The Chinese calendar, commonly known as the Farmers calendar, or the Hsia calendar, is a fascinating system, which not only records the passage of time, but is also a tool for fortune-telling. The famous traditional fortune-telling system - the Four Pillars of Destiny - is exactly referring to reading a person’s destiny from his birth data as presented in the Hsia calendar format. The unique feature of such calendar is that all information about time - year, month, day and hour are presented in terms of the five basic elements – metal, water, wood, fire, and earth, which are believed to be the basic components of everything in the Universe.

The Year of the Goat, 2003, in the Hsia calendar, is symbolized by two elements – with water sitting on top of earth. According to the cycle of birth and destruction, which governs the inter-relationship between elements, earth will destroy water. Therefore, water sitting on its destroyer – earth, is a symbol of disharmony and this may lead to international conflicts. In my last year’s prediction, I also forecast a year of international conflict in 2002, a year of water sitting on fire. This prediction is quite accurate, as soon as we got into the year of Horse, President Bush had taken a hawkish attitude in foreign relationship and declared North Korea, Iraq and Iran as the axis of evil. There had been serious conflict between Israel and Palestine, disharmony between Pakistan and India …etc. As such, the conflict between water and fire in 2002 had brought serious consequences. However, I am a little optimistic about 2003. The water fire is a pair of elements seriously in conflict. In 2002, the water is yang water, powerful water of the ocean. But the fire is not weak as it is in the Earthly Branch – symbolizing the foundation. So the fire can resist the water and fight back. But in 2003, the water is yin , the very weak small drop of morning dew water. This water cannot resist the powerful earth at the Earthly Branches. So I do not expect 2003 will bring a large-scale war. The nature of yin water is humble, tolerate, patient and accommodating. So there will be disharmony, but the situation is generally under control, and world leaders will be more patient to negotiate peach settlements on various important issues. According to feng shui flying stars, the bad star 5 Yellow will be present in the Southeast in 2003.

As such, tension areas are China and Taiwan, South east Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, or even South East Coast of USA.

The Chinese calendar year goes on 60-year cycle. This means that we had experienced the same year of yin water on earth in 1943 when the world is deep in trouble at war. However, the tide began to turn as Hitler began to suffer defeat in several battlefields, leading to the Allies counter attack on D –day in 1944. 2003, sixty years after, the same pair of elements water on earth may not bring such serous trouble, and we should see improvement in world peace compared against 2002, but conflicts and skirmishes here and there will be inevitable.

The Goat – in the system of Four Pillars of Destiny, is the strongest earth element appearing in summer and supported by summer fire, according to our experience, is the driving force behind economic activities. This earth is dry without water content. So the water standing on top of such dry earth will be extremely weak. As such, we expect this year will experience dry weather, and drought in many areas will occur. In the Chinese Almanac, there is a “Mother Earth’s Poem” for each year and for the year of Yin water goat, it says “ There will be poverty and one hundred family has to share one water well”. It also follows that fire disasters will be more frequent. Furthermore, a year of strong earth usually brings earth disasters such as serious earthquakes, landslides and collapse of buildings. Dry earth could also mean desert. As such, more events may occur in desert area. Take for example, the “Desert Storm” of the Gulf War in 1991, happened to be a year of the goat also.

The elements appearing in each year in the Chinese calendar is a signal revealing areas that we should pay attention during the year. With the strong appearance of earth in 2003, it is a warning that there could be problem in earth area. Besides natural disasters like earthquake and drought, we can project that troubles may also emerge in area of agriculture, forestry area, as the Goat is also considered as “Grave of wood”.

In 2002 the strong fire brought about some recovery in the US and Asian economy. In 2003, the goat is continuation of a fire cycle so international economy will continue to improve and stabilize.

The five basic elements also represent different parts of our body, water is the kidney, and earth is the stomach, muscles and cells. As earth is very strong this year, it means it will easily trigger diseases related to the cells, which means cancer . It will not be surprising that more celebrities or famous people suffer from cancer in the year of the goat. As the water is weak this year, it could symbolize sickness related to kidney as well. As such, it is good to include more fresh fruit and vegetables in ones diet this year. The yin water this year is in clash against yin fire, which is a symbol of heart, nerve system of blood circulation. Therefore, the other area to be careful will be sicknesses related to heart, blood circulation and nerve system, and mental problem. It will not be surprising that cases of psycho killer and suicide will be on the rise in the year of the goat.

