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Just Call Me A Centaur-Monkey

Western Astrology or Chinese Zodiac?

By LUCINDA M GUNNINPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Just Call Me A Centaur-Monkey
Photo by Patrick Beznoska on Unsplash

It can be fun to laugh and explain away a personality trait with the phrase “I’m a Sagittarian.”

Over the years, I’ve used that to explain my tactlessness more than once. I’ve also used it to claim I’m brilliant.

But I decided a few years ago that I much prefer my Chinese horoscope sign. According to the Chinese, I was born in the year of the Monkey, an Earth Monkey to be exact.

We’ve all seen the little red and black placemats that tell us our Chinese sign is. They usually give you a quick summary of your positive traits and tell you what other signs you’re compatible with.

They also tell you what signs to avoid!

I can’t say for certain that I believe everything about the Chinese zodiac, but I can say they got one part right: They say the best matches for a monkey are an ox or a rabbit. My husband and I will celebrate out 25th wedding anniversary next week, and he’s a rabbit.

So chalk one up for the Chinese zodiac. Of course, the regular zodiac says he and I are both fire signs so we’ll burn very hot together. We do that too!

As far as the whether I fit the rest of the Chinese zodiac, I have a harder time deciding. I always want to accept the positive traits.

According to this website, monkey women are “are ambitious, optimistic, competitive, and very confident. They are sociable and communicative, winning a lot of friends. Their competence in career is also brilliant and help them make great progress at work.” I’d like to use that when I next ask my boss for a raise.

Unfortunately, they also say monkey women are overconfident, vainglorious, aggressive, tricky and opportunistic. I don’t necessarily like admitting most of those things about myself, but how cool is it to be told you are vainglorious. Just the word makes it fun.

Interestingly, this website says Sagittarian’s like me are sort of a cross between Oprah and Santa Claus.

Who wouldn’t want that description?

However, people born under the sign of Sagittarius also tend to be easily bored and maybe just a little flighty. The words commitment-phobic get applied to us, a lot.

And while I might not like the claim that I am afraid of commitment, I am definitely easily bored. That means I lack a lot of follow through. There’s a reason I have 47 unfinished short stories and three half-written novels.

Going back to the Chinese zodiac, one of the interesting things is that they offer further divisions to help you even more closely define who you are. They claim both your blood type and your element can affect your personality.

Being born in 1968, my element is earth. The Chinese zodiac says that means I am “earnest, considerate, principled, far-sighted and planned.”

I tend not to identify with this as much as the fire sign of the more well-known zodiac. I am much too volatile to be associated with earth and I like spontaneity more than planning.

As far as how my blood type influences my personality, I’m not a big believer. But then again, it rings true too: “They are quick-witted and responsive. They are curious about everything and have a constant thirst for new knowledge. The easygoing trait helps them get a lot of friends, however, which also makes them hard to stand up for their principles.”

I wouldn’t say I’m a pushover, but I can be. I’m also very good at biting my tongue when I need to. I have lots of customers who I do not agree with religiously, philosophically, or politically, but I’m more interested in selling them storage space than arguing hard for my beliefs. I save the arguments for Facebook.

In the end, the question of whether I’m a monkey or a centaur is an interesting one. I’d like to think I’m a bit of both, but if I have to choose one, just call me Monkey.

astronomy
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About the Creator

LUCINDA M GUNNIN

Lucinda Gunnin is a commercial property manager and author in suburban Philadelphia. She is an avid gamer, sushi addict, and animal advocate. She writes about storage and moving, gaming, gluten-free eating and more. Twitter: @LucindaGunnin

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