Fire Ox: Earth Season

This is the pivotal Season of the year, when the seeds laid in the spring take root and gather strength. Earth is the natural product of Fire, in the form of ash, and the Fire Ox, having purified its flames, produces this in great abundance. The energies continue to be correct and the direction of change is both purposeful and productive.

Stability holds, but the pace picks up and violent outbursts are in the offing. People are seized by ideas that are at variance or against the best interests of their communities, then try to impose these ideas on the larger world with violent consequences. These are the weeks of maximum expansion for the Yang force which, because of its forcefulness, begins to lose its potency, while the Yin forces for structure and order emerge and begin to build the compromise that will eventually engulf Yang. Because this is the Year of the Fire Ox, the underlying theme is always one of settling down into greater order, security and structivity.

This Season will unfold as a series of five such violent outbursts, with days for reflection and assessment in their wake. The blips may be understood as eruptions of uncontrolled Yang, while the following days are a chance for Yin to regroup and to re-impose order on the chaos.

The first violent blip will come at the opening of the Season on the days of 30 Jun until 3 Jly. Yes, this coincides with the handover of Hong Kong to China and it does not bode well for the peaceful accomplishment of that event. But this is also the purest expression of this energy, meaning most innocent and the least tainted by the tarnish of ulterior motives. It also implies a stand-off between equals, so that one appropriate expression of this energy would be a spontaneous demonstration or confrontation between the people and their government which somehow blocks or prevents the free exercise of authority. It could also symbolise a "bloodless coup" of some sort.

The second blip is often the mildest of the five as it encourages the disciplined use of force. Its coming will still bring violent events, but their impact or shock is somehow diminished. There is a confrontation between equals, but one side gives way and is vanquished. This blip will come on 13 Jly to 17 Jly.

The third blip will bring the greatest violence. Its days are 27 Jly to 31 Jly. It implies a military invasion and conquest of territory, conducted with lightning speed, and the possible oppression or dispersal of the people of that land. There may be tangible evidence of the gathering storm in the days immediately preceding this event, but the strike will come no later than early on 30 July. If this is a "righteous" invasion, then its effects will be absorbed rapidly by the world community. Otherwise, its disruptions will gather so much momentum over the next month that it will hold the focus until the end of this year.

The fourth blip is the strangest of the five. This one can best be described as "one step too far". Someone or something will over-extend its power, its reach, its authority and be unable to hold onto its gains. It will be thrust back into its place or else find that its bold assertions are untenable and unsustainable. This is the failed conquest. Its days are 11 Aug to 14 Aug.

The last blip heralds a revolution, when some situation that has been stagnant for years suddenly budges, gives way and is transformed. But it will be a revolution of structure and not chaos because order is imposed and not overthrown. This one is less of a blip and more of a process -- "blip" does not do justice to its depth and significance. Pivotal days are 25 Aug to 28 Aug, but its nature may be evident before these dates. This blip will very likely stem from events in an earlier blip. Certainly its momentum will carry through the autumn and into the winter.

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