Fire Ox: Metal Season

Earth gives way to Metal. This is the harvest, when we reap what we have sown, when the growth that shall endure is strengthened and prepared for the coming winter while the growth that is weak is shed.

Energies unleashed in the closing weeks of the Earth Season are harnessed by whomever is ready and capable of mastering them, whether for good or ill. But this person must be moving with the Tao or it will end in failure.

The pace of change is cranked up another notch as Water conquers Fire and Fire conquers Metal. This is a time for bold and aggressive action in the political arena. Leaders who strike sure and fast will win great victories for themselves when the field is cleared of troublesome rivals. There is expansion through conformity, so that outsiders become insiders after making some concessions of individuality in the greater interest of belonging to the group. It is good to go straight to the people.

In this Season, we can expect congruescence. Those who have grown apart shall be brought together. Voices of dissent shall be addressed and won over and welcomed as converts. Those who have stood in isolation shall be forgiven. Its end is not a singularity, however, but merely the formation of well-defined camps who recognise and abide by common rules. The middle ground gets cleared out -- the stragglers, the mavericks, the stubborn. Only the competent, with evolved systems of thought and behaviour to support them, survive. The underlying theme is always the overcoming of objections and resistance in order to build a cohesive and coherent organisation. This is congruescence or "becoming congruent".

At the end of this Season, much shall have been accomplished, but many shall evade enfoldment within the camps of the leaders. By its very nature, aggressive expansion and servile conformity throws up resistance among those who consciously decide to stand apart from the crowd and question authority. At the end, this resistance breaks out into the open and declares its opposition. This sets the stage for the closing Season of the year -- the Water Season.

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