Year of the Pig begins on 4th February 2019 at 9.03pm in London (adjust for your time zone) as the New Moon becomes exact and the Lunar New Year begins. Lunar New Year, celebrated all over Asia, is always held on the second New Moon after the winter solstice. What is Year of the Pig/Boar all about? It’s a year when education rules. Here’s how you can use it.
On 5th January 2019, China Post issued special stamps titled Ji-Hai Year showing two adult pig parents and their three piglets, symbolising the idea of a blessed family. The Chinese character for family comprises both roof and pig. This idea about the older and younger generations being linked in Year of the Pig can be extended to include the idea of education, learning, life skills, training, knowledge, wisdom, teaching and studying. Just as older pigs teach younger pigs, in 2019 people of all ages can learn from each other. This may be a foreign language. It may be a particular belief system, like Buddhism. It may be a new ability which can help a future successful career.
Famous pigs have something to teach the world. Hillary Rodham Clinton took on American foreign policy. Chiang Kai-shek became President of the Republic of China. Sir Elton John educated the world about AIDS and HIV through his charity work. If pigs do not become parents, they take on a parenting role by passing on their wisdom to a younger generation. It is interesting to see so many global thinkers on the list. Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore. Henry Kissinger, American Secretary of State.
A clever pig is associated with the start of Buddhism. An old tale says four brothers were about to kill a pig when it acquired the power of speech and called for help. Neighbours rushed to help, assuming the brothers were fighting. From that point forward, all four men gave up pork and converted to Buddhism. Probably the best-known pig in Chinese culture is Pigsy from Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en (it became a classic television series called Monkey). Pigsy has a pig’s head and man’s body and as a human had been a marshal of troops guarding the river to heaven. There is more to pigs than meets the eye.
Lunar New Year always starts in January or February on the second New Moon after the Winter Solstice, between January 21st and February 20th. It involves billions of people in celebration around the world, from Chinatown in Sydney to the streets of Hong Kong. The Western calendar is based on the Sun. The Eastern calendar is based on the Moon. She is known as Luna in other languages, thus the ‘lunar’ calendar. The Moon’s movements are closely tied to the seasons, farming, sowing and reaping. That is why so many astrologers (including me) feel that the ‘natural’ New Year does not start on January 1st, no matter how much champagne we drink. The natural beginning of the year is Lunar New Year.
The idea of clearing the soil, planting (intentions, goals) and growing (to success) is at the heart of Life Sweeping. The ancient Chinese used their calendar for agriculture and their empire rested on the calendar, drawn up by the emperor’s astronomer/astrologers. In 2254 B.C. Emperor Yao commanded his astrologers to establish a calendar of changing seasons for farmers. So, from the Shang Dynasty onwards we know a lunar calendar showing the cycles of the moon, between 29 and 30 days long, became part of Chinese life. Every month began on a new moon. The Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, the most important in China, is where the animal zodiac comes from. It’s more complicated than that – there are also Ten Celestial Stems, Five Material Agents (wood, fire, earth, metal and water) and Twelve Hourly branches! Yet – keeping it just to 12 Asian zodiac signs, we find uncanny similarities between Eastern, Western and Indian astrology. The ancient Chinese took astrology so seriously that emperors built observatories so they could predict eclipses. The agricultural almanac Tong Shu or T’ung Shu is over 4000 years old and still consulted by Chinese for the best astrological dates for weddings or business agreements.
Asian tradition states that the previous year’s debts be paid, the home cleaned, and new clothes purchased before New Year begins. This is before February 4th/5th depending on your time zone, as the New Moon becomes exact in London on February 4th at 9.03pm. It is also time to reconnect with family members, and dinners are always held on the night of the New Moon. The entire festival can extend to 15 days in China and the giving of hong bao, red packets of ‘lucky money’ is part of the ritual. Dragon and lion dancers in the streets make a noise to chase away mythical monsters. Join in by making sure you ‘sweep clean’ before it all begins. If you are curious about how to do this, please see Life Sweeping, here,
We can date it to Emperor Huang Ti of China who introduced the lunar calendar in 2637 B.C. The twelve years acquired their animal signs according to a legend about Lord Buddha who summoned all the animals to farewell him from earth. Only 12 showed up and in gratitude he named 12 years for all 12 creatures. The came first and last was the boar or pig. Asian astrology stretches right around the region, which is why it’s more correct to speak about Asian signs and Asian New Year – rather than strictly Chinese. Mongolians have 12 animals too which starts with the tiger and ends with the ox. The Japanese have a slightly different take on the zodiac animals, again.
