Happy Year of the Ox! ? Gong Xi Fa Cai! ?
Chinese New Year begins today on February 12, 2021, and I’m wishing you a year filled with good health (vaccines, anyone?) and prosperity.
The Ox is the second of the twelve zodiac signs in Chinese Astrology and represents a year when perseverance, tenacity, and steady, methodical work will be rewarded. It’s a Metal Ox year, signaling a year to hold onto your money and use it wisely. This is not the year for going on spending sprees. Yes, you might have pandemic fatigue (who doesn’t?), but hold onto your checkbook, PayPal, Venmo, and credit cards this year. Stay prudent, save your dough, and spend just on the essentials. Keep a steady head and you will make it through.
The Strength card from the Animal Totem Tarot indicates that this year might be one where you find yourself facing considerable challenges and obstacles. It’s a time when curve balls are coming at you hard and fast and you might feel tested over and over again.
The Strength card is here to say, “Keep going, don’t give up, and don’t lose hope.”
When you’re feeling flustered or frustrated, embody the strength, patience, and steady nature of the ox. You have all the power within you to master the situation and stay the course. You can do this!
Questions to journal on this year:
- What are ways I can be more prudent with money?
- What is testing my strength?
- What can I do to bolster my strength and stay grounded?
Feels like we’ve had many new years in 2021 and it’s only February. How are you feeling this year? Pop a comment below and let me know.
Card: VIII: Strength
Deck: Animal Totem Tarot by Leeza Robertson & Eugene Smith
Peg Cheng is the author of Rebel Millionaire, a guide for how to retire as a millionaire even if you make a modest income, and The Contenders, a novel that asks, can enemies become friends? She is also the proud owner of Plaid Frog Press with her husband Marcus Donner. Born in Southern California to Taiwanese parents, Peg currently lives in Seattle, Washington.
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Well, Cubby, I have to say that I read your post with shock and despair–I had just spent a lot of money on new speakers. Like, a cheap used car’s worth. I thought, as David Byrne* sang in Letting the Days Go By, “My God, what have I done?”
But I’ve recovered. Largely.
Partly, it’s because I reminded myself that I bought them on saved money, not credit. Also, I re-activated a former housecleaning client to pay for them in a year. Or so. Not too bad, but still–for speakers?
Tess talked me the rest of the way off the ledge: “You love music so much, and you listen to it and talk about it so intensely, that anyone who wrote a song you liked would be thrilled to know that you were hearing it. ” I guess there are worse hobbies.
Anyway, I have to say that I’m not into divinatory systems as much as I used to be. Still, I think your Ox advice for 2021 is sound–I doubt we’ll be out of the Pan’s Labyrinth as soon as people would like. (My recommendation for a Year of the Ox song: Get Behind the Mule by Tom Waits.)
And who knows…if you see someone on a freeway ramp with a “Will Listen to Music for Money” sign, toss him a few bucks, won’t you?
* Byrne has a great book out, How Music is Made. Sort of the nuts, bolts, and sociology of making music.
Edgy, the lyrics from one of my favorite songs by the Talking Heads–“Road to Nowhere”–feels apropos right now.
And we’re not little children
And we know what we want
And the future is certain
Give us time to work it out
We’re on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin’ that ride to nowhere
We’ll take that ride
You consciously took on a former housecleaning client so that you could pay for your speakers. You’ve been wanting these speakers, you love music, and you were willing to do the extra work to get them. You bought them using your savings, not credit.
For all of these reasons, you did the right thing, Edgy. In fact, I feel like your example is a great one for the Year of the Ox. Focus on what you want, do the slow and steady work to get it, then enjoy your achievement as much as you can. We’re on the road to nowhere, my friend, we might as well enjoy the ride.
ps. We all need someone like Tess in our lives to talk us off the ledge. 😉