Yin and Yang (陰陽)
Yin and yang (陰陽) are the two complementary polarities of Chinese thought, and in astrology they tint every element and every year. Yang is active, bright, expansive; yin is receptive, dark, contracting. Across the sixty-year cycle, polarity alternates strictly year by year: a yang year is always followed by a yin year. Years ending in an even digit are yang, those ending in an odd digit are yin, which pairs each animal with a single fixed polarity.
The alternation that paces everything
Picture a steady beat: one yang year, one yin year, never the same twice running. That is why any given animal carries only one polarity. The Rat, Tiger, Dragon, Horse, Monkey and Dog are yang; the Ox, Rabbit, Snake, Goat, Rooster and Pig are yin. Polarity is no verdict, only a way of moving forward.
What your polarity reveals
If your year is yang, you move toward the world, you act, you initiate; if it is yin, you receive, you ripen, you let things come. Neither is better. The tao is born precisely from their back-and-forth, from night turning to day and back to night. Feeling your natural slope helps you stop fighting yourself.
Sources
- , Tao Te Ching