April 2015: Dragon Diary, the nature of the Golden Dragon.
April 2015: Dragon Diary, the nature of the Golden Dragon.
Dragon Month opens: April 5th 10:58am.
The Golden Dragon.
“You are the smell before rain, you are the blood in my veins.”
Brand New: “The Boy who blocked his own shot”.
TS Eliot called April a cruel month, I remind my grandson Mr Levi as I read him “Mr McCavity” from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Mr Levi is not a big man for “serious” poetry. That’ll come. He’s actually more interested in how, according to Michael Rosen, Bob Marley likes his doughnuts.* But I bang on in any case.
April is the time of sudden change. The Dragon is the creature of thunder. The rumble that accompanies the clouds shedding their burden is the sound of the Dragon. It’s kind of orgasmic. Which by the way is a pretty orthodox way to talk about feng shui. There’s no force on Earth more powerful than sexual energy. It’s what drives the salmon upstream and the lemming to the cliff. Master Chan Kun Wah, back when I studied with him, was forever referring to “willy qi”. The Chinese character for thunder is a Dragon under a rain cloud.
This month’s Dragon is a Metal one. The Metal Dragon has a certain rancour, a certain bitterness. Often it falls to the Metal Dragon to state the difficult truth that no one else will raise. If you can remember that far back, this month is like 1976. Already the weather – with a heat wave promised this week – is mimicking the long hot summer of that year. This Dragon like that one, ushers in major rapid change – personal, public, cultural, financial, you name it. Whether we call this positive or negative is simply a question of viewpoint.
Historically the feng shui man’s job was to place the building in the appropriate location relative to the lung mei, that is the veins of the Dragon. For this reason he was retained by Emperors, Princes and latterly captains of industry. More recently the feng shui person has taken on the job of placing the Dragon relative to the dwelling. To put it simply, the task has become largely one of compensating for poor architecture, poor orientation and poor positioning. Which is not always possible. When the Dragon is ignored or obscured it can be hard to restore balance.
* wi jam in.
Take the City of London, financial hub of the world – with more US banks than any US city and nearly half of the world’s arbitrage – which was placed on an East-West grid by its Roman founders. Because the Sun travels on exactly that trajectory, the buildings of the so-called “Square Mile” have been sharing sunlight among themselves for close to two thousand years. Its younger rival, Wall Street in New York is different; set in the North-South grid of Manhattan Island, each successive high rise obscures its neighbours. These days Wall Street is in almost perpetual dusk. It’s chilly there even at noon on a Summer’s day.
But in recent years, the orientation of the City has become distorted; the massive new buildings – Swiss Re (the Gherkin), the Shard, the SpongeBob and the rest of them are broadly South of the ancient city and they spread the dark as they compete for space. Almost all have grown up since financial services were de-restricted in 1986. Almost all are home to banks, IT or dependent activities. Perhaps consider these metaphors as the thunder rumbles.
Where to do what, when and why.
In April the Flying Stars that colour the pockets of energy at each compass point, double up. This is to say whatever happens in any location this year happens in spades this month. Favoured areas are doubly favoured and vice-versa. So once again, the North, the principal location of wealth, is the place to work on. I suggest an indoor Water fountain all month. Try it, you’ll like it.
The Dragon in the Dragon Month.
Egotistical, capricious and wilful, the Dragon (1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000) is a handful. Even the most diplomatic one fails to see how pleasing himself doesn’t necessarily suit everybody else. The Dragon is yang Earth – immovable until she feels like shifting. Topical Dragons include Putin and Farage; nuff said. When they shift so does everybody else. Which can be pretty irritating.
The Dragon can be wary of the Sheep. He’s a loner and the Sheep is joiner, convenor and all round clubgoer. But in the Sheep year the Dragon is needed in a big way as the solution to bust-ups known as the “Bullying Punishment” which bring Sheep and Dog stand-off and Ox heartbreak. If there’s an unloosable knot, call the Dragon to untie it, however mortifying that may be.
The Rooster understands the Dragon and will contain him at a price. Rats and Monkeys find themselves unable to complete business sans Dragon which can lead to resentment. And the worst to have around a Dragon is other Dragons. They will fight. Ego stuff. The Dog thinks the Dragon is up himself and the Dragon thinks the Dog is dim. The Tiger thinks the Dragon goes on a bit. All in all Dragons are unlikely to win popularity contests but often triumph anyway and the unruffled way they deal with success reveals an unexpected grace.
The Dragon’s like that.
Dragon Month, Animal by Animal.
During this Metal Dragonmonth:
The Rat may resist success.
The Ox may miss the sell-by date.
The Tiger may miss the point.
The Rabbit may prosper.
The Dragon may bridle.
The Snake may fawn.
The Horsemay be above it all.
The Sheep avoids despair.
The Monkey gets stuff done.
The Rooster distracts.
The Dog may be frustrated.
and
The Pig may tread water.
Dragon Pillars; know your Dragon rating.
Birth in the Dragon hour (07:00am-09:00am): weird kids.
Birth in the Dragon month (April*): suited to work in trouble-shooting.
Birth on the Dragon day#: chaotic but magical
Birth in the Dragon year: charismatic parents.
* Caution, the Chinese month generally starts and finishes a few days after ours.
# Just ask.
Also coming up:
Feng Shui of the Cityscape.
My student, architect Manuela Madeddu is addressing the Feng Shui Society Conference on Saturday 9th May (www.fengshuisociety.org.uk) Her speciality is urban quality (broadly feng shui applied to cities) and her passion is contagious. My friend lovable Mexican Victor Garza is talking too and he’s always good value.
A rapid introduction to Chinese Astrology.
On the evening of Tuesday the 8th September, I’m talking to the College of Psychic Studies in London (www.collegeofpsychicstudies.co.uk) about the place of intuition in classical feng shui: This will be followed by a one-day workshop on the Saturday 19th September: The ba zi: a map of our most likely mistakes, which will be something of a crash course. You may find this especially useful if you know very little about the subject and would like to know more. We’re telegraphing it now because the opening module of my next Feng Shui Starter Course The Wind that Stops at the Water, is the weekend inbetween (12th/13th September) and you might use the talk as an introduction.
Richard Ashworth©, late in the month of the Rabbit, 2015.