The Year of the Dragon, 2012, in the Hsia calendar, is symbolized by two elements – with water sitting on top of earth.   According to the cycle of birth and destruction, which governs the inter-relationship between the elements, earth is the destroyer of  water and so they are on the destructive cycle and have conflict relationship. .This aspect is same as the year of Rabbit in 2011 which is metal over wood, also conflicting elements. Such conflicting elements usually means the year  will also be not  peaceful with more international conflicts and struggles coming up.  However, in 2011, metal element can symbolize a weapon or a dagger, but 2012 the earth water conflict is just disharmony with less implication of  war and fierce fighting like 2011.    The yang water this year symbolize the ocean, is an element of power, forces and strong energy. It could be the destructive force of nature, such as the tsunami, it can be the impulse and drive to press for social, political  and economic changes.  The yang water is also symbol of intelligence, courage, generosity  and charity. If the energy is guided in positive direction, it can bring fast pace towards progress and reform.   The earth element under the water  is a Dragon, which is also considered as storage of water.  So the two elements water on dragon, is not as serious conflict as the last two years of metal over wood. In general, we cannot expect total peaceful world in 2012, but there will not be so much violent fighting and struggles like the previous metal wood years of 2010 and 2011.   

But the more worrying aspect this year is natural disasters such as flooding and earthquakes. Yang water is powerful ocean water, and Dragon is powerful earth, very often associate with earthquakes. In history, the most serious earthquake on record happened in the years of Dragon.   Here below are the serious earthquakes of the last 5 Dragon years,1952 ( Water Dragon),  1964 ( Wood Dragon ), 1976 ( Fire Dragon ), 1988 ( Earth Dragon ), and 2000 ( Metal Dragon).

1952    Water Dragon year    21/7    California              Magnitude 7. 5  

                                               4/11  Kamchatka USSR   Magnitude 8.25

1964    Wood Dragon year   27/3   Alaska              Magnitude 9.2 

                                           16/6   Niigata Japan      Magnitude 7.6

1976    Fire Dragon year      28/7  Tangshan China   Magnitude  7.8

1988    Earth Dragon year    21/8   Nepal                   Magnitude 6.6

                                               7/12   Leninakan Russia   Magnitude 6.9

2000   Metal Dragon year     25/11  Azerbaijan         Magnitude 7

                                               4/6     Sumatra             Magnitude 7.9

The Dragon years earthquake included the biggest earthquake on record of Richter Magnitude Scale 9.2 occurred in Alaska in 1964, and the most fearful earthquake in Tangshan, China, killing over 250,000 people in 1976.  As such, it is quite logical to forecast that serious earthquake will also occur in this Water Dragon year of 2012.   In Chinese Metaphysics. The Term Dragon symbolizes the massive mountain range, the powerful energy of the land, and is strong earth element. So an active dragon indicates strong movement of the earth.  Also Dragon and Dog are symbols of Gates to Heaven and Hell.  Of the 12 animals signs, Dragon and Dog are considered as strange places, twilight zones, where “Nobleman” will not present themselves. “Noblemen” are helpful deities that can rescue people from bad luck.  But in Dragon and Dog years, there is no such rescue angels coming forward to save people from tragedy, as such, the disasters usually will have higher death tolls or casualties.  There are some examples of serious disasters occurred in hours of Dragon or Dog, such as the 2004 26/12 South Asia Tsunami occurred in the hour of Dragon at 8.30 am.  The 911 terrorist attack on World Trade Centre, New York in 2001 also took place at 8.40 am in Dragon hour.  And that the Massacre of Hong Kong tourist in Manila in 2010 took place at about 7.30 pm, hour of the Dog.  So Dragon year have such strange, spiritual meaning which may bring more serious casualties perhaps  caused by natural disasters.    

If the Dragon and Dog appear together in a person’s Four Pillars of Destiny, this person often possess 6^th sense, and this is very common phenomenon when we observe the birth data of athletes as they need 6^th senses to win a sport match. Famous people who have such Dragon and Dog quality include Bruce Li, Jet Li, Maria Sharapova, Li Na, and David Copperfield and Putin. 

