Father along: the Month of the Metal Dog 2017
My diary for October
(11:47am 8th October to 15:03pm 7th November 2017 inclusive)
———-
—- —-
—- —-
—- —-
—- —-
—- —-
Stripping
Hexagram 23Animal by Animal
During this Metal Dog Month,
The Rat is wary,
The Ox insists,
The Tiger’s rules prevail,
But the Rabbit’s way works;
The Dragon tacks,
The Snake hides but only for now,
The Horse seeks excellence,
The wise Sheep seeks mediation,
Some moments may pass the Monkey by,
The Rooster rests,
The Dog sticks to it,
and
The Pig awaits advantage.
A 9 month visibility, prominence, fame, spontaneity and snap-judgement.
Most helpful location: South-East. Favoured Animals: Tiger, Horse, Dog, Rabbit.
Especially challenged one way or another: Rooster and Dragon.
The Hexagram (above): Po Stripping. No false moves.
Where to be this month.
Summary: the most creative location currently.
South East, Determination: Year Star: 9 Dragon Virtue, Month Star: 8.
Best place yet again as it will be most of next year. Seek out the South East sector (as measured from the tai chi) but also SE doors and buildings facing SE. Eldest Daughter (ie the single but eligible female) will have a good time here about now. Again this applies also to kuas (ask) 1, 3, 4 and 9 who should sleep with head South East for now. Rooster will as ever tend to find assistance and much more here. Use that SE door!
Month Solution: plants, bright light, Water fountain.
Annual Enhancement: Four Plants (eg bamboo stems), Water fountain.
Where not to be this month.
Summary: the least helpful area right now.
North, Distant Future: Year Star 6, Moon. Month Star: 5.
The avuncular 6 is bent out of shape by the 5 this month. Authority may be misused if wielded here. Which like much of this information, reflects the world and the coming Dog month and year. Poor for the older man and the talkative; security is a hazard here now. Worst for West Group kuas (ask), Horses and Sheep. Dragons and Monkeys might gain from the indiscretion but don’t push it.
Month Enhancement: Metal objects , 6 Pipe Metal Windchime, t’ang lung.
Annual Solution: A large (6kg+) rose quartz, a little Metal, occasional Water, shake but don’t stir.
East and West Groups: Everybody falls into either the East or the West Group by virtue of their birth date. The calculation is simple but if you do want to know where you belong, email me at richardashworth@imperialfengshui.info.
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.
Know your inner beast. How Dogged are you?
Birth in the Dog Hour (7-9pm)~: a fixed future.
Birth on the Dog Day#: a certain fixity.
Birth in the Dog Month (October)*: clear career path.
Birth in the Dog Year: mate for life.
~ GMT. # You’ll need a Chinese calendar for this. * Caution: Chinese months start later.
Father along.
“He who gives no thought to difficulties in the future is sure to be beset by worries much closer to hand.” Confucius.
Symbolically there’s little difference between Authority, Father and God. It doesn’t matter how feckless or ineffectual a Father is, on some level he is going to represent those things. To his children if to no one else. Many of us feel released when we reach this realisation. I write as the Father of six.
It’s the North West of a building that concerns the Father, so I’m unsurprised when that piece is missing from Rajul and Chandra’s little house in North London. Brother and sister, they’ve decamped from the South Atlantic largely to pursue their dreams away from family disapproval. He wants to manage property, she wants to settle down, both bright, educated, nice-looking people.
Their North West is literally like a slice cut out of a cake. That part of the compass of course often lacks light but here a gap in the trees has made a little sun-trap, conveniently enclosed by picket fence. It is as if their missing Father is waiting for company. Elementally the Father is Metal, I tell them.
“So place Metal here,” I recommend. “Garden furniture or machinery. And occupy the space. Perhaps a barbecue from time to time.” The Fire of this last will stimulate the Metal. “But don’t overdo it. And be aware that Father, your Father, the Father is here.” And not 10,000 miles away.
We talk ba zi. Chandra wants children and domesticity. Some bad experiences have made it hard for her to trust. There are tears in her eyes as we speak.
“Miracles are very simple,” I tell her boldly. She purses her lips.
“Not easy; simple. Chinese thought separates reality into three categories: Heaven, Earth and Human. Tian ti ren. Heaven, tian, is the rules as we find them – light, heat, gravity, those factors that limit us as long as we are flesh. Ti, Earth is what we do about them physically which includes taking shelter, nourishing and caring for ourselves, medicine and indeed feng shui. Human qi – ren – is choice.”
She breathes deeply and sniffles a little. I hold her gaze.
“It’s choice that makes for transformation. And there are perhaps two parts to it. Both are about truth. One is emotional, to do with feelings; it’s yin, that is feminine if you like, lunar and located in the trunk of the body.” I touch my tan tian, just below my sternum, the place where feelings sit.
“The trick here is to breathe, to feel into the feelings there. Some of them we’d rather not have. So much of our time is spent avoiding what we choose to call negative feelings. Drink, soap opera, over-eating, sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, they reassure and they distract. And we stay stuck.”
Maybe not rock’n’roll.
“So breathe into those feelings. They’ll hurt at first and then they won’t and then finally they’ll change. And you’ll trust.”
Her deep brown eyes are moist again.
“That’s the first part. Second part is to remember what you want. While you invite those feelings by breathing into them. Consider how you want your life to be in every detail: where you want to be, who with, what you’re doing and so on. Make it rich and real.”
You’ll find this second piece of advice in the biographies of business moguls like Steve Jobs and Richard Branson. What you won’t generally come across in such reminiscences is the first part: feeling your feelings and being brave enough to let them transform. Mostly these winners bypassed their feelings. And ultimately it may be that they regret it. Read what Steve Jobs said to his kids when he knew he was dying. Abundance is a much bigger issue than wealth.
“It is not feeling that hurts it is not-feeling that hurts,” I remind Chandra. We do some more mechanical stuff, arrange their beds and furniture, I recommend some changes of décor and locate a Water (that is Wealth) Star at the foot of their stairs and I leave them to it.
I’m the Father of six children. My top priority is to fulfill and not disappoint.
Richard Ashworth © 2017
You can top up daily on Twitter (@FengShuiDiaries), LinkedIn and FaceBook. Best to like my page rather than be my FaceBook friend if you want to avoid rants, cute micropigs and photos of my grandchildren.
We send out a (much) more comprehensive monthly bulletin covering in detail, the right places to be (and when) as well as helpful days Animal by Animal and much more from the Chinese calendar to my Retainer Clients. It is also available by subscription.
Subscriptions (and further info): Sheila@imperialfengshui.info
And here’s the (Western Astrological) take of the very perceptive Lorna Bevan:
5D Astrology Report October 2017 – In the Burning Fields
Richard Ashworth©
www.imperialfengshui.info