2017: The Year of the Fire Rooster

The Year of the Yang Fire Monkey ended up going completely bananas. The 2016 political theater was a circus that eventually was forced to admit that its colorful cast of characters were indeed its monkeys. Although the majority of Americans chose not to participate in the presidential election, we saw a lot of group think and monkey see, monkey do behavior among the U.S. citizenry as they elected a populist and reality TV personality to the highest office in the land. So much for the Hundredth Monkey Effect.

Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses. ~ Juvenal

After all the monkeying around, some of the monkeys jumped on the bed in triumphant cheers about making America great again. Others jumped off the bed, landing in devastating defeat expressed through outraged violent protests and infantile temper tantrums. Now that the antics of the monkey year are over, it’s time to send the big tent caravan of clowns and gypsy entertainers packing and welcome a new Chinese astrological animal – the Rooster. A time to listen to the Rooster’s wakeup call and rise like the Phoenix from the ashes of burned out spirits and broken hearts.

The evil was not in bread and circuses, per se, but in the willingness of the people to sell their rights as free men for full bellies and the excitement of the games which would serve to distract them from the other human hungers which bread and circuses can never appease. ~ Cicero

The monkey business of 2016 has thankfully come to an end. Now, with the dawn of January 28, 2017, the Red Yin Fire Rooster has come home to roost until January 15, 2018. Every twelve years, there is a Rooster year, the last one being in 2005. The Rooster this year is expected to strut its stuff, cluck to let the barnyard know who is boss and crow to fulfill its duty of waking every soul from its peaceful or restless sleep.

The last Yin Fire Rooster year was 60 years ago, in 1957. That year the Space Age began with the Russians launching Sputnik I, first Earth-orbiting satellite. Ghana became the first African country to gain independence from Britain. Israel gave the Gaza Strip back to Egypt. Egypt opened the Suez Canal for all shipping.  Hurricane Audrey demolished Cameron, Louisiana, which killed 400 people.  Martin Luther King Jr. was elected as president of the Southern Leadership Conference.  Leave It to Beaver premiered on CBS, ushering in an era of television shows that depicted an idealized American culture. Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged, her philosophical magnus opus, was published. Albert Camus won the Noble Prize for literature. A temporary artificial heart and internal pacemaker were both invented.

The Rooster is one of twelve animal signs in the Chinese astrology zodiac. It’s the tenth Earthly branch that is associated with the Autumn season, the eighth month and the hours between 5 and 7, both at dawn and dusk. The Rooster, also called a chicken or a cock, is the only bird in the Chinese zodiac of animal signs. It’s a yin energy sign and is associated with the Metal element.

Yin Fire Rooster

During a Yin Fire Rooster year, people, their lives and world events may be heavily influenced by the unique character and personality traits of this charismatic animal sign, passionate Fire element and receptive yin energy. Fire Roosters tend to be brave, powerful, unyielding, opinionated and determined. The Rooster is focused, task oriented, ambitious, confident, very open and candid. The Fire element energy is erratic, expressive and dynamic. With the high intensity of the Fire Element, the Fire Rooster becomes the most dramatic and energized of all the Rooster signs which may result in some overly-dramatic displays and nervous energy. The Yin energy though, has the potential to temper its fiery fervor.

It will be interesting to see how this energy plays out, is experienced and expressed by people and how it will affect their choices and approach to life. Will they chicken out or get cocky? Will they wake up from their zombified, dumbed down, mind controlled, hypnotic trance? Or, will they be the one to wake others up? Will they puff out their chest, strut their stuff and rule the roost? Or rise from the ashes of their own burnt to the ground lives?

Fire Rooster

The Fire Rooster is enthusiastic and has unpredictable and dynamic bursts of energy. Roosters are proactive, not reactive. They are not afraid to take risks and do so regularly while managing that risk with planning and precision. Their strong personality, powerful will and excellent leadership qualities can make them seem domineering. It’s important to keep in mind that while they may be controlling, they do have a genuine interest in serving their own and other’s highest and greatest good.

