Chinese Astrology Profile

For

Julia Roberts

October 28, 1967

12:16 AM

Atlanta, Georgia

Calculated for:

Daylight Savings Time, Time Zone 5 hours West

Latitude: 33 N 44 56

Longitude: 84 W 23 17

Positions of Sun at birth is 4 deg 03 min of Scorpio

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS CHINESE ASTROLOGY?

Like our own western astrology, Chinese astrology uses twelve different signs or symbols to define twelve basic categories of human being. Similarly to western astrology, the Chinese system uses a person's birth date as the basis for his sign, so in some ways the two systems are alike. Now, let's have a look at how they differ.

Our own astrological signs are monthly. Each of our signs has a different heaven-inspired mythological name and corresponds to a period equivalent to a single Sun cycle. If you were born in the Sun cycle period labeled Aquarius, then in western astrological terms you are an Aquarian. Chinese zodiacal signs are yearly. Each Chinese sign has a different animal name and corresponds to a period equivalent to an entire Chinese calendar year. If you were born in a yearlong period which the Chinese label the Dragon Year, then in Chinese astrological terms you are a Dragon. Simple? Yes.

Chinese astrology is so simple that you need only know the year of your birth to find out which of the twelve signs is yours. But there is one tricky aspect to consider. The Chinese New Year falls on a different date every year. This holiday can occur as early as mid-January or not until late February. If you were born in either January or February, that is, if you are either Capricorn or Aquarius in western astrology, you need to know whether you were born before or after the Chinese New Year. This interpretation has calculated that information for you.

The Chinese animal symbols are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Cat, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. These animals always appear in the same order. Since the beginning of recorded Chinese time, 2637 B.C., the animal sequence has recurred faithfully every twelve years. It always begins with the Rat and ends with the Pig. And to make things even more convenient for us Twentieth-Century Westerners, 1900 was a Rat year. That means that the next Rat year was 1912 and 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984 were all Rat years. Anybody born in any of these years is a Rat.

Chinese astrology, in one form or another, was widely used all over the Orient from the fortieth century B.C. It became especially popular between 2953 and 2838 B.C. under the Emperor Fu Hsi and again under Shen Nung, who was born in the twenty-eighth century B.C. The zodiacal system and its philosophies as we know them today were codified by Ta Nao, an able minister of Emperor Huang Ti, born about 2704 B.C. It was made official in 2637 B.C. and was formally inaugurated, as were other historical events, at the sixtieth anniversary of the same popular Emperor Huang Ti's accession to the throne. For forty-six centuries thereafter, this system was used as the national standard and touched on all state affairs in China.

People born in Pig years are all somewhat naive and hate to say no; Rats are aggressive and talkative; Dogs loyal and ardent, Snakes altruistic and attractive; Dragons healthy and noisy; Horses independent and pragmatic; Goats dependent and creative and have no sense of time; Oxen slow and eloquent; Tigers rash and magnetic; Cats flee conflict and love tradition; Monkeys are entertaining and give lots of presents; Roosters are resourceful and bossy and adore clothes.

YIN AND YANG

Yin and Yang are the two main opposite but equal Chinese philosophical forces. The power of Yin is sometimes interpreted as passive, female, docile, receptive and society-oriented. Conversely, the Yang energy is said to be aggressive, male and socially indifferent. To the Chinese, everything in life is either Yin or Yang, and the trick to achieving harmony is knowing how to balance Yin and Yang so they operate in synergy rather than clash.

According to Chinese thought, any circumstance in the universe - a rainstorm, a night of love, a child taking its first steps, a wobbly bedstead, a frantic phone call, a dish of steaming pasta, a traffic accident, a dancing bride and groom or a washing-line in the sunlight - is the direct result of an energy balance or imbalance between Yin and Yang.

THE FIVE ELEMENTS - WOOD, FIRE, EARTH, METAL, AND WATER

To allow for movement to occur and bring about change, Chinese philosophy calls upon the five elements as agents of change and reaction. Change, the Chinese think, derives from the influence of the five main elements - Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water - on the basic Yin or Yang energies. Like in the old rock, paper, scissors game, each of these five Chinese elements has the ability to control and/or destroy the previous element, and is capable of producing the element that directly follows it. In the regenerative cycle of the elements, Water engenders Wood. Wood begets Fire. Fire burns to Earth. Earth creates Metal and Metal gives way to Water.

Wood is characterized by the color green. Wood heralds the beginning of life, springtime and buds, sensuality and fecundity. Wood's influence affects the liver, the gallbladder and, by extension, the digestion. Wood needs moisture to thrive. Its two opposite yet equally emotional forces are rage and altruism. The Wood person will be expansive, outgoing and socially conscious.

Wood, in its turn, can create and nourish Fire. Fire's signatory color is red. Fire is hot weather, satisfaction of nature, aridity and dust. The tongue and the small intestine are the centers of attention in the Fire person's body. Fire makes heat, which either warms or burns. The Fire person must constantly seek to balance a tendency to explode and possibly destroy, against a desire to create coziness and warmth. Passionate by nature, this impatient, ebullient person must strive to keep his flame under control.

Earth is created from the ashes of the Fire. Now we are in the soothingly satisfying late summer cycle. Earth's favorite color is yellow, which represents the equanimity between beginnings and. endings. The weather of Earth is mild or temperate. In the human body, Earth influences spleen, pancreas and mouth. Earth's two opposite but equal forces which need to be kept in constant balance are enhancing and smothering. On the one hand Earth gives care and allows for growth and improvement. On the other, Earth buries roots and snuffs out breath. Earth people are gifted for fairness and have the ability to commit themselves to protracted projects and complete Herculean tasks with ease. They must struggle against a penchant for worry.

