Taking back control: the Month of the Wood Ox 2019

Lin
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Arriving
Hexagram 19

Animal by Animal
During this Wood Ox Month,
The Rat is driven – by someone else,
The Ox retains power,
The Tiger goes from strength to strength,
The wise Rabbit pauses and bides her time,
The Dragon handles one last case,
The braced Snake branches out,
The Horse stays warm and awaits the Spring,
The Sheep sees far away doors just beginning to open,
 Monkeys s-t-r-e-t-c-h.
The Rooster calculates,
The Dog has déjà vu. Again.
while
The Pig feels crowded but mostly just feels.

A 3 month is – for better or worse – about assertion.
An Ox month supports focus, consistency and (re-)generation.
Most helpful location: South East. Least helpful location: West.
Favoured Animals: Snake, Rooster & Ox herself, Rat.
Challenged: Pig, Rabbit, Sheep, Horse.
Hexagram (above): Lin Approaching, Earth over Lake, Becoming Great.

Taking back control: the Wood Ox Month, 2019.
On the most profound level there is truly very little that can be placed under control. But the Ox likes to try. This is a very still time of year and Ox control reflects that; January is more about preparation than hitting our stride. This cusp interval between Dung Gee, the Winter Solstice and Lap Chun, the Spring Festival, is the time to make feng shui changes. Last year’s qi is almost gone and the fresh qi is still helplessly infant. So place that Water, move that light. But don’t expect miracles just yet.

As for the Animals this is what you have to look forward to:

Ox: in charge since early December. Know that this power surge is unlikely to last. So use it wisely. Hexagram 34 Da Zhuang, Thunder over Heaven, may be instructive. Mostly your will is done; be sure that’s what you want.

Tiger: Both Dog and Pig years favour you but the Ox month doesn’t so much. Rein in impulses to throw your weight around. Gently does it; you’re powered up for some time yet.

Rabbit: you’re still near the top of it but the food chain is in the process of being shuffled; time for a fresh perspective. The yin Earth of the Ox can be a bit of a drag. Pace yourself.

Dragon: Paul Simon may have made a career out of it but now is likely to be the last time you’re required to place bridges over troubled Water for a while. If that’s your m/o, a rethink is in order.

Snake: you are the Pig’s nemesis (a phrase you may have never thought you’d utter). Of all the Animals, you are best advised to concentrate on the Month, Day & Hour pillars of your ba zi. If you were born in a Snake year (1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989) you may suffer mild ill health (as may your parents) but other aspects of your life (career, relationship, kids & dreams) are unaffected and this month the Ox is on your side.

Horse: the winter (that is Water) months are a bit of a mud weight to you. Not a time for risks or wild ambition. Keep warm, plan and plot and await the fire of the summer whose first spark is evident around mid-February.

Sheep: opposed by this month’s Ox and 2018’s Dog but boosted by Pig, doors are opening for you – into new groups, organisations and tribes – only ajar just yet but March finds them wide open again.

Monkey: secondary target of the Pig because you are the defender and champion of the Snake. Meh kind of month if you ask too much of it. Consider your other (Month, Day and Hour) Animals as guides to what to emphasise.

Rooster: Pig year is a bit of a challenge but Ox month is not. You’re both a bit Metallic; that is to say prepared, precise and particularly hard to shape once moulded. The Ox’s Metal may be hidden but there’s enough for you to feed on, especially mid-month.

Dog: Dog power – especially 1946 Fire Dog – is waning now. A 1958 Earth Dog is now beginning her second Gan Zi  cycle and you may see history repeating itself. Best to work alone rather than within organisations.

Pig: Pigs can find their own years (& months) testing; not that there’s anything wrong necessarily with that. They’re quite happy with the later Water Months (Rat & Ox – December & January) though. This is a time to communicate while your emotions are flowing freely. May not be so straightforward later in the year.

Rat: very empowered but your experience may well be that you’re working to someone else’s agenda. Best to accept that and give 100%. You’ll feel this again during 2021 but not again before then.

Final note: the above are very simplistic assessments. No astrological analysis especially such a brisk one will ever do you full justice. You always have choice, you are as a wise man once said to me, the camera not the crisis.

The best way to wring value from these brief prognostications, having said that, is to identify not only your Year Animal but those of Month, Day & Hour. You are  – astrologically speaking – a cocktail of these and it’s unlikely that all four are compromised at any given time as it is that they are all blessed. Either way this too shall pass.

An account of the Earth Pig year 2019 follows.

Richard Ashworth ©2019
www.imperialfengshui.info

Where to be in January.
Summary: confrontation leads to positive change.
South East, Determination: Year Star: 8/7 Month Star: 2.
The 7/8 combination with the yin Earth 2 Star is good for all sorts of success including marital but it’s turbulent – more so as the year goes on. Arguments proliferate from mid-month. As the 2 is associated with woman, Mother & relationship while the South East is the home of the Eldest Daughter, this dynamic tension makes for an uncomfortable but fertile location for a career-woman-in-a-hurry – for the time being. Don’t set up camp though as the South East is hard work from March or so. This of course applies to houses backing onto South East and offices facing that way as well as the South Eastern area of your space (measured from its middle) and entry by a South Eastern door.
To boost: Water, eg a fountain.

Where not to be in January.
Summary: Poor and getting worse.
West, Intervention: Year Star:2/1, Month Star: 5.
Just shaping up to be diabolical. Move out of here right away, close up external doors in this direction and avoid houses that sit this way round and businesses that face this way. Or risk all sorts of blockages including the physical. Do not let your head point West in slumber or your face when you’re upright. Otherwise it’s great.
Mitigate: t’ang lung.

Richard Ashworth ©2019.
www.imperialfengshui.info.
Richard Ashworth is among the most respected Western Feng Shui Masters. He has worked from Lebanon to Bermuda, in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and with stars such as Kelly Hoppen and Gillian Anderson. Unusually for a Western Master, he has addressed the Grand Masters at the International Feng Shui Conference in Singapore. His day job remains “walking round people’s spaces being enigmatic”.
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Richard Ashworth©
www.imperialfengshui.info