Four Horses, a Rabbit, a Crow

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Sunday, 28th of March

Master Mouse Says:

The Lunar Lodge for today is THE ROOM, named for an asterism of four stars, which form a line perpendicular to the ecliptic of the zodiac.  In modern astronomy, they’re part of the constellation Scorpio, the Scorpion.  In its attribution to the center day of the week-long Eastern Palace of the Azure Dragon, THE ROOM represents the position of the Spring Equinox.  The character for this asterism ( 房 fáng ) also means “house.”  It was also called, more poetically, “House of the Sun,” in the sense that at the Spring Equinox, the Sun crosses the ecliptic and begins to be visible in the sky longer each day than it is hidden through the night.  These four stars were also called “The Celestial Four” ( 天 四 Tiān Sì ), or “The Celestial Horses” ( 天马 Tiān Mǎ ), and were seen as drawing the shape of the chariot of the Sun.

The spirit animal for THE ROOM is the Rabbit, which in the Twelve Animal cycle is associated with the month of the Spring Equinox.  Rabbits and hares are symbols of fertility across the globe, and in Chinese culture further represent the balance of a gentle demeanor wedded to a warrior spirit.  The Spring Equinox rituals in ancient China made appeal to the Sun—crossing the skies in his warrior chariot, and moving towards his most extreme strength—kindly to show his gentle and beneficial face on the crops springing up in the fields.

This Lunar Lodge is therefore extremely advantageous for indoor work of any kind, and rites or ceremonies in particular.  As it represents the “center of Spring,” it is auspicious for new ventures, moving house, and taking of herbs for medicinal benefit.  The well-balanced but increasing Yang gives extra potency to such delicate or influential activities, and diminish the naturally inherent potential dangers that may accompany them.  Conversely, THE ROOM is awkward for finishing things (so untimely when the world is awakening and bounding forward in growth), particularly divorce proceedings.  Hurrying and impatience are inappropriate, and are regarded as likely to produce difficulties and mistakes.  The Yang is moving forward;  but like its increase at the time of the Spring Equinox, progress should be made only with “all deliberate speed.”

The Solar Index today is OPEN, which relates to the month in the agricultural calendar directly following the harvest, from early October to early November.  The hard labors and tense worries of the year are largely past, and a season of festivities, congratulations, and camaraderie begins.  The only concerns for the near future have to do with preparations for the depth of winter, and its cold and storms.

The character for OPEN ( 開 kāi ) is a picture of a pair of doors swung wide.  The feeling of this time is adventurous, light-hearted, and free-wheeling.  The Chinese say, “Go out the door to find fortune!” and today certainly feels like the time to do it.  Normal constraints drop away, and new (though temporary) options are suddenly available.  After the harvest, the cleared fields offer little shelter for birds and other game, and hunting becomes opportune.  A sense of repose arises, as the wealth earned through long labors is safe in the granary.  It’s also, however, the time when bandits and thieves may feel that it’s finally worth their time to come calling.  The “open doors” are a welcome to friends to share in leisure and hard-won luxuries, but they are no barricade to wanderers who wish to crash the party, and pilfer a few valuables.  Keep a light heart, but also, a sharp eye

Talk to the Animals

Born in the Year of the Rat: The Fire Ox on duty today has both liveliness and stability, and easily recognizes how to take advantage of lucky turns when they appear.  Keep your eyes and ears wide open, as new opportunities—which are part of the Tiger’s entourage—will be making their presence known.  You should avoid the temptation to drop what you’re doing to respond to them, however;  play coy—even if they’re playing hard to get—and don’t act in such a way as to express too much interest.  Many of the Big Chances this year will be like “the trout that must be caught by tickling,” and the spirit of today’s Ox will help you polish your mastery of it.  Unless you’re born on a SETTLE Day, try to get out into the public sphere:  there’s luck waiting for you, whether at a market, block party, or coffee shop.

Born in the Year of the Ox: The Fire Ox on duty today has both liveliness and stability, and easily recognizes how to take advantage of lucky turns when they appear.  This is a lucky condition for you, particularly as it falls on an OPEN Day.  Keep up your fundamental course and schedule, but try to summon a wider acceptance of small changes in plan than you normally would.  “Unexpected travel arrangements are dancing lessons from God,” and should always be taken.   You’ll have no such distractions tomorrow getting in your way, so you’ll easily be able to get caught up with whatever it was you were going to do, and a break from your frame of reference will clarify your attention, and refresh your spirit.  This is a day for you to paddle in the direction the stream is already flowing.