It is popular in China to give children nicknames that relate to their birth year zodiac sign. What is more unusual is the use of the characters for rice and beans – which ox, rabbits, horses, sheep, monkeys, dogs and pigs eat – in the name of an Ox, Rabbit, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Dog or Pig person. Tiger people in China may have the characters for meat in their names. The Chinese also make cakes in the shape of the 12 animal signs. Despite Communism the old traditions are still remembered. When your year comes around (your animal zodiac year, every 12 years) it is thought that any 12-year-old child should wear red underclothes, in Northern China, to protect herself or himself, as it is a ‘fate year.’
You can read all about your Asian zodiac sign on this website. The combination of your Asian sign, Western zodiac sign – and also your Indian or Vedic Guru sign – will give you an incredible insight into your personality, karma and future. In fact, when you read all three together, you will end up with just one complete profile from a possible 1728 astrological sign combinations. Knowing all three explains the differences between you and, say, another Aries, Taurus, Gemini and so on. It’s the same if you are Asian and only know yourself as a Tiger, Monkey, Rabbit and so on – you need to also know your Western zodiac sign and Indian/Vedic chart to see who you really are. (A Guru sign is also known as a Brihaspati or Jupiter sign and shows your blessings).
The East and West are not so different when it comes to astrology. In fact, they both once met on The Silk Road. In 2019 as Asia celebrates Year of the Pig (Boar in Japan) the West will celebrate Jupiter in Sagittarius. This is a symbol of expansion, growth, good luck and good fortune – through study and teaching. It is fascinating to see that the same message is being broadcast across India. In Indian, Vedic or Jyotish astrology, in 2019 we will see Brihaspati (Guru) also pass through Sagittarius. Oratory, eloquence, wisdom and luck are associated with Brihaspati. This links to the idea of teaching, public speaking, lectures, workshops, podcasts, vodcasts and so on.
Later in 2019, Penguin/Michael Joseph will publish my new book, The Secret Language of the Stars. This is ‘one world astrology’ which reveals how your Asian, Indian and Western signs combine to give you a personality and destiny profile that only one in nearly 2000 other people could have. Your Asian zodiac sign is a very important part of that. It is amazing to see how the three different astrologies mirror each other. Paths of communication, migration and trade crossed Eurasia from at least 5000 B.C. as the demand for trade in horses, spices, glassware, silver and gold and silk grew. Different belief systems sprung up along the Silk Roads – one of them was astrology. Or, astrologies, plural. In 2019, Year of the Pig (knowledge) it is time to bring them back together. I have been working on software with Indian/Vedic astrologer Sonal Sachdeva and Zane Stein from Solar Fire to create a new, simple way to blend all three global horoscopes.
Just as the pig symbolises parents and children – the older teaching the younger generation – in astrology, the ancient symbol of the centaur (Sagittarius) shows the pursuit of knowledge. We talk about someone having ‘many strings to her bow’ or ‘several strings to his bow’ – many talents or abilities. We also talk about stretching ourselves intellectually, as the archer stretches back his bow and arrow. As the Sagittarius centaur is half-man, half-horse, we also associate him with travel, and travel broadens the mind. In Western astrology, Jupiter also has rulership of Sagittarius. So, in 2019, with Jupiter back in his own sign, you’ll have opportunities to expand your horizons.
The name is the first clue! A guru or mentor – guide – is often equated with Jupiter, the planet which in Western astrology has been called the great teacher and great benefactor. In 2019 when Guru is in Sagittarius in India, the whole planet (including your corner of it) is blessed with a new flow of knowledge, in and out. The Brexit decision by Great Britain to leave the European Union is just one real-world reason why everyone on earth, from East to West, will be learning new concepts and also exchanging them too. This is typical of astrology. The three great systems – Asian, Indian and Western – all tell us that 2019 is a year for a new global information swap. By the way – the next time you are in the British Museum in London have a look for Brihaspati, shown as a portly, bearded, priest. Not unlike the way the Romans depicted Jupiter. It is exactly the same planet.
