by Ko Hashiguchi
[I] n the July issue of Voice of Choices Magazine I gave you the Ancient Greek conception that Fire signs, being Hot, refine out impurities and leave openings and pores to provide free passage. Earth signs, being Dry, retain their internal boundaries, limits, and shapes. Air signs, being Cold (I know this sounds counter-intuitive if you’ve studied Aristotle, but that’s how the Stoics defined it), coalesce unlike substances together. Water signs, being Wet, have no inherent shape or boundaries but conform to the shape of their containers. I am indebted to Robert Schmidt of Project Hindsight for bringing back the Classical understanding of the Western elements back to the astrological world.
Okay, the Taoist Chinese Five Elements have Fire, Earth, and Water too. Are they the same as the Western Elements? Of course not.
The Taoist Five Elements correspond much closer to our modern meanings of the words than the Western ones do, but that does NOT make them more correct! Certainly, I think that our use of the words “fire” and “water” correspond to the Chinese usage rather more than the Classical usage! Look at the Chinese Animals and see which elements correspond to which:
Boar and Rat are Water.
Tiger and Rabbit are Wood.
Snake and Horse are Fire.
Monkey and Rooster are Metal.
Ox, Dragon, Sheep, and Dog are Earth, and form the junctions between the other elements.
Boar, Rat, and Ox form the Chinese Winter.
Tiger, Rabbit, and Dragon form the Chinese Spring.
Snake, Horse, and Sheep form the Chinese Summer.
Monkey, Rooster, and Dog form the Chinese Autumn.
Matching Up With Classical Greek
[T]his is what I mean when I say that the Chinese elements match up with our use of the words “fire” and “water” better than does the Classical Greek usage. Don’t “Summer” and “Fire” match up to you? Don’t “Winter” and “Water” match up almost as well? Compare that to the Fire Signs in Western astrology: Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius. Face it: we think of Aries as “fire-y,” not because the weather is hot, but because the temperament is headstrong, impulsive, and crowds everyone else out — when they can. Leo certainly seems like “fire,” as it’s contained within the Summer months of July and August. But, regardless of how “fire-y” the temperament of the Sagittarius Sun-Sign person may be to experience, it occurs in November and December and butts right up against Winter, when Zero Capricorn comes in.
Free Passage and Success are what make the Western Signs Fire! Full expansion, full activity, and full Expression are what make the Taoist Chinese Animals Fire.
Conforming to the shape of its container and having no internal boundaries are what the Western Signs Water. Gathering the latent energy and the Urge to Explore are what make the Chinese Animals Water.
[M]aintaining its own internal shape and limits are what make Western Signs Earth. Harmonizing and Balancing the other four elements by being centrally placed and having the other element revolve around them are what make the Chinese Animals Earth. Remember that the “Earth” Animals form the harmonizing JUNCTION between one elemental season to the next!
“[O] kay Mister Taoist, so you’ve given us the Correct Ancient Greek understanding of the Four Elements in Western astrology. Thank you too much — and thank Robert Schmidt for teaching that to you while you’re at it — but do we then need to fiddle with the Chinese elements too?”
I give you my scholarly answer: “Duhh….Yeah!!!”
You, Dear Reader, will NEVER hear me call the Classical Greek elements and the Western Sun Signs they generate WRONG. NEVER. Never mind that I use two other zodiacs, each consisting of twelve signs, that don’t correspond or coincide with the Western Sun Signs!
[T] he Western Tropical zodiac and the Sun Signs that go along with them mark the relationship of the Sun to the Earth. The Chinese Animal Months mark the BIOLOGICAL transitions between the seasons. Seeds planted in the earth in Winter do not sprout and become seedlings until the Sun reaches 15 degrees of Aquarius. This is when Tiger Month starts, and this is when, ASTROLOGICALLY, the Chinese New Year begins.
Why do we need three zodiacs?
Why do we need three (at least!) astrologies to go along with them? We must enter the realms of my own personal speculations:
“As Above, So Below”
is probably the oldest saying attributed to astrology. One corellary to that saying is that the motions and places in the heavens can be seen as analogous to the functions and organs in the human body. My current understanding of the three astrologies I study is: the Western zodiac is analogous to the nervous system in the body, the Sidereal zodiac is (more-or-less) analogous to the internal organs of the body, and the Chinese Four Pillars and the Taoist Tropical zodiac are analogous to the “chi” field and the acupuncture meridians in the body.
[W] e make the assumption that everything in the human body is interconnected. That’s an article of faith: nobody can really prove that as of yet. I make the same assumption in regards to the heavens. And that’s why comparing the Western Four Elements and the Chinese Five Elements is worth doing.
Ko is the author of the new book, “Pillars of Heaven: Chinese Astrology Revealed,” and has been a devotee of the Four Pillars Chinese astrology since 1986. Ko has lectured at the UAC in 2002, the NORWAC and the AFA conferences in 2003. He can be reached at his web site, AsianAstro.com, and by phone at (NEW NUMBER!) 425-919-2169