The Earth grows Metal in her veins. Metal says white and autumn. Metal is cool, crisp weather. Metal's effect on the body centers in the lungs and respiratory system. It only secondarily rules the large intestine and the nose. Metal people like to communicate. They need to keep discord and harmony in constant balance. Metal signifies the onset of winter. Its influence can sometimes add sadness or gloom to an astrological chart. Two of Metal's emotional forces are melancholy and romance. I see Metal as Wagnerian. Metal people must guard against a tendency to wallow in nostalgia.

Lastly, Metal begets Water - groundwater trickling its way through layers of the Earth's core. Water's color is blue. Its season is full-blown winter. Water is always moving, fluid, and mutational. In our bodies, water's influence affects our plumbing systems, the kidneys and the bladder. The ear, too, comes under the spell of Water. Hence people born in Water-ruled years are frequently musical. They pick up on everything. Be it good or bad, they never miss a vibe. Water-ruled creatures are always very sensitive and sometimes even mentally fragile. The downside of Water's influence, then, is a stressful nervousness. To balance that fidgety, squeamish, overly sensitive side, Water endows its subjects with the noblest quality of all, kindness and sympathy. Sometimes too permeable, the Water-ruled must take precautions against drowning in the chagrin of those they see as less fortunate than themselves.

So, the five elements cause the commotion and are responsible for creating and maintaining both balance and imbalance - for moving things around and making life interesting. These purveyors of change can be controlled or not, depending on how one manages them.

Each animal year of the Chinese zodiac has been assigned one of the five elements. The elements each turn up twice in the cycle going away for another ten years. The five elements are always presented in the above order. Once we know this, we can understand how the elements directly affect us and pertain to individual characters.

The elements work by governing each animal sign once through the sixty-year "century" You will not come across a Water Horse more than once in sixty years. This fact alone accounts for sixty different basic character or destiny types. Further, when a learned Chinese astrologer draws up a chart for an individual person according to the Chinese astrological system, he takes into consideration the month and the season, the time of day and the type of weather on the day of birth as well as certain astral configurations at the moment of birth. In all, good Chinese astrologers deal with a base of no less than 512,640 different possible personality charts. This means that only two people in a million stand a chance of being born with identical destinies.

YOUR CHINESE SIGN

GENTLE GOAT

Your sign is the most creative. You are truly gifted, have a flair for the aesthetic and enjoy being in tune with nature. You are both hardworking and intuitive. But before you work at anything, you must be provided with security. You need to feel loved and protected, grazing safely in a fertile field. Without a structure inside of which to function, you are relatively uncomfortable.

You are a born eccentric. You don't mind struggling and straining in an effort to reach a noble or tangible goal, but you hate adhering to schedules or performing repetitive, meaningless routine chores. You need lots of ready cash. Yet you scorn budgets.

A formidable ambivalence divides your basic need for security and your longing for total freedom from stressful limits. Goats are generally delicate people. Your good manners, wiles and charm will go a long way toward finding that person, group, or profession that offers you maximum protection and allows your talent to thrive. Try your hand at poetry, research or, better still, just lie back, relax and wax Bohemian. You would make a perfect hippie.

Try courting an eloquent Horse. Horses know how to work hard for others. Bat your eyelashes at a refined, home loving Cat/Rabbit or better still, grab yourself a scrupulous, competent (and often rich) Pig to lean on and love for life. Avoid Tigers and Oxen. They don't approve of your capriciousness.

You don't mind the role of dependent, so you'll probably enjoy a peaceful childhood. As an amorous and fanciful young adult, you may experience some devastating romantic disappointments. Luck shines in the third part of your life, bringing affection and security to coddle your tender soul. Take a bit of practical advice: find your "fertile field" at a young age and force yourself to graze patiently. Your fortune can often be found in somebody else's bank account.

THE GOAT ID CARD

Lasting symbols have special powers. Enhance your self-image by surrounding yourself with tangible signs of your own identity; make these symbols known to your friends and ones; use them daily and they will bring you luck, security and a feeling of personal worth.

YOUR BEST

Your best color is light green, flower is narcissus, fragrance is apple blossom, tree is the dogwood, flavor is bland, birth stone is sapphire, and lucky number is 12.

YOUR FAVORITE

Your favorite food is raw vegetables, animal is the nightingale, drink is mineral water, spice is saffron, metal is aluminum, herb is mint, and musical instrument is the harp.

THE GOAT IS YANG. THE GOAT'S MOTTO IS "I DEPEND."

On good days, you are an appealing, altruistic, creative, empathetic, intuitive, generous, artless, gentle, romantic, sensitive, compliant, candid, self-effacing darling.

However, when the going gets rough, you can become a self-pitying, pessimistic, fugitive, parasitic, vengeful, lazy, indecisive, contentious, violent, capricious, irresponsible, tardy, careless, bigoted, nasty little piece of work.

Goats are the dreamers of the Chinese zodiac. You are a somewhat languid creature whose aim in life shifts about with ease and grace, following no particular pattern and confounding all and sundry. You are a thoroughgoing maverick. Your brain rarely obeys your feet. You seem content to be blown along by the wind. Then, suddenly, you alight in some uncharacteristic place without having given or taken notice. Before you know it or bother to resist, you often find yourself embroiled in some unlikely plot, surrounded by people with whom you have nothing in common, accomplishing precious little and going nowhere fast.