Regarding the economy, the year of the Horse brings strong fire element, which is the driving force behind the old economy. This is particularly important for Asia, as the economic powers in South East Asia are close to the equator – in an area of fire element. The 1997 Asian currency crisis was actually brought to Asia by the demise of fire element. In 2003, the goat - being the last stage of the fire cycle, will continue to give momentum for economic activities and the stock market in the first half of the year. However, as this is the last fire year in the current cycle, the fire element will demise and give way to metal monkey in 2004. Therefore, a more serious setback in stock market may occur when autumn arrives in August.
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Property industry is classified as Earth element, as earth conquers water, the water appearing on top in the year of the Goat symbolizes some money prospect for the property industry. As such, property industry will continue to be active, but the water element is quite weak this year. The also signifies that competition is so keen that there is not much money gain in property industry. The other industry related to Earth elements are insurance, mining, chemical, computer software …etc. I am more optimistic about industries related to wood element – this includes flowers, plants, agriculture, textile, fashion, hair, food, and many consumer products. As wood conquers earth, so strong earth coming up in the year of the Goat symbolize money gain in these industries. Another favourable element this year will be fire. Fire industries are energy, electricity, entertainment, restaurant, and electronic goods…. It seems there will be more activities in fire industries as fire produces earth, so a strong earth year means a productive year for the fire industries. This favours oil prices.

With respect to the new hi-tech economy, as represented by the NASDAQ, I have postulated that this industry is mainly represented by metal element. So I have accurately predicted that the NASDAQ will fall during metal months of 2000, a year of strong metal, and will also not do well in 2001, a year when metal showed up again. This was true in August 2001 when the metal month brought a drastic fall in NASDAQ. In 2003, the water element symbolizes the creativity and output of the metal industry. This is positive. But the earth underneath will support more metal; this will bring more competitors into the hi-tech industry to erode the money profit. However, the optimistic view is that the Goat –even though it is a strong earth element, is considered as “storage of wood “ and wood is the money to metal industry. As such, I am more optimistic about hi-tech industry this year. I will expect there could be a mini boom in this sector in the first half of the year. However, one has to be careful about the stock market setback anticipated by autumn of 2003. As the months of August, September, and October are very strong in metal and earth this year, I anticipate the hi-tech industry will be leading the nosedive in this year down turn.

In summary, the industries that will perform well in the year of the Goat will be industry related to wood, earth and fire elements – Wood industries include fashion, retail, textile, paper, publication, agriculture, food. Earth industries including property, insurance, mining, and chemicals. Fire industries are energy, electricity and entertainment. On the other hand, industries related to water element – such as transport, travel, shipping, communication, bars, drinks, spa….. may not do well this year, as both fire and wood, symbolizing money and productivity to the water industry are missing. Metal industry such as engineering, heavy machinery, computer, and banking. is better off in the first half of the year but may suffer set back in the second half.

In general, the yin water goat is symbol of patience, Torrance, accommodating and acceptance. So it will be a year good for peace settlement, compromising, resolving differences, and come to terms with reality. There will be conflict and disharmony in international relationship but there are good chances of peaceful settlement. The animal sign, which are not so favorable, is the Ox, which is into a year of clash against the Goat. Such clash usually bring about movements. So people born in the year of the Ox will anticipate more changes and moves this year, such as travelling, moving house, changing job…etc. It is necessary to carry a pendant of Horse as protection to attract the Goat away. For the Ox people, it is also recommended not to travel so much directly to the Southwest especially in the month of July, as southwest is the position of the Grand Duke of the Goat year.

The other animal sign under negative influences is the Goat, which is offending the year. Also the Dog is having a penalty relationship with the year. Penalty is related to hidden danger, hidden sickness. So people born in year of Dog, Ox, or Goat should also be careful of their health this year, as excessive earth element may bring stomach problem, and even cancer if it gets more serious. Also it is not advisable for people having too much earth elements, Dog, Ox or Goat to travel to desert area, or to travel to mountainous area, to avoid any danger related to the earth element.

The better animals signs in the year of the Goat are the Horse, the Pig, and the Rabbit, as they are in combine relationship with the Goat, so will be into a more harmonious year. There is some good news for people born in the year of the Rat, they will be into a year favorable for romance. However, such animal astrology is not totally reliable as the system is not recognized as formal kind of fortune-telling. It requires more information than just the birth year to determine a person’ s luck.

Feng Shui energies also changes from year to year. Therefore, it is necessary to watch out for the reallocation of good and bad energies at the beginning of each year, so that we can take necessary precautions if some bad energy happens to arrive at important locations of our residence or office. In the year of the Goat, the bad energy called “Five Yellow” – symbolizing obstacles and misfortune, arrives at the Southeast. If your bedroom or entrance happen to be in the Southeast of your house, it is recommended to hang a metal windchime there to dissolve this bad energy. The worst months will be in April and October. Another bad star number 2, symbolizing sickness, will arrive at the North in 2003. The traditional method to dissolve is to hang a string of 6 metal coins in the affected area in the North of the house. The Grand Duke this year is in the Southwest, hence it is not favorable to “Move earth” or making substantial construction work in the Southwest. It is also not suitable to sit with back against exact West as you will be sitting against the unfavorable energy called "Three shars” or “Three Killings”.