2016: The Year of the Monkey

Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions - everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.

~ Juvenal, Satire X

The Year of the Green Yin Wood Sheep has come to an end. The docile and trusting sheep that is innocent and gullible, easily corralled and led astray has been shorn and put out to greener pastures. The flock of Sheeple who can be tricked by the hungry, conniving and greedy wolf in sheep’s clothing may have been slain mercilessly or saved by the skin of their teeth in 2015. In any event, the theatrics and chicanery of the performing monkey now has our full and rapt attention.

On February 8th, the Year of the Red Yang Fire Monkey officially begins. The flying monkeys have swooped in, shrieking and hollering, capturing us all in their arms and carrying us away for a year of fun, games and adventure in the jungles of space and time. They are hanging from the school yard’s monkey bars, scampering through the tree tops of the haunted forest and swinging from branch to branch to be the monkey on your back in 2016.

It’s a “monkey see, monkey do” kind of year. Mimicry with limited knowledge and little interest in the consequences of such imitation will be the entertaining organ grinding money on the street corner. Being on your best or model behavior might be important in a year of highly impressionable trained monkeys.

In a “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” kind of way, 2016 will be even more politically correct than ever, despite assertions to the contrary. Current events will be censored and sanitized for public consumption. Spin doctors will be employed to do damage control on the leaks and story lines that get away from them. Free speech will be repressed and rewarded with shaming, hating and bullying. Disinformation agents will disseminate what they want you to know, think, believe and repeat through social media sharing and blogging in order to control the conversation. The elite will continue disclosure via the controlled oppositional alternative media and infiltrated “truther movement” while at the same time trying to discredit, threaten and do away with the ones who get too close to the truth and troll them, stalk them and pull their information down from the World Wide Web without explanation or recourse. These crotch monkeys might as well have a thumb up their butt for all the use they are to awakening from mass amnesia and opting out of the zombie apocalypse - but they are too busy covering their eyes, ears and mouths, they’ve run out of available hands and free digits.

“Bread and circuses” will be the order of the day in 2016. Corporate news media will report 24/7 on planned and staged events, conducted by the alphabet agencies and performed by crisis actors. Mainstream media, music and movies will continue to use subliminal and coded messaging and predictive programming to prepare the hearts and minds of people to introduce, normalize and coerce the general public into accepting their agenda, lock, stock and barrel. The redacted, expunged and classified X files will be resurrected and presented for your entertainment. Political theatrics, via sparring and jockeying will continue to make you believe the game is not indeed rigged, decided in advance and a done deal before anyone threw their hat into the ring.

“Hey, hey! We’re the Monkees!”

Monkey years can be wildly unpredictable. It’s a year to expect the unexpected. Receive blessings in disguise or be pleasantly surprised. Go ape, be wild and free. Uninhibited. Fasten your seatbelts and hold on through the ups and downs of a rollercoaster of a year. It’s going to be a wild ride!

Monkeys just wanna have fun. They are party animals. They like to play games and monkey around. These cheeky monkeys like to play practical jokes on people. Be ready to have more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Be prepared to get yourself into and out of trouble. Be up for some fun, creative play and maybe for getting punked! After a year of their antics and accidental broken heads you may catch yourself saying, “no more monkeys jumping on the bed”.

Monkeys are funny, engaging and enthusiastic. They have a playful sense of humor and are known to be mischievous and scandalously irreverent. Confident in their abilities, they can also be arrogant, cunning and restless. They crave attention and get it no matter what the cost to their own favorable reputations. Thrill seeking adrenaline junkies, they take unnecessary risks. Learn how to laugh even at attention grabbing misbehavior.

Monkeys are energetic, agile and flexible. They have a short attention span and get easily bored. They like juggling lots of things in life and try to keep all of their balls in the air. They have great physical strength and stamina. They are action oriented and problem solving. They are good with their hands, thanks to their opposable thumbs and ambidexterity.  Consider learning a new skill that requires you to work with your hands or support those who make handmade works of art.

Monkeys are known to be tricksters. They will lie, cheat and steal without question, conscience or remorse. A con artist, with sleight of hand, they will pick pocket and swindle you out of all you have. Lacking a strong moral code of ethics, they do what they want without taking others’ preferences, boundaries or feelings into consideration. As a magician, they have a bag of tricks and secret powers that they can employ at will. Be on guard, lest you be deceived by their monkey business.

Monkeys are ambitious and adventurous. They are extremely intelligent, ingenious and inventive. In business, they are strategic and resourceful. Opportunistic and ruthless, they play to win and don’t fight fair. They will take high stakes risks and cash in on the rewards. Monkeys can play at heroics or embark on their own hero’s journey. Adventures await. It’s a choose your own adventure kind of year.

Monkeys love romance. In relationships, they can be very sensitive and generous. They can also be fickle or a player, toying with people’s emotions and leading them on. Their erratic, irresponsible and impulsive behaviors don’t bode well for happiness or longevity. They will leave a monkey bite. The key is to find happiness in the present moment instead of expecting it to last a lifetime.