Because of this tendency to give in to will-o'-the-wisp behavior and the obvious strains which all that whimsy and sudden change place on your gentle but pessimistic nature, you worship inertia. You dream of being able to sit still somewhere pleasant and not move for fear of finding yourself up a tree or down a well, victimized once again by circumstances over which you are convinced you have no control.

In this last assessment, you may be right. Of all the signs of the Chinese system, Yours is the most pliable, gentle and willing to please. Your nature is fluid and your heart full of sympathy for those involved in dilemmas with which you can closely identify. If you dare to engage with the world at large, you are easily drawn into complex predicaments. This being so, you usually shy from confrontation, pull back when faced with heavy decision making, and blatantly refuse to take an unpopular stand in any conflict.

Frequently, you willingly take a back seat to a shrewish wife or domineering husband who provides security. You don't seem to mind being putty in the hands of an exacting boss or superior authority. You thrive on deadlines, the more demanding and urgent the better. Deadlines tell you what to do when. You need not make the rules. They are made for you, which is exactly the way you like it. Within a system where you have a job to do, almost nobody works harder or longer.

Although the Goat symbol is Yang, every person born in a Goat year comes into the world literally drowning in Yin. There is a hypersensitivity and talent for tenderness and consideration that ill prepares Goats for the drudgery, tribulation and hard angles of real life. You are too gentle, too gracious for the crushing pressures of day-to-day reality, and not equipped to function in our climb-the-ladder-to-success, Dog-eat-Goat world. If pushed to conform to the mold of the self-starting aggressive business person, you may suffer a nervous breakdown or else simply take to your chaise-lounge and plunge head first into your mental safety net of real psychological detachment and terminal daydreaming.

The best way for you to navigate the perilous trip through life's jungle safely is simply this: for your survival, depend on the kindness of strangers. This is not to suggest that you don't have reserves of force or that you are unable to exert your will. You are a powerhouse of passive resistance. You do not seek gain through humiliation or aggression. You are much more imaginative than that. You know how to employ the strength of the weak. You are a master of clandestine manipulation. When crossed, you are capable of concocting life-consuming pain-inflicting vendettas on your enemies. You can engineer veritable cold wars. But you wouldn't be caught dead on the front lines.

The otherworldly side of your nature lends itself to the study of the esoteric. You could be an astrologer, soothsayer, or fortuneteller. Like Snakes, you have a sixth sense about what may happen next and often enter professions where prediction is useful, such as fashion, design, decorating, or the stock market. Armed then, with a master talent for back-room intrigue as well as foreknowledge of future events, you can either be a treacherous foe or a masterful ally.

The sense of time with which most of us are born is almost totally foreign to you. You can stay up for three days and nights to work on a project or exhibit uncanny powers of endurance in stressful moments. Yet you have difficulty rising each morning to get to work or an eight o'clock class on time. You hate schedules and routine. You could, on the other hand, seem relentlessly organized and fanatically neat because, at times, you can force yourself to adhere to a schedule and keep your life in order, if only to please a demanding boss or a neatnik mate.

You are constantly fighting the temptation to disappear into rumination. You are a tough Goat indeed if you have disciplined yourself to always do your shopping in the same supermarket at the same time each week. Routine makes you crazy. You would always prefer to create, dream, wish, hope, and wait for Godot. Your natural creativity is an unbeatable force for innovation and even genius; but it won't win you any prizes for punctuality.

You are a security junkie. Your priorities begin and end with safe asylum. You care most about being well sheltered and living in a peaceful environment, even if the life you find there is outrageously demanding of your time and nervous system. When you feel secure, you can think straight.

The single most important flaw in your personality is your talent for acting inconsequentially. Some call it creativity or spontaneity. But it is a kind of caprice. You shilly-shally over the decision to buy either Wheaties or Cornflakes as though you were deciding whether or not to use nuclear weapons.

You often don't work well without supervision. Although you make a marvelous employee because you don't mind being bossed around and told what to do, you cannot be trusted to hold the fort alone. On your own, you may or may not remember to do things the way the boss said he wanted them done. When you're alone, without guidance or supervision, your actions seem guided solely by whimsy and impromptu brain waves.

Fortunately, you know yourself well. You understand and accept your basic need for outside support and protection, and have little difficulty in accepting the sometimes dreadful facts of life that can accompany such dependence.

Your best aid in the big bad world lies in the hands of those who like and champion you. For this reason, you usually keep a low profile and don't rock the boat. You rarely to take a vigorous public stand or demonstrate for an unpopular issue. Being on the bad side of authority is not your idea of a tranquil existence. Peace and quiet is what you are all about, except, of course, when you commit a social faux pas or tell an off-color joke in politest company. It's the spontaneity factor that you find so difficult to keep under control.

You are basically pessimistic: except during your periods of escapism, you suffer from free-floating anxiety. You are easy prey for depression and self-destruction.

You often enter a new situation from your cloud nine reverie. You haven't always been following what came before. This makes you feel bumptious and clumsy in certain situations. So, in order to give the impression that you are "with it", you begin carping about some unrelated detail. People do not always take kindly to this intrusive behavior and it sometimes leads to rows. You butt vehemently into discussions and because you may not have been paying attention or don't know anything about the subject, your vehemence seems misplaced or out of synch.

You must be allowed to live at least part of the time in your own dream world. You cannot tolerate interference into this fantasy realm. If someone should call you on this tendency to vaporize, you may become enraged and even violent. You find it difficult to accept anyone else's accusations or assessment of your behavior because you truly know that no one but yourself can possibly know where you're coming from.