Born in the Year of the Tiger: The Fire Ox on duty today has both liveliness and stability, and easily recognizes how to take advantage of lucky turns when they appear.  You can take advantage of this situation best by getting out in the world, where you’re an anonymous soul among the masses, and where you can follow your uncanny ability to sniff out luck, without the responsibility of having companions along with you to keep track of.  By the end of this Moon, you’ll have a fairly stable idea of what it is you’re aiming at for the year, but the menu of choices isn’t quite complete yet, and today presents an excellent opportunity to run through some samples and determine whether each is a Yes, a No, or a Maybe.  If you need to make an important decision, turn on the tap at the kitchen sink while you’re finalizing it;  it will help you to feel your confidence.

Born in the Year of the Hare: The Fire Ox on duty today has both liveliness and stability, and easily recognizes how to take advantage of lucky turns when they appear.  You’ll feel more of the stability, and less of the liveliness, most likely, but don’t let that lull you into the idea that there’s not much going on today.  The movement may be gentle, but the course of things is definitely flowing downstream;  unless you pick some reference point on the shore to pay attention to, you won’t be able to tell exactly how fast, and you might not be able to tell in which direction it is that everything around you is sliding towards.  Tomorrow’s Tiger will bring you more resolve, so if you have decisions to make, try to put them off until then.  If you’re feeling a lack of company at home, you have only to get out into the world to feel like you’ve happened onto someone’s birthday party, where everyone in town has been invited.

Born in the Year of the Dragon: The Fire Ox on duty today has both liveliness and stability, and easily recognizes how to take advantage of lucky turns when they appear.  You, of course, are also a specialist in Advantage and Lucky Turns, but don’t be presumptuous in your ability to swing around to a new direction, or to dart off along a new line, as if you had zero momentum to deal with first.  The Ox and Hare have inadvertently thrown some tethers across your limbs, and you may find things more tangled than you’d realized, once you start exerting yourself.  Not to worry, slower-and-steadier will actually bring you luck today, so grumble a bit to yourself if you need to, but don’t get so petulant that you think of Parking In Protest.  Strangers will offer you better audience than most friends today, and could ask you some very insightful questions that the people who know you would never consider.

Born in the Year of the Snake: The Fire Ox on duty today has both liveliness and stability, and easily recognizes how to take advantage of lucky turns when they appear.  This is a Lucky Day for you, empowering your charming ways, helping you more correctly to time your entrances and exits, and allowing you to feel the Direction of Flow around you with great clarity.  Don’t be surprised if people around you gasp and accuse you of spying, or of becoming psychic.  Keep non-chalant under either accusation;  you can move directly towards whatever you find desirable, but “slower is better,” and you’re going to have to negotiate your way through whatever objections others in the way may present.  Dial up the charm, and sharpen your intention, and you’ll probably have people magically moving out of your way without having to do anything else.

Born in the Year of the Horse: The Fire Ox on duty today has both liveliness and stability, and easily recognizes how to take advantage of lucky turns when they appear.  This is not as appealing a condition for you as it is for some:  your ideas of “liveliness” and “stability” are not really congruent with the Ox’s, and quite frequently the arrival of Lucky Turns throws you into a state of disturbance, at least at their onset.  Still, it will be an easy day to feel quite clearly the current strength and flexibility of your physical powers, and to feel that even if you can’t tell exactly what’s coming down the pike, you can at least tell almost exactly how far away it is, and from which direction it’s approaching.  Think of the day as an opportunity to ford a stream, with the chance of having to swim part of the way, and you’ll find you know how to progress comfortably through whatever arises.  Tomorrow’s Tiger will have your feet solidly again on terra firma, and it’s your luck things will be turning towards.

