Sunday, October 20, 2013

"stagecoach star" in feng shui



What is “stagecoach star” (驛馬星) in feng shui?

Recently I have been asked by many people about the “stagecoach star” in feng shui; therefore I decided to write this article showing them what is ‘stagecoach star” and how to utilize this star because they do not find much info regarding this popular application in authentic Chinese feng shui in the internet!

In feng shui consultations, many masters and experts will suggest their clients to enhance the “stagecoach star” in the house when they want to enhance the chances in selling their existing house and moving to a new house, immigration to other countries and changing of jobs. The location of the “stagecoach star” is based on the formulas from the Chinese classical texts “Selecting the Truth” [選擇求真], which is based on the year of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals:

寅午戌年馬在申

巳酉丑年馬在亥

申子辰年馬在寅

亥卯未年馬在巳

Generally it is saying that there are 4 “stagecoach star” locations based on the year of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals:

Shen [] – 202.6 – 247.5 degrees SW

Hai [] - 292.6 – 337.5 degrees NW

Yin [] – 22.6 – 67.5 degrees NE

Ssu [] – 112.6 – 157.5 degrees SE

The following table will indicate the “stagecoach star” location based on the 12 Chinese zodiac animals:

monkey, rat, dragon – yin [] – 22.6 – 67.5 degrees NE (wood element)

tiger, horse, dog – shen [] – 202.6 – 247.5 degrees SW (metal element)

snake, rooster, ox – hai [] – 292.6 – 337.5 degrees NW (water element)

pig, rabbit, lamb – ssu [] – 112.6 – 157.5 degrees SE (fire element)

 
From the above table, we can easily find out our “stagecoach star” location based on the Chinese zodiac birth sign. Once we found out where is the “stagecoach star” is located, if it happened to be the entrance door, we do not need to add any feng shui items because the house already has very strong “movement”  or activation of the ‘stagecoach star”. If it is in other locations, we can choose an auspicious day and time to place a pair of metal horse figurine to enhance its power. One thing very important is the horse figurine must be facing at the entrance door’s direction, even though there are walls in between.

In some feng shui books, they even suggested that the material of the horse figurine shall also match the element of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals’ birth signs:

- For people born in the year of the rat, monkey and dragon, the horse figurine shall be made of wood

- For people born in the year of the horse, tiger and dog, the horse figurine shall be made of metal

- For people born in the year of the rabbit, pig and lamb, the horse figurine shall be made of fire element material, for example plastic. If the plastic look doesn’t look good or classy, we can use horse figurine made of wood because wood feeds fire.

- For people born in the year of the snake, rooster and ox, the horse figurine shall be made of water element materials. Since it is very difficult to find water material to make the horse figurine, even ice will melt. Thus, we can substitute it with horse figurine made of metal because metal carries water.
In my many years of professional experience, I have seen successful examples using both horse figurine made of metal and other materials. I guess it all depends what is available at the time.

One thing we need to know is that it take longer to see results from the personal “stagecoach star” method, if someone want to see result as soon as possible, they can apply the above method to find the annual “stagecoach star” locations as its effect is more immediate. In this method, we only need to know the Chinese zodiac animal sign for the current year. For example, 2014 is the year of the horse, and from the above table, we know the “stagecoach star” is located at the shen - 202.6 – 247.5 degrees SW direction. When enhancing the annual “stagecoach star”, horse figurine made of metal can be used because horse is associated with the chien kua which is metal element in authentic Chinese feng shui. One thing I want to point out is once you have achieved your goal successfully, it is important to put away the horse figurine unless you want another "movement" in your house and career!

Note: I will strongly recommend to use a compass to measure and locate the exact direction of the "stagecoach star" and we must choose an auspicious day and time to place the horse figurine in order to see any positive results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

How to use the Chinese Almanac to determine the auspicious day for important daily activities


In feng shui practice, there is one important step in feng shui application that we have to perform in order to achieve successful results, which is using the Chinese Almanac to determine the auspicious day and time to perform the feng shui remedies and important activities.
Unfortunately, there are many seasoned feng shui professionals or so-called "experts" did not perform or advised their clients about this final and critical step in their consultations. This will definitely affect the results of the feng shui application as stipulated in one of the classical Chinese feng shui text which stated that “we have to combine the study of the luan tao, li chi and auspicious date in order to achieve the ultimate feng shui results” [吉課:吉年,吉月,吉日,吉時: 發福由其地脈, 催福出於良辰, 世多以選擇為餘事, 每致鶴龍美穴, 不能發福, 而反致禍者, 皆選擇謀之也!].

