Be prepared for 2016: Year of The Naughty, Wily Monkey

According to the Chinese and Thai zodiacs, 2016 is the Year of the Monkey. And not just any monkey, but the Fiery Monkey. 

Go deeper into the so-called Chinese Five Elements Horoscope and you find that the Monkey sign contains Metal and Water. Metal is related to gold and material success. Water is connected to wisdom and danger. The Monkey is a smart, naughty, wily and vigilant animal.

Astrologers say that if you want to make sure the new year offers more hope than the one ending today, then you need to outsmart The Monkey.

Metal is also supposedly related to the Wind. That implies the chain of events will be fast-moving. My fortune-teller’s advice is: Think twice before you leap when considering changes to your career and personal relationships. 

Presumably that also applies to how we behave in our daily lives – including what we say in public. In other words, when in doubt, keep your mouth tightly sealed. That may be sound advice for any year, but my personal astrologer suggests that this advice is particularly relevant to 2016.

Since Water implies wisdom and danger, you are advised to avoid flaunting what you assume is wisdom, since any display of intelligence could be counterproductive. The cleverer you think you are, the bigger the chance of putting yourself in danger.

Real wisdom can already be dangerous for anyone who expresses it in public. But fake wisdom may be even more dangerous. If you don’t know what you don’t know, you face the fate of Donald Trump at the hands of Jeb Bush – being branded as a “jerk”. 

What should concern you more, though, is the nature of the zodiacal Monkey – “smart, naughty, wily and vigilant.”

If you are politically inclined, that should offer clear hints of what to expect in the next 12 months.

There is little doubt that 2016 will usher in a year of “naughtiness and wiliness” in Thai politics. Of course, there will be “smart moves” by certain quarters in politics, but those moves will likely face “vigilant” counter-action.

In political terms, being “naughty” isn’t as bad as being “wily”. And if The Monkey confines its behaviour to a certain degree of naughtiness and limits its wily instincts, we may still be lucky enough to avoid certain undesirable consequences in the political and social spheres.

The “Metal” element of the Year of the Monkey will turn into a white-hot iron rod if things aren’t handled properly – or if the “Water” element isn’t applied promptly and in amounts large enough to douse any fire sparked by the lack of |genuine “reconciliation” in the ongoing political process.

The Monkey isn’t usually associated with calm and collected behaviour. It’s playful – which could suit our potentially tense scenario. But its playfulness can be interpreted as provocation – whether deliberately or otherwise. And if not properly understood by both sides, a normally jocular encounter could turn into a fearful confrontation.

But despite my worries about its unpredictable behaviour, I still have great faith in The Monkey’s supreme survival instinct. Near-disasters might materialise from mutual distrust and misgivings, but there will be enough bright spots in 2016 to balance things out.

The Monkey isn’t dumb. It is, after all, agile, flamboyant and aggressive. It fully realises that it can be naughty and wily at times, but in moments of peril it will employ all its “wisdom” to remain strong enough to face its moment of truth in 12 months time. For 2017 is the Year of the Rooster, considered to be honourable, brave, resilient, charming and witty.

Not even the naughty Monkey wants to mess around with the proud and noble Rooster.