Richard Ashworth’s Diary for the Metal Rat Month 2017
My diary for the month of the Metal Rat
(01:54am Dec 7th to 12:36pm Jan 5th inclusive)
in the Year of the Fire Monkey.
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Hexagram 24
Animal by Animal
During this Metal Rat Month,
The Rat opens up,
The Ox takes charge,
The Tiger tools up,
The shrewder Rabbit takes it moment by moment,
The Dragon flexes,
The Snake makes new plans,
The average Horse bridles,
The Sheep joins up,
The Monkey lets go,
The Rooster checks out the opposition,
The Dog licks wounds and anything else he can find,
while
The Pig is ready to roll.
Know your inner beast. How Ratty are you?
Birth in the Rat Hour (11pm-1am)~: talkative organised kids.
Birth on the Rat Day#: dynamic relationship.
Birth during the Rat Month (November)*: at work, watch your tongue.
Birth in the Rat Year: lively upbringing.
~ GMT. # You’ll need a Chinese calendar for this. * Caution: Chinese months start later.
Where to do what, when and why
Summary: Here’s where recent plans now manifest.
East, Ambition: Year Star: 9 Dragon Virtue, Month Star: 8.
Again. The best. If you used the East intelligently last month, the fruits of your plans follow. The 8 Star here especially boosts the Eldest Son, young men and the ambitious generally while Dragon Virtue looks out for reputation. It’s Winter, so evergreen plants may be helpful or cut flowers to keep it alive. If you’re here constantly – which is not a bad idea – activate the area with gentle care.
Favours: East Group kuas: 1, 3, 4 & 9, some Rabbits, Pigs, Dogs, Sheep.
Readers Digest version: East Group people best face East, South, South-East and North and/or in buildings and beds backing onto these directions. West Group vice-versa. Sorry it’s fiddly, I’m not making this stuff up.
Winter Solstice: Wed Dec 21st 19:35 Fire Ox; Carriage, Remove.
You may think of this as a time of renewal (and you’d be right) but the actual day is probably one of sudden change as the Fire Ox takes charge. Don’t travel that day and don’t part with anything valuable.
Caution: Sheep, Horse.
Especially helpful to: Rat, Ox, Rooster, Snake.
All change.
Ding yuw tin yute gwai yan.
The T’ung Shu or Farmers’ Almanac for 2017.
On the 7th December, the year energy which has since the Summer Solstice been descending, begins to rise again. This is the eternal cycle of dying and growing to which all things are subject; you, me, rats, turkeys and elephants, the Great Barrier Reef and Mt Kilimanjaro, rain, snow, daffodils, stink fruit and Donald Trump. In some senses the Fire Rooster, the Year of the Turkey has begun.
This month’s magic square gives us a foretaste. It’s also a 1 lo shu, like that of the year to come. Where 2016 (a 2 Year) was about woman and the expression of the female, this Rat month and the whole of 2017 are about communication. But that communication has a new tinge to it. It may be negotiation, blandishment, enlightenment or warning but for esoteric reasons the quality is different and (you might say) better.
Briefly, we have for the last (some say approx.) 20 years been transiting the 8th Chinese Fate. In the 8th Fate, dates, times and spaces designated as 2 – that is to do with woman, increase and growth have been considered poisonous because they are technically not timely. In fact the 2 of kun the Mother, co-operation, relationship and empowerment along with a whole lot of gifts we could use in a big way right now, has not been considered helpful for over 100 years. This month however, by some calculations, we move into the 9th Fate which makes the 2 just begin to be timely, that is to say positive. This advance into a female wisdom that has frankly been at a premium for much longer will amplify over the next 40 years and peak around 2070, by which time there’ll be new problems I will not be around to decipher.
Meanwhile the month obviously enough favours Rats, the spokespeople of the Chinese Zodiac as well as their coach the Ox, the intermittently loquacious Dragons and chattering Monkeys. It’ll be tough going for the average Rabbit, Horse and Sheep, irritating probably for the impatient Rooster and the pent-up Tiger while Snake and Pig rev up for an interesting year as the Dog licks his wounds or the nearest hand.
One last word: logically the 2 of 2016, although untimely, stood for Woman, Mother and relationship also. And you might reasonably ask whether we should then have expected a female POTUS. To which I’d suggest that perhaps Bernie Saunders’ gentle compassion and concern for the Earth and the vulnerable, represented the feminine principle better than the alternative; something similar this side of the Atlantic too perhaps.
Ding yuw tin yute gwai yan btw is a Special Star unique to the year 2017, which many diviners would along with Dalai Lama translate as “Western Woman saves the world.”
Richard Ashworth © 2016
Update: BASHIR NADERI
Bashir has been – temporarily at least – reprieved in the nick of time and the Home Office has agreed to review his case. Stay in touch via Twitter and/or Facebook as this could change at any time of course. You can help by Tweeting #supportbashir, making his case your FaceBook status or writing to your local MP, Amber Rudd the Home Secretary or anybody you think might be able to help the cause.
What to do next?Tune-Ups, Bulletins, Studying Ba Zi & Feng Shui, Retainers
with Richard Ashworth in 2017.
As you know every Chinese year is different. The energy pockets play musical chairs sector by sector as do the biases and stresses upon the various Animals. A South-Eastern door for instance looks helpful in 2017 – but how do you enhance it? Dragons and Snakes look set but what about Rabbits and the Roosters themselves? In answer to such questions, here are some ways we might work together this year:
1. A Tune-Up survey brings your work or living space into the Year of the Fire Rooster. Richard identifies the spots that need attention and attends to them or tells you what to do. If we’ve mapped it already, this will take 2-4 hours and we’ll charge you less. Otherwise set the controls for ½ a day.
2. A subscription to our Monthly and Weekly Bulletins will tell you week by week and month by month, where to do what, when and often why. The notes (above) about the 21st December are an example.
3. Studying feng shui or ba zi; we run starter courses on each which are available as a group “live” thing from time to time or (constantly) via Skype/Zoom. Both bought together will cost you less.
4. Hand-drafted ba zi and consultation, one to one. Ba zi of course plots the cycle of time as it applies to you and will tend to show major milestones, preferences and blockages. The ba zi is perhaps the very best device there is for identifying major moments of choice. And doing something about them.
5. Soul Retainer. For a single annual payment, you receive a Tune-Up, Bulletins Monthly and Weekly and a further four hours one-to-one over the next year as well as attendance at next year’s Forecast Weekend.
Prices (and further information): sheilaashworthfengshui@gmail.com
Richard Ashworth©
www.imperialfengshui.info