Making these connections between East and West is easy when you go to Stonehenge. The construction began around 3150 B.C. and was over by about 1500 B.C. We know that the number 12 is important in Indian, Western and Asian zodiacs. There are 12 Guru (Jupiter or Brihaspati) signs in India. In Asia, there are 12 animal years. In the West, we have 12 Sun signs, or popular zodiac signs. Maybe Egypt plays a part at Stonehenge too. “The thirty upright stones of the Sarsen circle suggest the Egyptian calendar of twelve months of thirty days – totalling 360 days,” writes Stonehenge expert, Robin Heath. There is even more fascinating evidence that Stonehenge is a gigantic Sun and Moon calendar in his book, Stonehenge, Temple of Ancient Britain (Wooden Books, 2009, Glastonbury.) You then have to ask why? Why would our ancestors drag all those rocks, all that way? Surely it wasn’t because they were astronomers. It’s far more likely they were astrologers, in the natural sense of the word. Matching heaven to earth.
When you join the dots thousands of years ago and see the links between Egypt, Stonehenge, India, Asia – all the way around to Australia, where Aboriginal Australians were creating stone circles to also mark the movements of the Sun – you can see how we really are all connected. From this, in so many countries, came modern astrology.
The pig is a symbol of greed – for knowledge. Gobbling up new information and old wisdom is what 2019 is all about. The Sino-Vietnamese people make the pig a symbol of plenty, as the sow and her litter represent large families. In Ancient Egypt they crafted amulets showing Nut, “sky-goddess and eternal mother of the stars” as a sow suckling her litter. This idea of old and young is really about learning – if not from your mother, then from those in the know! Have a wonderful 2019 and enjoy the many mysteriously fated opportunities to learn and teach which are coming into your life, even now!
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22 Responses
Hi Jessica happy Chinese New Year! I was wondering if you could tell me what to expect financially in the new Chinese Year, factoring in my I Dian guru and Western sign please? Things are more pear shaped than ever! I really want to do work from home via writing that makes a social impact. Thank you xx
Financially you will gain or save repeatedly by December if you are prepared to strike a deal and make a compromise. This new cycle starts January 26th and May-June is peak crossroads time for your bank account, house or apartment. You will be tempted to join a writing group in February that will start small but work out very well from you from December 2020 and bring you huge rewards in 2021, changing your life from 2023 if you stay the course with these people. This may be a writers’ organisation, professional association, social circle and so on. You can always say no, and go it alone, but your new friends and contacts would help you a lot.
Hey Jessica. I am a Tiger. School is crazy so far. I am doing things differently, being more social. Trying to start study groups outside of class, etc as a way to meet people. I don’t know. Just trying to feel my way. Haven’t done this in a while. Excited, nervous, and a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Can you see/feel anything? Hope things are well with you. A bit jealous it is summertime there. Lol. It has been SO COLD where I live for the past couple of weeks.
February will put particular friends or groups upfront in your life. These faces come back to you with special importance in December 2020 and the year 2021 is amazing when people power and friendship takes you higher. From 2023 these people/this group will transform your whole world.
Happy New Year Jessica! I think I have always felt more connected to the lunar new year and how it coincides with the solstice and moon cycles. This year in particular I am excited about cleaning out and simplifying my space. What would you say will spark the most joy for me during this year of the Pig or what should I be aware of to harness the Pig’s energy – BTW I just love and adore pigs 🙂 Thank you for your loving guidance.
It can be fun to go through all your books and hold them in your hand, before putting the ‘not sure’ or ‘nope’ books into a big bag. Park the bag so you can see if you ever go back to it, within 6 months, to find those bagged books. If you don’t, give them away or sell them. Sometimes people take the bag to a charity shop the same day. The books you are left with will tell you who you are, what you need, what you love and no messing!
I can’t wait for the Gemini birthday horoscope 2019/20 ….!
