Thursday January 5th 2006 09.43
Siu Hohn: Slight Cold
Richard Ashworth
Feng Shui Diaries
Siu Hohn: Slight Cold
Solar fortnight beginning:
Thursday January 5th 2006 09.43
Hour Day Month Year
earth wood earth fire
chi chia chi bing
szu wu ch’ou xu
snake horse ox dog
Month: chi ch’ou, the Earth Ox.
Solar Fortnight: Siu Hohn: Slight Cold
Houseplants exploit new licensing laws
The houseplants are drinking around the clock again. Growth will not be visible for a month or so but they’re starting to need water now. I always notice that: since October only the Christmas cacti have felt like a drink and that’s because I neglect them in order to get them blooming at Christmas. There’s nothing less apt than a Christmas Cactus blooming on Lincoln’s birthday (February 12th in case you felt the need to know).
Annual Flying Stars for 2006
From a feng shui master’s standpoint the Fire Dog has been with us since dung gee, the Winter Solstice. There are as Derek Walters notes in his Chinese Astrology Kit, “as many ways of reckoning the start of new year as there are calendars” but most agree it’s in full swing by early February.
Anyway what people tend to want to know at this time of year is what will be different about the feng shui of their homes and businesses this year. If your property has been carefully balanced with your longterm needs in mind, these changes are at most fine-tuning. Mostly the information is put out for the use of those who prefer to manage their own feng shui. As I have said before, I find it hard to come to terms with the idea that in contrast with every other oriental discipline – qi gung, karate, kung fu, tai chi, ki aikido – feng shui is seen by many as something you can master in a weekend and then practise as a hobby. As if it were a branch of flower-arranging.
Anyway here is that information:
1. The tai sui, that is the direction of the year animal, is North West (actually slightly West of the inter-cardinal point). Do not face this direction and do not build on or improve this part of your property. If you absolutely must, then start elsewhere and work clockwise round to it.
Confusingly the 3 shas on whom you should not turn your back are at the point where North East becomes North. Slavish adherence to these augurs moment-by-moment, may call for acrobatic ability.
2. The 2 Black Star chu men associated with abdominal disorders is in the South East. As it is earth, it is traditionally countered with metal but I prefer wood here.
3. The 5 Yellow Star lien chen associated with all sorts of mishap including legal
difficulties is in the West. It also calls for metal.
4. The 7 Red Star p’o chun is at the South. It speaks of losing to competition. As it is
itself metal it is clashed by fire much of which is already there.
5. Many authorities warn also of the argumentative 3 Green lu t’sun star which is at the centre but I’m not sure this is not actually benevolent this year. My Predictions for 2006 – which are on their way – pivot on this possibility.
The above grist is published in English annually by a number of authorities. These include Joey Yap and Rocky Sung as well as Raymond Lo and the personable Ricky Than whose Thomson House Feng Shui Store on Shanghai Street, Kowloon, I visited in October. All of this comes originally from the Tung Shu or Tong Sing, the annual almanac that appears in piles higher than an Arctic Monkeys display, throughout the shops of Chinatown towards the end of November. This volume contains vast amounts of additional material but all of it is in Chinese. So if you want to adopt its strictures at home, you’ll have to learn Chinese.
What relaying this information reminds me of is the difficulty of writing in a worthwhile way on feng shui at all. Authentic feng shui advice is personalised. But it is in the nature of personalised advice that it it does not apply to everybody. So you tend to end up writing in a very generalised way. Such advice is relevant to everybody but equally it is of limited value to everybody. One stalls between two fools, as my late father was fond of saying.
For instance most commentators offer baleful warnings in 2006 to Dragons and Rats.This is just too general.
I notice that Joey Yap does not do this; he divides Dragons and Rats up into wood Dragons, fire Rats and so on and prognosticates individually. But, as a world authority, he will know that he has given 10% of the necessary information as opposed to the 1% the others offer.
My daughter Jessie is an ambitious Earth Dragon. No one’s augury for her as an earth Dragon is much fun but if I work from the stem of the day she was born, what Joey Yap calls the day master, I can find probabilities that are not only more personalised and therefore more useful but also more optimistic. Broadbrushing of necessity treats a clash between characters (like that between Dragon and Dog) as blanket bad news. Often this is all they are saying when they ruin your year for you. A clash is a very dynamic thing and not necessarily negative. As Master Chan Kun Wah is fond of saying, nothing happens without a clash.
Celebrity Big Brother
As I go to press – well Epson Stylus color 760 – I am writing for the tabloids, snippets about the celebrities in the Big Brother House, derived from short ba zis. George Galloway MP’s ba zi indicates unsurprisingly that he is not going to reveal much about himself. Writing ba zis as a publicity stunt may seem tacky and generally I am not a watcher but I am interested to learn how Galloway is going to represent his constituency from his quarantine. Perhaps Oona King, the hard-working but less-televised Labour member he ousted, is available for a fortnight’s temping? She knows the job and is generally less distracted.
Commercial Break: Ba Zi’s By Appointment
You may not know that I am now conducting ba zi consultations at 31 Harley Street. If you are interested, please ring or email for an appointment: 01483.428844. I remain of course, available by (less expensive) appointment at the Holistic Centres in Send (01483.225147) & Godalming (01483.418103)
Feedback is encouraged including that you never want to hear from me again if that happens to be the case.
Richard Ashworth
Richardashworthfengshui@hotmail.com