Feng Shui West Coast: Spacessential

As the Chinese New Year is two months away, I think now is a good time to look at predictions for 2012 based on Chinese astrology. Here is my take on what 2012 will bring to us.

 

2012, the end of the world?

 

I think not; but troubled time for sure. Let’s not focus on the Mayan calendar for now (because they probably ran out of stone and that’s all!) but on the Chinese calendar. 2010 and 2011 were both symbolised by the clash of Metal and Wood; Metal representing law, order, the establishment, government, weapons and control in general; while Wood represents the growing forces of contestation that clash with Metal  and usually young people.

 

Well Chinese astrology did not lie! If you take a look back at this article of mine in 2010:

 

http://www.dimsum.co.uk/lifestyle/happy-new-year.html

 

 You will see I was expecting more upraise, populations in revolt, strikes… and 2011 has been pretty much this all year long! The most significant movement has of course being the “occupy” movement, a fantastic force of leverage that is arising around the world and that seems very similar to the movement from the late 60’s- but with more despair and less innocence due to the extreme conditions the capitalistic system now imposes on many people.

 

2012 is unlikely to see the end of this upraise, quite the contrary. 2012 is the year of the Water Dragon. The energy is of Yang Water (Ren symbol) over Yang Earth (The Dragon, Chen). The Dragon by itself is an Earth sign but that also stores Water – actually in term of the Five Elements it is called “the storage of Water”. So the image we’re having here is soaked water with a torrent or tsunami on top of it. The soaked water is already not the best energy to build solid foundations; now imagine with more water coming on top of it… The image is literally of a landslide!

 

 

To me it means the protester movement will actually grow out of proportion and to some extent reverse or actually severely affect the establishment. As the water is weakening the Metal it is likely that the global economy will experience a meltdown as well – a crash is most likely happening in 2012. Both these factors combined will make for a troubled and challenging year that is likely to have consequences for years to come.

 

The Chinese calendar goes into recurring cycles. 60 years ago the previous Water Dragon year saw the first foundations of the European community; I suspect next year will see a major change in the EU – with maybe some countries leaving it as far as the currency is concerned.

 

In term of natural disasters we can expect some drastic one as well in 2012. First, Dragon years are always symbol of earthquakes as the earth is very active; but with all this water coming it is also a symbol of flooding, landslides and potentially tsunamis.

 

Another symbol of the Water Chi heavily mixing with the Earth Chi is usually illnesses and epidemics. This means probably another epidemic at a global scale – comparable to the swine flu or SARS.

 

Wow that is a bit depressing isn’t it? So let’s now focus on the more positive aspects of the year.

 

Water is a symbol of intelligence in the study of the five elements. During this troubled year it is therefore likely that we will see smart people raising who think out of the box and offer new solutions to the global crisis we will be facing.  Hopefully that will be the case for the US president (2012 is a year of election for the US.) Moreover I suspect many major breakthroughs in technology and especially with transport – as water relates to transport. It is actually a year during which the travel industry and the hospitality industry should perform well – they are supported by the water element.

 

It will be more challenging however for IT industry – Fire is controlled by the Water – and I expect a major bug or mishap from a big software company (think Microsoft or Apple) that usually relies on the Fire Element a lot.

 

The medical innovations should relate to the water organs (kidney, sexual organs and bladder) or to the Fire organs that are controlled by the Water coming in (heart surgery, eyes).

 

Earth brought by the Dragon is good to the real estate industry; and as Water is the Element that Earth controls it is called its “wealth”. This means there is money to be made in real estate and property development next year – that will probably look like a safe haven with the financial crisis.

 

This combination of Earth and Water should also do some good to the agriculture and environment – I suspect environmental groups will be heard in 2012. An obvious matter heavily discussed in 2012 will be the Tar Sands – with the symbol of a liquid (oil) contained into the Earth, it is a perfect illustration of the Chi of 2012.

 

I’ll take the liberty to copy some Wikipedia facts here about the previous Water Dragon year, 1952. While we are now in a different period as far as Feng Shui is concerned (period 8 since 2004), you’ll see that what the year 1952 brought is similar to what I expect in 2012 in many areas. History repeating itself is certainly true to some extent for Chinese astrology and its cycles.

 

Landslide, storms etc.

 

February 2 – A tropical storm forms just north of Cuba moving northeast. The storm makes landfall in southern Florida the next day. It is the earliest reported landfall from a tropical storm, and the earliest formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin.

March 15–16 – 73 inches (1,870 mm) of rain falls in Cilaos, Réunion, the most rainfall ever in one day.

March 21 Tornadoes ravage the lower Mississippi River Valley, leaving 208 dead, through March 22.

April 4 West Ice accidents: During a severe storm in the West Ice, east of Greenland, 78 seal hunters on 5 Norwegian seal hunting vessels perish without a trace.

August 16 – Lynmouth, North Devon, England is devastated by floods; 34 die.

December 4 – Great Smog of 1952: A "killer fog" descends on London (in the process coining the word "Smog", for "smoke" and "fog").

 

Epidemics

 

June 14 Myxomatosis introduced to Europe on the French estate of Dr. Paul Armand Delille.

Date unknown Nearly 58,000 cases of polio are reported in the U.S.; 3,145 die and 21,269 are left with mild to disabling paralysis.

