In my line of work, in addition to Feng Shui, I do get asked a lot of questions of Chinese astrology. Most are related to the Chinese 12 Animal Zodiac and Ba Zi or the Eight Characters. On the 12 Animal Zodiac side many especially those born in January and February are often confused over their animal sign.
On the Ba Zi side, the most common confusion is over their element. The birth time can also be a real cracker especially if the birth time is very close to on direction on the boundary between two birth hours. Which birth hour should you use to plot your birth chart? Find out how practitioners tackle this problem.
Am I a Cat or a Rat?
The 12 Animal Zodiac
The Cat is not a member of the Chinese 12 Animal Zodiac. The closest resemblance to the Cat is the Tiger. However the Tiger is a couple of years apart from the Rat and it is unlikely you will mix them up. Confusion can arises between animals of the consecutive Zodiac e.g. between the Rat and the Ox or between the Rooster and the Dog, if you are born in January or February.
Let me explain. The Chinese Lunar New Year does not begin on the 1st Jan. Instead it begins sometime between late January and late February. For example, the Chinese Lunar year began on the 31st Jan in 2014. In the previous year, 2013, it began on the 10 February.
This year 2014 is the year of the Horse. However you are a Horse only if you are born on the 31st January or later. If you are born earlier say on the 28th January 2014, your Chinese Zodiac sign is Snake, the previous animal in the Chinese Zodiac.
To find out your real animal sign, you need to find out the day the Chinese Lunar year began on your year of birth. You can do this by using a 10000 year calendar or one of the tools on the Internet.
My mother tells me that I am Metal element person but now you tell me that I am Wood element. Which one of you is right?
We both are! There is an element associated with your year of birth. For example 2014 is known as the year of the Wood Horse. Your mother is most likely referring to this element (of the year).
Likewise there is an element associated with your day of birth and it is commonly known as the Day Master. The element may or may not be the same as the element of the year.
In the Chinese Astrology system Ba Zi, much of the analysis is done centered around the element of the Day Master. So if you speak to a Chinese astrologer he is most likely refer to this element (of the day).
And that is why you get two different answers.
Is the exact time of birth important in Chinese Astrology?
Most systems of Chinese Astrology such as Ba Zi or Zi Wei Dou Shu, uses your birth hour or “Shi Shen” to draw your birth chart. For example the hours between 11 AM and 1 PM is known as “Zi” hour, the hours between 1 PM and 3 PM as “Chou” hour and so on.
Therefore your birth chart and the subsequent reading is the same whether you are born at 11:28 PM or 12:46 AM. Both the times are within the same birth hour or “Shi Shen”.
The problem comes when you are born at the interval or very close to the interval between two birth hours. For example at 12.58 PM or 1:02 PM. Which do you use? How certain are you that the doctor who delivered you, wrote your birth time correctly. Maybe his watch was fast and you were actually born at 12:58 PM!
The solution is quite simple actually. Print both the charts and figure out which by asking questions and mapping real events to the chart.
When exactly does the Chinese New Year begins?
There are two Chinese Calendars.
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The more popular one is the Chinese Lunar Calendar that marks the start of the Chinese New Year. This calendar is based on the moon’s movement and the start date every year varies between late January and late February.
The other Chinese calendar is the Chinese Solar Calendar which is based on the sun’s movement. It is also known as the Farmers Calendar as it was first used to regulate farming activities. Like the Western calendar is has 365 days more or less in a year but unlike the Western calendar it starts on or around the 4th Feb every year. The start of the Chinese Solar year is also known as “Li Cun” of Start of Spring.
Chinese Astrology systems such as the 12 Animal Zodiac and Zi Wei Dou Shu employs the Chinese Lunar Calendar while Ba Zi and Feng Shui systems tend to use the Chinese Solar Calendar.
The Lunar Calendar is also known as the Yin Calendar while the Solar Calendar is also known as the Yang Calendar. Together they are often referred to as the Yin Yang or Luni-solar Calendar.
In the next segment, I will touch on questions related to “Sha” or “killing energy”.
In my line of work, I get asked a lot of questions. Many of them are the same questions but in different guises. It is likely too that you had wanted to ask these questions as some point in time. I have compiled a list of such frequently asked questions, with answers, that I hope will be useful to you.
In this segment, I will start by answer questions relating to the ownership of the house, the impact of the surroundings and who gets yop priority during an audit.
I live in a rented house. Does the Feng Shui of the rented house affect me or my landlord?
House Facing Direction
Feng Shui is a study of the effect of a property, its facing direction, internal layout and the surroundings on their occupants. So it is you who is affected and not your landlord. The same applies to house ownership. If you and your sister jointly purchase as house but she resides there, it affects her even though your name is on the S & P.
Which is more important? Inside or outside Feng Shui?
In practice the Feng Shui of the inside and outside should be considered together. For example, let’s say that you have identify a room with a good current auspicious star as the master bedroom. The land form on the outside of this room should ideally be a “mountain” – meaning have real mountains or higher land in the vicinity. This way the auspicious energy within is enhanced by the appropriate form on the outside.
