What it means
In Chinese tradition the Dragon stands for power and good fortune, and many families consider a Dragon year a lucky time to have a child. Dragon people tend to think big and expect a lot of themselves and everyone else. They are usually confident and persuasive, happiest when they have a large goal to chase, and they rarely go unnoticed.
Strengths
Ambition, vision, charisma, enthusiasm and the confidence to take on something large.
Challenges
Arrogance, impatience, high expectations of others and difficulty admitting they might be wrong.
Dragon years and dates
A Dragon year starts at Lunar New Year, not on January 1. Dragon years since 1950: Water Dragon, January 27, 1952 to February 13, 1953; Wood Dragon, February 13, 1964 to February 1, 1965; Fire Dragon, January 31, 1976 to February 17, 1977; Earth Dragon, February 17, 1988 to February 5, 1989; Metal Dragon, February 5, 2000 to January 23, 2001; Water Dragon, January 23, 2012 to February 9, 2013; Wood Dragon, February 10, 2024 to January 28, 2025. The next Dragon year, a Fire Dragon, starts on January 28, 2036. If you were born in January or February, check the start date: a birthday before it belongs to the year before.
Element
Every Dragon year also carries one of five elements, which cycle so the same element and animal meet only once every 60 years. A Dragon born in 1988 is an Earth Dragon. The Dragon also has a fixed element of its own, Earth, and is a yang sign.
Best and hardest matches
Traditional Chinese astrology puts the twelve animals in four groups of three, and in six opposite pairs. The Dragon gets on most easily with the Rat and the Monkey, the other two in its group. Its opposite is the Dog, six years apart, which is said to bring the most friction.
How Cosmic Array reads it
Cosmic Array reads your animal next to your Western Sun sign. Together they give your Primal Zodiac, one of 144 combinations: a Leo Sun born in a Dragon year, for example, is a Sphinx. The Architect blueprint shows your animal, its element and your Primal Zodiac, worked out from the exact Lunar New Year date, and reads them against the rest of your chart.