I was strolling along the road at lunchtime, well the pavement actually and I overheard a cyclist shouting out to a driver “careful tiger.”

Perhaps in that moment the cyclist showed a fundamental understanding of the driver’s identity. He didn’t curse at him. There was goodwill and respect involved. I looked up and the cyclist pulled in front of the driver and both proceeded along the road without incident.

There may very well have been a tiger in that driver when he was driving. To the Chinese the negative traits of the Tiger are being: moody, reckless, hot-headed, selfish, impatient, impulsive, opinionated, rebellious. Road rage attests that some aggressive identification is going on. While we may understand that there is no self, people do create constellations of identification which demonstrate recognisable patterns across large groups of people.

Carl Jung recognized these when he elucidated his views on the archetypes, as indeed astrologers have done for centuries. There’s really no point arguing whether astrology is fact or fiction because as we know all of these senses of little self are an illusion.

Yet even though they’re illusory people still constellate an identity. And sometimes we can reach into the inner being through that identity, and sometimes we find other ways. The cyclist wittingly or not I would suggest reached through the driver’s identity. The positive traits of the Tiger are being: independent, brave, confident, dynamic, intense, energetic, sacrificing, faithful.

Our cyclist paid his respects and got his point across. He participated in the social play and within that moment was free of it and cycled safely on his way.

-May we all awaken and be free