Wednesday November 7th 2006 21.43
lap dung – Winter Begins
Richard Ashworth
Feng Shui Diaries
Solar fortnight beginning:
Tuesday November 7th 2006 21.43
Hour Day Month Year
fire metal earth fire
ding geng ji bing
hai tze hai xu
pig rat pig dog
Month: ji hai the Pig.
Solar Fortnight: lap dung Winter Begins
Emptying the War Chest
Consuela wanted to be abundant in her own right. This was different to her husband being abundant. He is a city solicitor with an eye-watering hourly rate and since I surveyed last year his hours have reduced and his income multiplied. Not that he is about to give me any credit for that. He’s more of a “master of my fate, captain of my soul” sort of guy. Consuela’s own abundance was also distinct from that of her PR business which paid the bills nicely but frankly no longer stretched her.
No: what Consuela wanted was to sell the business that she had set up from scratch and then be effortlesly creative from her home. And why not? She has proved a dozen times over that she is capable.
All in a day’s work. Starting from the ba zhai (or Eight Mansions) formula, we loaded up the most productive spots following a pattern I learned from a diviner who fled Shangahi in the 1930’s, placing Consuela’s missing element and her money element where they would have most effect. This involved t’ang lung and mou kuk shapes (which emulate hill formations) as well as Chinese coins.
“Those look exotic,” she said.
“Kowloon night market,” I said, “All forgeries.”
It doesn’t matter of course.
As well as abundance she wanted to stop arguing with her husband. I placed shapes for this, paying special attention to the bedroom. The hard pointed corners of his magnificent antique war chest pointed straight at where she lay in bed so I concealed some charged crystals inside. I was already concerned because of the flying star numbers there that her wellbeing was vulnerable.
On the other hand who marries a solicitor if they don’t want arguments?
One argument was recurrent, the one about her giving up work.
Now his position did not take the form: “I earn enough for both of us, why don’t you cease bothering your pretty little head with footling business affairs?” to which her reply might have been: “Your word is my command” but more: “You must continue to work even though it means you spend little time with our small boy, it precludes another child and we don’t need the money,” to which the reply was: “I’d sooner spend more time caring for Luke and the home, just the same.”
Stalemate.
I had placed her office and desk carefully in the North West, the seat of authority, in 2005, when the tai sui (that is the year animal which should not be faced directly) was in the West. She had hardly used it and now it was going to be wrong until the end of 2007.
On the other hand the South West which represents her as a mother, looked and felt pretty good. Nice warm airy chi, supported and open.
“Work there,” I said.
There were sofas in this location on two of the four floors of her SW7 townhouse. As her work was mostly phone calls, this suited her. A world class networker with pictures of herself entertaining royalty on the walls, she could easily run her business from here.
In feng shui often there is a trade-off between objectives. If what you want is more money it may be that health or relationship will not be supported so well, so I set her three conditions:
- The metal of the coins and the mou kuks stand for competition. True competition is where both sides achieve their best but one achieves more. Untrue competition is where one competitor achieves at the other’s expense. The goal of these shenanigans is that everyone wins. That includes old Rumpole of the Bailey.
Supporting you involves supporting him.
- You have a weak ba zi. Now strong is no better than weak – they’re both unbalanced – but Choi – that is your personalised wealth element, can drain your vitality if your ba zi is weak. I want you to have a well-woman check at the beginning and end of 2007, take food supplements and antioxidants, eat properly and exercise regularly. Do not work silly hours.
- I can only gain you what is called “Small Advantage” in 2007. You will need to be flexible and prepared to do business, month by month, wherever in the house I tell you. The real gains will come in 2008.
She agreed the conditions.
“Now the arguments,” I said, “Be aware that each one is simply a continuation of the last even if it seems to be about something new. The same resentments and untended business come up every time, don’t they? You can improve this by changing where you argue. There are argumentative spots in most houses, some that have always been there, some that are imprinted on the bricks, some that have arrived more recently. He’ll win –whatever that means – in the North West and you will in the South West. Now surprise me: where do you argue most?”
“The kitchen,” she said, “Is that the South West?”
“You know it is.”
She smiled guiltily.
“As the argument starts, move somewhere else.”
“Anywhere in particular?”
“Luke’s room?”
She swallowed.
“When you argue, your voice takes on a familiar tone doesn’t it? Notice this, breathe deeply and speak in the tone that the breath indicates. This brings your voice up to date with your emotions.”
“Okay.”
“Ask yourself whether it’s worth the candle. Do not value what is not valuable. Don’t treasure hurt.”
“Why do we argue you so much?”
“Here’s a clue: if you were to involve him in the solution it would be over in no time.”
Roast Pig:
There is a fire pig in the hour of this month’s pillars (see top of page one). Each month is defined by the moment it starts. This is the essence of Chinese divination: we choose a fortuitous starting moment and attempt to stretch it over the whole process. The moment may be a wedding and the process a marriage. Or we may be choosing the correct moment to inaugurate construction so that a completed building will be fortunate.
The Fire Pig which marks the hour November starts is a sort of reminder. It opens the Pig month and is also only weeks away from the year of the Fire Pig. So there are indicators that November’s pig may offer a taste of 2007’s. Accordingly, pay special attention; this month may be telling you something about next year.
I cover the fortunes of the animals on my radio show http://www.myspiritradio.com/3-ashworthr.html; those for November 2007 on the current show. Those for 2007 follow in December and January. My new super-duper revamped website is at www.imperialfengshui.info and my book The Feng Shui Diaries comes out in April 2007.
Names have been changed.
Richard Ashworth