Lunar Zodiac · The Moon's Cycle
Ox
“Carried the winner across, and never mentioned it again.”
Polarity: yin · Direction: north · Element: earth
The Ox is endurance, honesty and unglamorous strength. It is the sign that does the work while other people are still describing it, holds a position for years without needing anyone to agree, and treats a promise as a fact about the world rather than an intention. Nothing about it is quick and nothing about it gives way. In the race for the calendar, the Ox was the strongest swimmer and the obvious favourite, and it spent the entire crossing with the Rat riding on its head, having agreed to the arrangement without much thought. At the far bank the Rat jumped and took first place. The Ox came second. What the story never records is any complaint about it, and that omission is the sign in one detail: the animal that did the actual carrying, was outmanoeuvred at the last moment, and simply took its place and got on with the next four thousand years of ploughing. Ox people are dependable to the point of being taken for granted. They are patient, physically capable, slow to anger and immovable once settled. They are the ones still standing after the hard year. The cost is silence: they absorb far more than they report, they will carry a load that was never theirs rather than renegotiate it, and the resentment, when it finally surfaces, has usually been building for a very long time.
Years of the Ox
A Ox year opens at Chinese New Year, which falls between late January and the middle of February, so it does not line up with the calendar year. Anyone born in the weeks before it belongs to the animal before.
- 1913February 6, 1913 to January 25, 1914
- 1925January 24, 1925 to February 12, 1926
- 1937February 11, 1937 to January 30, 1938
- 1949January 29, 1949 to February 16, 1950
- 1961February 15, 1961 to February 4, 1962
- 1973February 3, 1973 to January 22, 1974
- 1985February 20, 1985 to February 8, 1986
- 1997February 7, 1997 to January 27, 1998
- 2009January 26, 2009 to February 13, 2010
- 2021February 12, 2021 to January 31, 2022
- 2033January 31, 2033 to February 18, 2034
Ox Ancient Zodiacs
Every sign someone born in the Year of the Ox can be, one for each Western sun sign.
- Swordfish: Aries Ox, “Unstoppable drive behind a point that never dulls.”
- Bison: Taurus Ox, “Turns into the storm and walks straight through it.”
- Raccoon: Gemini Ox, “Curious hands, stubborn patience, and no lock that holds.”
- Cockroach: Cancer Ox, “Outlasts the disaster, and brings the family through it.”
- Bear: Leo Ox, “Warm, enormous, and best not woken suddenly.”
- Reindeer: Virgo Ox, “Knows the route, keeps the pace, brings everyone home.”
- Magpie: Libra Ox, “Builds the crossing, then stands on it so others can pass.”
- Rhino: Scorpio Ox, “Two tonnes of certainty, aimed at whatever moved.”
- Hawk: Sagittarius Ox, “The long view, held from a fence post, for hours.”
- Mammoth: Capricorn Ox, “Ancient, immovable, and still moving forward.”
- Hippo: Aquarius Ox, “Placid until the moment it is extremely not.”
- Manatee: Pisces Ox, “Enormous, harmless, and moving at the speed of peace.”