcomings.
In the east let’s not forget some rectangular objects, or vertical-shaped interior design elements, using materials in fabric and soft wood. In the north, on the other hand, we should try to use soft, curvilinear, wave shapes, without obvious symmetries, letting the imagination expand as does the water that takes the shape of its containers.
For the Chinese New Year 2022 in particular, we are going to “load up” the direction of 60 ° with the classic symbol of the Water Tiger, the crest of the wave.
These are general indications, while as already indicated in other sections of the site, care must be taken for each house that is suited to the specific characteristics of the environment and its inhabitants.