Inclusion and Exclusion Sheep Month Bulletin

A 6 month                                  is about authority, often patriarchal
A Sheep Month                      concerns involvement, inclusion and engaging.
Where not to be this month:     South East, North West (North East all year)
Where to be this month:             South
Favoured Animals:                       Pig, Rabbit, Sheep, Horse
Especially challenged:                 Rat, Ox
The Hexagram:                              47 Kun Exhaustion, Lake over Water.

  

For the last couple of months we have tacked a chapter from my book after next Love Made Visible, for which we are still seeking a publisher, onto this bulletin. More to follow.

We do however have a publisher (O Books) for my next book I Talk to the Animals cover (detail above) by the wonderful Ellie Spinelli, due out October 2025, a comprehensive guide to the drafting, interpretation and practice of Ba Zi, that is Four Pillars. You can pester your book shop for it now (preferably a real live book shop, not Amazon) And indeed ordering it from your local library is good for pretty much everybody. It’s not beach fiction but I modestly suggest that anyone who is serious about ba zi needs a copy.
 
On the afternoon of Saturday July 19 2pm-4pm EST, I will be hosting a crash course on Ze Ri or Date Selection, that is how to select the right date for the right purpose and to tailor it to the person concerned. Whether you’re planning a trip, an event or an invasion,  Join us. Depending on numbers I will be calculating useful dates for students.

The Sheep is all about inclusion. Last Year the Sheep was Tin Yute Gwai Yan that is Nobleman Friend, making July the time to seek out sage advice. Not this year. Which may make this July particularly about exclusion: this will be personal to Sheep* themselves but that influence relates to us all.

So whatever Animal you are, be ready for your friend group contracting, invitations to get lost in the post and important meetings for some reason to go ahead without you. Fortunately this is temporary. But….some Sheep can get mean when they feel left out.  And in a kua 6 month (see below), questioning of authority is one way this dynamic may show up. It won’t have escaped you that there’s a certain political defiance growing both sides of the Atlantic.
So on a personal and intimate level this mostly applies to Sheep themselves but as notable Godalming resident John Donne wrote: “No man is an island”^. We’ll all be dealing with fallout from the USA – Donald Trump having been born on a Sheep day so being ignored or excluded is especially maddening to him – to situations that may arise at work or at play. Those like Trump born in a Dog year, probably most vexed.
Note also that the month Hexagram (47: Kun, Exhaustion, Lake over Water) see below) warns of overwork. Water Sheep Rolling Stones Keith Richards and Mick Jagger might take note. There’s a price tag on eternal youth.
* 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003; also with different implications, July* births, those between 1pm and 3pm and certain days you’ll need a Chinese Calendar for) But caution: the Sheep Month is not quite the same as July, usually opening on the 7^th or 8^th.
^ Though in “About a Boy”, Hugh Grant claims he is actually Ibiza.
Richard Ashworth ©2025

The kua at the heart of this month’s lo shu (above) is the Yang Metal 6, the number of authority, fathers and the patriarchy. Presumably they will be at the heart of things, not that that is necessarily a good place for them to be. In a Horse Month such figures may find themselves uncomfortable under the spotlight.

 Sheep are all about inclusion…
Sheep This is your month. So consider yourself well in. You have privileges. The 17^th July looks pretty handy and 21^st even more so. However…not being in demand (unlike last year) may make for separation. Keep cool. Resist meanness.
The Monkey can find Sheep months underwhelming. As you are technically in the Remove spot, now – especially the 14^th  – may be the time to let go of things that have passed their sell-by date. Boredom is as likely to be your nemesis as overheating but pace yourself just the same. When you hurry you so often trip.
Roosters: are generally not keen on the Fire Months, your Yin Metal can feel like it’s melting. Avoid pretence, notice how hard it is and how unhelpful it can be to maintain.
Some relief on the 22^nd – stay open but loose.
Dog and Sheep are technically a Break-up. Beware the dangerous Remove day on the 26^th when you could so easily seriously self-sabotage. Value what’s valuable. A month when discernment pays off in a big way. Trust in quality. Don’t get mean.
Pig: may be happier with their friend and associate the Sheep as the Fire subsides. The 2^nd August offers fresh, renewed or repaired relationship. Your Rabbit friends may share your mood. Special care on the 11^th.
Remember that you have at least four Animals to consider in your own Ba Zi chart (one each relating to Hour, Day and Month of birth as well as Year) and that it is as unlikely that they’re all suffering during this Sheep Month as that all are making hay. Each Animal illuminates a particular aspect of life. To know this about yourself may be timely. My Annual Animal Fortunes are always on the website. More detail in the Podcast.
Rat: opposition from Horse mercifully past. You can think straight again. But popularity is still not at a peak. Proxy fights loom on the 25^th though you may be among the few winners on the 19^th. Best keep your head down meanwhile. Fire is not your thing.
Now Ox meets direct opposition, there’s frustration on the 13^th and 25^th. The Rat on the 18^th may shift you back on track and there’s important learning to take on. Don’t insist on control when you’re unsure of your bearings. Sometimes you just have to let go.
The Tiger is less favoured but still close to peak power. Grace will serve you better than insistence, and patience better than forcing things which could lead to important mistakes. Big breaks: 8^th and 24^th.
Rabbits enjoy the creative heat of the Fire Months as a rule though these may not be comfortable times. Both below and under the surface things are running your way but this is no time for complacency and brooding just wastes your time. Assistance comes knocking on the 9^th and 21^st. Be ready.