You are also slightly narcissistic. Your appearance and image play an enormous part in your sense of personal stability. If you don't look your best, you may be afraid to go as far as the corner shop. Much of the time, you choose to stay at home where it's safe and you can tinker and putter around.

What role does a creature of such frail sensitivities play in this mad world of ours? You are decorative. You are also highly creative and compassionate. You adore nature and thrive on being around animals and children. You are pleasant company and often know how to make people laugh. You make grippingly interesting small talk. You are empathetic and willingly sit through sob story after sob story. You take a vivid interest in improving society and care deeply for preserving beauty. You are an excellent abstract thinker, and also enormously talented at working with your hands. When lovingly managed and appreciated for your efforts, you know better than anybody how to be productive and put in endless long hours. You so want to please that you take pains to add joy and fantasy to life's humdrum. You generally display a modest social image and, unless pushed or frustrated, rarely make waves.

Unless it has a defined purpose, you hate physical exertion. You are an unlikely weightlifter or sports hero.

In summing up, I will remind you that, despite your unwillingness to enter solo into the vicissitudes of real life and your penchant for excessive rumination, you can be a thoroughgoing genius. But for you to enter adulthood and know how to put your gifts to work, you require ongoing security and, most of all, personal discipline.

You need torrents of love and approval, but you must be taught to build on your talents and put them to use. You need a structured environment and schedule. You need to learn good communication skills. Otherwise, you may grow up dependent on the kindness of strangers and your genius may be handicapped forever.

GOAT HEALTH

Your health can be best defined as precarious. Although you can, in spurts, stand up to endurance tests and sweat out ordeals of superhuman dimension, your foundations are shaky, timbers friable and delicately shaped ankles weak.

Your health pattern is irregular. Your demeanor is so listless and your spirit so hazy that sometimes you don't know if you're feeling ill or simply in a state of stratospheric suspension from which you find it painful to emerge.

You are not a hypochondriac, but you are vulnerable, hence easily overcome and invaded by all manner of unexpected illnesses. You are no model of physical force: you are ethereal. Characteristically you tread lightly and float around in a state of semi-remove from reality. You live in a delicate and finely wired body. You often fall victim to the ravages of anarchic living and weirdo eating habits.

You don't always complain and when you do, your symptoms are rarely specific. You may just feel "all in" and take to the couch where you seem to vegetate. Standard first-aid methods don't reveal anything and the "How do you feel now?" question gets a fleeting, sketchy answer.

You are not given to identifying gory details. Instead, without a word, you'll drift over to the chaise lounge and sprawl attractively there in a state of advanced lethargy. Although pretty alarming to behold, this usually just means that you are weary of fighting all day to pull yourself back from the twilight zone, tired of keeping business hours when you'd really rather work all night and sleep all day, and weary of coping with the rigors of survival.

You need to learn how to protect yourself from infection. In China, it is well-accepted that the earlier the Goat acquires good personal hygiene and healthy eating habits, the better the chance he or she has of achieving a sturdy, ripe old age.

Puberty is always wearisome and strenuous for youngsters but especially traumatic for you Goats. Both sexes suffer from slow development and lazy metabolism, but the male is particularly susceptible to sluggish hormones, a condition which sometimes delays the appearance of secondary sex characteristics such as a beard and voice change. This pubescent hormonal imbalance may severely hinder your physical growth. Nothing is more traumatic for a sixteen-year-old boy than to find himself elected Midget of the Year.

What this all boils down to once more is that, whether in the workplace, on the sports field or in the kitchen, you need to be monitored. With few exceptions, you will not take responsibility for your own well-being. You don't scorn healthy notions or find routine work or eating habits contemptible. You just cannot police your own behavior.

You may suffer from allergies. Hay fever, asthma, nagging dry coughs, chronic stuffy noses and sinus headaches often plague you. For best results you should try to avoid allopathic medicine, which often treats only symptoms and doesn't go to the root of the disorder. Allergies are essentially caused by an energy imbalance, and attacks are partially precipitated by your emotional state, with diffuse, changeable, elusive symptoms. The Chinese believe in treating these functional disorders with natural medicines, homeopathy and acupuncture. These highly refined, subtle methods invariably work best for you.

Mental illness may lurk in your befuddled psyche. Autism, paranoia, schizophrenia and mental blackouts are possible in your medical history. Remember that you are particularly susceptible to the effects of drugs and alcohol and must cultivate a disciplined, almost militant, attitude against the use of mind-altering chemicals.

You should eat lots of greens, fruit and grains, and avoid sweet and starchy foods. Lean meat, fish and legumes will provide necessary proteins and should be consumed regularly. You benefit from drinking lots of fruit juice and mineral water. Broth is good, too. Despite my earlier caveat about ingesting alcohol, you can use good wine, tea and coffee in moderation, as these three beverages tend to spur you out of your chronic lethargy.

The best sports for you are gentle water sports or easy walking and jogging. Violent activity does not suit your temperament. You feel zingiest in iodized seaside air that stimulates your recalcitrant thyroid gland. You also crave the deep green of temperate climates and gently rolling countryside. Mountain air may make you uneasy and enervated. A quiet, non-stressful life is best for your health. All city rat races and polluted places undermine your delicate balance.