When it comes to their career, Fire Roosters are ambitious and determined. Roosters are especially gifted when it comes to managing finances. They are brilliant, wise and prudent in money matters, both personally and professionally. The Rooster has a reputation for finding money in the most unlikely places, clawing and pecking until it can draw blood from a stone. Because of this, those in banking, accounting, debt management and financial planning will do well in 2017.

The Fire Rooster is well known for its stubbornness and unwillingness to be flexible. They have little, if any desire to hear opposing point of views. They prefer to have their position accepted as the right one without explanation or inquiry, questions or constructive criticism, instead of offering it as their own interest pov. This tendency is very off-putting, especially for people who choose to take things personally and are in the habit of being chronically offended.

The Fire element makes the Rooster more extroverted, authoritative and socially inclined. While most Roosters prefer to work alone, Fire Roosters can make great leaders. Their organizational skills and work ethic inspire the people on their team. Some may care more about taking and being in charge instead of caring about the people in their charge and bringing out the best in them. The Fire Rooster can be a bit bossy and takes advantage of the instinctive adherence to the pecking order. Since Fire Roosters are very smart, capable and multi-talented, they assume that everyone already knows that their way is the best way. Since the Fire Rooster cares about how they are perceived, they will find ways to grab people’s attention and hold their interest in an attempt to convince people to agree with them and gain their approval.

Rooster

Roosters have many positive qualities. They are hardworking, observant, principled and resourceful. Confident in their own abilities, they are self-assured and independent. They love entertaining friends, meeting new people and thoroughly enjoy the courtship phase of a romantic relationship. Usually, they are the best dressed person in the room and well groomed.  In social settings, they can be vivacious, amusing and popular.

The Rooster can be brave, loyal, trustworthy, tenacious, resilient, adventurous, astute, proficient, down-to-earth, gregarious, communicative, sensible, generous and charming.

The Rooster can also be cranky, fussy, egotistical, over-zealous, pretentious, materialistic, cynical, temperamental and self-involved.

Organized and refined, they tend to be neat and tidy. Elegant, orderly environments that are highly functional allow them to be the most productive. They are diligent about keeping their affairs in order, schedules structured, accounts up to date and documents filed properly for easy retrieval.

Rooster are meticulous to a fault. They never miss an appointment and are always prompt. With ample mental and physical energy, they fit more in a day than most fit into a week! They are never idle, cannot sit still and are always multi-tasking. They will squeeze every last drop of productivity out of their work day and expect people to respect their time by being punctual.

Roosters can be quite conceited, vain and boastful. They are proud of their pretty plumage. Like any bird, they like to preen, prance and parade about, especially if they have an attentive and adoring audience. They tend to have big egos and need to be constantly at the center of attention or in the spotlight. They will cluck to chide others, crow to exult themselves and cock-a-doodle-do to wake the sleeping masses and call the community to action. Because of this, public speaking, writing, journalism and performing may appeal to more people this year.

The Rooster’s arrogance can be expressed in positive ways such as, taking great pride in their work, accomplishments and a job well done. This can inspire people this year to strive for excellence in all that they do. Recognize the greatness in themselves and acknowledge the greatness in others. Make themselves, their own lives, their relationships, businesses and careers better. Make better choices. Change their environment. Create or duplicate proven systems. Learn or even master a new skillset.

Roosters are highly intelligent, clever, quick-witted and have a great sense of humor. They are well read, experts at small talk and can be the life of the party. Talkative, they can be outspoken, brutally honest and sometimes too blunt. They can show compassion but seldom feel the need to use softeners when they communicate. A practiced and polished debater, they can refute dissenting opinions with intellectual honesty, moral conviction and persuasive arguments. They consider all sides before coming to a conclusion, making a decision or forming an opinion. When questioned, opposed or criticized, they will push back and then flee, literally fly the coop, before tensions get too strained and it devolves into a hostile situation.

The Rooster likes to be in the company of hens. He likes to show off, swagger and demonstrate that he’s got game. He spends a lot of his time sauntering and swaying, sashaying and shaking its tail feathers to impress the ladies. His female counterpart, the hen, also prefers the company of her other hens and the safety of the hen house.