However for the sake of answering this question, let’s divide Feng Shui into the inside and outside. I will take a house facing direction, surrounding natural land forms and man-made structures as outside Feng Shui and the utilization of the spaces within, orientation of objects in the house such as the main door, beds & stove, placement of elemental items and color as inside Feng Shui.
So which is more important of have a more significant effect on the overall Feng Shui?
It is the outside Feng Shui. From my observation, the outside factors have a more significant effect. If the house facing direction is auspicious for the head of the household, the mountains and water are correctly placed with no “sha” nearby, the occupants will benefit even if the internal Feng Shui is not fully optimized.
The converse is however not true. If the outside is not correct, the head of the household may not benefit much even if the internal Feng Shui is perfect.
I want the house to be fully optimized for me, my wife and three sons. Can ah?
There is a Chinese saying, “Three persons living in the same house, walk a different path”. Another way of putting it is the same house will affect the occupant’s luck in a different way.
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Therefore in practice we optimize for the head of the household. Then we do our best for the rest of the occupants. The ration is that if the head of the household does well, the other family members will benefit too.
In the next segment, I will answer frequently asked questions related zodiac signs and the calendar system.
I have met a lot of people who are very fearful of the annual shens. Some of them tell me that they do not open the window at all that year just in case the annual star 5 (also known as the 5 Yellow) gets into the room and send their luck flying into pieces.
You must remember that the annual energy, even if negative, are influenced by the inherent energy of the room (mountain and water star). If these inherent energy are positive, they will moderate the negative annual star and making them less malevolent.
This is one of the reason why a practitioner put in so much effort to get you to sleep in the right room or have the main door in the right place.
Even if you just look at the anuual star, they are in my opinion and based on my observation, not overly fearsome. If you stick to the rules governing renovations and usage, you should be fine.
To recap, you should not renovate if your animal sign clash with Tai Sui. For example, Rats should not renovate this year (of the horse). For a currently tenanted house, you should also not renovate if your house faces S2. Also avoid renovating the N2 (Sui Poh of Year Breaker) sector, the North sector (Three Killings) and the NW sector (Star 5 or 5 Yellow).
Which brings us to the next question. How much of renovation is considered major or enough to activate the negative shen? That is a difficult question to answer but any works that involve ground breaking (digging or changing floor tiles) and serious knocking (such as tearing down walls or roof) qualifies. You should most definitely avoid such works in the affected sector.
By what about drilling a hole to hang a picture? Or installing prefabricated kitchen cabinets? or opening the window into the affect area! Based on my observation, these are usually okay to do. Seriously, drilling a hole to hang a picture is minor and most likely not enough to trigger any of the “shens”.
Much also depend on your condition that year. For example if you wealth luck is very bad that year, then it wise not to carry out any renovation works that borders between minor and major. Again if you are of weak health, just recovering from an illness or pregnant and your room falls in a sector afflicted by the star 2 (illness) and star 5 (most negative), then you should exercise more care.
Another popular question relates to water feature. For example, is it okay to have my water feature e.g. fountain or aquarium in the sector affected by 5 Yellow. In my opinion and again based on personal observation, small water feature such as an indoor fountain or aquarium would have little or no significant effect.
Biggers ones such as an outdoor fish pond or a swimming pool can be a problem. But most of the time, these are fixed installations and they are not a lot that you can do about them.
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For me, I would spend more effort locating myself in the auspicious sectors (which are north, south and south west in 2014). Absorb the positive energy. After all Feng Shui is often called a techniques to “Enhance the auspicious and avoid the inauspicious”.
Do the right think and have a good year, every year!
Now that you have mapped the “shens” (denoted by numbers from 1 to 9) on the house plan, let understand how we can apply them.
The Nine Stars
I start by locating two of the more inauspicious “shens” namely star 2 and 5. Star 2 is associated with illness, miscarriage and the womb.
If star 2 falls in a space that is frequently use, for example, a bedroom, study, living etc, I would discourage any family member with weak health, recovering from an illness or is pregnant from occupying that room or spend a lot of time in that area. They should move to another room at least for that year.
But what if they cannot move? The traditional “cure” is to place a metal item in that room. The favored item is a metal Wu Luo (gourd) as the shape signifies “cure”. If the Wu Luo is not available, other metal item will do to.
It is perfectly okay if star 2 falls in a space that is not frequently used e.g. store or toilet.
Star 5 is the most negative of the 9 stars and if it falls into a frequently used spaced such as a bedroom, kitchen or study, you should consider moving out or spending less time there. If moving out of the room is not an option, then treat the area with a sizable metal items such as a big wind chime. The ration of using metal is due to the 5 Elements. Both star 2 and star 5 are earth based “shens”. In the 5 Elements, earth produces metal. In the process of producing metal, the inauspicious earth is weakened!
The auspicious stars are 8, 9 and 1. You should spend more time in the spaces influenced by these stars as you will benefit from them. It is great if they fall in the bedrooms or main door of the house. If it falls in an empty bedroom, you should consider moving in at least for the duration of the year. Star 8 is associated with wealth (and career) luck, happiness and pregnancy. Star 9 with achievement, growth and success while star 1 with fame and fortune. There is usually no need to enhance the area. Just spending time there is what you need to do.
