 The
optimism of the Monkey year overlaps the year of the Rooster, but the Rooster
tends to be overconfident and is prone to come up with nonsensical plans.
While the colorful Rooster brings bright and happy days, he also dissipates
energy. Better stick to practical and well-proven paths. Forget about that
controversial best seller you were going to write. No get rich quick schemes
this year, please!
It may require a great deal of effort this year to resist
going off on wild goose chases. Refrain from making speculative ventures.
Disappointments and conflicts will result. The Rooster likes to flaunt his
authority and a lot of trouble can come from his domineering attitude. But since
he also symbolizes the good administrator and conscientious overseer of justice
in the barnyard, the peace will still be kept. Everything will be precariously
balanced in the Rooster's year, as his dramatic personality can set off all
kinds of petty disputes.
This year we may have to expend maximum
effort for minimum gain. Try not to fuss too much. Details do need looking into,
but don't forget to view the whole picture. Be cautious. Do not aim too high.
One is liable to get shot down.
Politics will adhere to hard-line
policies. The diplomatic scene will be dominated by philosophical orators who
rave a lot about nothing. Governments will be found flexing their muscles at
each other, but just for show. There may be no real confrontations. It is just
that everyone will be too occupied with himself to hear or care what the other
person is saying. The self-conscious influence of the Rooster will cause us to
take offense at the smallest slight. We will tend to be terribly ostentatious
about the splendid image we think we project. Dissensions and debates on all
fronts will signify the Rooster's pen-chant for argumentative exercises and will
not be likely to do permanent damage to anyone when taken in the right context.
This will be a buoyant year in spite of the Rooster's knack for making simple
things complicated. One thing is for sure: he seldom comes up empty-handed. This
is the year of one very self-sufficient bird that will never go hungry.
Just keep your eyes open and your mouth shut and check facts and figures before
making unprecedented moves. We should all get by without too much hardship. Our
pockets will not be empty although our nerves may be a bit frayed.
THE ROOSTER PERSONALITY
The Rooster, or Chicken as
he is also called, is the Don Quixote of the Chinese cycle. The
dauntless hero who must look to the earth to survive, he is the most
misunderstood and eccentric of all the signs. Outwardly, he is the epitome of
self-assurance and aggression, but at heart he could be conservative and
old-fashioned.
The Rooster-born, especially the men, will be
attractive, even dashingly handsome. The princely fowl is radiant and proud of
his fine feathers and has an impeccable carriage. You don't find any roosters
slouching; they strut about with dignity. Even the shyest member of the Rooster
family will cut a neat, trim figure and maintain a special bearing wherever he
goes.
There are two distinct types of Roosters. The rapid-firing,
extremely talkative ones and the deadly solemn observer types with the X-ray
vision. Both are equally hard to deal with. The Rooster has many outstanding
qualities to crow about. He is sharp, neat, precise, organized, decisive,
upright, alert and most direct. He can also be critical to the point of
brutality. Don't ever ask him for his frank, candid opinion--you may never
recover from his comments. He loves to argue and debate, showing how
knowledgeable and smart he is, sometimes with little regard for the feelings of
others. But when his feathers are ruffled in return, he is insufferable. He
isn't cut out to be a diplomat. Situations requiring tact, delicacy and
discretion will cramp his style. His way is to go about trying to convert
everyone to his way of thinking with missionary zeal.
An
outstanding performer, the Rooster shines when he is the center of attraction.
Tremendously imposing as a personality, he could well pursue any career that
exposes him to the public eye. Gay, witty and amusing, the magnificent Rooster
will never pass up an opportunity to recount his adventures and enumerate his
accomplishments. He is adroit at expressing himself both in speech and in
writing. You will have to concede that he is well-versed and prepared for any
subject to be discussed. If you intend to challenge him on a controversial
issue, be ready to fight long and hard--the Rooster has amazing stamina does his
homework and can wear you out.
When the Rooster is negative, he is
egoistic, opinionated and too abrasive for his own good. In his mind, he is 100
percent right. He presides over gatherings to exhibit the excellent opinion he
has of himself. However, if you look closely, you will find that he puts on this
act more as a way to constantly reassure himself of his own worth rather than to
irritate anyone. For all his poise and bravado, the Rooster is not that sure of
himself, and is therefore most susceptible to flattery or delusions of grandeur.
All members of the Chicken family can handle money. They are just fascinated by
accounting, sorting out finances and generally guarding the cash box. He budgets
everything he can get his hands on and that includes his time, your time, the
mailman's time, company time, ad infinitum. Even the smallest one will most
likely be elected as Treasurer of the Little League. He will handle his pennies
wisely, and before you know it he may be running his own mini-bank, giving loans
and charging interest from more careless youngsters.
