The Year of the Water Tiger begins on February 1st, 2022.
What does this mean, and how might it affect your life?
Each year of the Chinese Lunar Zodiac is comprised of three parts:
- One of the twelve animals (Tiger)
- One of the five elements (Water)
- Yin or yang (Yang)
These three parts show us how universal energies are moving this year, and whether they are in harmony or discord.
Understanding this allows you to align with the harmonious elements and avoid being dragged down by the negative tendencies this year.
The Yang Water Tiger can bring you great fortune, or chaos, depending on how you align yourself with it
The Yang Water Tiger can bring you great fortune, or chaos, depending on how you align yourself with it
Qi (energy) is abundant in nature. It continually flows. It is our human mind that disturbs the natural free flow of life energy in our bodies.
To understand the Way (Tao) is to understand the way energy flows in the universe. The ancient sages of Asia figured this out to an exact science through the Lunar Zodiac.
The gifts of the Lunar Zodiac are best received when we understand the root significance of the twelve animals and how they relate to the five elements.
The Tiger is a powerful animal. A ferociously strong hunter, known as the ruler of the jungle in Asia. It is unpredictable, feared and a natural stalker, but it also has a soft side.
It is after all the year of the cat as well. If you get on the good side of a cat, they become soft, charming and loyal pets.
2022 is the year of all feline species – so be particularly nice and affectionate to cats.
Below I will outline five tips to get the Year of the Tiger purring in your direction, rather than roaring.
Like all years, the energies can work for you or against you. The secret of the ancient sages of Asia was to use the year’s energies to align themselves with good health and good fortune.
To know how to do this, we need to understand some basics about the five elements.
Don’t worry, you don’t need to fully understand all their relationships and intricacies. In fact, there are only two elements that are of great importance this year:
The elements of the Tiger (Wood) and the Year (Water).
The five elements go in a cycle. The first element in the cycle is Water and corresponds to the deep Yin, winter, beginnings, the kidneys and the womb, willpower, fear, and the colour black.
The second element is Wood and corresponds to growing Yang, spring, birth and growth, the liver, focus, anger, and the colour green.
The next three elements are Fire (summer/Full Yang), Earth (long-summer) and Metal (autumn/end of the cycle/Descending Yin).
This year the elements are in harmony. Fortune favours the lucky cat!
Because Water feeds Wood, just as plants need water to grow, this promises to be an auspicious year for those who align themselves with it.
The past two years (2020 & 2021) were both Metal years. Metal is the last element in the cycle and represents the end and death. Metal is refined by letting go of that which is no longer useful. In order to sharpen metal, the dulled edges are removed. Just as the trees let go of their leaves in the fall in order to make space for their new leaves to unfurl in the spring.
Now that we have weathered these two difficult Metal years, we are now ready to welcome a more upward trending year with the Water Tiger.
What does the Tiger Year mean, and how does Water influence it?
The Tiger is associated with courage, power, protection, focus and carefulness.
Those born in the Year of the Tiger are direct, confident, creative and action orientated.
Tigers are known in Asia as being the king/queen of the jungle. They command respect and those who can tame a tiger are bestowed great power and responsibility. The Netflix show Tiger King is a good example of how intoxicating this power can be.
Those born in the Year of the Tiger love to be “in” the world. They are emotionally nourished by actively engaging with people and life.
They also need to balance their activity with rest.
Tigers and cats love to lounge, stretch and groom themselves. Adopting these habits this year will serve you well.
5 Tips to Make the Most of the Water Tiger Year!
Tip #1: Have clear goals and be deliberate in your actions towards achieving them
Wood is the element of directed growth. It’s called Wood because it is plant energy, which is all about expansion and growing towards the light.
If a plant is not growing, it is decaying.
The Yang Wood energy of the Tiger is calling us to be deliberate and proactive in our growth and expansion this year. The Yang Water element of this year reminds us to be fluid and respectful of the rhythms of life.
The Water and Yang nature of this year give positive support to the ambitions of the Tiger. The Tiger is bold and takes initiative. From there it builds momentum and power as it hunts down its goals.
The last two Metal years were about doing a lot of heavy lifting and difficult work. If you did that, then this year will flow more smoothly, as long as you stay focused on your targets.
This year if you have no goal or purpose you may feel like a boat without a rudder.