Your quirky digestion, especially bloating and pain in the intestinal tract, can cause you discomfort. Because you are frequently tempted to live by fits and starts, with spurts of frenzied activity followed by long sedentary periods, you often suffer a week of constipation followed by a few miserable days of diarrhea, spasms and painful wind, heartburn, and hemorrhoids. You need more whole grains and vegetables in the diet to help regulate these problems, but you usually eat whatever's there and will always gobble something you love rather than bother to prepare a complicated recipe or learn how to use an unfamiliar foodstuff. The road to ruin for your health is the path of least resistance.

To maintain a healthy equilibrium: you can pursue peace of mind through yoga, meditation, relaxation techniques and vitamin therapy. Without release from the tension that daily life places on your incessantly fugitive psyche, the important balance of Yin and Yang will never be re-established. When you are out of balance, your resistance is lowered and you may undergo an attack of some unexpected malady which nails you to your bed for months.

One more aspect of your health picture is an irksome preoccupation with plastic surgery. Although this obsession doesn't usually come to light until later in life, you may be so immersed in your physical appearance that you cannot stand to see so much as a pimple left unturned by the scalpel of your favorite hatchet man or woman.

You are so picky about other people's physical shortcomings that you often miss some of your own. You may even tend to criticize others for your own faults.

Finally, your longevity is almost solely dependent on your lifestyle. You'd better get cracking now on your longer-life plan. Clean up your act. Get more regular sleep instead of snoozing in the living room half the evening and then roaming around all night. Put yourself on a schedule or get someone tougher than you to do it for you. Eat the right things at the right time. You are a person of fragile constitution. Try to get your sense of time together and, most of all, learn to do something besides simply lying down in order to relax.

GOAT COMPATIBILITIES

Goat with Rat

This is a tricky one. You enjoy the loving Rat's company and protection, but find his or her nervousness unappealing. Your peaceful nature appeals to the snuggly Rat, but your lack of interest in the menial tasks of everyday life will cause the Rat to fret and worry. Your fey, lackadaisical nature will strike the industrious Rat as laziness. You will spend too much money on unnecessary items. The Rat will suffer anxiety about debt, fiscal responsibility and pervasive insecurity.

The two of you are in a constant state of cold war. The Rat worries quietly and you lack initiative. All your battles will be fought with underhanded tactics and vicious stares. The Rat will long for a partner with more oomph. You, not courageous enough to confront the Rat, will resist lethargically, but not emphatically enough to suit the Rat's need for challenge.

Your mutual feelings of inadequacy will be put to rest when you have sex. You are ultra sensual and can exert an almost magical power over the Rat. Thrilled by such intense sexual excitement, the Rat (for once) will be happy to surrender power. You may gain confidence from the Rat's submissiveness and seize the opportunity to discuss some of your differences. If the physical union is strong, the two of you may eventually iron out your discord on the pillow.

Goat with Ox

In the beginning, you seem like a great catch for a domineering Ox. But we must never judge you by appearances. Although gentle, you are not easily bossed. I caution all Oxen against this union. The Ox feels a surge of power next to you, but you complain endlessly about any extra exertion, and the Ox (slowly but surely) will lose interest because you simply will not obey or pull your weight.

The patient Ox puts up with this lackadaisical attitude for a while, but soon comes to believe that you are not only lazy, but directionless. A hard-working Ox simply can't understand your inertia. Happy to be dependent on others, you just don't feel the need to work yourself to death. Doesn't the dedicated Bull bring home more than enough bacon?

After a while, as the Ox is so tame and responsible, you find him or her just plain dreary. You like to sleep on different sides of the bed every night just for the fun of it, which exasperates the rigid Ox, who can't bear the thought of breaking routine. Even in bed, the stodgy Ox has trouble keeping up with all your different positions. This is a clumsy couple. Each will be better off without the other.

Goat with Tiger

This union is among the worst possible known to Chinese astrologers. Although the couple may make a fabulous start (in bed), from there on it's all downhill.

The Tiger is a go-getter, is impulsive and could care less about security. You need to feel safe and be structured by someone or something outside yourself. The Tiger does not want to be your boss. He or she just wants to have fun, make a good living and enjoy the luxury of change. This casual attitude toward security terrifies you. You saw someone strong in the Tiger and thought he or she would direct you. But Tigers don't direct other people. They concentrate on forging their own path and hope that others will do likewise.

The practicalities of Goat with Tiger just don't work out. You are charming, beautifully seductive and loving. The Tiger is all passion and mettle. But who will bring home the bacon? In this family, nobody wants the job. No concessions are made. You remain laid back while the ambitious Tiger bombasts a hole in the kitchen ceiling. What was a great passion ends in lifelong misunderstanding and acrimony. Affairs? Yes. Marriage? Abstinence is advised.

Goat with Cat/Rabbit

Although initially you may seem ill suited, this pair will undoubtedly develop a solid love relationship. You and the Cat/Rabbit are complementary. The Cat/Rabbit provides you with just the right amount of down-home security and cash, and you amuse and keep the Cat/Rabbit interested.

Cat/Rabbits are serious and steady, while you hardly ever follow the rules. Although normally disconcerted by such nonchalance, the Cat/Rabbit finds it disarming in a Goat love partner. You respect the Cat/Rabbit's sound judgment and takes solace in his or her ability to cope in a routine fashion.

Your capacity for total surrender in love situations melts the sexually resistant Cat/Rabbit's heart. Your mutual romantic life is dense with passion. Tenderness and marathon caressing sessions are the order of the day.

The fewer children the two of you have, the better. You require so much personal attention and caring from a Cat/Rabbit spouse that a brood of children who distract the Cat/Rabbit might make you cranky and jealous.