If you have
problems with your finances due to a lack of self-control--turn your money over
to a Rooster. He'll make you an ironclad budget and slap your wrists every time
you touch one cent more than allowed.
While you may
live to lament this move, you can be sure he is doing it all for your own
good--even if he does seem to be sadistically enjoying it a bit too much and
even if it is your money. Don't be so ungrateful! You should thank your lucky
stars he condescended to help you at all.
Now all those bits and
pieces of paper you scattered around have been neatly filed away by this
efficiency expert. Your income is reconciled with your expenditures for the
first time in years. You start to see the light of day. And the Internal Revenue
wolf has not cast his dark shadow on your doorstep now that the Rooster is here
and your creditors no longer haunt you day and night. You would be worse off,
you know, if it weren't for this financial savior.
I know, too, at
this point you may think you have got more than you bargained for. You will
complain bitterly how he won't let you off lightly even for your smallest error.
You are now in a state of perfect financial accord, yet totally miserable in
this newfound bliss. Your blood pressure shoots up every time you have one of
those profound discussions with him. Well, relax. Don't take it so hard.
Try to think back. Remember that day you took him on and how he made that sacred
vow to help you out of the woods and stick to you "for better or for worse"? It
is just that you get to see the worse part first. Stick around, things are bound
to get better. His key word is service and he won't disappoint even your
greatest expectations. You may not be able to live with the Rooster, but you
will find that neither can you get along without him.
Actually,
the Chinese character for the Rooster is "Ji," which simply means Chicken. But
since this person will do anything but "chicken out" of a situation, I have
respectfully chosen to address him as the Rooster. Besides, the Rooster's
personality really enhances and dominates that of the entire chicken family. If
there were to be an ad in tomorrow's paper for a "Superman with Fine Fiscal
Abilities," you can be sure the Rooster would apply and be qualified for the
job, too.
His is the sign of the collector, too. Outstanding
accounts bug him terribly. And you know what chickens do with bugs. My, my, you
have all these uncollectible debts due you? Just watch the Rooster roll up his
sleeves and take on those culprits who owe you money. You cannot find anyone
finer to carry out an important directive. He loves difficult assignments. But
don't expect him to improvise. He is an explicit person and you have to give him
explicit orders. On top of all his virtues, you cannot ask him to be versatile
and inventive too. That would be asking too much.
To truly
understand a Rooster, you must accept his predilection for controversy. This may
be because of the mental exercise it provides him. You must comprehend,
difficult as it may sound, that there is nothing personal in his moves. You
should have enough sense to keep out of the crossfire when you know his gun is
always loaded. And while he does seem knowledgeable and wordly about everything
else it should also be noted that the Rooster can be puritanical about sex or
affairs of the heart.
For the Rooster to make smooth, unimpeded
progress it would be well if he first realized that people will not be so
adverse to accepting his excellent advice--if only he could do better with the
packaging. A little sugar coating, perhaps? He doesn't have to be like the
old-fashioned doctor who prescribes bitter-tasting concoctions with no I regard
for our delicate taste buds!
When a Rooster spends lavishly, he
must be doing it to appease his oversize ego. He is a sharp dresser and loves to
attract attention. Therefore, he occasionally will have the tendency to
over-decorate his home, his office or even himself. He is also very impressed
with awards of all kinds, medals and honorary titles. Every Rooster will try to
win at least one award, have one professional title to his credit or get a
minimum of one medal per war. With money, he will only be generous with his
immediate family or in order to win love and admiration from his followers.
Otherwise, the only thing you can be assured of getting from him free
is - advice.
A Rooster born at the crack of dawn, during the
Tiger's hours, or at sundown (between 5 and 7 P.M., the hours of the Rooster) is
definitely going to be the noisiest of the lot. I personally know of one whose
family has long since been considering the use of a muzzle to silence his
lengthy discourses. Too bad not one among them has worked up the courage for the
task. Night Roosters tend to be the exact opposite. They can be over serious,
self-contained and uncommunicative even. These quiet roosters tend to be doubly
eccentric, bookwormish, aloof or insulated in their quest for perfection.
All Roosters are perfectionists in one form or another. They will have a sharp
eye for details mixed with theoretical flights of fancy. Their ideas sometimes
look better on paper than in actual application because they forget to make
allowance for human frailties and other varying factors. They have scientific
minds and may fail to see why other people cannot exist by fixed formulas as
they do.
