There are five (5) basic Chinese elements that make up the world as we know it. They are: Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth.
The characteristic of these elements serve to enhance or reduce characteristics of your Chinese Zodiac sign. Your elements are determined by what elemental year you were born into. The elemental year you were born into, and the fixed element of your sign, both play a role in understanding your Chinese Zodiac. So how do you figure out what your elemental year is?
Simple Calculations to Find the Chinese Elements for a Certain Year
Years ending in 0 (Example: 2000) are Yang Metal Years ending in 1 (Example: 2001) are Yin Metal Years ending in 2 (Example: 2002) are Yang Water Years ending in 3 (Example: 2003) are Yin Water Years ending in 4 (Example: 2004) are Yang Wood Years ending in 5 (Example: 2005) are Yin Wood Years ending in 6 (Example: 2006) are Yang Fire Years ending in 7 (Example: 2007) are Yin Fire Years ending in 8 (Example: 2008) are Yang Earth Years ending in 9 (Example: 2009) are Yin Earth
You will find that your sign will always fall either into yin or yang years, but will not include both. That just means that the yin influences of the Chinese elements will have a greater impact on you than the yang, and visa versa. This yin vs. yang will also coincide with the yin or yang of your sign.
(Example: Rat is yang, and the sign only falls into yang elemental years.)
Most of the time you will find that this greater impact of yin or yang adds to the balance of the elemental year vs. your astrological sign.
The complexity and depth the Chinese elements add to your astrological sign can be really interesting. If you take a little time to do some research, your understanding of your sign will be greatly increased. I'll bet you find when you add in the aspects of the Chinese elements, you get a much clearer picture of yourself and why you act, or react, the way you do.