Hi Jessica!
(I’m a snake) Your horoscope made me cry & happy at the same time. I logged on during a break from trying to add to my family tree ( how did you know?)
“This year spells closure for them in spirit”
I lost my Mom last February. She was one of five brothers and sisters. I went to her sister’s funeral on Monday. All of the five have gone now – a generation gone, but reunited.
I’ve lived in Asia, so I know about their beliefs about ancestors and embraced them – I have a Thai Sprit House in my garden. Perhaps I needed reminding?
Thank you.
Thank you so much. That means a lot. And you have the Thai Spirit House in your garden so you know exactly what this is all about.
Hey Jessica! So i guess its my year. Nothing is working out as planned but i m still trying, to relocate, to convince husband to move to home country, to be independent financially, to learn a new tech to enter job market after a long maternity gap. to loose weight, to get my career on track! Dont really know where to focus right now! Not able to understand where i m in my life and what exactly i want. Cold war is going for weeks between myself n spouse coz of his family abusing us financially continuously for 3 years almost. Will it ever end up and i will have a sigh of relief in 2019? Or its a lifetime thing that will go with me all along. Any positive news/hope for this new chinese year!
Thanks for ur time dear!
Happy chinese year to you.
I’m sorry your in-laws are such a problem. That’s a Scorpio matter in your Eighth House and you were born with Psyche and Proserpina there. Psyche did in fact have a very difficult mother-in-law (Venus) and Proserpina had a troublesome relationship with her mother Ceres, who resented her son-in-law Pluto. Sometimes astrology can be literal. It may help to know that Psyche is always fine in the end and so will you be. You sound like you want a lot from life in 2019. Pick up the ebook Life Sweep which comes with Premium Membership and you can take steps to radically change your life and create space for better things to come in. Hopefully your husband will co-operate as you sweep away what you do not love or need. That will help you lose weight and it will also help you get real about who you are and who and what you actually want. Then you can set goals and head towards it.
Hi Jessica,
Happy Chinese New Year.
Hoping you can help…. where is the love for Rats?
I’m done with the confusion of the past 5 years .. I’ve just started a new job in a new location and I’m hopeful and gaining confidence every day .. Late last year was a clean sweep of all outdated relationships both personal and professionally… I treasure those that have remained and I’m ready for a lasting and loving relationship.
Is it possible?
Thankyou for sharing your knowledge so generously.
Aries S
It really depends on what you mean by love. Do you want to get married, or get married and become a parent, or do you just want to date someone? There is a world of difference in astrology, between the first and second. You have been living with the most unpredictable love life cycle you will ever know, which began around 2010-2011 and will finish in March 2019. This means the chance for stability is there – and it will actually be there for many years to come, not only just 2019. It really depends what you want from love and sex. Can I suggest that you pick up the ebook Life Sweep, available to Premium Members, and use that pre-February 4th, Lunar New Year? That will help you get absolutely clear about who you want and why.
Dearest Jessica
I have learnt all the astrology I know from your blog. It comes so naturally and I am getting better at it every year. Also learning to listen to my intuition. It is never wrong.
I have downloaded the e books and I am floored with your descriptions of mars in aries, venus in libra and scorpio mercury. God!! I dont like heels but flats and shoes precisely. I am uncomfortable with feminine dress up yet look chic in gym gear!! An unfair dynamic (three party) did lead me into deep deep abyss. I have managed to come only half way (till now) by diving more into sag-virgo-pisces side and values of absolute equality and what really matters on a soul level.
My saturn return was a really tough time but looking back it transformed my value system, I parted with my childhood conditioning (fitting into the societal dynamics) and owned myself on a soul level. During the sag new moon of 2017 (also my exact solar return) I sowed the seeds of a healthy mind-body-soul dynamic. Interestingly jupiter in scorpio then had provided solution for a chronic condition that I was diagnosed with when saturn was in scorpio! I have come a long way and want to take this journey upwards.
Dragon and scorpio forecasts have offered real hope. Please tell me what should Iook for in 2019? (I have been single forever now!)