The Rooster’s Wakeup Call

Although more people recognize the power structures and political games the global elite play, many people still believe in authority and continue to give their personal power away to the ruling class. The awakening has the potential to continue and reach the critical mass that the Fire Monkey year failed to deliver. Will this Rooster’s crow awaken enough souls from their amnesic slumber to put us over that unknown magic number?

Each person’s wakeup call will be unique to their individual needs and intentions. Some people may need to pay more attention to their health or energy or eating habits. Others may need to get out of an unhappy relationship, dead end job, bad neighborhood or other difficult situation. Still others will need a reality check, new coping skills or mental health tools. There will be people who have been silent in the past, who will be called to become more outspoken, share their opinions or ideas or offer a dissenting point of view. There will be those who take stands for issues that matter to them or take an active role in a cause close to their heart.

The Rooster feels responsible for waking every member on a working farm. Its internal clock is accurate and unfailing and his early morning alarm doesn’t discriminate. His daily wakeup call is as reliable as the sun coming up in the morning. Everyone awakens when the cock crows and no one dares deny they heard the call. Some will ignore the sounding of the alarm and try to sleep right through it. Others will hear the call to rise and shine and go right back to sleep. If the Fire Rooster has anything to say about it, every member of the human family and citizen of the world will get “woke”. An awake and consciously aware world population will be the dawning of a new day, a good day, a red-letter day for humanity.

Another possibility is a year of fowl play. More fake news and staged events. More violent protests and unfocussed marches. More censorship of free speech and foul mouthed name calling. More bold faced lies and intentional deceptions. More corruption and crimes against humanity.

Birds of a feather flock together. It could be that the like-minded will form even more narrowly defined cliques through the oppression olympics and identity politics. They will hen peck each other and anyone with a different point of view. They will engage in macho cock fights to the death, instead of choosing their battles or avoiding the bigoteers altogether. They will burn their own cities to the ground instead of rising up from the ashes.

In 2017...

Wake with the Sun

Animals wake with the sunrise and sleep with the sunset. With the invention of the light bulb, it became easier to stay up later and later. Even if you are a night owl, you can set your alarm for a little earlier in the morning. It’s a new year, a new day. If you cannot wake with the dawn of each new day, try waking up earlier than you are now. The easiest way is to set your alarm for 5 minutes earlier each week or every few days. See what you could accomplish with that extra time. Or, enjoy a few minutes to yourself before the rest of the house wakes up. You know what the early bird gets...

Go Free Range

Let yourself out of the hen house. Fly the coop. Leave the nest. Explore your world. Go south for the winter. Travel. Broaden your world view.

Tend to Your Nest Egg

The Rooster is very productive and money savvy. So, as you earn and acquire money, invest and save. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Do lay some golden eggs and keep them safely secured in a feathered nest.

Be Un-Peck-Able

This year, determine to be un-peck-able. BE Impeccable with your word, your actions, your intentions and your energy. BE Conscious of the energy you bring to your environments and relationships. BE Discerning about the kind of energy you allow into your environments and relationships. BE Aware of your effect on others, and the effect their energy is having on you. BE an energetic NO to those who would peck at you, scratch at you or try to ruffle your feathers. BE Un-fuck-with-able.

Clucking & Crowing

Many people will expend a lot of the time and energy on criticizing everyone and everything. They will cluck their disapproval. Peck apart every little thing. Focus in on every tiny detail. Be obsessed with minutia. Let their bird brain go bird crazy. Don’t let them make you cuckoo by pulling you in to their tiny insane world. They can play Angry Birds by themselves.

Other people will feel more freedom to be verbally self-expressed about things they never speak about. They will crow their dissent. Squawk about all of the things that are important to them. Surprise some people who didn’t know they had such strong opinions, held such views or had such thoughtful ideas. Articulate their thoughts and beliefs. Share their knowledge and wisdom.

Rising & Roosting

Will you get your wings this year? Will you rise like a Phoenix from the ashes? Will you lift off and take flight? Will you soar? Or, will you feather your nest, come home to roost and be the wakeup call for your local community?

Whatever you do in 2017, know that you matter. What you do matters. Who you are BEing for yourself and others, matters. If you really knew how much you mattered, who could you BE? This year, find out!

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