Goat with Dragon

In Chinese astrological circles, this is said to be a sound marriage. You are essentially dependent. You are easily swayed and don't mind being bamboozled and manipulated by your loved ones. Dragons need to command, direct operations, and dominate your good-natured passivity. You acquiesce and inspire the Dragon to protect and be chivalrous. You thrive in the security provided by Dragon's authority.

Your sexual life together will be as near to an erotic dream as you can get. Dragons like to take charge and you like to lie there and be loved. Being two very sentimental as well as sensual people, the two of you will know instinctively how to blend sex with affection. Your intimacies will be satisfying and frequent. A possible marriage.

Goat with Snake

Charming and gracious, the two of you are creative people who can have the world eating out of your hands. Your inherent beauty and seductive appeal, when combined with the Snake's elegance and sensuality, form an enviably synergistic complicity.

Unfortunately, neither of you is very handy with a calculator. You are both equally improvident, luxury-loving, even wasteful about spending. Unpaid bills will pile up and you each call the other a spendthrift. You, Goat, cannot be expected to find solutions. Snakes may overspend, but they also provide. You are determined to depend and be provided for. The Snake will only take so much of your indolence, and will soon find you a high-paying job and force you to get to the office on time and perform your job well till death do you part.

Once again, the Snake's incurable infidelity slithers into the equation. You tend to be fickle too. The Snake understands your occasional need for a fling. But you will fear the loss of your security and reproach the Snake's infidelity. Rows are the stuff of your lives: both of you are addicted to passionate drama. Romantically, you two are sound. But when the harsh light of reality pierces the veneer of your relationship, the cracks and flaws may prove too numerous for its survival.

Goat with Horse

This apparently odd combination sometimes works extremely well. Horses are strong-minded hard workers. You are languorous, creative and oh-so-dependent. The Horse will always feel protective of you. The Horse likes to feel superior and you know exactly how to inflate his or her ego. When decisions are to be made or actions taken, you swoon and let the Horse play the hero.

Your romantic side appeals to the conventional Horse's need to learn about love. Even though your sensitivities are not too similar, the Horse finds you decidedly sexy. You complement each other. You are pessimistic; the Horse is not. You are flakey, while the Horse is a solid conservative. You depend, and the Horse willingly provides. Horses like things their own way. But you don't mind as long as there is money in the account and the back forty is producing enough Goat grass for the rest of the year.

The two of you are so different that you will never be bored together. Of course, friction might occur because you can be jealous and possessive of the Horse, who needs to feel free to run his or her own life. If you are wise, your sense of what is most practical for your future will win out and you will let the Horse run wild as long as he or she always gets home on time to pay for dinner. Aside from a few disapproving looks, you will not tax your partner sufficiently to cause the Horse to bolt.

Goat with Goat

Immediate synergy! You are so alike that everything flows naturally in bed. Romance flourishes as you are both loving, sensitive and unusually in touch with and open about your emotions. At first glance, it would seem that the two of you might be able to live on love alone.

Later on, however, when you have settled into a routine, the two of you can cause much mutual pain. Being alike in temperament, your sins and grievances will be similar. Each will learn quickly how to push the other's panic buttons and will use private information against the other.

The immaturity and pessimism of dual Goats could be your undoing. Neither of you cares to take responsibility for the finances, for the future of your emotional bonding, or for the workaday continuity of the household. Neither is able to depend on the other. When things go absolutely wrong, each will dream of having a stronger partner and perhaps go out looking for one - which creates other (less savory) problems of infidelity, lying, sneaking and other hanky panky-related disasters.

The best way for this union to work well would be if one party (or better still, both) had a private income. Then, you could hire a "take-charge" domestic staff and have all the time in the world for joint or individual creative projects. Easy Money coming in regularly and a staff of willing servants could provide the structure for your security and you two could become circus performers or famous actors or artists or dancers or even businessmen and women whose sole job is to be creative.

Infidelity lurks in the Goat character. Imagine two randy Goats running loose in the same marriage. Awful rows, pouting and shrieking might occur. Because they worry about not having security, Goats are possessive and jealous. Each of you then, will be devastated by the other's betrayal. However, if one of you has a trust fund or can sell off a family Rembrandt or a Picasso from time to time, there will be less likelihood of adultery getting in the way of your marital bliss.

Goat with Monkey

A mutual lightheartedness will draw the two of you into a joyous, easygoing relationship. The Monkey's energy alone can carry the relationship and, as the Monkey is very generous, he or she will not mind being the sole provider. If the Monkey is doing well, your whole existence can consist of fun and games.

The sex will be less than wonderful, though, because the Monkey isn't the same sort of sensitive lover as you are. You need constant cajoling and endearing words and caresses. You are romantic and sentimental, while the Monkey is a practical lover whose sexual behavior resembles healthful gymnastics more than a swooning match.

Your moralistic side may become irritating to the Monkey, who longs to move about freely without undue constraint. Having to stay at home to coax you out of pessimistic moods and rouse you from inertia may be more than the independent Monkey can bear. If, however, you manage to leave him or her alone to roam, play at sports, travel and/or study big books about arcane subjects (of interest only to a Monkey), he or she will remain content and happily married to you.

If the two of you have a family, it may keep you together. The Goat likes to stay securely at home while the Monkey wanders free. It's a sound combination, providing the Monkey can eventually support you and a family in a leisurely style.

Goat with Rooster

This is a dicey combination. Roosters are conservative and individualistic. They deplore idleness and cannot tolerate lackadaisical attitudes in others. You like to take it easy. You don't believe in work for its own sake. You'd rather sit still than move about, and are ever ready to get someone else to take care of your basic needs.

