Lo-Khak
One might expect that a year that has the same sign as one’s birth year would
be luck or auspicious. That is not the case in the Tibetan system. If one’s birth sign
and the current year sign are the same (every 12 years), then this is an example of Lo-
Khak, which is very inauspicious. For men, the year before a Lo-Khak (termed Nang-
Khah) is a little more difficult than the Lo-Khak itself; for women, it is the year after
Lo-Khak (termed Chi-Khak) that is difficult.
During a Lo-Khak year, there are reputedly six months of particular danger
when one is most vulnerable:
Bird month Second half very bad
Dog month First half very bad
Pig month Passable
Mouse month Second half very bad
Ox month Firsthalf very bad
Tiger month Passable
Hare month Second half very bad
Dragon month Entire month very bad
Snake month First half very bad
Horse month Passable
Sheep month Second half very bad
Monkey month Entire month very bad
Bird month First half very bad
If the current year sign is the seventh or opposite of the birth sign, this is called
Dun-Zur and is also bad. If the current year is the fifth sign (i.e., Dragon-Monkey),
then this is also not good. If the current year is same element as the birth element,
then this too is not very good.SHI-SHEY
Shi-Shey refers to the signs that are four up and back from the birth year sign.
If the current year is either of these signs, then it is called Shi-Shey, which is not very
good. Also, for the current year sign, count four up and four back and the months of
that year with the same sign are called black months. If these months are Tiger, Mon-
key, Pig, or Snake, then the whole month is black, but the first ten days are the worst,
the second ten days a little better, and the last ten days better still.
If the month signs are the Mouse, Horse, Bird, and Hare, then the days of the
month from tenth through the twentieth are the bad ones. If the month signs are Ox,
Sheep, Dog, or Dragon, then the last ten days of the month are bad. All days are cal-
culated from the new moon. If the current year is Tiger, Monkey, Pig, or Snake and if
the year’s mewa is (2) Black, then the whole year is a black year.The Seven Obstacles
Quite a bit is made of the so-called seven obstacles. Each of these eventualitiesTibetan Astrology
[682] THEASTROLOGYBOOK