The twelve animals of Tibetan astrology according to the Yungdrung Bön texts are the Rat, Elephant, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Horse, Snake, Sheep, Garuda, Monkey, Dog and Pig.  Each animal has a specific element associated with its life-force and a position direction determined by that element. Each year one of these twelve animals is associated with one of the five elements of: metal, wood, fire, water, or earth. In other contexts, metal is referred to as space, and wood is referred to as wind or air. It takes sixty years for all twelve animals to be associated with each of the five elements. When this happens, it is considered one complete cycle that repeats again and again.

March 3, 2022 begins the Tibetan New Year and the Year of the Water Tiger. Therefore, people born on or after March 3rd will be a Water Tiger and will have an emphasis of the specific qualities associated with the Tiger.

The element which governs the life-force of the Tiger is Wood and its positive direction is East.  So, if a Tiger person wanted to strengthen their life-force, they would focus upon strengthening the element of Wood internally and externally. Their positive direction is East. So, facing this direction while meditating, doing healing rituals or just relaxing and taking deep breaths is beneficial.

In general, the Tiger is considered to be courageous, independent, unpredictable, artistic and passionate.  The Tiger tends to go after life with passion and daring.  Making its own path, it tends to gravitate towards unconventional lifestyles and avoids following traditions or social conventions.  The Tiger is a fierce and determined leader that can be quick-tempered and protective of its ego.  The Tiger wants to live life to the fullest in its own way, and without being told what to do.

The Tiger’s soul day is Thursday and the life-force day is Saturday.  These are the best days for beginning new projects and activities that are meant to increase or develop something.  The obstacle day is Friday.  This day is best for cleansing and letting things go.  It is not a favorable day for beginning new things.

Tiger years include: 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, and 2010

If you were born during a previous year of the Tiger, this year as well as other Tiger years are considered a time of vulnerability to obstacles. This same astrological principal applies for all of the other eleven animal signs during their associated year. Therefore, it is recommended to engage in practices that support vitality, good fortune and spiritual merit such as hanging prayer flags, having a soul and life-force retrieval ritual performed, restoring any deterioration or violation of one’s spiritual commitments or any damaged relationship with one’s spiritual brothers and sisters, and/or performing prayers and rituals to remove obstacles. In general, making an effort to engage more with virtuous activities of body, speech and mind and committing to engage less with non-virtuous activities is supportive. According to the words of Buddha Tönpa Shenrap Miwoché, the practice of developing sincere unbiased and unlimited compassion is the greatest of all protections.

Although the associated elements to four of the five natal forces change according to the birth year, the element of the life-force is determined by the animal sign and remains the same regardless of the birth year. Therefore, it is possible to calculate the relationship of the year of the Water Tiger in regards to the life-force of each of the other natal animals without having knowledge of the specific birth year.

The influence of the Water Tiger year on the life-force of each of the Tibetan astrological signs:

• Rat: Neutral
• Elephant: Very bad
• Tiger: Bad
• Rabbit: Bad
• Dragon: Very bad
• Snake: Excellent
• Horse: Excellent
• Sheep: Very bad
• Monkey: Very good
• Garuda: Very good
• Dog: Very bad
• Pig: Neutral

For each of these animal signs, there remains the four other natal constituents to consider in order to have a better idea of the influence that 2022 will have upon the individual. For example, although the life-force calculation could be bad, the calculations for health, personal power, lungta, and soul could be excellent. Traditionally, these calculations are done yearly.

If the yearly horoscope calculations result in any challenging aspects, preventive measures can be taken in order to remove or at least decrease the potential for any problems to manifest. Common methods used to eliminate these obstacles are hanging prayer flags, rituals to reverse negativity, making or renewing spiritual commitments, pilgrimage, making charitable donations, and so on.

According to the words of Buddha Tönpa Shenrap Miwoché, the practice of developing sincere, unbiased and unlimited compassion is the greatest of all protections, and avoiding non-virtue and engaging more with virtue supports all of the natal forces to be strong and balanced.

A common prayer within the Yungdrung Bön tradition that is used to remove obstacles is the Bar Che Lam Sel, The Spontaneous Wish-fulfillment of Removing Obstacles from the Path. The English, Spanish and Portuguese translations of this prayer are offered free for personal use on the Nine Ways Publications page. Click on the Publications tab above and scroll down to find the download link for the prayer.

For those interested in a traditional Tibetan astrological horoscope to calculate the influence of 2022 on each of their natal constituents of life-force, health, personal power, lungta and soul, Geshe Yongdong Losar of Sherab Chamma Ling in British Columbia, Canada offers Tibetan astrological horoscopes through his website. Follow this link for more information about Geshe Yongdong and his astrological calculations: https://sherabchammaling.com/product/astrology-reading/

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