Sign Of Water Buffalo (Ox)
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
If you are born on Water Buffalo year, your best qualities will be patience, a contemplative nature, confidence, and you should be industrious, eloquent, steady, steadfast and strong willed. The Water Buffalo's negative qualities would be prejudice, tyranny, petty criticism, eccentricity, and on occasion violent qualities will emerge. Blind faith, overweening pride, and bigotry are also dangers in the Water Buffalo personality.
The Chinese Water Buffalo is tough and strong without peer. They tend to classify everything they do into completely dualistic categories of good and bad. They might suffer family and social problems because of their over generalization of supposed good vs. evil. Water Buffalo people aren't the psychologists of the zodiac. They need simple guidelines to operate within so their world makes sense. They crave equilibrium and security, and socially that is the Water Buffalo's main function. They add an earthy stability to any organization they are involved with. The Water Buffalo person usually won’t go past fundamentals; they don't regard nuance or shades of meaning as important.
Often, the Water Buffalo person will be neurotically meticulous, constantly calculating the possible results and coincidences long before they have ever approached a situation. The Water Buffalo will painstakingly pick over every detail on every level of their lives. They will watch every move everyone around them makes. Their judgments are overly simplistic, and in worst cases can be totally stereotypical and form bound. The Water Buffalo person is just there, like a mountain, or something unmoving, unflinching and unafraid within the set boundaries they have deemed morally and practically correct.
They are proficient in all their endeavors, competent in their work when it befits them, thorough and annoyingly accurate. Water Buffalo people can seem very intelligent or very stupid, depending on if they are fitted for the task they are given. In the right placement, the Water Buffalo will quickly become the best worker or associate in the group. Their intelligence and stability will be directed toward workday affairs.
Any tasks involving security or information gathering should be given to the Water Buffalo. Terminus, limitations, parameters, these are the Water Buffalo's forte. The only thing that Water Buffalo people are frightened of is removing any of the boundaries they are comfortable with. They will use the sheer solidity of their presence to attain their ends as well. The Water Buffalo will never work without contract or allow themselves to be tricked by another seeking advantage. The Water Buffalo will work like a slave for those he's loyal to, but only if he is treated like a king.
The Water Buffalo doesn't mind carrying the heaviest burdens for a friend or someone he trusts, nor of repeating the same tired tasks again and again. However, it would be ignorant to attempt to trick a Water Buffalo, because on their bad side they might destroy another person for perceived wrong doing. Water Buffalo people will be slow to trust another, but when they do they will be loyal and empowering to the communal situation. They will be protective and nurturing of any communal project. Those surrounding them will be guarded and have a tangible feeling of safety. As friends and allies they will feel obligated to perform flawlessly, but it is good advice to never humiliate or deceive a Water Buffalo person, as they will use their weight to crush enemies.
The Water Buffalo is good in his own eyes, even if he isn't in actuality. Concepts of righteousness and work-ethics will be important to them. They will consider themselves the basis on which to model trust in friendships and relationships, for the most part this is true; the Water Buffalo person will be very trustworthy and loyal. It is rare that a Water Buffalo person will plan out adultery or wrongful activities. They are usually “innocent” in the broadest sense of that word.
The two Water Buffalo people I've met have been a CPA and Shipping Clerk. If you are in partnership with a Water Buffalo, let him do his work and get out of the way. Do your part and you can be assured he will do his with proficiency and timeliness. The Water Buffalo is completely pattern and schedule oriented. They are always on time and are good with repetitive work that takes cleanliness and organization. In family matters the Water buffalo is organized and efficient. They teach their children well, but tend to create overly critical home lives for them. The family schedule will be centered around meal times and traditional family values in accord with Water Buffalo's personality. Appearance and schedule will be important to the Water Buffalo as a parent, just as keeping your word and doing your duty will be crucial. The Water Buffalo is the person who gets things done in a stable slowly building fashion that always pays off in the end.