If you must, activities in the area affected by the auspicious stars will enhance the energy within. You may wish to do a thorough spring cleaning in that area! Remember to start on an auspicious day.
Star 7 is associated with robbery, disputes, fire, injury and losses. Star 7 is metal energy and the cure is to place still water (no pump or fishes) in that area. Again this is from the 5 Elements. The 7 metal star produces water and in the process is weakened.
Star 6 is not auspicious but it is not too bad either. It is associated with loneliness and isolation. Maybe your spouse may appear to be a bit distant this year! The danger is if the mountain or water star in that sector is either star 6 or star 7. Such a combination can result in injuries or losses. Again the cure is still water.
What about star 3 and 4? Both are inauspicious but there effect is not as serious. Star 3 is associated with arguments, slander, gossip and lawsuits while star 4 with extramarital affairs, divorce and a lack of direction.
It is usually not necessary to treat these spaces even if it falls into your bedroom. However if are already having constant arguments with your spouse or colleagues, then you may want to place an item of the fire element in your room if star 3 falls there. Star 3 is wood and is weakened when it burns to produce fire. Any item such as a red carpet, red curtain or red poster is considered a fire element. This is counter intuitive to the Western thought that fire represent anger. This is the 5 Elements at work. in any case, red to the Chinese has a different meaning. It means prosperity!
The same goes with star 4. Like star 3 it is also of the wood element. So if you are married and feel that you are getting excessive and unsolicited attention from the opposite sex or feel that you are drifting along without any sense of direction, you may also wish to place some red items in the affected area.
The annual Nine Stars is a set another set of “shen” or energy – both auspicious and inauspicious – that affects the various sectors of a property every year.
Each of the nine “shen” is represented by a number from 1 to 9. The chart below shows the distribution of the nine star in 2014.
The nine stars or “shen” flies around in the nine squares (also known as the Nine Palaces) in a pre-defined pattern and repeats itself every nine years. For this reason, the Nine Stars are often called the Flying Stars!
The quality of the star does not remain the same. They change their quality every period. For example during the Period of 7 from 1984 to 2004, star 7 is highly auspicious. It is associated with wealth (and career), fertility and pregnancy. However in the current period of 8 from 2004 to 2024, star 7 is deem to have lost its positive energy and is associated with robbery, disputes, fire, injury and losses.
The next 20 years from 2024 to 2044 is known as the Period of 9.
During the current period of 8, stars 8, 9 and 1 are auspicious. Stars 2, 5 and 7 are not auspicious. Star 2 is associated with illness especially related to the stomach and womb. Star 5 is the most negative and is associated with serious illness, disaster, lawsuit and even death! And Star 7 with losses, injury, robbery or loneliness.
Stars 3, 4 and 6 are rated not so bad. Star 6 is inherently an auspicious star and every during a period when it becomes inauspicious, it is only associated with loneliness and isolation. Star 3 is associated with arguments, slander, gossip and lawsuits while star 4 with extramarital affairs and divorce. It is also associated with romance and therefore if you are single, it is a good thing!
Things are however not as straightforward as it seem. In additon to the annual stars above which influence different sectors of a property, each of these sectors have an energies that was imbued into it during the construction phase and also depended on the facing direction of the house. In Xuan Kong Feng Shui we call them the Mountain and Water stars.
The mountain or water star combines with the annual stars to influence an outcome. For example, if your bedroom has the Mountain Star 8 and in that particular year the annual star 8 flies into the bedroom, then you can expect happy events such as a marriage or childbirth or recognition or fame.
Similarly, if the main door of your house has a negative water star 7 and during that year, the annual star 6 or 7 falls into that sector, then the inauspicious combination may result in some members of the household suffering from losses, injury, robbery or loneliness.
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Now that we know which annual star affects which sector, what can we do avoid the inauspicious ones and capitalize on the auspicious energies?
I will tell you what to do in the next article but in the meantime, I would like you to do this. Take our or draw a floor plan for your house. Locate the center or middle of the house. Then using a compass, located the demarcate the 8 sectors as shown in the diagram below.
Here is another article that I write for the Sun Daily.
Three Killings
The San Sha or Three Killings is another inauspicious shen that you should take note of. As the name suggest this is a combo of three inauspicious sha namely Robbery, Disaster and Year Sha.
They afflict different sectors of the house and depends on the animal sign of the year. For example during the years of the Tiger, Horse or Dog, the affected sectors (also known as mountains in Feng Shui terminology) are NW3, N2 and NE1.
Please refer to the table below to location of each of the three sha in any year.
Zodiac
Robbery Sha
Disaster Sha
Year Sha
Tiger, Horse, Dog
NW3
N2
NE1
Snake, Rooster, Ox
NE1
E2
SE3
Monkey, Rat, Dragon
SE3
S2
SW1
Pig, Rabbit, Goat
SW3
W2
NW1
If you refer to the 24 mountains chart, you will see that the three afflicted mountains in each year, sandwich two other mountains. For example in the year of the Tiger, Horse or Dog, the afflicted mountains NW3, N2 and NE1 sandwich N1 and N3. These two mountains are called “Squeezed Mountains” and are afflicted to some extend.