Because there is strong upward moving energy this year, if you don’t have something to channel that energy towards you may feel like you’re going in circles.
The surefire way to avoid depression, confusion and anxiety this year is to keep focused on your goals. No matter how big or small – having goals and moving towards them is key to happiness and health.
Goals around physical fitness and strength are particularly good this year since the Tiger is strong and powerful and Wood is connected to the tendons.
Tip #2: Cultivate patience and fluidity – avoid perfectionism and distraction
Distraction, impatience and perfectionism are the enemies to a successful Tiger year.
Think of a tiger hunting: it has to be careful not to alert its prey while stalking it. If it rushes in too quick or too abruptly it will scare it away before it even gets close enough.
Patience is a virtue of Water, and is key to achieving anything this year. Whenever you encounter an obstacle this year, don’t force or break your way through it.
Be like water and flow. Be like a river: if it encounters a dam, it builds its energy until it can overcome it by flowing around or over it.
The Water element is crucial to harmony this year. Because of the double Yang nature of this year, the Water is what keeps the Yang in balance and stops it from getting overheated.
Tip #3: Don’t poke the tiger! Avoid getting into cat fights
Passion is a characteristic of the Tiger, so arguments can quickly escalate into full blown fights.
When a tiger is hunting and the prey gets away, the tiger doesn’t spend more energy by getting upset. It stops and rests and rebuilds its energy in order to hunt again. If you try and force your way too hard this year it can pave the way for a conflictual year with upsets and arguments.
Embodying the carefulness and fluidity of the Tiger is your surefire way to avoid getting into some cat fights this year.
Be particularly courteous to those in your circle who are born in the Tiger year.
If you find yourself getting angry or frustrated with people, take a break! Cats are famously independent. They have no qualms about taking the alone time they need. Nor should you this year.
If you need some alone time to refocus, or need to take time off to recharge – do it!
Tip #4: Recharge with water and deliberate rest
Water is the predominant element this year, and it feeds the strong energy of the Tiger. All things water-related will bring you energy, grounding and focus this year.
Be sure to stay properly hydrated: take more baths and showers. Spend time by or in water. Going to beaches or lakes will be more rejuvenating this year. Sitting quietly by the river can bring clarity and solutions to difficult problems.
Even looking at pictures, paintings or images of water can help bring peace and calm this year. Putting water images as your backgrounds or screen-savers can help.
Resting with your feet up is particularly helpful this year. This helps regulate the water in our body and recharge Kidney energy, as well as our will power.
Be like a cat: when action is unclear, lie around until you are ready to go after your goals again.
Lying around isn’t the only way to help balance the Water element in your life. Having fun, laughing and smiling are crucial this year too. Have you ever watched tigers and cats play? Even when they get older they still like to cuddle, wrestle and be affectionate.
Be like a playful cat. Nothing refreshes the soul like good fun! Schedule things that are fun and playful and prioritize making time for these activities.
Tip #5: Stalk your prey wisely. Work smarter not harder
Use your energy wisely this year. The beginning of the year will start off slow, but the Tiger’s momentum will pick up as the year progresses. Don’t burn all your energy too soon. Stalk your prey wisely.
Don’t be like the overly passionate young tiger who comes out of the jungle roaring, in full run – giving its prey notice of its arrival – and scaring it away.
The Tiger is gifted with night vision, extraordinary senses, the physicality to move silently over complex terrain, and they have incredible strength with sharp claws and teeth.
If a Tiger stalks exceptionally, they use all these gifts at their disposal. They don’t exhaust themselves by running too soon. They only have to pounce at the right time and perhaps run a short distance before taking their prey. Even the cheetah, the fastest animal on Earth, doesn’t have the stamina to chase down their prey over a long run.
Water corresponds to will power, to wisdom and to conserving your resources.
Although the energy of the Tiger may motivate you to use raw strength and passion to achieve your goals this year, this approach may cause you to deplete your resources too soon.
Work smarter by taking advantage of the resources at your disposal. Use all your skills, talents and knowledge to stalk your prey carefully, then pounce when it’s right in front of you and take your prize!
The Tiger is generally a good year and because the elements are in harmony this year. This year has a lot of positive potential in it.
May the Tiger be generous and kind to you this year and may it bring you and your family an abundance of health and happiness!
Wishing you all successes this year!
Blaise
