YEAR OF THE SHEEP – 2015

Year of the Sheep – 2015

sheep

We are about to begin another year under the Chinese (and other Oriental cultures’) calendar. This will be the year of the Sheep or Goat or Ram. The first consideration, then, is which animal is the correct one for the year. There is no easy answer to that question, however.

As I understand it, in Chinese, symbol for this year’s animal is yangc, which is pronounced “yang.” It is used for either a sheep or goat as it literally means a ruminant animal with horns on its head. Within that category are several wild animals and two which are domesticated – the sheep (mianyang or “cotton yang”) and the goat (shanyang or “mountain yang”). A ram can be either one, so that term is sometimes used to refer to this year. In Japan, there are separate characters for “sheep” and “goat,” and this is clearly the Year of the Sheep in that country. There are also separate characters in Vietnam, where this is unmistakeably the Year of the Goat.

It is confusing for us Westerners. For this discussion, we will refer to the coming lunar year as a “Year of the Sheep.” Most people know that the years in the Chinese zodiac cycle through twelve different animals. Additionally, each of those animal years cycle through affinities to the five elements – fire, earth, metal, water and wood. This will be the Year of the Wood Sheep, which occurs every 60 years. In 2015, the new year begins with the full moon that occurs on the afternoon of February 18th in the United States, and the morning of February 19th in China.

In this post, I will be making some predictions as to what may occur during the next year. I am not holding myself out as having any extraordinary psychic powers. I am no more or no less psychic than you are – and that is true whether you are Suzy Skeptic who does not believe in the existence of anything “paranormal” or you are the world’s top psychic or astrologer (whomever that may be be at the moment).

The approach here is to assume that there are historical cycles such as those recognized by the Chinese zodiac, and then look at what has occurred in previous Sheep years. With that historical perspective, we should be able to extrapolate and predict what may occur during the next few months. That approach has been remarkably accurate in the past. I do admit that I was wrong in my prediction for the 2014 Super Bowl, but it was because I ignored the data. Anyway, since that game involved the Seattle Seahawks, I feel we can just “pass” on that here in 2015.

Sheep are docile animals which gather in herds and are basically friendly and trusting. They present a completely different kind of energy than the wild excitement of the horse during the past year. Accordingly, the world should be a little more peaceful and there should be at least a semblance of international cooperation in the months ahead. Sometimes, though, the herd instinct brings people or groups together that do not naturally belong together and problems can result.  Continue reading