Customer Reviews

The 12 Chinese Animals: Create Harmony in Your Daily Life Through Ancient Chinese Wisdom

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I knew about the 12 Chinese Animals and the years, what I did not know is that we also have animals for the hour and day of our birth. Much like the traditional zodiac with sun and moon signs overcasting our main sign. Definitly an interesting read and from what I read of my own, very accurate! Surprisingly accurate for the day and time of birth and seperate scopes for all of your signs. Highly recommended to any astrology buff!

You may know that you were born in the year of the snake, but did you know you may also be a dragon and a horse? Before reading this book, I was not aware that everyone has three different animal symbols - one for the year (which doesn't begin on January 1), one for the month, and one for the hour of your birth. This book includes charts so you can find out all three of your animal symbols.

The next section of the book includes personality characteristics and advice for health, career, relationships, and even colors for each animal symbol. I found some descriptions to be accurate for myself and family members, and others not to apply at all. Of course, the same can be said when reading characteristics of Western astrology signs.

I enjoyed reading the brief family history and memories of Chinese traditions that the author shares within some of the symbol descriptions. The book also contains more detailed information and advice for living for more serious students of the Chinese horoscope. I read the book for entertainment, but the author shares information on how to live a "life of harmony". I think many people will like the meditation prayers included for each animal symbol.

This is a good intro book into the Chinese Zodiac. It goes into some history, explanations on how in depth this subject is, and you get an idea for how complex this science is. That's it's not all just pulled out of thin air. It does give a brief description of each zodiac sign. Personally, I was disappointed at how brief it is. It's a short book at only 192 pages. Each zodiac description is only 3-5 pages. I would have liked to see more depth and description. This book is good as an introduction - but then it really leaves you wanting more! I know other books that go into a LOT of description but doesn't have much of the backround and science behind it, so this book is worth reading.

Although somewhat esoteric to relate or understand the numerical order in finding one's number and animal symbol, I appreciated the imagery and wisdom sprinkled throughout this book.

The author points out, "The yearly animal symbol is related to the energetic year in which you were born, the monthly animal is related to the energetic month, the daily to the energetic day, and the hour is related to the energetic time...all are different concepts than those of the regular solar (not lunar) calendar (p.29)." Determining one's sign also relates to before "LiChun" or prior to the beginning of nature's seasons.

So, although I haven't figured out my Chinese Animal yet or if it, in fact, relates to this American-born being, I greatly enjoyed learning the history of China and its philosophy of living in harmony within family, society, and nature since the time of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Plus, the symbols and Asian scripts accompanied by images and sacred prayers at the end of each section is greatly enlightening.

All around, this is text is divine in its aim to create harmony in daily life; however, this book may benefit from detailed, yet simple understanding for how to determine one's Chinese Animal.

This book presents the 12 astrological animal signs of Chinese astrology and offers information about how they can be interpreted in one's charting. It provides some background about the philosophies that underly this system, including ideas about energy/chi and the I Ching. Through the understanding of the talents and vulnerabilities shown by these animal archetypes in astrology we can learn to better ourselves and enhance our lives. One thing that I found interesting is how there is an animal sign for the year as well as for the month and day. Anyone familiar with Western astrology would see major differences between these systems, yet both systems have been used effectively for thousands of years. This book is really an introduction to Chinese astrology - it has charts you could use to identify your birth animal (and the other animals in your chart) but it doesn't go too in depth into how a Chinese astrology reading would be conducted. This book piqued my interest in this topic and it explained the subject fairly well.

I wish that the author had the time to go further in-depth on the book, because the stuff I learned from reading it were more involved and detailed than what I've seen thus far, but still written in a manner that it's easy enough for a beginner to plunge in head-first. There were lots of notes on meditation, and incorporating what you've learned into your life, which I feel that most astrology books never bother to do. It's like "OK, you've told me about myself, so now tell me what to do with that knowledge." It's a short book, but it's also pretty heavily packed with information.

I used this book for myself, using my sign and date of birth to find my traits, my personality, who I can make a good connection with, how I can improve my health, my life through meaningful choices, etc.

Book is organized by signs, and then by date of birth. I like this setup, because not only I can use it on yourself, but also on friends, coworkers, etc, very quickly.

I loved the fact how accurate it was!

I'm not really seeing what this book offers that's really not covered by other similar books. It's really a 'how to look up your year and month animal and what they mean' type thing, rather than offering anything to 'create harmony' such as practical applications of the material.

The material is I suppose reasonably accurate. I got two friends to give me their information and I gave them the results from the book and they said, yes, it's pretty accurate but...also fairly generic stuff.

Still it's fun to play with and we made a fun game of it, but for some sort of longstanding resource you'll go to again and again? No. It just doesn't deliver.

I enjoyed this book very much as it was very well written and researched. The author truly knows his subject matter and is able to share his knowledge of Chinese Astrology, as well as other topics relating to Chinese culture, in a clear and concise manner. I also appreciated the direct approach to his writing as he is able to explain away false notions about the Chinese zodiac and give a clear example of how it is to be read. The illustrations in the book are spot on and really help the reader to get a good sense on what is being taught. I have also found the meditations he shares in the book to be very useful and calming. Great book!

Even though I have no belief in astrology, I have always been interested by the complexity involved in such practices. I had a little knowledge about Chinese astrology, mostly gleaned from the paper placemats at Chinese restaurants, so I was intrigued by this book. It did not disappoint. The practice is far more in-depth and complex than I had ever imagined. I will certainly recommend this book to others who are also interested in these sorts of things.