Thank you, I’m glad the astrology is working for you! Being single is an interesting one, because there are billions of people on the planet, so you have to ask yourself what is going on. Do you actually really want to get married at all, deep down? If you are completely sure you want a wedding, followed by a lifetime of living with someone, and possibly having children, then it may just be that you have turned down people who would have made good partners because you wanted perfection – that can happen. In any case Uranus in Taurus will bring radical change in your attitudes after March, and actually for many years after that you will be offered chances to get together with someone. This will partly happen because your point of view alters so much – but it does take time.
Hi Jessica,
OMG! I am literally living out the 1/28 – 2/3 weekly horoscope for Leo. My client retired in early January. Prior to her retirement she recommended to her boss that I take on her job duties to ensure continuity of operations. I was truly hoping to be promoted by her retirement. That’s not what happened. The division manager (male above her boss), with whom she had a toxic relationship with, appointed someone else to the position. On Tuesday, it was confirmed that the person my client also had a bad relationship with would be replacing her. I mean, this person is already sitting in my clients former office. Talk about being “center stage and brightly lit.” On Thursday, we have a staff meeting where this will most likely be formally announced along with other program changes.
Can you see how this will affect me? I feel that these people may try to retaliate against me based solely on my association to her. I can’t be without a job as I have yet to recover from the recent government shutdown. This situation; however, already has me losing sleep at night due to the potential of petty office politics.
Thanks in advance for your help.
I am so sorry about this petty office politics. It is typical of the Pluto in Capricorn cycle in the Leo Sixth House of work. Do not lose sleep over it. I am sure you are very frustrated and annoyed, and with really good reason. Yet – this too will pass. Actually you won’t care, from December 2020, as you enter the amazing Jupiter in Capricorn cycle and have 12 months of solutions, opportunities, improvements and gains – not possible in 12 years, actually. Even before you get to that, Uranus in Taurus in your Tenth House of ambition and success (quite different to work) lands with a bang in March 2019 and you will be set free from any situation that confines or restricts you. Towards the end of the year you will be involved with foreign people and places in the most fantastic way, and may consider travelling there (or be sent there) – at the very least the world will come to you. This situation now will look very small when that happens. If your birth time is correct, 2019 will go down as the year you really opened up the world map for yourself and stuck a pin in! And you will do very well from that. So let this unfold, put it in its proper perspective please, and know that it’s going to look like a mosquito splat on the windscreen of your life within months. Long-term your entire career is reshaped, actually.
Hi Jessica, Thank you so much for your information on pigs and pig year. I am a pig and Aquarius and my partner is also a pig and Aquarius. We are 47 years apart. I have taught him a lot and have transferred all of my intellectual rights; ours is really like a relationship between an old pig and his piglet. What would you expect for us during this Pig year? Does my wish of implementing a project(s) together with my piglet by applying our intellectual rights come true? Can we get a high and regular income out of the project(s)? If yes, when?
You’ll certainly get your project with the other pig off the ground, if it educates people – or just educates him. Money is a different matter. This year is not really about the finances so much as the experience of teaching and learning. That is enriching.
Here’s a nice bit of animal symbolism for you, Jessica! This week, in the run up to Chinese New Year, my husband, son and I were astonished to see a rat in our garden slowly rolling a fat ball along the grass. The ball had fallen from a bird feeder we hang from the branch of an apple tree. Showing great strength, ingenuity and resourcefulness, the rat managed to manoeuvre the large ball right across the garden. Wondering what omen this might represent, I looked up the possible meaning of having a rat travel across your path. The answer was that the rat was letting us know it’s time for: new beginnings; learning something new; pursuing your dreams and change. Alternatively, we are being asked to evaluate the clutter around us and it’s time for spring cleaning! As my son is a Rat in Chinese astrology and was about to go to a conference to gather information and contacts relating to his chosen career, I was tickled by the aptness of this appearance! Life sweeping is underway! Happy Lunar New Year everyone.
That is the most brilliant omen. I love the fact that your son is also a Rat in Asian astrology. A clear sign for you (and for him) about Year of the Pig – sounds like he’s going to do really well this year.
So excited for you about the new software, that’s going to be groundbreaking! Very cool. 🙂
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