Stellhorn is an accomplished writer with a solid grounding in both Western and Chinese astrological methods. She is an experienced feng shui practitioner, so she brings a lot to the table when it comes to sharing the methods and concepts peculiar to Chinese astrology.
The book focuses primarily on providing in-depth information about the twelve Chinese animal signs. The text begins with a short and accessible description of the branches and stems (i.e., the signs and elements) that are used to create a personal Four Pillars analysis or Bazi chart. Stellhorn does a good job of covering the five elements. This is helpful as the Chinese (or Asian) view of elements and their integration in celestial interpretation is quite different than the Western version.
Chinese astrology features layers upon layers of ongoing cycles. The information about the Four Pillars analysis outlines how a person’s year of birth, month, date and time provide information about character traits, personality tendencies, home and family, partners and friendships, and worldly interactions. It’s also the basis for forecasting one’s prospects in the coming year.
This introductory material is well-written but brief, only 50 pages. The remainder of the text is dedicated to in-depth coverage of the twelve animal signs. Each animal sign is described in terms of personality, potentials in family, home life, career and finances. This is followed by a delineation of the sign combined with each of the five elements (a birth year combination) and how the birth year element fine-tunes the animal sign traits and tendencies. There are sign forecasts for all twelve animal sign years, forecasts for the twelve lunar months, and twelve compatibility analyses that describe relationship potentials with all twelve animal signs.
This is a good book for someone seeking introductory information about their personal Chinese animal sign, relationship and life path potentials. The writing is smooth, confident and quite accessible to readers approaching this subject for the first time. The organization of information is sensible, straight-forward, and presented in a clean format. Most Chinese astrology books include a one hundred-year list of year-sign-element combinations at the back of the book for easy reference. This book doesn’t have that but its fair to say that information is easy to find on the internet.
~review by Elizabeth Hazel
Author: Donna Stellhorn
2025 Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.
344 pgs, $19.99