As the Rooster often has great difficulty scratching out a living, he or she will be impatient with the idea of anyone living off the fat of the land. You will be obliged to find a "real" job, like a normal person. Your feelings are readily hurt. Tensions can mount in this household and very little will be talked through, because the Rooster hates discussing emotions.

You may wander sexually, causing the staid and faithful Rooster untold pain. Trouble is, you need more than just the Rooster's perfunctory affections. Knowing this fact creates feelings of inadequacy and a lack of self-confidence in the Rooster to which he or she does not take kindly.

On a more positive note, if you could stick around all the time and teach the willing Rooster how to be more sensual, your relationship might have a good chance at success. The Rooster will rule the roost, bring home money and enjoy sharing manual tasks with you such as cooking and decorating or building an addition on the house. Sharing jobs that you both like to do would give more purpose to your otherwise rather tepid home life and possibly establish the foundation of a very sound marriage. Tribulations stimulate both of you to join forces. In a marriage, there are tribulations aplenty so this union could very well survive most any storm.

Goat with Dog

The Dog has high moral standard and is concerned with fairness and justice. Very often, your ideals begin and end with where the next meal is coming from. You are on the side of the person carrying the wallet, and Dogs deplore pandering. Yet, you know no other way of life. Unless the Dog uncharacteristically decides to shoulder the burden of changing poor misunderstood you, the two of you will remain very different people going in opposite directions.

The Dog is a revolutionary. He or she may indeed try to modify your behavior and turn you from a dependent person into a productive one. The Dog can recognize that you are sometimes not successful or a raving world beater because you fear not being capable to manage alone. If he is a kindly Dog (and Dogs tend to be kindly) he will urge you toward some kind of professional success of which you can be proud. If you are an artist, he may try to find a way to show your art and even sell it. If you like to give parties, he may encourage you to open a catering or events planning company of your own. In other words, this relationship can work if you are willing to heed the generous Dog's wise advice.

The Dog likes things to be clear, just and fair. On your own you are not concerned with those terms. You are a dreamer whose ephemeral plans often go up in smoke. Dogs dream too, but their dreams are more grounded, and they seek real solutions to real problems. A helpful Dog partner could be your salvation.

You, of course, love sex and favor open relationships and a full range of freedom. Dogs, too, adore sex and they may even stray - but only for a minute or two. To a Dog, devotion and loyalty to his loved ones come first. Your Dog mate will never be gone for long. If you can take the Dog's criticisms and advice and he can learn to enjoy the finer things you have to offer, this can be a very enjoyable and productive marriage.

Goat with Pig

Here we find one of the happiest possible couple combinations. The atmosphere between Goat and Pig is mellow and smooth. You may have minor differences of opinion over small things, like taste in furniture or which sort of friends to spend the most time with, but you like the security you find with Piggy and Piggy, in turn, sincerely enjoys your creative nuttiness and charm.

The Pig is lucky in money matters, so he or she can support you. This allows you free rein to dream aimlessly and invent or reinvent your daily life. Pigs have endless patience and seem to be composed mostly of goodwill. Your Pig partner will indulge and even admire your capriciousness. You could not be better matched where emotional stability is concerned. The Pig likes to stay in the country, where you can safely cavort in fertile fields.

The sexual side of this affair is also enviably harmonious. The parties have similar sensitivities. Noble Piggy will undoubtedly be jealous of your incessant flirting with almost every attractive person who comes to call. But as he or she loves you so dearly, Piggy will forgive. Also, you do lack tact. But, never mind. You will again be forgiven and both of you will return to your familiar devil-may-care, bucolic existence.

GOAT FUTURES

What the Goat should expect from the twelve Chinese animal years:

2006, 2018 The Dog Year

This year could be crucial. How can you possibly be expected to function in this self-righteous atmosphere of altruism and devotion to social causes? You will not enjoy any of the Dog's indulgence. The Dog is savior of the downtrodden and a revolutionary thinker. He is suspicious of both aimless luxury and aimless lassitude, your two favorite toys. His dutiful attention to the problems of the less fortunate gives you the impression that nobody is paying attention to you. Being ignored makes you insecure, and you hate insecurity.

One way to save the day during Dog years is for you join right in. Push yourself to participate in social programs, join movements to fund projects for the poor, start a home for abandoned animals, or feed the homeless. If the Dog's X-ray vision notices how hard you are trying, he will be less likely to bark and nip at your heels in an effort to get you where he thinks you ought to go.

2007, 2019 The Pig Year

Send out the chaise lounge to be re-covered in watered silk. Then, when it comes back, settle yourself for a lovely, productive year in which you will be left blissfully alone to proceed at your own pace. How cozy! The providing Pig is your best ally. Like you, the Pig adores peace and quiet, seeks culture, and longs to live in the country. The Pig thrives on luxurious surroundings and comfort and is more than willing to share these things with nice, pretty people like you.

Relax and soak up the unconditional love and security which this year has to offer; have fun with your dreams and revel in your fantasies; try your hand at a new medium such as watercolors or needlepoint; build yourself a house from some wonderfully eccentric plan; get more involved in esoteric projects. Do not, however, engage in any conflicts. Don't overstay your welcome, display overt vulgarity or wax argumentative in social situations. The Pig is generous and hates to say no, especially to you. But in the Pig year you should never be greedy, push your luck too far, or take advantage of Piggy's good nature. The Pig's fury and revenge can be both swift and horrible. Remember your manners.