I’m teaching and practising Ba Zi and Classical Feng Shui one-to-one via Zoom all the time. Ba Zi is a snapshot of the prevailing Elements at a moment in time. And if we consider healing to consist of a spectrum from performance enhancement to actual physical change, perhaps the most powerful healing tool there is. If the moment concerned is your birth, we may learn all sorts of things from it about the past, the future, about potential and about opportunities that may otherwise be missed.

Dragon: lying low in the shade suits you unless you need the vitamin D but basking is more likely to open doors. Cast your bread on the waters and August may bring you more than a few loaves and fishes. Remove obstacles with impunity on the 14th and put pedal to metal next day. Further metaphors available on request.
Snake: It’s still your year and season so life is still full of breaks but nothing spectacular immediately . Formal tuition may work for you this month: time out or something residential though travel may not suit. When the teacher is ready the student appears. Reward probably exceeds risk on the 4^th August.
Horses may find this month less demanding, less frenetic. Many of the times of opportunity (8^th, 20^th) carry risk which are probably worth taking with appropriate precautions. Less haste, more speed.

 Podcast: Feng Shui, the Real Thing

In this month’s Podcast which should be out about the same time as this bulletin, I discuss with the brilliant Zoe Vita James the changing qi of the Month, its likely implications for each Animal and what we may each do about it as well as the usual feng shui and ba zi chat. This month: restoring energy to tired houses with fu mu gua by way of one or two exhausted ones.

The Hexagram from the Book of Changes for the Water Sheep Month 2025 

                                                         
As ever my monthly Yi Jing (that is Book of Changes) class (next one: Wednesday July 10^th) examines the ramifications of the Hexagram of the Month: this time Kun, Hexagram 47, Lake over Water: Exhaustion: the danger that ambition runs us into the ground, the awareness that a groove can become a rut and rut become a grave.
The point as the shape of the Hexagram illustrates, is that this is willful.

Kun is the Hexagram of emails at 11pm, of responding to WhatsApps on Sunday morning, arriving so pre-occupied at the cinema that we don’t follow the plot. It is deranged work/life balance, infants prematurely consigned to nursery and for too long, children sent away to private school to make connections or to breakfast clubs to make time As Chuck Spezzano puts it “Working too hard or hardly working, or in the words of William Wordsworth: “The world is too much with us, late and soon; Getting and spending we lay waste our powers.”

Lecture over.

Highlights of these sessions appear on my YouTube Channel later in each month. You may not have the stamina for all sixty four Hexagrams but you can join us live via Zoom for a year via Sheilaashworthfengshui@gmail.com.

