When I was young, someone read me the story of Little Black Sambo. I don’t remember who read it to me, and I know it’s frightfully politically incorrect to admit to having ever even heard of the story. But I did. I don’t remember much of it, except that the protagonist was extremely clever and managed to persuade a hungry tiger to chase its own tail around a tree so fast it melted into butter.
The image stuck with me. I rather liked the idea of melting into butter at the foot of a tree. And I instinctively understood the mechanism of a all-devouring, self-defeating rage.
Years later, someone informed me that my Chinese astrological sign was unsuitable for a woman: I’m a tiger. Chinese astrology never made any sense to me since it’s all based on date, which would infer that everyone born in the same year is exactly alike and will suffer the same fate. I guess when a million of your countrymen starve to death during The Long March, there is some kind of sense in that. Nonetheless, I’ve always found astrology of any kind to be ludicrous.
So, why am I writing this? Fucked if I know. You’ve unwittingly caught me in a moment of unforgivable narcissistic rambling.
Chinese Astrology works on to interconnected cycles. There is one cycle of 12 animals, and a cycle of 5 elements. I’m not going into it – it’s a little boring. The long and the short of it is that I’m a Water Tiger – and worst of all, I’m a Yang Water Tiger.
By all rights, and if Chinese midwives had any say in the matter, I should have been a man. Rash, forceful, short-tempered, sharp, demanding, etc. etc. Just not a very nice person, really. Although I’m reliably told ‘tigers’ are capable of great sympathy and very deep thought. Oh, well, that makes it all so much better!
The water part of my sign apparently makes it worse. It is associated with the Winter, the North, the planet Mercury, the color black, cold weather, night, and the Black Tortoise. (Oh, no! Not the fearsome Black Tortoise! Run for your lives).
But the worst thing about water is the way it always finds the path of least resistance. The way it wears you down.
It would be easy to dismiss all this as utter claptrap. But the problem is that it’s really all true. Well, except for the cold weather part. I hate it. Perhaps because all my cold weather is on the inside.
I’m feeling cold inside tonight, and I’m not sure why. It’s a curious kind of loneliness. Not one that can be soothed by the presence of another person.
Ahhh.. I find it so refreshing and comforting when a writer who primarily deals in fiction, or topics outside of him/herself indulges in a little “unforgivable narcissistic rambling”. I do it from time to time, and I always look back at the posts and wonder why I posted them. But it truly is nice to know I’m not the only one who does it.
Also, on the topic of astrology; while it interests me from a sort of mythical, magical point of view, and I do like to consider it every now and then for entertainment’s sake, I don’t believe in it either. I think it’s bizarre and usually just funny. Except when people take it too seriously. Then it worries me a little.
I’m a tigerrr too.
I KNOW you are. Remember :P?
& Yang Water, too… dah, de, dah, diddy, diddy, dah.
Why did you write it because you could. You wrote it well
I did not feel any sort of interest regarding astrology ever before. One of my friends did; and he one day took me to an astrologer. I’d just finished my education then and was unemployed.
The man was working in American Life Insurance Company. He suggested me a stone and said that if I used I would get a job soon. He also suggested me some health-tips as I possessed ill health then. This is only my experience regarding astrology.
Many people have their belief yet many do not. If I say honestly, I do not have any strong feeling on this. But I too do not disagree with the influence the moon the sun and other planets have on us. This is.
In this topic I liked the sentences which I would like to mention: I’m feeling cold inside tonight, and I’m not sure why. It’s a curious kind of loneliness. Not one that can be soothed by the presence of another person.
Thanks.
If you go by descriptions on coffee mugs and placemats, I very much am my Western sign, and very much not my Eastern one. And yet, to read the descriptions helps a little–you consider each one, and try to see how it applies to you (or perhaps question why you insist that it doesn’t). You’d get the same effect reading anyone else’s sign, no doubt, but as a light exercise in introspection, it has its moments.
But what moved me to respond to this entry was this line of yours: “Perhaps because all my cold weather is on the inside.”
Turns out, I’m a Yin Fire Sheep. This may explain why a Yang Water Tiger is someone I find so deeply compelling.
The Tao says “Opposites Complement to make Balance”.
Baaa, Baaaa Baaa. (That’s sheep for “You lovely kitty, you”). 😉