Chinese Astrology Signs & Compatibility

The original meaning of the Chinese word ‘yin’ was ’shady, secret, dark, mysterious, or cold’ and was associated with the feminine side of nature, all which is thought to have both masculine and feminine qualities. What is less understood however is that yin does not refer to specific qualities or substances so much as it does to the feminine side of an ongoing cycle of opposites. So everything ‘yin’ (shady, secret, dark, mysterious, or cold) has some proportion of ‘yang’ within it (illuminated, active, agressive, evident, bright, and warm), and the two are dynamically related in a cycle of constant change from one to the other.

Everything in nature and philosophy can be identified as either yin or yang. Earth is the ultimate yin nature; Heaven is the ultimate yang nature. In Chinese philosophy Taoism is yin; Confucianism is yang. According to the Chinese philosophy of the Tao, yin and yang do not just flow into and contain each other: in doing so, yin and yang actually become each other. So yin is always in some state of becoming yang, and yang is always in some state of becoming yin. This way of thinking can be difficult for Westerners, who tend to focus more on matter and objects, and less on the subtleties and dynamism of change.