Swords Into Plowshares: The Yin Metal Ox, 2021
by Karen Abler Carrasco
2020, the Chinese Yang Metal Rat year, was like a brutal sword fight or a devastating siege, right in our very homes. In fact, its blades sliced through everything foundational to our daily lives, and that was world wide. For an entire 12 month cycle, in all four seasons, we gave up every usual way of doing things. Meals, school, work, church, travel and holiday celebrations were all warped. Finances wobbled, many businesses collapsed, life became “virtual” and we suffered in strained isolation. We were cut away from our stale beliefs about the world and our roles in it. That Yang Metal Rat scurried absolutely everywhere, unearthing the disease, degradation, and waste hidden below the surface of our global lifestyles.
What was shattered for you last year? Which daily patterns were you forced to change? How did you adapt to that, and do you now wish to keep some of your new habits? How did your self image shift, and what personal shortcomings or talents did you uncover? Where did your truest support for your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health lie, and will you choose to maintain the most nourishing aspects of that?
These are the questions to be answered this year, as the 2021 Yin Metal Ox year pulls its metal plow through the fertile soil of the coming decade. This year, with its slow pace of Yin Ox qualities, you are being granted the time you need to establish fresh footing on higher ground. Trust that the worst of the seismic shocks are behind us. What remains is the task of sifting through the scattered shards of the past, and selecting the best parts to build a radically different future. This is the Yin Metal Ox’s true talent.
The Ox is stereotyped as a dull, “slow and steady” creature among the 12 animal energies of the Chinese zodiac, but it is the strongest, most unswerving of them all. It has the proverbial strength of a bull, but none of its swaggering ego. The Ox’s animal element is Water, relating to its inherently yielding nature. Just as water will find its resting place no matter the obstacle, so does the energy of the Ox flow inevitably to the destination set for it. The Ox has endless endurance and a relentless determination to reach the goal.
This year’s element is Metal. In the Chinese medicine theory of the Five Elements, Metal supports Water. Thus, similar to last year, the year’s Metal energy magnifies the Ox’s Water energy, resulting in another year of important, powerful influence. There is, again, no time for waffling indecisiveness. This year, keep your choices and decisions simple, practical, reachable. Plan for the long term, but act in the short term. Whether they be long range career goals or your weekly grocery list, commit to your choices fully and with confidence. This Metal Ox will graciously and dependably carry you where you aim to go. Climb onto its powerful back this year and steer its mountain of energy into the heart of your desires. Once you have answered the critical questions regarding your life’s new directions and motivations, don’t look back. Let self doubt and fear of the unknown slide off your shoulders. The Yin Metal Ox clears away the tangled weeds of confusion, pushes aside any rocky insecurities and handles uphill challenges easily.
Actually, the biggest challenge for us all this year is to generate trust and optimism. Trust that the chaos of this decade’s beginning is actually positive, like the “healing crisis” that precedes the cure. We’ve suffered daily with the very real fear for survival for ourselves, our beloveds and the world. The resultant trauma requires acknowledgement and compassion, something we are all gradually learning to share as a society. The ways we are bound together across all physical and social boundaries are crystal clear. The opportunity to realize our unity as a species is here and now. And while it is easy to stay in fear of the misfortunes befalling so many, it is not the way forward.
Our combined human energy creates a collective perception of the third dimension, and moves in waves, spiraling through time and space, and evolving ever higher in vibration. The aspects of that perception, that life we make, which are old, heavy, and drained of joy must be discarded now. Though our daily experiences may yet bring discouragingly corrupt remnants to our attention, it is time to steadfastly rise above and stay focused on the “New Earth” forming ahead. Physicists tell us that the wavelengths of light flooding the planet are rising in quantity and vibration, while the earth’s pulsing resonance has risen as well. All of life’s vibrations are tuning us in to a higher dimension. There is truly a brave new world birthing.
The Yin Metal Ox year is the skilled midwife to this birth. The yin quality itself brings the wise internal feminine realm into play. Thus, your work this year can go as deep and profound as you wish. The Metal element brings mental acuity, decisiveness and sharp, shining clarity of purpose. The Ox brings its single-focused, unfaltering strength. There is a kind of simple naivete to it, springing from its endearingly obstinate nature. The Ox chooses a path, announces its intentions clearly, marshals its massive power and confidently forges ahead. No dithering, no hesitation, no excuses. The Ox will not rest until the job is completed.
Though difficulties and surprises may continue to litter your path this year, stay grounded and walk slowly. Curtail your peripheral vision. Concentrate on your own immediate circumstances, and keep to your own lane. Discipline your mind and heart to plow ahead towards the shimmering horizon of world healing, trusting the sweet, steady gentle energy of this year. Yin Metal Ox, we climb onto your massive capable back in exhausted gratitude and hope. Carry us up and out into the light of the new decade on the New Earth.