The Chinese calendar year goes on 60-year cycle. This means that we have experienced the same year of yang water over Dragon in 1952.  This was the year when the Korean War was at the stalemate after it started in 1950. In Nov. 1952, the newly elected President Eisenhower visited Korea and look for ways to end the war and preparing to negotiate armistice.  The cold war continued with more nuclear weapon tests by the U. S. A and in Feb.  United Kingdom also announced they possessed the atomic bomb.  There are also serious natural disasters in 1952.  Besides the two major earthquakes in California and USSR as listed above, there are also water disasters such as serious flooding and casualties at sea. The serious earthquake occurred on 4/11/1952 at Kamchatka, U.S.S.R. also triggered a big tsunami which went as far as Hawaii.   In March, 73 inches rain fell in Cilao Reunion, is the most heavy rain recorded in one day.   In April, 78 seal hunters and 5 Norwegian seal hunting ship perished without trace.  In December, killer fog was reported in London.  And in Jan. 1953, which is still year of Dragon in Chinese calendar, there was North sea flooding killed 1835 people in the Southwest of Netherlands, 307 people died in the U.K. and 133 people died in the Irish sea with the sinking of a ferry called the Princess Victoria. There are other mysteries, such as reporting of UFO over Washington DC in July.  58000 cases of polio is reported in the U.S.A.  Such events seems matching with the nature of yang water Dragon – conflict but smaller scale, water disaster and serious earthquakes  as explained above.     There were more U.F.O sighting reported in 1952, and the killer fog in the U,K, …such mysterious events could be associated with the Dragon – opening of the Heavens gate.  .  .

The Chinese character for “Yang water” represents a powerful ocean,  it can also symbolize the quality of enthusiastic, energetic, courageous, forceful and a little impulsive person. . Water in general is associated with intelligence and skill.  Such qualities are often found in people in performance art as well as people who love to explore new innovative  ideas. As  people born in a day of “Yang Water” .often shows an image of courage and power.  One typical examples of famous Yang Water people is Ludwig von Beethoven. He is a strong Yang water person and his powerful symphony music exactly reflects the energy of the ocean water.   Another famous Yang Water person is Mr. Bill Gates. Without his intelligence and courage and enthusiasm to innovate,  we may not enjoy such convenient computer tools today.  Other examples of famous  people born on a “Yang Water ” day are  Tom Cruise, Warren Buffet, Paul McCartney, Kate Middleton, Prince Henry, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Douglas, Freddie Mercury, Joan Jett and Ai Wei Wei……..these people all portray a courageous, innovative and trend setting image.   Besides innovative businessman and famous artists, I also found yang water people often enthusiastic in studying the Chinese science of Feng shui and metaphysics subject.  Many of my successful students are ladies born in Yang water day.  They usually have very impressive enthusiasm and drive to explore the true knowledge and amazing courage to overcome all kinds of difficulties and barriers to master the skill of feng shui. 

The Dragon is a powerful earth element, and it is also regarded as “storage of water”. I have already mentioned its powerful earth quality and it often triggers massive earthquakes and earth related disasters such as collapse of buildings, mining disasters, landslide, avalanches…etc.  Being storage of water, it can also release massive amount of water especially when it is under clash against the Dog, or forming a big cycle of water with Monkey and Rat.  As such, the Yang water Dragon year creates the potential danger of big flooding and tsunami.  The positive quality of the water dragon is that yang water is a generous element and a powerful driving force towards progress and social changes, so it will be energetic year with new movements and changes,  reform in politics and social establishment.  Also there could be generous donations towards charitable goals and for the well being of the community.   2012 is also an election year, there will be Presidential election in USA, in Russia,  in Taiwan, in France, in India, as well as Election of Chief Executive in Hong Kong. Such election also provides drive for progress and changes and courageous reforms.   

The last two years of 2010 and 2011 are years of metal attacking wood.  As wood element is symbol of trees and the environment, there had been serious destruction to the environment such as BP oil leak in the Mexican Gulf in 2010 and the nuclear radioactivity crisis from the Fukushima Nuclear power stations in 2011.  Finally these two metal wood years are over and in 2012 the water and earth elements are not so damaging to the environment. Actually both water and earth are beneficial to the growth of trees, so we should have progress in environmental protection.  However, water sitting on earth shows muddy water and it creates circumstance for virus and epidemic spreading.  In the last water dragon year in 1952, 58000 cases of polio was reported in the USA.  This year we may expect sicknesses such as malaria, food poisoning, stomach problem and kidney problem will come up as water in Chinese medicine is representing the kidney.  The Dragon is earth element which symbolize muscles and cells.  Excessive amount of earth element is a signal of cancer.  The absence of fire element of this year is also unfavorable for people who have health problem related to the heart.

