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The Chinese Zodiac and the Chinese Astrology Calendar
Knowing and understanding your zodiac sign in relation to Chinese customs and traditions can tell a great deal about your personality. Everyone is represented by one of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac like the rat. These 12 animals are representative of the 12 year, rotating cycle that is the basis of the Chinese zodiac. You've probably heard references about a particular year as the “year of the rat.” Tales and legends say that these were the animals that appeared before The Jade Emporer (or Buddha, depending on which story you are talking about) responding to an invitation. The Chinese zodiac animals correspond to the animals' order of arrival. The legends portraying each of the 12 animal's journey will vary slightly, but the order that prevails is the following: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
The Chinese calendar doesn't only deal with the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, but also has other more complex relationships. Along with the animals, the Chinese Zodiac also includes 5 elements: fire, wood, water, metal and Earth. These 5 elements are associated with the 5 major planets: Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, and Saturn. The connections presented by these elements and the animals actually join to make the 60-year rotation of the Chinese calendar. This chart, and a person's date and time of birth, directions, the positions of the moon and sun, and Yin and Yang are used to help understand a person's future in more detail than only using the zodiac animal as a guide. While the signs of the Chinese zodiac are important and essential, the way in which the elements of the Chinese zodiac chart interact and collaborate must be used to build a complete understanding of an individual person. To fully appreciate the Chinese Zodiac, it is essential to also understand the relationship between all the elements, something that most people certainly do not get from a run of the mill overview of the Chinese zodiac.
Chinese astrology traces back more than two thousand years to ancient Chinese astronomy. The predictions of the Chinese are dependent on the Chinese zodiac chart developed by Chinese astronomers of ancient times. After some time, Chinese astrologists created an elaborate organization of beliefs about the celestial bodies' effect on day to day lives of people. The animals and the Chinese zodiac calendar come from Ancient Chinese astrology.
The understanding most have of the Chinese zodiac doesn't usually extend very far beyond what they see on the place mats on the tables of their favorite Chinese restaurants. But there's really a lot more to understand and know about this doctrine dating back more than 2,000 years. The Chinese zodiac is used as a guide to figure out the best and most ideal matches between people in both business and love. Each Chinese zodiac animal has other animals with which they are considered most compatible. Chinese zodiac dating compatibility is used to make a determination regarding people's best love match. It's important to remember that there are other features of Chinese astrology that go beyond which animal represents you, that are additionally considered significant in making a determination regarding those that are most compatible.