Yet for all his faults and interfering ways, the Rooster
native is usually sincere in his desire to help others and will undoubtedly mean
well in all his endeavors. He just comes on too strong because he is so positive
in his convictions that he tends to close his mind to the views of others.
If the Rooster's dreams are too farfetched and over-ambitious, he will suffer
many disappointments in life. He must learn to stop reaching for the sky. While
he can be practical about difficult matters, the Rooster can also be very
unreasonable and difficult over simple things. But it is useless standing
between him and his goals. He is the dauntless knight, who recovers at a
moment's notice and will go off chasing another rainbow. Who knows, he may
succeed at the next try. The Rooster is brave and chivalrous under stress, but
sometimes he will carry his heroism far beyond what is required.
The female of this sign is usually more down to earth and less colorful in her
aspirations. She is super-efficient and will get things done with a minimum of
fuss. You can rely on her to have enormous amounts of energy to dedicate to any
job she sets her sights on.
One would be hard pressed to find a
more helpful woman than the female Chicken, with the exception of a Boar lady.
Although this Hen acts like she has been gang-pressed into her labors, the truth
is that she loves to conscript herself to a life of involvement and dedication.
What would she do with her vast reserves of energy otherwise? Whereas others are
only bored, she can actually be frightened when she finds extra time on her
hands.
The Hen is more adaptable than the male Rooster and will do
well in society. She will have no qualms about being a mere worker, just one of
the group, if it gets her where she is going. Routine appeals to her and she is
always on schedule if not ahead of it. She is as capable and productive as her
male counterpart but will go about performing less offensively. Careful, dutiful
and less obtrusive, she could excel in precision work, proofreading, preparing
long-range studies or compiling statistics and the like. A meticulous worker,
she is also likely to make a very thorough and patient teacher, watchful and
protective mother and solicitous wife.
She does have the tendency
to harp or constantly remind you of what is next on the agenda, but this should
be accredited to over-zealousness and not to the fact that she is out to
persecute you. One gets the impression that she is out to reform or remake the
people she loves. This is simply her way of showing that she cares. She cannot
bear to see you make mistakes when she is on hand to prevent such blunders.
Consequently, she will help you up every time you stumble, supply you with the
right word every time you stammer. Helpful to the extreme, the Hen can drive the
objects of her devotion to the limits of sanity.
She will forgive
you anything, but not before she gets those hurt feelings off her chest with a
strong lecture. After that, she won't harbor grudges and is not vindictive by
nature.
The lady Chicken is a simple dresser. She will go for
simple, classical and natural outfits that could be appropriate for numerous
occasions and which can be complemented by her large array of accessories.
Taking a peek into her handbag could tell you loads more about her character.
Besides all those little notes she writes to herself constantly, she will
probably have a tape measure and all the dress and shoe sizes of her entire
family. She's armed to the teeth with remedies for every illness and other do's
and don't's. She is precise and orderly and will enjoy taking charge of
distributing or organizing things. It is not beyond her to open the office in
the morning and lock up after everyone leaves in the evening. She guards her
responsibilities jealously and enjoys with gusto the power her authority
confers.
Every Rooster is a reputable worker. He will know how to
please his superiors, who in turn will be impressed by his sharp intellect and
efficiency. But although he has boundless energy and a driving will to succeed,
the Rooster is too cocksure when he is negative and can misdirect his efforts or
take on impossible tasks. The irony of it is that the Rooster will find success
and money in the most common places. Contrary to his own opinions, he will not
have to search far and wide for his fortune. As the Chinese put it, "Chickens
can find food even in the hardest ground with their sturdy beaks and claws."
Likewise, if the vigilant Rooster person can bring himself down to earth and
apply himself to mundane matters, he can literally dig up gold from his own
backyard. He would do well setting up his own business or running the family
estate. But wherever he goes, he will be meticulous and competent enough to have
everything operating smoothly in no time at all.
The emotions of
the Rooster-born swing high and low. He is plagued by an activity-oriented and
inquisitive mind. His probing ways keep him chained -to his objectives. Once he
sets out to prove a point, he will not leave a single stone unturned. He makes
an excellent investigator: there is a bit of Sherlock Holmes in every Rooster.
With his many administrative abilities and natural passion for work, the Rooster
will start out young and be successful early in life. What he needs most in
everything he undertakes is restraint, moderation and a firm hand to direct his
irrepressible energies. No matter how competent he is, he must realize that he
cannot take the world by storm in a single day and reprogram everyone else in it
to do things his way. In short, the Rooster-born can achieve the most
astonishing task with aplomb and then become eccentric over the last detail.
