Tag Archives: annual stars

Should You Fear the Annual Shens

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.

Click to Download.
Click to Download.

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!

The Nine Stars – Part 2

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
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.

nine-stars-3d

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.

That is the annual Nine Stars for you.

Click to Download.
Click to Download.

The Nine Stars – Part 1

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.

nine-stars-2014

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!

Example House Divided 8 Pies

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.

Click to Download.
Click to Download.

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.