5th March 2005
Startled insects; The Rabbit month; Question of emphasis; The father’s water works; The Graftons; The hunger site…
Feng Shui Diaries
Ging Jit: Startled Insects
Solar fortnight beginning:
Saturday March 5th 2005 19.45
Hour Day Month Year
water earth earth wood
yum mow gay yute
sute chee muw yuw
dog rat rabbit rooster
Startled Insects
My favourite name for a solar fortnight. It was adopted by a musical collective in Bristol in the 80’s who specialised in soundtrack work. Not, as they say, many people know that.
Lots of bands have plundered Chinese metaphysics for names, the Clash being the most prominent, I think. Cliff Bennett (of Got to Get you into my Life fame) called his regrouped 70’s band Toe Fat, which is the san sat star of true love and Gene Clark’s album No Other, regularly nominated as the greatest album ever recorded, draws heavily on the I Ching. As does Syd Barrett on the first Pink Floyd album Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Syd on the other hand, may not be the best example of how to achieve mastery in a world in which the only constant is change.
The image of a Piper at the Gates of Dawn, incidentally is from the Wind in the Willows.
The Rabbit Month
The Rabbit is connected in folklore with the moon. Its nature is tender and easygoing and the Jade rabbit at least, is reckoned to live a thousand years. A red one is particularly auspicious. Albino rabbits used to be so unusual in China that the sight of one was considered to be very significant.
The Rabbit rises early. So as well as signifying spring it represents early morning and the East where the sun rises. In divination terms this year, the Rabbit being opposite the year animal the Rooster, sits in the Place Curse. This is unlikely to be a great month in terms of global politics for the vast majority of us. Last month the Tiger heralded more indefensible shenanigans in Asia, this month the Rabbit may be diving for cover.
A Question of Emphasis.
People often have the impression that feng shui is about wind chimes and wall coverings. And of course it is but generally décor is fine tuning. I have watched a feng shui master spend a whole afternoon surveying a smallish house and recommend nothing but a reangled door. Then he was pretty dismissive of the lady asking where to put her holy pictures and what colour the carpet should be.
The reangled door radically changed the chi flow of the place, this being one of the single most powerful things you can do.
On the other hand once the feng shui of a place is balanced, a tiny change can be crucial. And some of the most powerful formulae depend on distinctions of less than one degree.
So I was interested to read this from Sophie whose bedroom, I told her, was sending mixed messages:
“Hi Richard, you asked me to let you know of any coincidences etc…
As a single girl in today’s world, I like many, have been using internet dating sites to meet people. Before Christmas I spotted this very nice-looking guy. A couple of weeks later I plucked up the courage to write to him. No reply. In January I wrote again and again no reply. On several occasions I looked at his profile and admired him from a distance..wishing he would reply.
You came round to my house and advised me to put blue in my bedroom. So I went off to John Lewis and purchased a duvet set ..coincidentally called “Blue.”
That was 2 weeks ago and this Saturday I sent the guy one last email….and that night we were exchanging some very funny emails. It got to the stage where he sent me his mobile number and I sent a text. You can imagine my shock when he sent one back saying “Why have I already got your number in my phone?”
It turns out that we were set up for a blind date by friends 2 years ago and I hadn’t returned his call!
Any way we are actually going out on a date next week so I’ll keep you informed.”
By the way, I relate this partly as an illustration for those I have told that sometimes although feng shui can put the ball on the penalty spot it is you that has to kick it.
The Father’s Water Works
I keep surveying houses with showers in the North West which drains the metal that lives there. This tends to coincide with an undermining of fathers, lungs, throats, chests, voice-work, authority, beginnings of projects, direction and much more.
I say “coincide” rather than “have an effect on” because I’ve pretty much given up on causality. So often a house tells you about a person’s childhood years before they got there. So often sheer attention to an issue gets it moving. Sometimes chi moves before the feng shui man arrives. It seems to me that a decision to change our lives may manifest in a hundred ways including feng shui and pretty much in any order.
My point is this: if you have put say a shower in the North West, before you beat yourself up, consider how it is the choice of everybody concerned, not just yours. We feel guilt because we want to blame and we’d be better off without either. And until some distance in the future who is to say what necessary lesson might not be learned within the whole family that might have been missed but for a shower in the “wrong” place? Wait and see!
The Graftons
David and Jo wanted a survey that would help them move house. Which I did but suggested that rather than spending £20,000 on moving they might spend a couple of hundred on a few hours of my time and a ba zi*.
They had a good story: some dreadful harassment and injustice. And they were very open, very courageous and very gracious. What was startling was that when we had revealed that a lot of the trouble was symbolic revenge on past partners and parents and David was identifying a powerful resentment about being sent away to school, I was able to tell him the precise date of the upset: at the beginning of what is called the Big Fate which usually coincides with a jolt in a child’s life when he or she “arrives” and realises that they are ultimately alone and have to get on with it.
The Big Fate can be any time in the first 10 years of life. Being sent away is a frequent impetus but divorce and birth of a sibling are common. It is often but not always traumatic.
More interesting again is that this bull’s eye was not a function of anything special I did but of careful drafting following guidelines developed over several thousand years. The Chinese are a very pragmatic people; they wouldn’t do this stuff if it didn’t work!
The Hunger Site
Did you know that as you log onto thehungersite.com (for free) a cup of food is passed onto those who need it?
Best wishes,
Richard Ashworth
Richardashworthfengshui@hotmail.com
Richard is featured in Channel Five’s Housebusters during 2005.
As ever, names have been changed to protect privacy.
* Personal feng shui, available with 1hour debrief or as the 1st of 5 one-hour sessions of life-changing.