Therefore, in practice, during the year of the Tiger, Horse or Dog, Three Killings afflicted the entire north sector from NW3 to NE1, a span of 75 degrees. And in the year of the Monkey, Rat and Dragon, Three Killings include the entire south sectors of S1, S2 and S3 plus the neighboring SE3 and SW1.
The best way to avoid activating the negative effect of the Three Killings is to restrict construction works such as digging and demolition in the afflicted area during that year.
Therefore you should not renovate the entire north sector plus the little bit on the left and right of it during 2014.
The penalties for violating Three Killings are as the name imply are robbery and injuries arising from it, natural disasters, accidents, illness, obstacles etc.
Some masters suggest putting live plants in the area affected by Three Killings to diminish its negative effect. For me, no major renovation in the affected area is sufficient!
If you must renovate, your should select an auspicious date during the months when San Sha is at its weakest.
Another important thing to avoid is carrying out major renovation in the house, if it sits on Three Killings. For example if you house sits on NW3, N1, N2, N3 or NE1, you should avoid renovating completely, during the year of the Tiger, Horse or Dog.
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This apply to major renovation works in houses that are currently tenanted. It does not apply to renovating new or vacant houses.
In the next article, I will discuss the Nine Stars.
Here is another article that I write for the Sun Daily.
Grand Duke
Tai Sui is also known as the Grand Duke Jupiter. Jupiter because Tai Sui is believed to represent the effect of Jupiter on Earth. In Chinese metaphysics, Jupiter is also known as the Wood planet. Earth as you may have already guessed is the earth planet. Jupiter is also huge compared to earth. In the Five Elements, Wood controls Earth and hence Jupiter is thought to have a strong negative hold on earth.
It moves in a clockwise direction and returns to the same position every 12 years. For example, Tai Sui is at S2 in 2014. Next year in 2015 it moves to SW1 then to SW3 the following year. And it then comes back to S2, 12 years later in 2026.
In Chinese metaphysics, Tai Sui or the Grand Duke has many implications. But for the purpose of Feng Shui, we should not build or carry out major renovation at all if your house faces Tai Sui. The penalties for violating Tai Sui are usually people related problem such as litigation, back-stabbing, despicable people etc.
24 Mountains
For example, you should not move house or carry out major renovations if your house, faces S2 this year (2014).
In Chinese metaphysics, the animal signs have relationships with each other. Animal signs opposite each other have a clash relationship. For example between the Horse and the Rat or between the Tiger and the Monkey or between the Dragon and the Dog.
During the year of the Horse, Tai Sui is at S2 or the Horse location. Those born in the year of the horse are deem to be afflicted by Tai Sui. This is unfortunate. The Rat is opposite the Horse and is deem to be in conflict (or clash) with Tai Sui. This is worse. This is the primary reason why astrologers often predict a dire year for the Rat during a Horse Year.
The table below shows the location of Tai Sui during each zodiac year and those who are afflicted and in conflict with Tai Sui.
Zodiac
Year
Tai Sui
Afflicted
In Conflict
Rat
2008, 2020
N2
Rat
Horse
Ox
2009, 2021
NE1
Ox
Goat
Tiger
2010, 2022
NE3
Tiger
Monkey
Tiger
2010, 2022
NE3
Tiger
Monkey
Rabbit
2011, 2023
E2
Rabbit
Rooster
Dragon
2012, 2024
SE1
Dragon
Dog
Snake
2013, 2025
SE3
Snake
Pig
Horse
2014, 2026
S2
Horse
Rat
Goat
2015, 2027
SW1
Goat
Ox
Monkey
2016, 2028
SW3
Monkey
Tiger
Rooster
2017, 2029
W2
Rooster
Rabbit
Dog
2018, 2030
NW1
Dog
Dragon
Pig
2019, 2031
NW3
Pig
Snake
If you are born in the year of the Rat, you are already in conflict with Tai Sui in 2014. Your luck is already depreciated to some degree. Moving house or carrying out major renovations will make things worse. Therefore no moving or major renovation for the Rat in 2014. Similarly those born in the year of the Ox should refrain from moving or carrying out major renovations next year (2015).
What about houses that do not face Tai Sui?
For houses that do not face Tai Sui, we should also refrain from renovating the Tai Sui sector meaning the S2 sector in 2014. By the way, this guideline apply to houses that is currently tenanted. It is okay to renovate if the house is vacant or not occupied. For example a new house that you have just received the keys.
Directly opposite the Tai Sui is the Sui Poh or Year Breaker. In the year of the house, Tai Sui is at S2. Sui Poh is directly opposite at N2. Strictly speaking, we should also refrain from renovation Sui Poh if we can. The penalties for violating Sui Poh is the same as for violating Tai Sui.
What about personal sitting and facing direction?
