The transition from the year of the Yin Fire Rooster began January 2018, with the year of the Yang Earth Dog beginning February 4^th 2018. This is also the “real” first day of spring, the commonly accepted Western first day of spring March 20^th this year is actually the peak of spring, each day after we transition towards Summer.

What traits come to mind when you think of a dog: loyalty, courage, playfulness, protector, hunter, intelligence, empathy, leadership (alpha), stubborn, etc… In Taoism the Earth element represents: retreat, passiveness, silence. Even though the earth is a great supplier it does so silently. This being a Yang year will amplify the nature of the Dog, however, the Earth will help temper the potential to exaggerate these traits.

Master Wu stated: “According to Chinese cosmology, the Earth Dog Year of 2018 will start on LiChun立春, February 4 at 05:28 (Beijing time), while Chinese New Year’s day this year will be February 16… For this coming energetic year, the Dog animal sign (Earthly Branch) indicates that the specific energetic qualities of nature associated with the Dog (such as intuitive, smart, artistic, cautious, social, honest, loyal, uneasy, evasive, or stubborn energy) will exert their influences on us human beings.

When properly harnessed, Dog energy will help you channel your truthful and creative nature towards completing tasks and striving to achieve your life’s greatest goals.

Left unchecked, Dog energy can easily trap you in some physical or emotional obstacle(s) that will make it virtually impossible to get anything done. (Master Zhongxian Wu)”

Earth Dog years are usually a good time to make progress on your goals, setup security etc… Be wary of the tendency to lash out quickly, temper your bark and bite or things could escalate quickly. Nurture the good attributes of the dog; this is not the time to be a rogue wolf, team building with the pack will ensure success.

Nationally and globally, there is the potential for things to be “all over the place”, however, usually the nature of the Earth will calm down the tendency for the dog to fight for control, dominance or power.

Prior Dog years saw expansion and innovation of space exploration, and also saw buildups to military conflict in the Middle East and Cuba, Spain, South Africa etc… Nuclear issues became a major concern in 1958 with the buildup of arsenals and several accidents involving nuclear weapons.

Let’s look at three prior Earth Dog years 1958, 1898 and 1838:

1958

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958

http://www.historycentral.com/20th/1958.html

• The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being.
• Sputnik 1 (launched on October 4, 1957) falls to Earth from its orbit and burns up.
• 14-year-old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship.
• The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera.
• In the Battle of Hayes Pond, armed Lumbee Indians routed a gathering of Klansmen in Maxton, North Carolina.
• Soviet-American executive agreement on cultural, educational and scientific exchanges, also known as the “Lacy–Zarubin agreement”, is signed in Washington, D.C.
• Godtfred Kirk Christiansen files a patent for the iconic plastic Lego brick. From its foundation, his company will make 400 billion Lego elements.
• The first successful American satellite, Explorer 1, is launched into orbit.
• Egypt and Syria unite to form the United Arab Republic.
• The Tybee Bomb, a 7,600 pound (3,500 kg) Mark 15 hydrogen bomb, is lost in the waters off Savannah, Georgia.
• Seven Manchester United footballers are among the 21 people killed in the Munich air disaster in West Germany
• The strongest ever known solar maximum is recorded.
• The Hashemite Kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan unite in the Arab Federation with King Faisal II of Iraq as head of state.
• Cuban rebels kidnap five-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio, releasing him 28 hours later.
• In Cuba, Fidel Castro‘s Radio Rebelde begins broadcasting from Sierra Maestra.
• One of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history occurs at Prestonburg, Kentucky; 27 are killed.
• A U.S. B-47 bomber accidentally drops an atom bomb on Mars Bluff, South Carolina.
• Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union.
• Unemployment in Detroit reaches 20%, marking the height of the Recession of 1958 in the United States.
• Castro‘s revolutionary army begins its attacks on Havana.
• In the first protest march for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament from Hyde Park, London to Aldermaston, Berkshire, demonstrators demand the banning of nuclear weapons.
• United Airlines Flight 736 is involved in a mid-air collision with a U.S. Air Force F-100F jet fighter near Las Vegas.
• French Algerian protesters seize government offices in Algiers, leading to a military coup.
• The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
• The bodies of unidentified United States soldiers killed in action during World War II and the Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
• United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into law.
• 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami: A 7.8 M_w strike-slip earthquake in Southeast Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reaches 525 m (1,722 ft) on the rim of Lituya Bay.
• The first parking meters are installed in Britain.
• July 14 Revolution in Iraq. King Faisal is killed. Abdul Qassim assumes power.
• In Lebanon, 5,000 United States Marines land in the capital Beirut in order to protect the pro-Western government there.
• The U.S. Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
• The Tibetan resistance movement against rule by China receives support from the United States Central Intelligence Agency.
• Operation Argus: The United States begins nuclear tests over the South Atlantic.
• The first Cod War begins between the United Kingdom and Iceland.
• Jack Kilby invents the first integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments.
• Hurricane Helene, the worst storm of the North Atlantic hurricane season, reaches category 4 status.
• The U.S.S.R. performs a nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya.
• Beginning of Great Chinese Famine.
• The Life Peerages Act entitles women to sit in the British House of Lords for the first time.
• The United States launches SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite.

