2024 – Can You Ride the Dragon?

Jefferson Breland

(2/2024) Call me slow. I now realize some of you glaze over at the mere thought of another article about Chinese astrology. So I have decided to mix it up a bit: not only the order of the information, but also the purpose.

Historically, Americans have usually seen Chinese astrology as only a placemat in Asian restaurants. The use of astrology in general, both Western and Eastern, has been very limited.

Whether or not you truly believe in astrology, like many esoteric pursuits, astrology can be used to see ourselves and our lives a bit differently.

My goal is to make astrology, in this case Chinese astrology, not just more interesting, but practical. You heard me right. Practical. Useful.

When we let go of any rigid idea, such as 'astrology is a bunch of malarkey,' we can begin to find wisdom in many more places. We need not go only to a socially accepted "expert" like Oprah or Judge Judy to find new ways of thinking and doing to expand our possibilities and improve our lives. Wisdom is all around us. We just have to look for it.

So, how, pray tell, will I begin to to shift our understanding of Chinese astrology as practical?

The Year of the Dragon begins on February 10, 2024. Let us begin our understanding, by expanding our idea of "Dragon."

Dragons are ubiquitous in cultures around the world. They present themselves in our collective unconscious in a variety of ways with differing purposes and manifestations.

The origins of the dragon mythologies vary from the discovery of dinosaur bones, seafaring tall tales, misunderstandings, and bad translations of words to describe various reptiles.

The dragon gets a really bad rap in Western culture. The dragon is always the bad guy: greedy, malicious, merciless, unreasonable, evil, and halitosis-y to name but a few of the worst human attributes. Often associated with Satan and sin in Christian traditions, the dragon must always be killed for the good of mankind.

St. George, the patron saint of England and a number other countries, famously slew a dragon threatening a village. Actually, there are a number of legends about St. George slaying a number of dragons in different parts of the world from North Africa to Turkey to Georgia (the country), to Eastern Europe, to England. He really got around. Curiously these stories were added to his saintly legend about 700 years after he died.

As is often the case, Chinese culture sees things a wee bit differently than their Western counterparts. In Chinese culture, dragons could not be more different than in the West.

Dragons in Chinese culture symbolize good luck, protection, intelligence, masculine traits, and yang energy. The Dragon has symbolized the position of Emperor throughout Chinese history. Their horns of destiny represent power and duty. Dragons are the guardians of wealth and prosperity.

People born in the year of the Dragon can be proud, aristocratic, and very direct. They can demand high standards. Dragons are capable of achieving great things on a grand scale.

Dragon people can be healthy, energetic, excitable, short-tempered, and stubborn. They can be egotistical, eccentric, dogmatic, whimsical, or demanding, and unreasonable.

Possessing little self-doubt, the truth-telling Dragon person rarely wavers, cowers, or shifts responsibility. With the Dragon’s magnetic personality and innovative spirit, their endeavors will either be amazing successes or astounding follies. To them, life is a wild ride, constantly on the go.

Dragon people are also honest, sensitive, brave, and they inspire confidence and trust. The Dragon is an open person. They are not good at hiding emotions. What you see is what you get. While they might be abrasive, their feelings are genuine and always true to their heart. They are loyal to loved ones, direct in speaking without regard to others' feelings, not sentimental or overly sensitive.

Now that we have a different idea of what the Dragon represents, how do we use this information to help ourselves improve our lives.

I find it useful to think of the animals of Chinese astrology as archetypes for all potential human qualities. When you explore the qualities of the animals, do you identify with the one associated with your birth year? Are you drawn to the qualities of other animals? Do you want to be more like a tiger or a rat?

When we look past our usual stories about animals like the Rat or the Snake, we can begin to see their positive qualities. If we stick with the standard stories of sewers, trash, plague, venomous, evil, and just plain gross, we will never see their virtues.

In the Oneness, we are all the animals and they are all of us. We are all beings of the universe made of the same stardust. We are all born of the great mystery of this life. Why not learn from each other?

The Dragon at its core represents power, flexibility, and mystery. The Dragon can go under the water, fly in the air, move in many directions simultaneously, and breathe fire. As far as I know, no one has ever seen a mystical Chinese Dragon. It is the only astrological animal that we cannot see.

That doesn’t mean that those qualities are not available to us. Don’t you want to be more powerful, more flexible, and more mysterious or at the very least begin to understand the mysteries of life?

We can use the attributes of all twelve animals of Chinese astrology to begin to take inventory of what capabilities we want to grow in ourselves. We can use them as guides to explore untapped potentials in ourselves.

I encourage each of you to explore your full potential through the lens of Chinese astrology. The animals simply represent a different angle of how to be in this world. Who knows, you may be the Dragon we’ve been waiting for.

You are a Dragon Person if you were born in one of the following years:

January 23, 1928 – February 09, 1929; February 8, 1940 - January 26, 1941; January 27, 1952 – February 13, 1953; February 13, 1964 - February 1, 1965; January 31, 1976 – February 17, 1977; February 17, 1988 - February 5, 1989; February 5, 2000 – January 23, 2001; January 23, 2012 – February 9, 2013; February 10, 2023 – January 28, 2025

The best Chinese zodiac animals for the Dragon to befriend are the Rat and Monkey. These three are part of the "First Triangle of Affinity, a group comprised of people who are "positive doers." Obviously focused on "doing," they take the initiative and are intuitively progress-oriented. The Dragon, Rat, and Monkey are a kind of "dream team." They work extraordinarily well together due to similar ways of doing things and thinking strategies.

All of the other nine signs will work well together with the exception of the Dog. The personalities of Dog and Dragon are diametrically opposed in a number of ways. They are as different as night and day. The ambitious and eccentric Dragon needs like-minded people while the Dog will question seemingly unrealistic pursuits.

Notable people born in the Year of the Dragon: Sandra Bullock, actor; Frank Sinatra, singer/actor; Shirley Temple Black, entertainer; Neil Diamond, musician; St. Joan d’Arc, soldier/saint; Jimmy Conners, tennis player; Bruce Lee, martial artist/actor; Al Pacino, actor; John Lennon, musician; Walter Mondale, politician; Vladimir Putin, politician; Che Guevara, revolutionary; Martin Luther King, Jr., reverend/activist; Rihanna, musician; Pele, athlete; Ryan Reynolds, actor/businessman; Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel), author, Stephan Curry, athlete.

Jefferson Breland is a board-certified acupuncturists licensed in Pennsylvania and Maryland with offices in Gettysburg and Towson, respectively.
He can be reached at 410-336-5876.