As you all may know, we are entering a new year according to the Chinese lunar calendar: 2014 is the year of the wood horse! The Chinese lunar calendar runs in cycles of 12, with each year ascribed to one of twelve animals and one of the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, or water). Horse years are said to be full of luck, excitement, adventure, and the unexpected.
What is fascinating and universal about the Chinese astrology is that there is so much meaning in the ideas of “wood” and “horse.” It doesn’t take an astrologer to tell you that a horse is an adventurous, fiery animal, so strong that it’s able to stand on its own spindly legs only moments after being born. Horses have been companions to humans for thousands of years, helping us to cultivate our fields and explore new lands, but they are still incredibly independent creatures, stubborn, even, and belong to no one. Horses are also fast–taking off to a breath-taking gallop when given a direction to go in.
2014 is also going to be a “wood” year. While Westerners don’t focus on the five elements–wood, fire, earth, metal, and water–that make up all interactions in the natural world the way the Chinese do, we can understand the role wood plays in nature. Wood is associated with springtime, growth, and renewal, with fresh buds on the plants, the upward and outward spreading of new leaves and branches, and with the color green that tentatively peeks out from the winter browns before blanketing everything by mid-April. Like horses, wood moves fast, as you can see in the rapid growth of the plants in the spring. And wood is stubborn, refusing to stop no matter what is the way: Think of the relentless ivy that covers our brownstones and buildings here in Carroll Gardens!
So what’s on the agenda for the wood/horse year to come? We have an extraordinarily fun year to look forward to: new ventures in business and romance taking off to a galloping start, boundless exploration, fast movement, and unexpected connections. But we also might watch for the possibilities of some stubbornness, the natural companion to the independent streak of the horse and the determination of wood. There may even be some recklessness as the adventurous horse pushes us to choose the most thrilling opportunities in the moment, no matter the consequences. Either way, we will all be more connected to our inner horse, the part of us that is independent, curious, and powerful!