The Rooster loves praise, is allergic to criticism of any kind and can be very
selfish about sharing the limelight. He will never like to admit he is wrong. He
will go to all lengths to discredit his enemies. A good provider, the Rooster
person is wonderful to his family and will indulge them anything, provided no
one dares usurp his No. 1 spot. It would do well for him to have a large family
as he needs a cheering squad to bring out the best in him.
No
matter what happens, it will be an advantage that the Rooster is indeed a
tireless worker, for he will have to work his way through life. Things won't
just fall into his lap. He is the intrepid dreamer, full of ambition and
goodwill but destined to succeed in ordinary things. Yet, on the other hand, it
will not pay to underestimate his powers. Being fiercely competitive by
instinct, he could peck the formidable Snake to death should he set his mind to
it.
To sum it up, the colorful but controversial Rooster will
never fail to make an impression on you. You will either be enchanted and grow
to love him immensely or you will simply be unable to bear the sight and sound
of him.
The Rooster will pair off nicely with the wise and
intuitive Snake. The Snake in turn will need the effervescent personality and
sunny, dauntless outlook of the Rooster to cheer up his life. The Ox will also
welcome the sunshine the Rooster could bring into his regimental existence. both
will be compulsive workers although the Chicken is not as Spartan as the Ox. The
Dragon will definitely find the grandiose plans of the Rooster very much to his
liking, both of them being outgoing, energetic and ambitious.
The
Tiger, Sheep, Monkey and Boar will be the next best partners for the Rooster.
Put two Roosters together and you know what you will get--a cockfight. With the
Hens, there is more likely to be more harmony. The Rooster-born will come into
conflict with people born under the sign of the Rat. The Rooster lacks intimacy,
the Rat thrives by it. Neither will the Rooster find happiness with the
Rabbit-born. The Rabbit is sensitive and will seek to avoid squabbling or
inciting his enemies. The Rooster on the other hand is an expert at provoking a
fight and can rub people the wrong way by his uncomplimentary remarks. This
trait will scandalize and alienate the Rabbit, who cannot bear such glaring
directness. The Dog's relation with the Rooster will range from lukewarm to
frosty, depending on how wide the gaps are between their different points of
view. They could work together when necessary but they are not fated to be
joined together in perfect connubial bliss.
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THE ROOSTER CHILD
As a child, the
Rooster-born will be a self-starter. A good student, fast learner and
industrious little soul, he or she will be forever poking around for answers.
You can rely on him to pursue his studies, or anything else that attracts him,
with self-generated zeal. It will be a joy to teach him, as he is sharp,
intelligent and precise. He will have all the tendencies of a bookworm.
The Rooster child will be neat and orderly. He will do things in the proper
sequence and is a creature of meticulous and exacting habits that will sometimes
really annoy you. He won't be reticent about his opinions either--more of a wise
guy around the house. Tough and well-disciplined, he will save the most pocket
money among the children. He could be petty about minute discrepancies and will
plan the simplest routine with military precision.
This child will
probably be the most discriminating critic you can find for miles around. Be
glad, even if it hurts to have your ego dented so often. This is because the
Rooster is pure-minded and hates hypocrisy. His criticism and clinical
observations will just be factual statements and he has no intention of
offending you personally. Sometimes he is really astonished why you should get
angry when he is trying so hard to point out all the relevant flaws to you. Then
again, he really couldn't care less what others think of him. He has to speak
his mind as his is a true independent spirit.
The Rooster child
will be very demanding of his parents, but in return he will be just as
dependable when called upon to do his part. Not one to cry for help, he will
detest weakness and dependency in others. If you are slipping, he will be the
first to notice and call it to your attention. He can't help it as this is just
part of his nature. He tends to be bossy, too, so if you are not careful, your
little chick will soon be running your life.
Optimistic and
dauntless, the Rooster will never change his course of action even if the whole
world condemns him. You may have to watch helplessly as he rushes headlong off a
cliff, as he won't take any advice once he has made up his mind. Just keep
praying that some of his wild, idealistic schemes work. He is never too
practical when it comes to his own life. But one day, who knows, his unheard-of
ventures may hit it big. Many millionaires were born in the year of the Rooster
and they all have one other thing in common besides money--they were all
eccentric.
What is more enervating is the fact that he will be
completely blind to his own faults. Don't bother to debate with him; it will be
a waste of time as he never admits he is wrong. His is the right way and no Buts
about it!
In short, the high-powered and resplendent Rooster will
have many splendid talents (which no doubt he will carefully enumerate to you),
but he carries with him a whole bag of idiosyncrasies, too. He will never take
the middle of the road. With him, you either sink or swim. His simple "love me
or leave me" attitude means that if you wish to support him--you must be
prepared to go all the way.
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