Earth Ox Month begins Monday January 5th. I’m calling it the tail of the Snake. The revelations of the Snake year are not finished yet.
Technically, the Ox is the 12th month of the lunar and solar years. The Ox goes last in this cycle of twelve, and the Ox teams up with Snake and Rooster to produce Metal.
Earth (especially the Earth of the Ox) will be happy to support that. This particular Ox month is an Earth Ox. As with any pillar, the element on top will give it a certain nuance, giving you some clues about what experiencing it might be like. It’s 己 yin Earth from top to bottom.
The Earth Ox is known for stopping in its tracks, that is, maybe stopping you in yours! Earth doesn’t usually move; it can sometimes denote stubbornness related to the stopping. For some, the “stopping” will be like a religious conversion, not that it necessarily involves religion. I think it involves the changing of belief systems though for sure. We’ll be seeing a lot of that this month. Some of that energy will appear again in May 2026.
What might change our beliefs this month is related to the Earth and Metal. That would mean rules, laws, facts, science, data, logic, punishment, and enforcement to name a few things. Earth is the power or authority element for the Wood Snake year chart and with Earth Ox here we’ve got a whole pillar of Qi Sha. Between this idea of Qi Sha and the strength of Metal, maybe we will see more changes with our government, for one thing. Some of it may even be helpful for us.
The Ox can be stubborn and sometimes overly committed to routine and the Earth Ox is the most Ox-ish. Cultivate your flexibility but also embrace those routines that seem to make everything work for you. Find out if they still do, or find out you have more peace in the Fire Horse year by not insisting on them all the time.
If you’re already feeling depleted or burnt out, don’t push it. You might avoid illness by doing this one thing! The thing about prevention is that if you’re successful you’ll never know, right? Keep maintaining and protecting your Fire. In February we will switch to regulation of it.
The best strategy for the month might be to let go of your stubbornness, detachment, outdated ideas, catchphrases; things you’ve been storing that have lost their value. It’s said that the Ox is capable of storing all of the bitterness in the world in their belly. The Fire that’s coming could help you get rid of that too if you want it.
Speaking of the incoming new year of the Fire Horse..I am working on the Annual Animal Fortunes now. For every Chinese month, I publish the Animal Fortunes too. Read the month fortune for all of your Four Pillars here.
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