Self-Discovery through Chinese Astrology

But bear in mind that the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year; it can occur as early as mid-January or as late as mid-February. (So if you were born in either of these two months, you may want to check readings for two signs for accuracy. For example, a person born in late January of a Snake year might not be a Snake person, but rather will be influenced by the preceding Dragon year.)

There are twelve animal signs, and they are (in order): The Rat, Ox, Tiger, Cat, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.

Therefore, this cycle’s zodiac renews itself every dozen years.

Every sixty years, there occurs a Horse year that’s called The Year Of The Fire Horse. For a Fire Horse child, this is personally fortunate, but it’s thought to be disruptive to a home and family. (The last Fire Horse Year was in 1966; the next one will occur in 2026.)

The first sign, The Rat, would apply to those years from:

Jan. 31, 1900-Feb.18, 1901
Feb. 18, 1912-Feb. 5, 1913
Feb. 5, 1924-Jan. 23, 1925
Jan. 24, 1936-Feb. 10, 1937
Feb. 10, 1948-Jan. 28, 1949
Jan. 28, 1960-Feb. 14, 1961
Feb. 15, 1972-Feb. 2, 1973
Feb. 2, 1984-Feb. 19, 1985

RATS ARE: charming, protective, compassionate, sociable, and love to talk a lot and are thrifty, honest and upright (my mother!).

BUT THEY CAN ALSO BE: agitated, suspicious and petty, picky and fickle, bossy, argumentative, and overbearing (Mom again!).

Their birthstone is the emerald, lucky number is 11, and their motto is “I Rule.”

Some Famous Rats are: William Shakespeare, Marlon Brando, Doris Day, James Baldwin, Truman Capote, Lee Marvin, Sidney Poitier, Hank Williams, Eva Gabor, Bea Arthur, Carroll O’ Conner, Mozart, Dennis Hopper, Alan Alda, Burt Reynolds, James Taylor, Prince Charles, Olivia Newton-John, Donna Summer, Spencer Tracy, Sean Penn, George Washington, Roy Rogers, and Gene Kelly.

Ox years are from:

Feb. 19, 1901-Feb. 7, 1902
Feb. 6, 1913-Jan. 25, 1914
Jan./ 24, 1925-Feb. 12, 1926
Feb. 11, 1937-Jan. 30, 1938
Jan. 29, 1949-Feb. 16, 1950
Feb. 15, 1961-Feb. 4, 1962
Feb. 3, 1973-Jan. 22, 1974
Feb. 20, 1985-Feb. 8, 1986

OXEN ARE: industrious, patient, hard-working, methodical, reserved, proud, leaders, precise, silent and loners, long-suffering and self-sacrificing, strong and tenacious.

BUT THEY CAN ALSO BE: slow and loutish, grumpy and stubborn, sore losers, prejudiced, chauvinistic, bigoted, resistant to change, rigid, authoritarian, vindicitive, jealous, and sometimes violent.

Their sign color is dark blue, lucky number is 1, and their motto is “I Persevere.”

Some famous Oxen are: Malcolm X, Richard Burton, Johnny Carson, Sammy Davis Jr., Jack Lemmon, Peter Sellers, Jonathan Winters, William F. Buckley, Mel Torme, Merv Griffin, Idi Amin Dada, Paul Newman, Margaret Thatcher, Dick Van Dyke, Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, Angela Lansbury, Robert Kennedy, Bill Cosby, Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Gary Hart, Mary Tyler Moore, Saddam Hussein, Napoleon Bonaparte, Charlie Chaplin, Billy Joel, Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Gere, John Belushi, Walt Disney, Eddie Murphy, Princess Diana, and Michael J. Fox.

Tiger years are from:

Feb. 8, 1902-Jan.28, 1903
Jan. 26, 1914-Feb. 13, 1915
Feb. 13, 1926-Feb. 1, 1927
Jan. 31, 1938-Feb. 18, 1939
Feb. 17, 1950-Feb. 5, 1951
Feb. 5, 1962-Jan. 24, 1963
Jan. 23, 1974-Feb. 10, 1975
Feb. 9, 1986-Jan. 28, 1987

TIGERS ARE: well-mannered, hugely generous, lovable and alluring, pleasant, independent, hard-working, leaders, noble, liberal-minded, magnetic and dynamic, strong, deep-thinking, active, honorable, sensitive, and idealist sweetie pies.

WHEN THEY ACT UP (Which is often), they’re: undisciplined, vain, rash, hasty and hotheaded, uncompromising, reckless and disobedient, quarrelsome, moody, disrespectful of rules, predatory, and irreverent rascals.

Their sign color is bright red, lucky number is 7, birthstone is the ruby, and their motto is “I Win.”

Some famous Tigers are: Queen Elizabeth II, Hugh Hefner, Miles Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Mel Brooks, Jerry Lewis, Andy Griffith, Chuck Berry, Evil Knievel, Jon Voight, Natalie Wood, Buddy Holly, Tina Turner, Phil Collins, David Cassidy, Jay Leno, Mel Gibson, Jody Foster, Tom Cruise, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Matthew Broderick.