1898

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1898

https://worldhistoryproject.org/1898/page/1

• New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world’s second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island.
• The electric car belonging to Henry Lindfield of Brighton rolls out of control down a hill in Purley, London, England, and hits a tree; thus he becomes the world’s first fatality from an automobile accident on a public highway.
• Spanish–American War: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana Harbor, Cuba, for reasons never fully established, killing 266 men. The event precipitates the United States’ declaration of war on Spain.
• Annie Oakley promotes the service of women in combat situations, with the United States military.
• Thousands of Chinese scholars, and Beijing citizens seeking reforms, protest in front of the capital control yuan.
• Bava-Beccaris massacre: Hundreds of demonstrators are killed, when General Fiorenzo Bava-Beccaris orders troops to fire on a rally in Milan, Italy.
• Spanish–American War: The Puerto Rican Campaign begins, with the Bombardment of San Juan.
• Secondo Pia takes the first photographs of the Shroud of Turin, and discovers that the image on the Shroud itself appears to be a photographic negative.
• The British government arranges a 99-year rent of Hong Kong from China.
• Spanish–American War: The United States captures Guam, making it the first U.S. overseas territory.
• Curtis Act of 1898 which would lead to the dissolution of tribal and communal lands in Indian Territory and ultimately the creation of the State of Oklahoma in 1907.
• Spanish–American War – Battle of San Juan Hill: United States troops (including Buffalo Soldiers and Theodore Roosevelt‘s Rough Riders) take a strategic position close to Santiago de Cuba from the Spanish.
• Spanish–American War – Battle of Santiago de Cuba: The United States Navy destroys the Spanish Navy‘s Caribbean Squadron.
• American pharmacist Caleb Bradham names his soft drink Pepsi-Cola.
• Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni assassinates Empress Elisabeth of Austria in Geneva, as an act of propaganda of the deed.
• Battle of Sugar Point: Ojibwe tribesmen defeat U.S. government troops, in northern Minnesota.
• A two-day blizzard known as the Portland Gale piles snow in Boston, severely impacting the Massachusetts fishing industry, and several coastal New England towns.
• December 10 – The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Spanish–American War.
• As a result of the merger of several small oil companies, John D. Rockefeller‘s Standard Oil Company controls 84% of the USA’s oil, and most American pipelines.
• Theodore Roosevelt Elected Governor of New York

1838

https://worldhistoryproject.org/1838

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1838

• A fire destroys Lloyd’s Coffee House and the Royal Exchange in London.
• At Morristown, New Jersey, Samuel F.B. Morse, Alfred Vail and Leonard D. Gale give the first public demonstration of Morse’s new invention, the telegraph.
• Boer explorer Piet Retief and 60 of his men are massacred by King Dingane kaSenzangakhona of the Zulu people, after Retief accepts an invitation to celebrate the signing of a treaty, and his men willingly disarm as a show of good faith.
• A combination of rain and melting snow cause the Danube River to overflow its banks, washing away villages in western Hungary, and inundating what is now Budapest. More than 150 people are drowned, and Europe’s nations come to Hungary’s aid, to prevent the spread of famine and disease.
• Isambard Kingdom Brunel‘s paddle steamer SS Great Western (1838) makes the transatlantic crossing to New York from Avonmouth, England, in 15 days, inaugurating a regular steamship service.
• The People’s Charter is drawn up in the United Kingdom, demanding universal suffrage.
• Lord Durham and his entourage arrive in Upper Canada, to investigate the cause of the 1837 rebellion in that province
• Trail of Tears: The Cherokee Nation is forcibly relocated in the United States.
• Myall Creek massacre: 28 Indigenous Australians are killed.
• The coronation of Queen Victoria takes place at Westminster Abbey in London.
• Former slaves in Jamaica are freed of their indentures.
• Pastry War: Mexico is invaded by French forces.
• Battle of Blood River: The Boers win a decisive victory over the Zulus.
• First Anglo-Afghan War: British and Presidency armies set out from Punjab, in support of Shah Shujah Durrani‘s claim to the throne of Afghanistan.
• Missouri Mormon War