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It is not auspicious to sit facing Tai Sui. However it is acceptable if your back faces Tai Sui meaning that sit facing S2 (Tai Sui) in 2014 is not auspicious. However sitting with your back to S2 is acceptable. So is sitting with Tai Sui to your side.
On a final note, what if you must renovate? For example the roof of your kitchen has suddenly collapsed. The solution is to select a appropriate and auspicious date to start work to counter the potential effect of Tai Sui.
Here is another article that I write for the Sun Daily.
Mapping the Shen
The earth and other planets in the solar system revolve around the sun in a constant and predictable manner. So too does the moon around the earth. And the other satellites that roam the solar system.
The ancient Chinese believe that the movement of these planets exert a force on our planet and on us. Since these movement are constant and predictable, they are able to observe and record the effect and timing of these forces.
The Chinese called these energies “Shen“. It denotes certain transient energy fields that are postulated to influence natural phenomena and human endeavors.
Unfortunately this word is often translated into English as “Sprit” or “God” giving the whole subject a spiritual or religious connotation. For example, the “Establish Divest 10 Gods” when it should have more rightly been “Establish Divest 12 Energies”.
Out of these years of observation and refinement comes sets of formulas that allow practitioners today to predict events with some degree of accuracy.
Of particular interest to Feng Shui practitioners are a set of formulas on yearly annual energies and how they influence mankind and their abode.
It is a popular practice for practitioners to talk about the new set of annual energies and their influence on us just before or around the beginning of each Chinese year. If you have attended any of these talks in the past, you will surely have heard of Tai Sui or The Grand Duke, San Sha or Three Killings or Wu Wang or Five Yellow and the combo of Jiu Xing or the Nine Stars.
These are examples of “Shen” which can have a positive or negative effect on us depending on how well we observe the guidelines related to these formulas.
For example if you are born in the year of the Rat, you should not carry out a major renovation in your house or move house this year (2014). If you do, you are deem to have violated “Tai Sui” and the result is you are likely to face people related problems during the year.
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On a more positive note, if you spend a lot of time in the south sector this year you will be influence by the most auspicious energy of the Nine Stars and that is likely to help with your career and wealth. That is provided you do not carry out any renovations in the sector!
Therefore we can positively influence our luck if we know what and when to do or not to do. In the next few articles, I will explain in more details the influence of Tai Sui, Three Killings and the Nine Stars and the things that you should or should not do for better luck.
Zi Wei Dou Shu, also known as Purple Emperor Astrology, is a powerful Chinese astrology that many practitioners use to give you a reading of your lifetime potential, decade and annual luck thorough your life. Literally from the time you are born to to the time you leave for another world!
Zi Wei is like Ba Zi. It gives you the same result by uses a different approach.
Chinese zodiac 2015
In Zi Wei, your potential and luck in any period depends on the major stars, the domain that these stars occupy and the transformation forces caused by the birth year heavenly stems (another term for planetary influence) on each of these domains.
All of above are encapsulated in a ‘Ming Pan’or birth chart that is plotted based on a set of formulas using your date and time of birth.
Just before the start of a Chinese new year, it is quite common to read or hear about luck predictions for the year based on the birth zodiac sign. This is not like a personal astrology reading where the practitioners takes your year, month, day and time of birth into consideration. Instead the forecast are simply based on your Chinese zodiac or your year of birth.
Chinese zodiac 2015
In Zi Wei, this is done by reading the Zi Wei annual or minor stars that correspond to a particular zodiac sign. In effect the practitioner is giving a prediction solely based on your year of birth.
Therefore you should not be surprise if the readings are not as accurate as you would like. For example, suppose that based on the minor stars, it is a bad year for you. However there are positive influences from the major stars and they can negate the inauspicious influence of the annual or minor stars. Hence you luck can turn out to be not as bad as predicted by just using the minor stars.
If you are planning to make a major decision in your life e.g. whether to take up a posting overseas or start a new business, you should get a personal reading.
However of you just curious and want to know in general what the Wood Goat holds for you, then lets use the annual stars and see where your luck goes.
Rat – 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008
The Rat is influenced by four inauspicious stars in 2015. First is Toa Hua or the Peach Blossom Star which suggest unwanted opportunities with the opposite sex or the appearance of a third party in a relationship. It can also mean scandals and rumors. While the star indicate the chance, whether you make a mess of it is really up to you. So don’t say I did not warn you.
Second is Xiao Hao or Lesser Consumer star in 2015 suggest a small financial loss or an inability to accumulate money. You should done some budgeting and not make any emotional purchases. It will help.
Finally the Si Fu or Death Mark Star and the Nian Sha or Year Killing Star suggest health problems for elder members of the family. Or young ones may be affected by minor illness too. So make sure they eat well and get enough exercise. Be tactful too as the Year Killing also imply some quarrel or dispute.
The Ox clash with Tai Sui in 2015. The Sui Po or Year Breaker and Da Hao or Greater Consumer both suggest a major loss of wealth. This is not a good year to make an risky investment. Stick to safe investments only. You should also refrain from lending large sums of money as you may not get them back.