Airline business is in the category of fire element, so when fire element is  very weak or absent, there could be problem to airline business.  With this understanding, we should also expect disruption to airline business and environmental problem could occur also in 2012 as the pair of elements water on earth shows total absence of fire. So it is not very favorable for airline business and may have more airline accidents when fire is under attack in months such as June, July, October…   

The clash between the Dragon  and Dog is a serious clash between powerful earth elements and such clash will generate powerful earth disasters such as earthquake, landslide, collapse of buildings….Therefore people born in years of  Dog  have to be particularly careful in 2012.  They should take extra care against any mountain related activities. It is recommended that they carry the pendant of a Rooster which will help to attract away the Dragon, so as to minimize the negative influence of the clash.    Anyhow, people who are born in the year of Dog  will experience a more turbulent year with more movements, traveling and changes. It is suitable to engage in such movements, such as moving house or moving offices. Traveling is also good but one should refrain from traveling to high mountains, potential earthquake areas, deserts, beaches.  If water is an unfavorable element, one should also avoid going near the ocean in December when water is most powerful.  For people born in year of  Dog, they may avoid travel directly  towards the South East  direction as it is the direction of the Grand Duke in 2012.  Also if possible, it is also good for Dog people to minimize activities involving fast speed sports, such sports are skiing, car racing, etc.

The Dragon is also a self penalty animal. It means  Dragon year also forms a  penalty relationship with the people born in year of Dragon.  Such penalty is hidden danger and may cause disharmony, worries and irritations, or hidden sickness.  People born in the year of the Dragon  is also recommended to carry the pendant of the Rooster to minimize such penalty influence in the year of the Dragon.  

The Five basic elements  represent different parts of our body, Water in general relates to the kidney and the immune system, sexual organ and the urinary system.  As such, the health problems related to Water year could be kidney problem, kidney stone, sex organ problem, inflammation of urinary tract,  virus and bacteria infection.  The dragon earth is cells, muscle and stomach .  Excessive amount of earth is the cause of cancer.  Both water and earth elements will also weakens fire which symbolize blood circulation and the heart. These kinds of health problems will be more acute in the  year 2012.   It is important to take more COQ10 and anti –oxidant as a preventive measure.  

Recently there are a lot of public concern about the doomsday theory surrounding the Mayan calendar. There is speculation that devastating global disaster will occur about the date of winter solstice on 21/12/2012. This theory is publicized in the Hollywood movie 2012 and caused more alarms.  In this movie, John Cusack met a man in the Yellow Stone park and this man claimed such doomsday prediction was found in the Bible, in the Mayan calendar, and in the I Ching……. 

The relationship between I Ching and 2012 is publicized in a book called “the Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching” written by Terence McKenna who died in 2000. In his book, he was inspired by the 64 hexagrams arrangements in King Wen’s I Ching ( Book of Change). In the I Ching, King Wen has a special sequence in arranging the order of the 64 Hexagrams, putting them in the order with Heaven ( The Creative ) and Earth ( the Receptive ) as first and second Hexagrams. After going through 64 Hexagrams arranged in 32 pairs, it ends with the final pairs Water on Fire ( After Completion ) and Fire on Water ( Before Completion ).  This sequence is taken to represent different stages of development of the world from the beginning with Heaven and Earth to the end with Fire on Water.

Inspired by this sequence, Mckenna assigned mathematical value to each of 384 lines (jao) of the 64 Hexagrams and he came up with a curve which he claimed is reflecting the timing of important world events. Every peak and bottom point of the curve seems co-inside with an important stage in human civilization. He called this a Time Wave Theory. And it seems if one translate the 384 lines of King Wen’s 64 Hexagrams into time, according to this theory, we will find the time interval between big events on earth. His most significant theory is that if he put the end date of the curve at 21/12/2012, then all the peak and bottom points of his curve match with significant events in human history. Hence he consider the date 21/12/2012 is the ending day when the curve reaches the bottom.