Born in the Year of the Sheep: The Fire Ox on duty today has both liveliness and stability, and easily recognizes how to take advantage of lucky turns when they appear.  The Ox versions of “liveliness” and “stability” never impress you as being particularly helpful to your purposes, and most frequently, they actually look determined to oppose and obstruct your path.  However, you’ve got a team-mate in the Hare Moon, and he’ll be helping to steer the day to include some Lucky Turns that will seem tailor-made for the Clan of Fleece and Horns.  Your task is to lower your energy, slacken your pace, and simplify your agenda, so that when a tiny opportunity passes by, you can make a direct, purposive, and concise motion to capture it, with a minimum of muss and fuss.  If you make the mistake of seizing such chances by trying to re-organize everyone in the room towards them, you’ll run into that “kick in the gut” I was mentioning yesterday.  Show the wisdom of your meditative restraint today, and tomorrow’s Tiger will be putting another Gold Star on your Progress Report.

Born in the Year of the Monkey: The Fire Ox on duty today has both liveliness and stability, and easily recognizes how to take advantage of lucky turns when they appear.  This is a strange condition for you, for it brings you a rather large bit of cover for your own native liveliness, and will empower your zig-zag engagements with the world, without either calling too much attention to yourself, or meddling too much in the affairs going on around you.  That being said, there’s more advantage—particularly where those Lucky Turns are concerned—in hanging out with strangers today, than in palling around with friends.  If you do desire an entourage as you cruise the neighborhood today, make sure it’s no more than two people (one would be better), and don’t act as if you’re joined at the hip.  It’s a day of serendipity for you, and you won’t make much use of that fact, unless you let your attention float free.  Have a bath tonight, and make sure you sit in the water after you pull the plug, so you can watch it all flow down the drain.

Born in the Year of the Fowl: The Fire Ox on duty today has both liveliness and stability, and easily recognizes how to take advantage of lucky turns when they appear.  As promised yesterday, today’s Friendly Ox is going to be running blocking for you, allowing you to feel you’re running freely down the field, whatever kind of football you’re carrying.  Make sure you keep your attention and actions focused on The Task At Hand, and don’t allow yourself to make too much of those chance opportunities which will be swimming around you.  You won’t really be able to tell at a casual glance which ones are on Your Team, and which ones Are Not, so regard your duties as Your Duties, and don’t pass them off to others.  If you’ve got information to deliver—yes, even if it’s just Your Opinion—you’ll have clear opportunity to do that.  But pay more attention to the words said back to you, than whether you finished everything you had to say:  Lucky Turns are likely to be in those words.

Born in the Year of the Dog: The Fire Ox on duty today has both liveliness and stability, and easily recognizes how to take advantage of lucky turns when they appear.  You’ll very likely find yourself reveling in the “liveliness” today, but you won’t think much of this kind of “stability,” and you’re probably going to find the “lucky turns” either too startling to be inviting, or rather dangerous once you’ve jumped up and started to chase them.  This is a good day for you to stay close to your home-base, and if you do go out into the world, to make sure you take a Significant Other with you, to keep close to you at all times.  It’s not an unlucky day, but you’ll be much more relaxed as it unfolds if you Stay Connected.  If you get wet today, make sure you dry yourself quite thoroughly before presenting yourself to others—even Significant Others.

Born in the Year of the Pig: The Fire Ox on duty today has both liveliness and stability, and easily recognizes how to take advantage of lucky turns when they appear.  In many ways, this is the most Pig-like Ox, and will bring out your sense of cheerful opportunism, with a hefty dash of Oh-Why-Not-? thrown in for spice and spirit.  If you spent yesterday correctly Clowning Around, then today will have a more philosophical air to it, without reaching the extremity of Concerned Consideration.  If you’re staying at home, look around for something you haven’t concerned yourself with for some time, and if you’re going out, try to go at least one place you’ve never been before.  Tomorrow’s Tiger will bring you permission to get Really Serious with yourself, and you’ll be making some Internal Adjustments and maybe dropping some Unnecessary Baggage, so don’t slide into serious today;  keep it happy-go-lucky, and don’t miss an opportunity to act a bit goofy.

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Words to the Wise:

A crow carrying a stick longer than his body angles across the sky, shining in black feathers, dark as night.

Dropping from the highest branch, he slopes towards the south-west on a long, shallow glide.

The clouds above are thin and formless;  the wind is slight but not at all fickle, as if to match that line of flight.

See the departure, but not the destination:  gone now, like an arrow let loose, leaving no track in the air.

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“Ceremony and patience are sisters;  music and repose are best friends.”

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