Helpful (& Unhelpful) Days

Helpful
Tuesday 15^th July, Wood Rooster, Beak, Full, (6) *** gains all round
Beak may suggest healthy doubt, light where there has been dark till now; Full may describe your in-tray which wants to be worked through systematically which may stretch your day but is likely to be worth it.
Activity: at the tai chi (geometric centre) for authority.
Favours: all especially Snakes, Roosters, Oxen and Dragons.
Magical for: Water(1953) Snake, Wood(1945/2005) & Fire(1957) Rooster, Fire(1997) & Earth(1949) Oxen, Fire(1976) & Earth(1988) Dragons.
Unhelpful
Wednesday 16^th July, Fire Dog, Orion, Balance (5) *** divisive
Dog & Sheep, technically a break-up. Orion suggests a contest, actual protagonists with a measurable outcome. Balance favours the underdog. Not for contractual commitment.
Favours: no one much.
Activity: at the Horse (due South) for attention.
Helpful
Monday 21^st July, Metal Rabbit, Bow, Success (9) ***** a blank page.
The ambience of the Metal Rabbit is often confusion, mixed motives – whatever that might mean for you. So take careful aim before firing. But it’s a great day to make hay: place carefully positioned long term Water, advance in all sorts of ways or fall in love.
Favours: everyone, especially Pig, Rabbit, Sheep, Dog.
Activity: at the Horse (due South) to draw attention.
Unhelpful
Friday 25^th July, Wood Sheep, Neck, Establish (5) *****  Hazardous.
New Moon: 04:32am. Crystals out.
Neck can be as in “brass” or “on the line”. This is no time for new ventures or venturing. Establish stands more for the danger of wrong turns becoming hard to reverse than a starting gun. Extreme caution.
Favours: no one at all.
Special caution: Ox, & Rat.
Activity: at Horse (due South) for alliance.
Helpful
Monday 4^th August, Wood Snake, Danger, Open (4) **** seize the day.
Recaps 2025 to date, pay special attention from 3pm onwards which may foreshadow the autumn months. But Wood Snake can be deceptive, Danger speaks for itself; Open makes for tight schedules and narrow windows of time. Jobs both started and completed today are most likely to be satisfying.
Activity: at the Horse (due South) for clarity.
Favours: most constructive activity and Snake, Rooster, Ox, Monkey
Helpful (& Unhelpful) Places

Note:
Every house is different but certain forces affect us all wherever we are. What follows identifies which areas are better served by those forces (or qi) this month & which worse, pretty much everywhere. That applies to all enclosed spaces. What to do about it depends very much on the individual house where the energies will be individual and may qualify or contradict my suggestions. But…. wherever a wu huang 5 Star is located place a t’ang lung. And wherever there is a 7, exercise caution. Ask if in doubt.

Helpful
North West: Authority: Year Star: 3 Month Star: 7 Sui Po (Pig)
3 and 7 are a perfect 10 combination which implies a transformative outcome. But the 7 can be anarchic: interference is so close to intervention. Activate (best method is occupation) if you are chasing payments overdue to you but subsequent fallings out are possible. As they say “If you want to make an enemy, loan them money.”
Steer clear if you want peace and quiet and to keep neighbours or even family at arm’s length. Water may bridge any arising differences as it makes peace between Wood and Metal – dependent as ever on the underlying Stars in your particular space which are dictated by orientation and date of construction. If in doubt, ask.
Put simply: for most, tricky.

Unhelpful
North, Communication: Star: 7 Month Star: 2 Dragon Virtue (Rat N2) Month san sha.
The Rat who lives due North is home to a Tin Yute Gwai Yan or Nobleman Helper this year. This means it’s the place to reach out for help from above us on the food chain. The Yin Metal 7 that is here all year, is said to be transformative when combined with the hyperactive 2. And as this year it is also in the North with all that Water, good use can be made of it.
To make use: locate, add Water such as a glass at least a foot deep with proportional surface area precisely due North.
Put simply: helpful all year.
Note: Directions are from the tai chi (ie heart of the property)

Richard Ashworth©
www.imperialfengshui.info
art by @elliespinelli ©

Richard Ashworth is one of the most respected Western Feng Shui Masters.  A good taster of his approach may be found on Audible . You can also see him at work on tv’s Housebusters Most Thursdays and Fridays he is to be found teaching both feng shui and ba zi  one-to-one online (times by mutual arrangement) with students from Seattle to Belgium.
Richard has worked from Lebanon to Bermuda, in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and with stars such as Naomie Harris, Kelly Hoppen and Gillian Anderson. Unusually for a Western Master, he has addressed the Grand Masters at the International Feng Shui Conference in Singapore.

Every month we send (at a modest fee) retainer clients a more comprehensive monthly bulletin than this one, covering in detail right places to be (and when) as well as the most helpful days Animal by Animal and much more from the Chinese calendar.
Subscriptions (and further info): Sheilaashworthfengshui@gmail.com

Richard Ashworth©
www.imperialfengshui.info © 2025
art by @elliespinelli ©