As such the I Ching itself actually did not predict the world will end at 2012. At best, one can only say it gives inspiration to Mckenna to invent his Time Wave Theory.  The original meaning of the last two Hexagrams – After Completion and Before Completion does not imply end of the world. To the contrary, it implies there is no ending, because the change is not yet completed. It is like many cyclical changes in nature. When one year’s four season finished, another new year’s four season begins. So it is wrong and not fair to say the 2012 doomsday is predicted in the I Ching.

Is there anything in the I Ching that can be associated with such end of world ideas? I think the most relevant could be the “Supreme World Order Principles” invented by Shao Yong of Sung Dynasty. Shao Yong also divided World Ages into 64 stages according to the King Wen sequence of 64 Hexagrams, but the number of years he assign to each stage is very long.  According to his system, our current time is only in the 8^th Hexagram – Water on Earth ( Holding Together ) which will last 129600 years. And we are only in middle of this stage, with another 60,000 years ahead to finish this 8^th Hexagram of Human civilization.

(Readers can refer to my article “I Ching and 2012” in my website www.raymond-lo.com for more details of Shao Yong’s theory).

 So 2012 is definitely not even near end of the world.  However, the winter solstice date 21/12/2012 is a date with presence of powerful water elements:

                    Hour       Day      Month       Year

                       戊          丙          壬             壬

                   Earth        Fire      Water      Water

                        戌          辰          子             辰

                   Earth        Earth    Water      Water

        21/12/2012 1913 hour

The combination of elements on that day shows powerful water as well as Dragon and Dog clash, it will not be surprising that earthquake and flooding occur.  However, there is absolutely no indication that this will be end of the world.     

 In 2012, the feng shui flying star number  6, symbolizes metal element and breathing organ, the father, heaven, and the law,   is in the centre. This centre number often reflects the focus of events prevailing in the year.   So it will not be surprising that the 6 in the centre in 2012 may bring about more epidemic such as flu and also virus affecting the brain and breathing organs. 6 is also the law, the government, the father figure.  It is a year of elections and will bring about changes in many governments in the world. In this year, there are elections in Taiwan, in the USA, in Russia…...

Regarding flying star feng shui, the current twenty year period from 2004 to 2024 is called “Age of 8” and this number 8 represents the Trigram of Mountain and it also is symbol of young children.  Therefore since stepping into Age of 8 in 2004, it seems there are more disasters and misfortune affecting children.  The latest incidents  included the big earthquake in China in 2008 killing a lot of school kids, also the disaster of contaminated baby milk powder caused serious kidney stone problem to children.. In 2011, the famous jasemine revolution which brought about big changes in North Africa, the riot in the U.K, and the massacre of young people in Norway are all examples of young people problem which is most prominent in “Age of 8”.   This number 8, representing children will always present in the centre of the flying star chart in this 20 years from 2004 to 2024.  So it is always important to pay attentions to children safety and well being in this period of 8.

Regarding the economy, fire element is often the driving force behind the stock market.   The five elements are also affecting peoples mood.  In general fire is joy, water is fear,  Earth is meditation, metal is sadness, and wood is anger.   As such, fire year often generates optimism and drive up the stock market, such as 2006 and 2007.  But in 2008 the water arrived and obviously people began to have fear about worsening of the USA sub-prime problem and recession.  In the year 2009 there is pure earth on earth. . The earth element is stopping the water and it also symbolise meditation. So it means people will be conservative and play safe but gain more stability.   In 2010. the Tiger carries the seed of fire element and so there had been substantial economic recovery with stronger optimism starting from the spring season.  There is a short setback with the economic crisis in Greece and Portugal in late spring but with summer fire coming in May, the stock market recovered with strong momentum.   In 2011, the Rabbit is pure wood, it is not so strong in generating fire like the Tiger. So the economy was not as fast moving as the Tiger but there is also strong summer fire supported by wood in 2011, so the stock market continued to be vibrant and active in first half of 2011 until August when autumn arrived and no more fire support, there is serious setback in second half of 2011. With strong water coming in 2012, one have to be cautioned against more setback lasting into 2012.  2012 is year of water and earth, it is continual absence of fire element, so this could be a year that the economic activities and stock market will further slow  down.  The strong water this year is creating the mood of water, which is fear, people will be less optimistic. This will become more serious in the winter months of October, November.  The economic crisis in certain European countries may be deepening and causing downturn in the global economy and stock market.  Investors should enter a caution period especially in the second half of 2012.