There's been a lot of cock-talking lately and so I am inspired to write this.

Apparently babies born this year are expected to exhibit the following personality traits: cock-proud, cock-intelligent, and can do a mean cockle-doodle-do. Last year, the monkey year, saw the birth of many potential gymnasts, mischievous as they might be.

What a load of cock.

And to think tha the number of mothers opting for cesareans just so to avoid giving birth in the year of the pig, or rushing for the year of the dragon is simply exasperating.

Allow me to prick your misinformed bubble: whatever year you or your children were born in has nothing to do with your personalities, or luck cycles even. Did you actually believe that dragon year babies would have success laid out for them?

The 12 animals are actually categories of energy, or Qi , that cycle every year, month, day, and hour. The animal symbolisms are used by long ago farmers in China to tell time. It was also used to estimate a person's age without actual knowledge of numbers.

Somehow through the generations, warped with superstition, it has become mistaken as personality traits. Obviously the world population cannot just be categorised into 12 kinds of people, can they? Worse still, do humans simulate the behaviors of these animals?

It's a zoo

The story of the 12 animals racing for a spot in Heaven is best used for bedtime stories. And the practice of carrying animal replicas or amulets to 'help you meet friendly people' - is simply unfounded and hilarious.

If you are serious in knowing your personality and talents, we must call upon the science of 'Ba Zi' 'eight characters' or more commonly known as 'Four Pillars' Destiny Analysis.

The four 'Pillars' are the year pillar, month pillar, day pillar, and hour pillar. Each pillar is made up of one 'stem' character, on top of one 'branch' character so two characters on four pillars you get a sum of eight characters. Now a 'stem' can be one of the Five Elements of Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, and Fire. Each element can exist in either Yin or Yang so that makes 10 total available stems.

A 'branch' is made up of the 12 animal signs that we commonly know tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rat, ox. Each branch has an element too. For example, the rat is Yang water, the ox is Yin earth, and the tiger is Yang wood.

However, it is untrue that Rats should wear blue, Oxes should wear yellow, and Tigers wear green. The superstition and contortion of the elements have taken shape into new wisdom in which case Rats should go swimming more, and Horses of the fire element should avoid drinking water as much a humanly possible.

So who ever said human personality was simple and easy?

Cock-a-doddle-doo

The simplest way to start reading basic personality is by reading the stem of the day pillar. For example, Yin fire, akin to candle light fire, are people who generously give their time to loved ones, but can 'burn down the house' when enraged. Yang earth people, earth of mountains, are the best keeper or secrets or your can call them stubborn and procrastinating.

So we have only 10 personality types then?

Of course not - next come in the 'seasons'. Fire people born in summer is too hot; these people have a tendency to become smoldering. Fire people born in winter rely more on others to nurture, not the other way round. Metals born in winter aren't that strong; such persons can be useless unless warmed and forged by fire.

Water personalities born in winter are strong but frozen such are the intelligent persons but are unwilling (or unable) to help others. The seasons are not relevant to the actual weather climate, but denote once again the cyclic phase of Qi. If not we would have only tengkujuh to play with.

Are you confused and bored already? But the actual interpretation has only begun. Admit it human personalities are multi-faceted and most complicating. Even Freud had the id, ego, and superego, and the myriad of defense mechanisms that regulate amongst the three.

So too does Ba Zi obvious personality, actual personality, and the deeper side even the person is unaware of. Therefore to generalise that all people born within a whole year share similar character traits is simply an insult to the intellect.

Ba Zi is also commonly used to find suitable careers and occupations. For starters, Water dominant persons (those with lots of water in their chart), may find it hard to stay put in a nine to five job (however good the pay) remember, water particles are rattling even in a cup. Earth dominant persons may prefer the security of a stable job and income - work in accounts then.

Similarly, careers and occupations can be categorised into the natures of an element. The fashion industry, due to its seasonal and ever-changing nature, can be categorised under 'wood'. Religion, due to its fast spreading and enlightening influence, is ruled by Fire. It is important to also know that the fields we are attracted to are not necessarily the fields we can best excel in. Matching both is possible through analysis of the whole chart.

Bored already?

Like many analyses of Destiny, Ba Zi does not escape the frowning of certain parties due to its supposed fatalistic nature. But Ba Zi is not entirely fatalistic while we cannot choose our parents and siblings, we can choose how we want to use our supposed good luck or avoid the bad. Remember the trinity of heaven-earth-human, where Ba Zi only uncovers the heaven factor one third of the sum of Destiny.

And if the information yielded by Ba Zi is unchangeable, what is then the use of knowing? We change and use what we can with human actions (another one third). We make informed decisions say, those with a tendency to be bad tempered can indeed choose to relax and rationalize especially when coupled with the tendency of a heart attack.

While it seems to be an easy-to-learn subject, Ba Zi is more than meets then eye. For example, each branch (or animal) has a relationship with one another. The Rooster combines well with the Dragon, but clashes with the Rabbit. It also 'harms' the Dog and 'punishes' itself but that is already getting too technical.

Each animal branch also contains one or more 'hidden stems' within it. So in the end, a chart will be more than just having 'eight characters' but a plethora of elemental interactions, clashing, combining, morphing, burning, sinking, and melting.

Lastly, it is untrue that couples aged six years apart (where the animal branches oppose one another) are destined for separation. Marriage and compatibility analyses take into account the whole Ba Zi chart of both parties definitely not as simple as matching A with B.

More often that not, a personality analysis precedes a compatibility analysis would you marry a potential wife-basher, or a gambler wife? (And if indeed so, what is the best approach to bring about required improvement?)

And, in case the whole point of this article was lost on you, just remember this:

People born in Rooster years have no excuse to exhibit cock-like behaviours.

SHERWIN NG's fascination for unfounded pop superstition sparked his journey into the study of Chinese Metaphysics, which turned out more than he had expected. Today he consults for residential and office settings in the science Classical Feng Shui - without the hoo-blah of village soothsayings.