Cat years are from::

Jan. 29, 1903-Feb. 15, 1904
Feb. 14, 1915-Feb. 2, 1916
Feb. 2, 1927-Jan. 22, 1928
Feb. 19, 1939-Feb. 7, 1940
Feb. 6, 1951-Jan. 26, 1952
Jan. 25, 1963-Feb. 12, 1964
Feb. 11, 1975-Jan. 30, 1976
Jan. 29, 1987-Feb. 16, 1988

CATS ARE: discreet, refined, sensitive, home-loving, ambitious, cultured, artistic, scholarly, suave, modest, and clever.

IF THEIR FUR’S RUBBED THE WRONG WAY, they’re: snobbish, secretive, old-fashioned, thin-skinned, devious, haughtily indifferent and aloof, self-indulgent, faint-hearted and squeamish, condescending, and hypochondriacal.

Their sign color is gray, birthstone is sapphire, their lucky number is 4, and their motto is “I Retreat.”

Some famous Cats are: Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, Frank Sinatra, Anthony Quinn, Orson Welles, Billie Holiday, Harry Belafonte, George C. Scott, Neil Simon, Fidel Castro, Coretta Scott King, Queen Victoria, Albert Einstein, Peter Fonda, Judy Collins, James Caan, Francis Ford Coppola, Sam Cooke, Jane Seymour, Cheryl Ladd, Tony Danza, Richard Thomas, Michael Keaton, Anjelica Huston, Sting, Marvin Gaye, Bob Hope, Cary Grant, John Dillinger, Tatum O’ Neal, and Nicolas Cage.

Dragon years are from:

Feb. 16, 1904-Feb. 3, 1905
Feb. 3, 1916-Jan. 22, 1917
Jan, 23, 1928-Feb. 9, 1929
Feb. 8, 1940-Jan. 26, 1941
Jan. 27, 1952-Feb. 13, 1953
Feb. 13, 1964-Feb. 1, 1965
Jan. 31, 1976-Feb. 17, 1977
Feb. 17, 1988-Feb. 5, 1989

DRAGONS ARE: vibrant, generous, charismatic, self-sufficient, compelling, sentimental, noble-hearted, scrupulous, enthusiastic, intuitive, shrewd, healthy, influential, vital, captivating, artistic, lucky and successful.

BUT THEY CAN ALSO BE: stubborn, willful and demanding, irritable, loud-mouthed, impetuous, bombastic, dissatisfied, ruthless, power-mad, and pompous.

Their sign color is gold, birthstone’s the ruby, lucky number’s 2, and their motto is “I Reign.”

Some famous Dragons are: Joan Crawford, James Cagney, Salvador Dali, Count Basie, Bing Crosby, Kirk Douglas, Walter Cronkite, Gregory Peck, James Gardner, James Brown, Bo Diddley, Martin Luther King, Mr. Rogers (Fred Rogers), Eartha Kitt, Shirley Temple (Black), Grace Kelly, Dr, Ruth, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Raquel Welch, Richard Pryor, Joan Baez, Frank Zappa, Bob Mackie, Rick Nelson, Bruce Lee, Tom Jones, Martin Sheen, Al Pacino, Dan Aykroyd, Robin Williams, Christopher Reeve, Roseanne, David Byrne, and Pee-Wee Herman (Paul Reubens).

Snake years are:

Feb. 4, 1905-Jan. 24, 1906
Jan. 23, 1917-Feb. 10, 1918
Feb. 10, 1929-Jan. 29, 1930
Jan. 27, 1941-Feb. 14, 1942
Feb. 14, 1953-Feb. 2, 1954
Feb. 21, 1965-Jan. 30, 1966
Feb. 18, 1977-Feb. 6, 1978

SNAKES ARE: wise, cerebral, accommodating, cultivated, attractive, amusing, lucky, sympathetic, elegant, soft-spoken, well-bred, compassionate, calm, decisive,, fun-loving, and a fashion example.

BUT THEY CAN ALSO BE : ostentatious, sore losers, tight-fisted, extravagant, presumptuous, possessive, vengeful, lazy, fickle, self-righteous, conniving, clinging, pessimistic, and haughty.

Their sign color is ice blue, birthstone’s the opal, lucky number is 3, and their motto is “I Feel”.

Some famous Snakes are: Henry Fonda, Greta Garbo, Howard Hughes, Brooke Shields, Charlie Sheen, Robert Downey Jr., President John F. Kennedy, Dean Martin, Dinah Shore, Lena Horne, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Bob Newhart, Audrey Hepburn,, Yasser Arafat, Dick Clark, Picasso, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bob Dylan, Carole King, Aretha Franklin, Art Garfunkel, Otis Redding, Paul Anka, Muhammad Ali, Dionne Warwick, Chubby Checker, Ryan O’ Neal, Thomas Jefferson, Mao Tse-Tung and Oprah Winfrey.