The dam breaks: all about Dragons

The Dam breaks: the Dragon Month.
The Dragon is said to live in the Earth as a fish lives in Water; its veins, the luan tou carry the qi down from the Mountain to the Water. Qi is invisible to most of us but its effect is not; where the luan tou gives out onto flat land the grass is often greener, the people healthier, the colours brighter, the wind cleaner. Whether we’re in Switzerland, Monte Carlo, Hampstead or Colorado, the heights bestow power and the Water lower down dispenses it. As the classic has it, “the qi comes down from the Mountain on the Wind and is held at the Water”.

Put very simply, if you want wealth and power, seek for your dwelling the ridges just short of the peak. Avoid the peak however; as the Classic goes on to warn: “therefore preserve the Water and protect against the Wind”. Rule number one in choosing a house is to avoid the windswept. Little is stable when lashed by the Wind.

So far, so mechanical; if feng shui theory is not scientific as many Masters would claim, it is at least pseudo-scientific. The above is a big chunk of what I do. It’s the kind of linear advice you’d expect from a Feng Shui Master; powerful and effective and often complex but if your ambition reaches beyond the linear and transformation is your objective, await the Dragon. The Dragon is magnificently irrational. And here it comes again as it does every April.

Transformation – that is when things that have always been one way suddenly have always been another way – calls for great honesty. This honesty falls into two categories: honesty as to what is so and honesty as to what is required. The first is a lunar, yin, kinaesthetic process involving feeling whatever is within us to feel; the second is a solar, yang, introspective and visual process calling for clear objectives. You’ll find the first buried in many spiritual practices and the second at the heart of a hundred thousand self-help books. You’ll seldom find both together, other than, dare I add, in the work I do.

Marianne Williamson author of A Return to Love (as quoted by Nelson Mandela) differentiates between transformational (or miraculous) and magical thinking. For her magical thinking insists that our guardian angels or whatever will save us a parking space, hold a train or win us the lottery. For myself I imagine it’s a quiet day in Heaven when angels care about such trivia but what do I know? Transformation on the other hand breaks all the rules.

The signs are good; the term Dragon is used a thousand ways in Chinese tradition: she commands the left-hand side of a dwelling (looking out) and by extension the left brain of rational thought. The Dragon is mercurial and explosive; unsurprisingly the Chinese character zhen for Dragon, forms half of the ideogram for a thunderstorm, the bringer of sudden change. The hours between 7 & 9am are ruled by the Dragon just as are the years 1940, 1952, 64, 76, 88, 2000 and 2012. And of course the month of April.

So April’s Dragon brings sheer power every year: the related Hexagram from the Book of Changes is No. 43: Transformation or Breakthrough. And the Earth Dragon relates to 1988, the year when East-West barriers started to come down. In the following twelve months the Berlin Wall fell and even China hovered between reform and repression. Transformation starts here.
Richard Ashworth ©2019

Where to be in April.
Summary: a month of advantage; the centre holds.
Tai chi, Home: Year Star: 8 Month Star: 9.
Month Star 9 stands for illumination and emphasis and it’s occupying the middle of your space right now. When it’s with a helpful Star like the 8, that Star becomes extra helpful. Put very simply, the Heart of the House is extremely fortunate right now, pretty much however you want use it. As GrandMaster Raymond Lo puts it: “conventional wealth & harmony in relationship.” Fill your boots.
Encourage: Fire, bright light 24/7

Where not to be in April.
Summary: sickness Star North.
North, Distant Future: Year Star 4 Sun (Rat) Month Star: 5.
Tricky. Any time the 5 arrives, look out! Possible sickness here, especially for younger Mothers. The North – on the magic square  as on the map – is naturally colder, wetter & darker but at this point also represents a neglected woman. The qualities of the true mature male are needed, bringing stability, advice and security. But you might have to make do with a windchime.
Mitigate: Metal 6 Pipe Metal windchime.

Richard Ashworth ©2019.
www.imperialfengshui.info.