THERE ARE MANY CALENDARS IN EXISTENCE by which the people of the world set their lives. In the West, particularly in Europe and in most of the Americas, there is a common understanding that we live by the Solar Roman calendar that was established some 2000 years ago in the times of the Roman Empire. There are many who would say that a lunar calendar is much more accurate in terms of relating to life experiences than a solar calendar, and it is quite conceivable that in this 21st century the Roman calendar no longer completely works accurately for the people of the world, but it is the system by which we live for the present time.
As one year comes to an end and another year begins, it is an interesting study to have a look at the Design chart for the moment in which we close one period in our lives and enter into a new year. What is it that we have experienced in 2003 that we are concluding and leaving behind, and what is it that Existence is going to bring us as the experiences we will share and internalize in the coming year?
In this article we look at the Design chart for the midnight hour in several parts of the globe as we make a move into the year 2004.
The New Year always starts in Tension
On January 1st each year in the Roman calendar, the sun transits through the 38 hexagram in the IChing. Opposite the sun, the Earth is transiting through the 39 hexagram. Additionally, if we look 88° of solar arc before the 38 and 39 hexagrams, the unconscious sun and unconscious Earth have transited through the 48 and 21 hexagrams. If one looks at the wheel of the 64 hexagrams around us, and marks in the 38, 39, 48 and 21 hexagrams, there is a slightly off-angle cross in the sky. Crosses such as these, relate to the Incarnation Themes for the dates in which they happen. In all, there are 112 different Incarnation Themes.
The Incarnation Theme for the beginning of the Roman calendar year is the theme of Tension. Every year, without fail, we enter into a New Year in an environment of tension. It is conceivable that more people wake up with a bit more than just a hangover on New Year's Day than on any other day in the year, but that is only the start of things.
The 38 and the 39 in the IChing are the gates of Opposition and Provocation. They are both gates that are situated in the Root Center in the Design body graph, the 38 being founded in the quality of vitality and an inner trust in life, and the 39 being founded in a quality of life that comes directly from an inner stillness. Trust and inner stillness are both qualities pertaining to a high level of personal and individual integrity. When one interacts with the world from a trust that existence brings one what one needs, and inner stillness that one can move through life in one's own timing, then one has accomplished a great personal understanding. When one continues to fight and struggle with oneself and the world from a place of personal confusion and a sense of personal lack, then no growth is possible.
The 48 and the 21 hexagrams in the IChing are the gates of depth and control. The 48 relates to a lifelong quest for mastery, particularly self-mastery, and the 21 to the lifelong discovering into the nature of control, particularly self-control. Self-mastery and self-control are both keys to an immense growth that is possible in life. They say that "when the going gets tough, the tough get going," and it is true that when things get really difficult comes our greatest chance to grow; that we don't give up just because things are awkward but rather we face our challenges directly, put down deeper roots into a sense of Universal trust and our inner stillness and engage more clearly with what we know to be right.
There is a Universal truth that runs through all things. The Incarnation Theme of Tension gives us the means to find our balance in life. Are we here to be in combat with nature or can we really find for ourselves our intrinsic connection with the universe and learn to grow within it and through it? At the beginning of every year, on January 1, we are called on to commit ourselves to move more and more into an accordance with the universe as our means to grow, particularly spiritually, within an environment that is charged with tension.
Good-bye 2003
The year 2003 saw a large part of the world engaged in a war mostly viewed through the eyes of news reporters. It seemed as though many of the actions that merited attention and publicity were justified from reactions to fears, either real or imagined. Fear is rooted in survival issues, and for as long as mankind has survival issues, we will be ruled by fear. The doorway out of being embroiled in survival issues is that humankind be well served by medicine to experience health and also through a sense of plenitude to enjoy our natural birthright of abundance.
In the Design chart for the beginning of the year 2003, there are two definitions, the unconscious 5 -- 15, the channel of Universal rhythm and natural timing, and the 48 -- 16, the channel of Talent and an attunement with growthful outcomes. The overall flavor of the two defined channels is that of logical progressions, future orientations, democracy and the guarded use of resources. In 2003, many people experienced a sense of personal helplessness in the face of changes that came through their lives, that despite putting out their best efforts, their rewards were questionable. The face of many businesses changed as they cut back seemingly inefficient operations. It seemed as though many of the bastions of public sentiment were brought down if they were perceived to contain flaws that did not fit within Universal principles. Much of the drive behind the war, for instance, was based on the principles of democracy over tribalism. What must be appreciated about democracy is that there is always the potential for 49% of any people to be unrepresented.
2003 in retrospect will be seen as a year in which many apparently unjustifiable issues were abandoned. It was the year in which the world was called on the look into the future in a realistic way, to see not only how mankind might survive but also to recognize what is needed for mankind to prosper.
Hello 2004
The Design chart for January 1, 2004, shows a very different picture them the chart for 2003. Whereas in 2003 the general flavor was one of beating the path into a justifiable and predetermined future, the nature of the Design chart for 2004 is one of promoting sometimes radical change through the enhancement of individual integrity. 2004 is the year of the sensitive and integrated individual who can relate very clearly with moods and feelings. 
There are two defined channels in the chart for 2004, the 39 -- 55, the channel of mood swings that relate to an inner volition for higher levels of experiencing spirit in life, and the 43 -- 23, the channel of expressing and seeking to implement transformative insights so that they become reality. 2004 is going to be a deeply emotionally charged year. When we, as individuals, can move beyond our fears and emotional blocks and recognize, support and appreciate our feeling nature, then we become more closely aligned with our spirit nature and thus more closely aligned with our true purpose here on Earth. 2004 is a year to substantiate our dreams beyond our fears and concerns of what is and is not allowed in our lives.
2004 is the year in which we will see how we allow our lives to be needlessly manipulated through any habitual and unnecessary desires. 2004 may well prove to be the year in which consumerism, greed and excess, as an acceptable way of life, peak and commence a decline. It is a year in which the word peace will be spoken more and more, as an expression becoming a reality. Terrorists and violently inclined men of all descriptions will find their attitudes less tenable. It is the year in which the world will begin to remember its unity once more. Despots will be overthrown in favor of those wishing to sacrifice their own ambitions for the good of others. Old mysteries will resurface and become great spoken truths through the words of emerging teachers.
Entrenched religions rooted in faiths that no longer hold in these times will attempt everything to control and oppress their believers, and still the truth will stand out for all to know if they so choose. It is a year of listening, remembering and knowing what is right. Knowing is not based in beliefs and logic. This is the year for individuals to stand in their own truth and be counted.
In conclusion
Our entry into the year 2004 gives each one of us the opportunity to ascertain for ourselves how much of our struggling in life is actually merited. Even though we will forget sometimes, our constant search in life is for truth, whether that truth relates to anything we have been led to believe or been told. Truth is all around us if we can but perceive it and allow it to become our knowing.
A recognition and implementation of a personally positive attitude to ourselves and all things will carry us through all manner of the emotionally charged ups and downs that will be hurled at us during 2004. We are beginning to realize that every individual is important, that the universe is depleted by the absence of any single Being here. War and violence are being supplanted by peace and friendship. 2004 is the year of the individual who can stand in their own truth regardless of what anyone, including the history books and religious tomes says about them.
May your experience of 2004 be one of knowing your Self in a life of great Friendship and Abundance.