The Lan Gan or Fence Star and the Yue Kong or Month Emptiness imply obstacles and an inability to achieve your goals. To break through the barrier or literally get over the fence you should be prepared to harder and weather the storm ahead.
The Tian Xu or Heaven Emptiness Star and the Yue Sha or Month Killing Star imply a feeling of sadness and indicate problem in relationship with women. So be careful what you say.
Finally the Po Sui or Broken Star ruining or status or damage to reputation or a public relationships disaster. Be alert and try to stay out of trouble.
The Tiger is blessed with two very auspicious stars. First is Tian Xi or Heaven Happiness which suggest happy and joyous events such as a new relationship, wedding, child birth, graduation, scholarly honors etc. It is a good time to get married or have a child. If you are into research, it may mean a discovery of sort.
The second is Long De or Dragon Virtue. This star brings good omens and tidings and can turn unfavorable events into favorable ones. It also suggest assistance at every turn which negates some of the effects of the other less auspicious stars like Bao Bai or Brutal Defeat.
Brutal Defeat suggest a sudden loss of wealth or things unexpectedly turning sour. However the Dragon Virtue Star should temper this star or at least reduce the intensity. Nevertheless be prepared and take note that you can lose a battle but still win the war!
The Tiger is also affected by the Tian E or Dark Heaven Star which suggest minor accidents or losses while travelling. So slow down a bit when driving and keep an eye on your luggage when travelling.
In addition the Tiger is also affect by the Wang Shen or Death God Star which legal problems. So if you have not not yet settle your outstanding traffic ticket now is the time.
The Jiang Xing or General Star shines on the Rabbit this year. This star is highly auspicious and it denotes plenty of assistance from noblemen or helpful people. It has the ability to convert bad to good. The Rabbit is also influenced by the Feng Ge or Phoenix Star which denotes prestige, beauty, talent, dressing and literary works. So if you are in a line that requires such characteristics, then it can be a boon year for you.
However there are a few inauspicious stars and you need to be cautious accordingly. First are the Bai Hu or White Tiger and Xie Ren or Blood Knife that that suggest accidents and injuries. The Blood Knife star in particular suggest injuries due to sports of activities. I would suggest that you be cautious when traveling and try your best to defer extreme sport or activities like sky diving, motor rally, bungee jumping etc to another year.
In addition there is also Fu Chen or Float Sink which suggest injuries in or around water. So defer your extreme water sports too. Finally there is Feng Ge or the Estrange Star which hints at a relationship problem.
Having said that the auspicious quality of the General Star should diminish most of the inauspicious effect of the negative stars.
The Dragon has the Fu De of Fortune Virtue Star which in an auspicious star with the ability to convert bad to good. It suggest help from noblemen or helpful people. Another auspicious star is Pan An or the Saddle Star which hints at fame and achievement. The star suggest recognition and status as well as scholarly honors or a job change or promotion for the better.
On the negative side there is Juan She or Curl Tongue. This is the start of gossips, rumor, slander or legal entanglement. You might want to watch what you say and try not to get in anyone’s way.
Finally there is the Gua Su or Lonesome Star that suggest loneliness, being unwanted or isolated. Most of the time this is just a feeling and you may wish to go out to meet people or join a common interest group. Or simply recognize this and not get too depressed.
The Snake is influenced by both the Tian Ma or Sky Horse and the Yi Ma or Current Horse both of which are auspicious and suggest travel related opportunities. The characteristics of both these horses is money and fortunes comes to you only as a result of travel, movement or participating in activities outside. It can also mean the opportunity to change or a chance to socialize.
So the Snake should go out more. Meet friends, entertain more, join a group, make some travel plans. All these will increase the auspiciousness of the horses.
On the negative side, you should avoid attending funerals as there is a chance that you will be negatively impacted. This is due to the Tian Gou or Sky Dog Star.
Finally the Diao Ke or Hang Guest Star hint as an inauspicious, unfortunate, unlucky or unhappy event.
The Horse is influence by the Bing Fu or Illness Mark Star and the Liu Hai or Six Harm Star in 2015.
The Bing Fu Star suggest illness or health troubles. You should take care of your health. make sure you eat correctly and get plenty exercise and rest.
The Liu Hai Star may bring a feeling of loneliness. So be positive and go out to meet old friends or make new ones.
The Goat offends the Tai Sui this year. The Tai Sui or Grand Duke Star indicate obstacles and challenges. It can bring changes and disruption and also people related problem.
The Goat is also influenced by the Fu Shi and Jian Feng or Sword Edge Star. The Fu Shi star indicate injuries by metal objects. It also mean disagreement ot argument.
Jian Feng or Sward Edge Star also hints at mishaps or injuries caused by metal objects but more likely when on the move. So take precaution when driving or operating machinery. Also a good idea not to get into any disagreement or disputes.
The bright spark is provided by the Hua Gai or Elegant Seal Star. This is an intellectual star and it denotes learning ability and creative skills. It is a good time to attend some courses or start work on the post graduate that you have always want to acquire. If you are into creative work, this is also a good time to let that creatively run free. Hua Gai also hints at scholarly achievements and gaining of status.
