The New Year 2018 is named the golden dog or the mountain dog year. As you know, every year has its characteristic name associated with zodiac signs, such as red rooster in 2017, red monkey in 2016, green sheep in 2015 and so on. Why and how is it engendered?
This kind of identification has a long-lasting history in Asian countries. From ancient times, people believed there is a certain resonance among the various materials in the universe and they correlate with each other. Based on this belief, people symbolized everything as colors, objects and directions then simplified them into the very basic codes, yin and yang or even and odd numbers in the mathematical system and the five elements. Then they abstracted them in order to impart a meaning.
In addition to the 12 zodiac animal signs, the 10 heavenly stem letters also have characteristic colors and materials. The complicated classification can be summarized as below chart.
As 2018 is the year of the dog, it can become a yellow mountain dog if we add the symbolic color and material of the stem letter ‘mu.’ The color yellow is often named gold in fortunetelling for emanating a luckier energy.
The New Year has the energy of yang with the image of a vast mountain while the past year 2017 had the energy of yin. The year of the dog also has a tendency to gather and store precedent things. The representative material of 2018 among the five elements is earth. It is related with new artistic ideas, industry and preparation for the future because the earth preserves all existing objects to make it meaningful for the upcoming season. However those changes will not happen rapidly because the earth doesn’t act and react promptly.
The zodiac sign of the dog is the 10th out of 12 animals but it also implies a latent energy for the next era. It signifies endurance and patience. We will have to remember that the year 2018 will be a trasitional moment to wrap up the past and to begin the new era. It is required to ensure internal stability while polishing external appearances in order to embrace the new energy of the future.
Those who have the zodiac birth year of tiger and horse are compatible with 2018. Dragon signs conflict with the year of the dog.
Are you interested in learning more about the ancient Chinese teachings, the “Four Pillars of Destiny” and oriental ways of fortune telling or fortune tellers? Janet teaches Saju for the public at Seoul National University of Education. For further information, visit Janet’s website at www.janetshin.modoo.at or her blog, https://blog.naver.com/janet--shin .You can also contact her at 010-5414-7461 or email janetshin.kor@gmail.com. The writer is the author of “Life’s Secrets”.