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2016 Year of the Yang Fire Monkey

2016 Year of the Yang Fire Monkey

Posted by on Feb 23, 2016 in Animals, Chinese Astrology, Feng Shui New Year | 23 comments

photo credit: Bijoy Ki

2016, the Yang Fire Monkey Year

by Karen Abler Carrasco

On February 8th, say farewell to the introspective Yin Wood Sheep year of 2015, and open up to the expansive Yang year of the amazing Fire Monkey!  We have another “big shift” year ahead.  Switching from yin to yang, from the inner world to the big outdoors, is always a noticeable event, and when we add the expansive movement of the Fire element in bold Yang form to that shift, it becomes an even bigger jolt.  

       Knowing how the Five Elements of Chinese medicine work together to support each other can assist us to flow into this shift more easily.  We are leaving two years in a row of Wood energy, which encouraged us to stretch up into new and unexplored territory, to use our intuition and reach for fresh inspirations.  During this time, dreams of new ways to live on the earth more sustainably presented themselves, and we were encouraged to use the inner compass of intuition to make some new choices, or at least to clear away any old, irrelevant debris that no longer served us well.  

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2015 – Year of the Yin Wood Sheep

2015 – Year of the Yin Wood Sheep

Posted by on Jan 13, 2015 in Animals, Chinese Astrology, Feng Shui New Year, I Ching | 24 comments

By Karen Abler-Carrasco

WSFS Instructor and Mentor

 

 
Finally! The galloping horse comes home to rest and transform into a quiet sheep, grazing within the comfortable bounds of her beloved flock.  Is anyone a little saddle sore? Longing for a warm, scented bath, a home-cooked meal and some quiet time in a soft bed?  Good news, everyone, the gentle, generous Sheep Year is here to provide that! 
 
The speeding Yang Wood Horse Year of 2014 brought both invigorating new growth and disturbing upheaval to the terrain of our lives.  Many outdated structures and beliefs got trampled, while fresh alternatives and daring choices beckoned on the horizon.  Most of us endured some uprooting of old routines or even radical shifts in the direction we thought we were headed prior to riding that wild horse.  The trick was to steadfastly trust our lightning-quick intuition and Cosmic Help all year long.  Some of us spontaneously jumped into new work and play, some of us coped with unexpected or uncomfortable lifestyle shifts, and some of us just sat by the continuous stream of change to wait for calmer waters.

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2014 – The Year of the Yang Wood Horse

2014 – The Year of the Yang Wood Horse

Posted by on Jan 11, 2014 in Animals, Chinese Astrology, Feng Shui New Year, Five Elements, Your Life | 110 comments

By Karen Abler-Carrasco
WSFS Consultant, Mentor and Teacher

PLEASE NOTE: Read about 2015 – the Year of the Yin Wood Sheep here.

There might not be a bigger shift of energies in the entire 60 year wheel of Chinese astrology than this one coming up–the shift from two Water years of deep introspection to the fast-paced spurt of extroverted forward propulsion that the Wood Horse brings.  Hold on to your hats, folks, and realize that you won’t be able to, nor will you want to, slow your horses in the New Year ahead!

This will be a promethean year, the Beginning of all beginnings, arriving around January 31st to February 4th, 2014.  Full of uplift, optimism and compelling inspiration, we will be guided into purposeful action of the most elegantly simple and powerfully fruitful kind.  After two years of feeling every revelation of corruption in the dark as if it was scouring our subconscious insides and wringing us dry of watery emotion, we are READY for this change!  Light, hope and clarity of vision gallop in. Emerge from your cocoons, everybody, here we goooooo!

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2011-Year of the Metal Rabbit

Posted by on Jan 14, 2011 in Animals, Chinese Astrology, Feng Shui New Year | 3 comments

— Contributed by Karen Carrasco, Instructor at the Western School of Feng Shui Beginning on February 3rd, 2011, we enter the Chinese year of the Metal Hare or Rabbit.   We can all feel the new energies upon us, so let’s take a look…

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