Welcome to Year of the Sheep —A Year of Unpredictability
The very eventful Horse year is trotting off into the past. Even though we know that a Horse year will be dynamic, the year has been more dynamic than we expected. This year has seen the sudden emergence of the Islamic State, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine with the Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the crash of several airplanes, the turmoil in the oil markets, and the surprising shifts in the financial markets.
Horse years are yang; Sheep years are yin. Therefore, we might expect that this coming year will be less dramatic. But predictions are always difficult – as the outcomes of our predictions for the year of the horse have shown. But, one thing we can be sure of is that the pace of events will be fast, and there will be surprising oscillations. Where, then, is the yin aspect? The yin aspect is within ourselves. We must realize that these large-scale historical events are beyond our individual control. What we as individuals need to do, is be responsible for own work: from day to day, we must make sure that we meet our own responsibilities as best we can.
This year will be like a young, leaping sheep: no one can tell where it will land, or which way it will turn when it does. We have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
This will also be the twenty-fifth year of the Blue Mountain Institute. The long-awaited book, Form Defines Energy, has finally been published. Unfortunately, the press of this work slowed down our project to create our on-line courses. Getting on-line courses actually up and running is a major goal of 2015. But we will continue our Certification Program, offered in both Seattle and Belarus. The certification training will be a 10-day program. We will also offer a 4-day meditation retreat for people in business and the professions, focusing on energy, health, meditation, and the application of natural laws.
We are also offering mini- feng-shui lectures by Jenny Nakao Hones, a senior teacher at the Blue Mountain Institute, and a professional interior designer. These classes will focus on interiors and more hands on knowledge.
On the personal level, this will be a very good year for people born in the years of the rabbit, pig and horse. For those born in the sheep year, this will be a year of change: not necessarily a bad year, but one that will demand work, but will also bring opportunities. For those born in the year of the ox, there will be challenges. If you were born in the year of the rat, it will be necessary to work on relationships (not just romantic relationships). For those who belong to the year of the dog, there will be friction; yet, despite occasional stumbles, they will prevail. For people born in other years, this should be a relatively peaceful, even neutral, year. It will be a good year to look inward and seek spiritual growth and fulfillment.
In any unpredictable situation, there are always embedded seeds of opportunity. We have to remember not to let our attention be dominated by challenge and struggle, but to take a wider view, so that we can notice opportunities as they arise. In this way, we will be ready to work with the best that the sheep year has to offer.
Shan-Tung Hsu
