by The interaction between animals and elements
The interplay between the five elements and the twelve animals creates a 60-year cycle known as the Metren (sMe-‘phreng). In Byung rTsis astrology, this cycle is referred to as Logan 60. Each animal appears five times in the cycle, each time associated with a different element. The cycle traditionally begins with the Wood Rat and ends with the Water Boar. The elements are repeated twice; thus, the second year of the cycle will be the Wood Ox. This repetition occurs because each element is considered in both its masculine and feminine aspects. Odd-numbered animals are classified as masculine, while even-numbered animals are classified as feminine. The elements follow a specific order based on their relationship with the Mother, which is Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.
Table 1 in the appendix associates animal-element combinations with two 60-year cycles: 1924-1983 and 1984-2043. We use this table to determine the combination for a person’s year of birth, the current year, or a future year. The bold numbers under the years represent the mewa (sme-ba) of the current year. Mewa, which translates to “birthmark” or “mole,” can be understood as a manifestation made possible by secondary causes.
There are nine mewas, and when combined with twelve animals and five elements, they create a 180-year cycle known as Mekor (sme-‘khor). To return to the same starting combination, such as the Wood Rat with mewa 1, it takes three cycles of 60 years. As of 2022, we are in the first 60-year cycle of a new Mekor (1984-2163).
Mekor is used to chronologically date historical periods, beginning with the start of the first cycle, which coincides with the birth of Shenrab Miwoche (gShen rab mi bo che), the precursor of the Bon tradition in Tibet.
Alternative methods
Even without the table, you can still find your Tibetan birth year using the traditional left-hand method by following these steps:
- Add one year to your current age. For example, if you are 18 years old, your birth year would be 19.
- Find the animal-element combination for the current year in Table 1 (for 2022, it is Tiger-Water).
- Connect the current year’s animal with the corresponding finger (for example, the Tiger is represented on the first fold of the index finger from the bottom).
- Consider the number of cycles included in a person’s age based on the sequence 1, 13, 25, 37, 49, and so on. This approach helps us avoid counting the years one by one. In our example, only one complete cycle is considered.
- Taking this into account, let’s say regarding the first phalanx of the index finger, “The mother of Water is Metal 13” (we associate the elements with the animals according to their order of production).
- Count backwards (counterclockwise) by moving two positions at a time, starting from the base of the middle finger and continuing to the others, always by twos. Say: “The mother of Metal is Earth 14, 15; the mother of Earth is Fire 16, 17; the mother of Fire is Wood 18, 19.” We count twice because each element in the 60-year cycle repeats itself twice.
- Associate the appropriate animal with the element found in the phalanx: Wood-Monkey, corresponding to the year 2004 in the Western calendar.
To identify a future date, follow the same process but count in a clockwise direction.
The following tables illustrate the connection between the gender (male or female) of the year of birth and the kinship established with the corresponding element for that year. By considering the degree of kinship, it becomes straightforward to identify the associated element.
| Male Signs | Female Signs |
|---|---|
| Rat, Tiger, Dragon, Horse, Monkey, Dog | Ox, Hare, Snake, Sheep, Bird, Boar |
Male Year
| Year | Element |
|---|---|
| 1 and 10 | Same |
| 2 and 3 | Mother |
| 4 and 5 | Enemy |
| 6 and 7 | Friend |
| 8 and 9 | Son |
Female Year
| Year | Element |
|---|---|
| 1 and 2 | Same |
| 3 and 4 | Mother |
| 5 and 6 | Enemy |
| 7 and 8 | Friend |
| 9 and 10 | Son |
Figure 1 illustrates an alternative method for calculating the elements of the years starting from a specified year:
The graph is numbered up to 10 because it illustrates the five elements, each represented in both their male and female aspects. For example, if we consider a Wood-Monkey individual born in the Western year of 2004, and we want to check the elemental associations for both their year of birth and their 18th birthday, we can follow these steps:
- Always add one year to your age (for example, at 18 years old, you celebrate your 19th birthday).
- Determine the gender based on the year of birth using Table 1, noting that the Year of the Monkey is considered Male.
- In correspondence to the number 9, which represents the years of birth excluding the tens, and the vertex of the star marked with the letter M (for Male), we observe that the element associated with the year of birth is the son of the element of the year under consideration (since the year of birth corresponds to Wood, Wood is the son of Water.) Additionally, because the cycle repeats every ten years, it is unnecessary to factor in the tens when making this calculation.
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