The Chinese Almanac is basically a fortune telling almanac book originated from the "wong lik" (the yellow calendar - 黄曆), which consists primarily of a calendar based on the Chinese Lunar calendar. Most of the contents of the book are dealing with what is auspicious to do on each day. In this tutorial guide, I will introduce the most popular method which is the "Twelve Officer Days" [建除十二神].  This is mostly indicated in the day selection section of the Chinese Almanac.

Basically it divides the energies changes of every day into twelve (12) groups which will tell us whether it is an auspicious or inauspicious day for certain activities. Namely the Establish Day [建日], Remove Day [除日], Full Day [滿日], Balance Day [平日], Stable Day [定日], Initiate Day [執日], Destruction Day [破日], Danger Day [危日], Success Day [成日], Receive Day [收日], Open Day [開日] and Close Day [閉日] respectively.


Establish Day  - Inauspicious Day
This day is suitable to deal with authorities. It is not suitable to use this day in the month of April, May, July and November for departure of a long trip and burial.

Remove Day - Auspicious Day
This day is suitable to start a medical procedure, get rid of paranormal energy and catching criminals. It is not suitable to start an office job, business grand opening, moving, commencement of construction works and departure for a long trip. Since this day is considered an auspicious day by the Chinese Almanac, it is suitable for marriage, burial and repair works.

Full Day - Inauspicious Day
This day is suitable for building store room, installing safe. It is not suitable for construction works and burial. Avoid moving and business grand opening in the month of January, April, July, and October.

Balance Day  - Inauspicious Day
This day is suitable to sailing, hunting, decoration works and marriage.

Stable Day  - Auspicious Day
Not suitable for moving, business grand opening and planting trees. It is suitable for placing bed, blessing and marriage.

Initiate Day  - Auspicious Day
This day is suitable for catching criminals and marriage.

Destruction Day  - Inauspicious Day
This day is not suitable for marriage, business grand opening, and business deals. Generally this is the day to avoid all activities. However, the following activities will not be affected: the beginning of a medical procedure, acupuncture, demolition of buildings and catching criminals.

Danger Day  - Auspicious Day
This day is not suitable for climbing mountain, it will face dangerous accidents; also not suitable for marriage and burial. However, if it meet with the auspicious stars, it is suitable to place bed and running of business.

Success Day  - Auspicious Day
This day implies the slow and difficult beginning of things and easy successful at the end. If it meet with the auspicious stars, it is ideal for marriage as this will bring good off-spring. It is also suitable for business grand opening as this will bring great profits. Generally, this day is suitable for all kinds of activities

Receive Day  - Inauspicious Day
This day is suitable for moving, travelling to faraway places, burial, and purchase of property. This day is also suitable in launching law suit against someone; the chance of winning the law suit is very great; contrary this day is not auspicious to be sued by others and there is the great chance of losing the law suit.

Open Day  - Auspicious Day
This day is suitable for marriage, moving, business deals, business grand opening, and other general things. On the other hand, this day is not suitable for burial. It is best to avoid doing breaking ground works in the month of March, June, September and December.

Close Day  - Inauspicious Day
This day is suitable for burial, storing away precious items. This day is not suitable for business grand opening and moving.
NOTE: The months mentioned in the Chinese Almanac are months of the Lunar Calendar
The most important factor that we have to keep in mind when choosing an auspicious day is that the Earthly Branch of the day must not "crash" with the Earthly Branch of the person's Chinese Zodiac Animals birth sign [六沖];  which means that particular day is in harmonious conditions  between the Heaven Luck, the Land luck and the Man Luck  [天時,地利,人和]. Otherwise, on that particular day, we will experience things will not go smoothly; very difficult to get things done and failure in signing a contract. Furthermore, the person will have a difficult time getting along with the boss and family members on that day; and this info is always indicated in the daily column of the Chinese Almanac. Of course there are many other different ways to choose the auspicious day and time in feng shui and its varies from the feng shui masters and practitioners based on the type of feng shui that they follow. In my opinion, the "Twelve Officers Days" method shall be good enough for most of us.