It looks like 2015 is a good year for the Monkey. The presence of the Tai Yang or Great Sun Star hints at good career and wealth luck. The Tai Yang Star hints at career achievement which can result in promotion or a enlarged job scope. There will be plenty of opportunities and you should capitalized on then when they present itself. The star also indicate noblemen or helpful people that is likely to be a male.
The Hong Luang or Red Matchmaker Star suggest relationship luck. Singles may find love and for those in a relationship it be a good time to marry. For married couples, it can mean a strengthening of the relationship.
The Red Matchmaker Stars can also mean that people find you more likable that will result in more support for you.
You should however be careful as the Jie Sha or Robbery Sha Star and the Tian Kong or Heaven Emptiness Star suggest theft or losses. It can also mean damage to reputation.
Finally with the Gu Chen or Lonesome Star, all that success may bring along a feeling of isolation. So try to be positive.
The Rooster is influenced by three unlucky stars namely Sang Men, Pi Tou and Zai Sha.
Sang Meng or Funeral Door suggest health problem in the family especially with the elderly. The Pi Tou or Pealing Head Star suggest the same but with older family members. It is a good time to ensure that family members eat correctly and have enough of exercise and rest. Also ensure family members get quality medical care at the onset before it turns into something serious.
The Zai Sha or Disaster Star hints at a disaster or calamity. It also suggest accidents and injuries while travelling. So make sure that you do not drive when tired or intoxicated.
Dog – 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018
The Dog is blessed with the presence of the Tai Yin or Great Moon Star which indicate opportunity to accrue wealth. Tai Yin also hint at noblemen or helpful person that is of the female gender.
Opportunities are likely to be related to women and women related industries e.g. cosmetics, fashion, shoes etc or it could be related to properties.
In addition to Tai Yin, the Dog is also influence by the Guan Suo or Lock Star that suggest argument, gossip, confinement or lawsuit. Besides Gua Suo there is Tian Sha or Heaven Sha that hints at delays to your plans. Heaven being a man star also suggest adversity for husband or father.
The Pig is blessed with one good star but a number of less auspicious ones. The good star is Long Chi or Dragon Pool. This star is associated with recognition, reputation or intelligence. Career wise it can mean a promotion, or awards.
The inauspicious stars include Tian Ku or Heaven Cry and Wu Gui or Five Ghost and the Di Sha or Earth Sha. Heaven Cry, Five Ghost and Earth Sha relates to emotions and suggest turbulence, disturbance and a feeling or sadness, worry and anxiety. Most of the time it is an emotion and you need to counter it by being positive.
The presence of the Fei Fu or Flying Mark hints ar injuries due to sports or other activities. You may want to postpone your category 5 white water rafting challenge to another year.
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Finally the Guan Fu or Officer Star indicate disputes and litigation. It is a good time to pay your traffic summonses. Directors of company should make sure you have paid your staff’s EPF and your corporate taxes!
That is a glimpse of what the year holds for you – using Zi Wei Annual or Minor Stars!
There is a part on timing in a celebrated ancient Feng Shui text called “Ode to Flying Star”. It says that, “In general, whether the beneficial or the detrimental prevails will be determined by the annual star” and “Moreover, whether the predictions are realized early or later depends on the year and period”.
Discuss the annual shen for 2015
But what are these annual stars? If you have been following the annual New Year talks by Feng Shui practitioners, you will know that these annual stars are actually energies – both auspicious and inauspicious – that influence the different sectors of a property. They are generated by the movement of the nearby planets and they change their position every year in a pre-defined pattern.
These energies are represented by numbers from 1 to 9 with stars 8, 9 and 1 being highly auspicious and stars 2, 5, and 7 being inauspicious in the current period.
From the text, we can also conclude that while the annual stars are important and acts as a qualifier, the expected effects or predictions must be read in conjunction with the energies that inherent in each sectors. (The energies inherent in each of the sectors of the house are determined by the facing direction and period of the house).
To put it simplistically, an auspicious annual star falling into an inherent auspicious sector will likely cause a positive or beneficial event that year and vice-verse. On the hand, an inauspicious star falling into an inherently auspicious sector may not do much harm and vice-verse.
Location of Tai Sui, Five Yellow and Three Killings in 2015
By the same reasoning, if your main door is unintentionally located in an inauspicious sector, it does not mean that you will suffer bad luck every year. You luck may take a tumble only during those years when an inauspicious annual star drops by and combine negatively with the inherent energies in that sector.
This is the primary reason why practitioners spend so much time positioning the main door, stove, bedroom etc in auspicious sectors of the house. That ration is that once placed in auspicious sectors, an inauspicious annual star prevailing at that sector is unlikely to trigger a negative or detrimental event that year. However an auspicious annual star prevailing in the same area is more than likely to trigger positive or beneficial events.
The official switch over date for the annual stars is the beginning of the Chinese Solar year or Li Cun (Start of Spring) which usually falls on the 4th Feb. In practice, these energies do not switch on or off but start transiting in the weeks before and complete the transition in the weeks after.