Monkeys have expensive taste. They can be quite vain and spend considerable time, money and energy on grooming and fashion. They are quite extravagant and just as generous. Their monkey mind is easily distracted by everything that is more interesting than a quiet mind in a meditative state that allows thoughts to come and go.  Be conscious of your spending habits this year.

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.

~ Charles Darwin

2016 could be an intense and challenging year that requires you to adapt.

Beside the change in Chinese Zodiac Animal signs, two other shifts will occur in 2016. The first is a shift from the Wood element, that we have had for two years to a Fire element. The second shift is from Yin energy to Yang energy.

The Wood element tends to be balanced in an “as above, so below” way, represented by the upward stretching branches and downward extending roots. Wood element years are marked by progressive, community-driven togetherness and cooperation for mutually beneficial goals. Because the Wood element is related to Spring, it provides opportunities for new beginnings and lots of fast blossoming personal growth, even for late bloomers.

The Fire element is tribal. It inspires people to congregate together to make plans, preparations and impassioned pleas for the betterment of the planet and her people. Misery loves company, so sometimes this energy can create large pockets of society that gather to commiserate instead of co-create. When there is something to celebrate, even small victories are recognized with a raised glass and hearty cheers.

Fire energy is a celebration of diversity and all-inclusive multi-culturalism. It is people loving, heart centered and philanthropic. Fire is intense. It burns, radiating heat and shining light continuously, provided it has ample and readily available sources of fuel. Fire is excitable. The brilliant flame that is sparked by an inspired action and ignited in a fervor of eagerness and enthusiasm, can burn itself out just as quickly if the home fires are not kept burning by attentive tending of such fiery pursuits. Fire is chaotic. It is erratic and difficult to get under control once it is burning out of control. Fire is unpredictable. A small wayward flicker can spontaneously combust into a wild land fire or kindle a warm and welcoming fire in the hearth, depending on how its zealous energy is managed. Fire is passionate. It brings joy and creativity to life, strong dynamics to relationships, dedication to the fulfillment of desires and devotion to a spiritual path. Be ready to have your life set on fire.

Since the Monkey is a Hard Metal element and 2016 is a Fire year you may go through some trials by fire. In the Control Cycle, Fire melts Metal. Fire is empowered and Metal is transformed. Metal is heated by the fire to high temperatures, changing its form from solid to liquid. Then in the purification and refining process, all of the impurities rise to the top and are scraped off before it is cast or molded into something useful. This is how all tall buildings and expansive bridges, all modes of transportation like jets and planes, trains and tanks, trucks and tractors and every utilitarian tool or weapon, from knives and swords to missiles and rockets and guns and bullets are made. This dynamic could create volatile financial markets or precipitate the complete collapse of the money system, instigate tense or even hostile relations between countries resulting in war, inspire increased use of solar powered technology and cause natural or manmade disasters through the use of fire, volcanic eruptions or explosive devices and powder monkeys.

“Who run this Mother? Girls!”

The Fire element is associated with the middle daughter in the family and middle aged women. Many see this as confirmation that the United States will elect their first female president in 2016. That there is the greatest potential for women to rise, to rule, to reign, to run the world than there ever has been before. Others see this as an opportunity for women to redefine themselves, without resorting to the tired stereotypes of subservient housewife and mild mannered homemaker or the other unattractive extreme of unhappy on principle, man-eating feminist. That women can be strong without having to be fierce. That women can choose to use their feminine forms of power instead of trying to be like a man.

You’ve seen my descent; now watch my rising.

~ Rumi

In 2016, we move from the dark and still Yin energy to the bright and active Yang energy. Our energy moves from the inner to the outer, from the internal to the external, from the indoors to the outdoors. Instead of moving down into the earth and deep into the oceans, our energy moves up into the sky and out in the world. Prepare to be seen, to be recognized and acknowledged.

Keep your wits about you and eyes peeled because anything can happen. Tap into the stillness at the center of the yang energy. Find rest in the eye of the storm. If your world is lit on fire, dance through the flames, cross the hot coals on foot and rise from the ashes. If someone throws a monkey wrench in the works, take the hurdles as they come. Overcome.

The Hundredth Monkey

In 1952, on a Japanese island called Koshima, scientists observed a young monkey wash sand off a sweet potato before eating it. All the other monkeys were eating dirty potatoes and spitting out the sand. It took a few years but eventually some of the other young monkeys began to wash their potatoes, along with a few of the adults. Then, in 1958, seemingly overnight, all of the monkeys on the island were washing their potatoes. At the same time, tribes of monkeys on other islands, who had never seen the initial tribe of monkeys, began washing their potatoes also. Critical mass had been reached and the entire species had changed their behavior.

In conclusion, you have several ways to approach the 2016 Year of the Monkey. One way is to opt out completely, to end your participation in the charade, to take your piece off the board. To end the game that requires you to be a player or a pawn for there to be a game to play. To literally tell the simulated reality programmers “Game Over” with a quip, “not my circus, not my monkeys”.

Another option is to take part in helping the planet’s population reach their own critical mass. Do something new instead of the old way, think something different instead of the same way - wash your potatoes instead eating dirty ones. Model the behavior of others who have found a better way to live – to thrive in a world of survivalists. Become that hundredth monkey.

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