Overview
You will attempt to put on a brave face this metal Ox year, but most Tigers will be uncomfortable. While metal Ox Qi is capable of listening to alternative views, it’s mostly already made up its mind. Overall, you’re going to have to accept that you make no progress for now. The kinds of innovation that you’re generally famous for are clearly out of fashion and, if you try to speak up for yourself, your impulse could get you into trouble. Of the 12 earthly branches, you’re the one more likely to see this metal Ox not as a caretaker, but as an authoritative enforcer.
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Yet, the metal Ox will not be moved by you and, if you persist, there could be significant injury or loss. Best to put yourself in neutral and rest as much as possible. Let convention have its say. Treat this year as preparation for next year. If you can blend into the background and disappear in the tall grass, you can position yourself very well for the year of the Tiger in 2022. This Ox year, there are lessons for you in the tall grass, on the advantages of non-action and the limits of your style of confidence.
Wait and pounce next year. Take only what you need. If you were paying attention and doing your homework last year, the metal Rat may have passed you a key for your endurance. Did you tend to your reputation and maybe even build a solid alliance? This year, you’ll need all the cover you can get.
Love
Tigers most easily identify with their passions in partnership. Predatory at their core, it is the taste of a lover’s excitement that keeps Tigers engaged. During the atmosphere of the metal Ox, obvious opportunities for these sorts of love affairs are limited. Everyone’s skin is just a little too thick to be that vulnerable. Similar to the metal Rat, the metal Ox is not a romantic Qi. Partnerships are felt like a kind of practical collaboration of resources. While, no doubt, physical chemistry and excitement can be part of these collaborations, they will not be held as deciding factors this year. It’s all a bit stuffy for you and is bound to drain you of your enthusiasm, which could be discouraging.
Single Tigers are likely to feel stuck, circling the object of their interest without knowing how to proceed. Without many avenues available to express your intense affinity, you could find yourself in the friendzone! Don’t play the field. Casual relationships are out this year. If you focus and choose well, you can invite your object of affection to help build the bridge toward you. Dogs and Pigs are always a safe choice.
Goats can also work, too, if you can find them. The two of you can lay low together in a den of lovemaking. Tigers in committed partnership could feel at a crossroads. This much pragmatism awakens some strategic questions that feel like a cost/benefit analysis, which is not your favorite place to be. Does “maybe” mean “no” or “just relax”? Hard to say for sure.
Family & Friends
You generally don’t welcome living in the spotlight, but you do prefer to be recognized when you choose to arrive. Most Tigers have a low-key love/hate relationship with their social sphere. You love having a forum to make your strong presence known, but are also suspicious of anything that would encroach upon your independence. Those that know and love you best know how to give you space. As we all move into the metal Ox year, you are best served by keeping your circle of friends small and allowing yourself an abundance of personal solitude. It doesn’t take much for the broader public to be reminded of you. So, portion your attention out in small doses. Your imagination and unconventional attitude can serve to casually shake up any stagnation that your friends are holding. Yet, most of what you have to say will go in one ear and out the other. Try not to take it personally. This is where the alliances you made last year can play a role. What the metal Ox values is an unwavering consistency, which comes across to you as controlling.
Furthermore, your competitive instincts don’t land well with an ethos of uniformity. There’s a good chance that those you don’t know well will be rubbed the wrong way by you. Having a filter provided by those that know your temperament and your abilities is the preferred means of social engagement this year. Stay with known social networks or those that come well-recommended.
Work
Your work life is the one arena in which you could take some refuge this year. Metal Ox Qi is all work, no play. So, if you’re already blessed with a rewarding means of livelihood, seek no major changes and you might even advance a little. There’s a catch though—you’re going to have to “play ball” with the dominant structural and historical hierarchies. The metal Rat year likely introduced you to some increased accountability. If you didn’t reactively reject these requirements, you were given some room to operate for your style to express.
There will be less room to maneuver in the metal Ox year, but the value of your fine reputation can still persist. Those who vouch for you in public and support you in private keep you on the right track this year. I know, this is a level of vulnerability that you’re neither comfortable with nor quickly accustomed to. Yet, if you allow yourself to move slow and be ruthlessly strategic this year, you can position yourself to make the most of the Tiger in 2022. In that year, you’ll be the boss.
So, this year, take some notes on how to build longevity and stability in your profession. It’s one thing to want to be your own boss and possess your own freedom, it’s entirely another thing to maintain that freedom. Collect and test new ideas through the spring, but don’t bother to seriously implement them. If you do your homework now, you can launch your escape on the third moon of 2022.
Money
Money itself is rarely an object of attachment for you. You’re mostly interested in the experiences and objects of power that money can help facilitate. You are innovative and growth-oriented, generating many ideas as an embodiment of a continuous spring. However, in the metal Ox year, opportunities for that style of consumptive acquisition are limited. Speculation is out.
This Ox requires evidence of a proven track record. The metal Ox approaches finances like addition by subtraction, continuing to trim the fat, and investing that efficiency into a slow and steady attrition. For an apex predator that is accustomed to taking what they need when they need it, this can feel like death by a thousand cuts. Hard to see and increasingly painful.
So, as enticing as the steadiness of the metal Ox may be, don’t take risks or splurge resources. Recovery will be much harder this year. If you exhaust your finances and expect to quickly advance or rebound, you could get stuck. Do your best to be content with what you have and conserve. If you’re as well-off next January as you were at the start of this year, that will be a victory. Better to spend the metal Ox year reinvesting and sharpening your means of acquisition. Embrace efficiency and minimize the effort it takes to get what you need. Going lean this year will make you far more effective and dangerous next year. But don’t develop patterns of greed. Sharing is also good medicine for you, too.