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The Year of the Metal Ox (2021/4719)

Feb 11, 2021

The Metal Ox will bring order to the mess the Rat created last year, but the process will be slow and full of growing pains.

The Rat forced us to look inward. And, with the pandemic, quarantine, and shelterin in place, it also (you might say unpleasantly) removed the excuse of time from our hands. It also helped to decentralize the big cities worldwide, and people moved back to more rural or less congested areas. I believe this trend will continue this year. Furthermore, the Rat is the first animal in the Chinese Horoscope and usually can be an animal of considerable change. Last year, it started setting in motion a systematic change pattern worldwide.


February 12, 2021 marks the year of the Ox. For Daoists, the Ox/Buffalo has a greater meaning in regards to our emotional wellbeing. Taishang Laojun (Lao Tzu), Great (Highest) Clarity, ascended to the heavens on an Ox. In Daoism, we see this particular animal ruled by emotions and delusions. The image of Lao Tzu riding the Ox, as we can see in this image, is representative of the conquering of one’s emotional state (aka taming the “beast”). This means one is no longer ruled by emotions or delusions of the mundane world and can move along The Way of the Dao.

The Year of the Ox