2008, 2020 The Rat Year

Ah, me! This budget-conscious year is not what you find most stimulating to your delicate senses. The Rat is always pushing for power and hustling everyone to follow his lead. You hate this sort of challenge, but because you instinctively know which side of the bagel your smoked salmon is on, you won't have much to retort except perhaps, "Yes, boss." You might use the Rat year to plan and save money for leaner years. But because you are usually both unwise and profligate, you will probably just let it all hang out, spend madly and hope against hope that the common sense of your partners, associates or lovers will keep you afloat during hard times.

2009, 2021 The Ox Year

No Shangri-La for you during this grueling year of tough, driving, hard work. No self-respecting Ox has ever left you alone while you aimlessly poked about a pasture, looking for the most succulent four-leafed clover. The Ox hates indolence, deplores inertia and never tolerates dreamers. Poor Goat, you're in for a difficult time of it. It's likely that little annoyances will beleaguer you this year. Nothing serious, but plenty of vexatious events will pester you, try to disrupt your beloved luxury, and impinge on your peaceful lifestyle.

Take my advice and try to put the year into perspective before it even happens. Remain calm in the face of the extra responsibilities you will have to assume. Don't become paranoid and think that just because the Ox year is so demanding, you alone have been singled out for double duty. Yes, Oxen are tyrants and never take no for an answer, but you'll live better this year if you relax and go with the flow. Otherwise, short of sailing away to spend a useless year on a desert island, you will have little choice but to buckle down.

2010, 2022 The Tiger Year

Tiger years are characterized by turnabouts and leaps into abyss after abyss of loop-the-loop experience and oddball experiment. Tigers crave change. They seek to alter things as earnestly as normal people try to keep an even keel. They long to turn your world upside down, refashion old relationships, give new names to your children. Make the best of it by staying our of the limelight.

The sort of hurly-burly lifestyle which suits the Tiger down to the ground tends to unbalance you. Although you admire and certainly don't disapprove of the terrible Tiger, you know that you should not try to keep up with him. The Tiger's ruthless madcap pace could easily destroy your delicate nervous system. Try to cleverly stay out of harm's way when Tigers come calling in your pasture. This year, you should not push your luck. Time to read lots of good books and learn to draw or paint. Patience, your turn is just around the corner.

2011, 2023 The Cat/Rabbit Year

Finally you can relax. The Cat/Rabbit year is fun for Goats. Cat/Rabbits are not pushy or aggressive people. Like yourself, they create atmospheres of refinement, and preen in polite society. Also, because of your gentle manner and excellent record as an amusing, almost professional guest, you are sure to be invited to all the best parties this year.

For heaven's sake, just because nobody's whipping you or depriving you of security, don't fall into the classic trap of inertia for which you are so famous. You don't function well when bored. Depression stalks your every step. Play it safe. Without putting your nose to that distasteful grindstone, keep up appearances. Involve yourself in social causes or do some volunteer work. Who knows? You might meet someone rich and generous who feels like taking in another boarder.

2012, 2024 The Dragon Year

A year of celebration: fireworks and bonfires galore! Dragons love noise and are particularly attracted to those who accept their enthusiasm without judgment or criticism. Sensing this, you will gain ground this year. All the excitement sparks your vivid imagination, gets you up and moving, and bestows on you a feeling of freedom that you had feared was long gone.

You can really make strides this year, especially if you go with the flow. One word of warning, however: keep your eye on the future. Save some of the sunshine that will be pouring down on your head in the early part of the year for the final trimester, which will present certain hassles in your private life. If you have economized, this period will be a breeze which will gently blow you into the glamorous Snake year you so dearly love.

2013, 2025 The Snake Year

Fortune is on your side this year. No amount of pessimism or hesitation on your part can detract from the protection you receive from the Snake's benevolent influence. Snakes have a long history of providing care and comfort for the people they feel are less capable of confronting the world. They are also particularly drawn to those who create. This means you. Artists and writers, performers, poets and dancers appeal to the Snake's sense of aesthetics, and often garner his or her financial support.

There is no real setback or misfortune in store for you this year. You will be drowning in the passions of several simultaneous or sequential love affairs. By mid-year, in typical Goat fashion, you'll be grousing about how these affairs lack permanence. What's more, you'll be itching to tie one of your delectable new conquests to your side for life. Follow the Snake example and employ cool, even-handed persuasion.

2014, 2026 The Horse Year

This period will also keep you safe and happy. The Horse year is one of industry and hard labor. Because of this, productivity speeds up. Your material security is assured in such a busy-bee atmosphere.

Stay out of the line of fire. While the world is slaving over a hot spreadsheet, you can engage in your languorous creative pursuits and spend dreamy days in peace and quiet. The Horse is independent and doesn't need your interference or involvement to get on with providing. You might want to join a theatre company or even dabble in politics at the local level. Luck is on your side.

2015, 2027 The Goat Year

Here comes your year! You will be in absolutely top form. The last few years have allowed you to recoup forces and grow. Now the fruit of your labors is ripe and ready to be picked, and you will have no lack of energy to do the picking. All the clouds filled with your usual fears of penury, hard work, aggression and constraints will have rolled away.

Because there are so few pressures on you in Goat years that your heart is in the right place again. You're more indulgent with others so your spirits are lighter. You could also be in for lots of laughs. This is the year to make those major decisions: get married or change jobs; move house or invest in the stock market. The fates are on your side. In your own year, you will (for once) feel almost completely independent.

This is the year in which you must plan the next 12 years of your life. Make certain to put your ducks in a row so you know exactly where you want to be in twelve years time and how you intend to get yourself there.