The diagram below shows the annual star distribution in 2015. The most prosperous star 8 influences the north sector while the least auspicious star 5 influences the west sector.
However before we go try understand the effect of the stars and the explore things that we can do to capitalize on them let us first take a look at another two set of annual energies. They are the Grand Duke or Tai Sui and the Three Killings or San Sha.
Three Killings of Tobbery, Disaster and Year Sha in 2015
In 2015 Tai Sui comes to is from South West 1 (also known as South West South) or the Goat direction. Both the goat and the ox located opposite are affected. In Feng Shui speak the Goat offends the Tai Sui while the Ox clashes with it. How badly those born under these zodiac sign will be covered in an article on the the astrology of the animal zodiac.
For now, those who live in a house that faces SW1 or SWS of the Goat direction should take note that the Grand Duke or Tai Sui energy influences your house directly and will likely increase the incidence of people related problems in the household.
While not everyone living in a house with such a facing will be affected, the chances increases hugely if you carry out a major renovation to the house in 2015. To recap, do not renovate your house if it faces SW1 (and sits NE1).
Major renovation include ground breaking, tearing down walls etc. You are however likely to survive a little drilling and slight knocking!
Since the Ox clashes with Tai Sui, I would advice Ox people to also refrain from carrying out major renovations in their homes or move house regardless of the house facing direction.
Three Killings affect the West sector in 2015. The Three Killings are Robbery, Disaster and Year Killings and they influence the SW3, W2 and NW1 sectors. The two sub-sectors in between the affected sectors namely W1 and W3 are called the squeezed sectors and in practice we treat them as affected too. Hence altogether 5 sectors spanning 75 degrees are affected
A house sitting West or simply occupying the West sector is not likely to result in incidents involving robbery, disaster and obstacles. However like Tai Sui above, major renovations in these sectors can greatly activate and increase the chances. I would again advice you not to carry out major renovations in these sectors.
You need to watch out for these ‘renovation rules’ only if you are staying in the house during the renovations. There is no need to be concern about them if you renovating a vacant house or you are not planning to live in it during the renovations.
There is another rule governing Three Killings. If you house sits on Three Killing, you should also avoid carrying our major renovations to the house. For example if your house sits west (and faces east), you should not carry out major renovation in 2015.
The Annual Shens in 2015
Now back to the annual 9 stars. The sectors influence by the annual stars can be found by placing a compass in the ‘center’ of the house .
The most inauspicious star 5 falls in the West sector. To be safe you should avoid any kind of major renovation if the house sits west (or facing east). You should also not renovate the west sector of your house. If you must and is renovating several sectors of the house, then start in a not affected sector, then progress into the west sector and finish in a not affected sector.
The penalties for violating Five Yellow is severe and can include bodily injuries or financial loss. It is the worst of the lot. Some practitioners advocate the use of metal e.g. a wind chime to cure the Five Yellow. In my opinion, it is better to be safe and defer any major renovations in the sector.
Star 2 is another inauspicious star and it falls into the SE sector. It is known as the illness star and you should watch out for it especially if it falls into the bedrooms. As a guide, those with poor health, recovering from an illness or pregnant, should avoid sleeping in the SE sector. The cure is to place a decent size metal Wu Lou to diminish the earth energy of star 2.
Star 7 occupies the South sector in 2015. It suggest financial and other losses. The cure is to place a container of still water in the south sector. If your bedroom is in the south sector and the money side of your life appears to be taking a dip in 2015, you may want to move into another room.
Star 3, often called the dispute or quarrel star falls into the center sector. The traditional cure is to place items that represent the element of fire in that sector. Examples include items that are red in color e.g. red carpet, red basket etc.
The quality of star 4 can change depending on the stars that it combine it. When positive it can means good study luck but when negative it means drifting or a lack of direction. The cure is similar to star 3 above. Place elements that represent fire in that sector.
Now to the good stars.
The most auspicious star is star 8 which influences the North sector. You should experience better luck (money and career wise) if you main door is in the north sector. Also great if your bedroom, study or other places that you spend a lot of time are located in the north sector. Placing a water feature such as an aquarium or a water fountain can enhance your luck further.
The next most auspicious star is star 9 which suggest celebration or happy events. In 2015, star 9 falls into the south west sector. If you main door or bedroom are located in the south west sector, it can induce happy events such as a new relationship, marriage, childbirth, promotion, scholarly honors etc. Placing a wood element such as a live indoor plant in that sector can help to enhance the auspiciousness of star 9.
Star 1, another auspicious star falls into the east sector. Star 1 is associated with promotion, recognition and knowledge. As with stars 8 and 9, spend time if you can in the east sector to be positively influenced by the auspicious energy. You can further enhance the auspicious energy of star 1 by placing a water feature in the east sector.
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Star 6 which is associated with power, influence and loneliness influences the NE sector in 2015.
These are some of the things that you can do in 2015 to improve your luck.
In the next article, I will explore the luck of those born under the various zodiac in the year of the Wood Goat (2015).