 

Transportation

June 1  Navigation opens on the Volga-Don Canal, connecting the Caspian Sea basin with that of the Black Sea.

August 26 – A British passenger jet makes a return crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in the same day.

November 20  The first official passenger flight over the North Pole is made from Los Angeles to Copenhagen.

 

Medical innovations: mostly related to heart (fire organ controlled by water) or sexual organs (water in nature)

 

February 6  In the United States, a mechanical heart is used for the first time in a human patient.

September 2 – Dr. C. Walton Lillehei and Dr. F. John Lewis perform the first open-heart surgery at the University of Minnesota.

December 14 – The first successful surgical separation of Siamese twins is conducted in Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio.

November 1 – The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike", at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean

December 1  Christine Jorgensen, a transsexual woman in Denmark, has become the recipient of the first successful sexual reassignment operation

 

Major change or structure, upraises

 

February 21 – In Dhaka, East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) police open fire on a procession of students, killing 4 people and starting a country-wide protest which leads to the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The day is later declared "International Mother Language Day" by UNESCO.

April 9 – Hugo Ballivián's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, which starts a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines.

April 18 Bolivia National Revolution: A universal vote enables indigenous peoples and women to vote, nationalizes mines and enacts agrarian reform..

April 28 – The Treaty of San Francisco goes into effect, formally ending the war between Japan and the Allies, and simultaneously ending the occupation of the four main Japanese islands.

July France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands form the European Coal and Steel community, the foundation organization which would become the European Union.

August 27 – Reparation negotiations between West Germany and Israel end in Luxembourg: Germany will pay 3 billion Deutsche Marks.

October 17 – Indonesian troops led by General Nasution surround the presidential palace, seeking the dismissal of the People's Representative Council; Sukarno avoids confrontation..

October 20 – Martial law is declared in Kenya due to the Mau Mau uprising.

 

It is said we can learn about our future by looking at our past; 1952 should then give us a good taste of what 2012 will be like. 

 

You might wonder what will be the fate of your sign in 2012? Well, as I’ve explained in some previous articles, this form of Chinese astrology is really on the surface and only a full chart (Bazi or four pillars) can give you the whole picture of what 2012 and the following years will be like for you.

 

However it is fair to see it should be a challenging year for people born under a Dog year – as the Dog clashes with the Dragon; and for Dragons it’s not all good news either – having two Dragons bring a self punishment formation which means mistakes that can arise from your own judgement. Rabbits should benefit from the Water energy and so will Rats, Tigers and Monkeys, all compatible with the Element. Horses and Snakes however will not like all this water coming too much. For Goats, Rooster, Pigs and oxen the year is neutral.

 

If you want to know more about your fate please get in touch with me directly to order your detailled Bazi chart and your predictions for 2012.

Recently I was called for a Feng Shui home consultation in Atnwerp, Belgium. I first did the Bazi chart of my client and once she was happy with the report and its accuracy we moved to the Feng Shui itself. It was very pleasant for me to travel and discover Antwerp the day before the consultation.

Anyway my client had previously been exposed to Feng Shui and took some courses with a westerner – a local teacher. She was also following the recommendation of a famous Asian lady who like to sell a lot of artefacts. What I discovered while visiting her place is that my client applied the recommendations of the Ba Zhai/ 8 mansions school. That means painting the South sector red, the Southeast sector green, the Southwest sector yellow etc. The idea of the Ba Zhai school is to enhance every sector with the Element associated with it – Fire in South, Wood in Southeast and East and so on.

This approach presents a few problems. While there is an association between the sector of the Bagua and the dominant Element,  every place has a different Element that rules the Chi of the house – depending of the facing and where the main Chi comes from, My client's flat was taking a water Chi in: enhancing the Fire sector for a Water Chi home is already not a great idea – leading to Fire and Water clash in the flat.

Furthermore such a gross approach does not take into account the compatibility of the person with the sectors enhanced. My client Bazi is a weak metal chart. While the yellow in the Northeast sector that is her office was spot on, enhancing the Earth element she can use with her chart. sleeping in a master bedroom painted in green was definitely not idea – enhancing the Wood is very tiring to a weak Meta chart.

Last but not least it is also important to see where it's better to tone down rather than enhancing. The wall my client painted in red was in her hallway and she also put a red carpet over there. Red enhance the Fire that is not good for a weak metal chart; but the main problem was that the red sector was partly in the centre of the flat – and the centre is where a quiet Earth energy should not be disturbed. Enhancing the Fire there would lead to health problem.

Not surprisingly my client did not see any results with the 8 mansions school. We converted her flat by reversing the flow of Chi and enhancing the Earth Element and I am confident she will not witness positive changes as the solutions are now based on her chart rather than on sectors. It is important to remember that Feng Shui is an expertise that you cannot acquire by reading a couple of books – it takes the teaching of a master and a lineage. If you want results avoid the DIY approach!

 

Here is a look at the Bazi chart of Steve Jobs who passed away on the 5th of October 2011.

Life and death of influential people is always an opportunity for all of us, Bazi astrologers, to learn and refine our art. So today let us have a look at the life and death of Steve Jobs.

 

His time of birth is very uncertain; while it could be guessed from his story but we will for now focus solely on this health problems and death.

 

His personality is Bing Yang Fire; the Fire of the sun, large, warm, shinning. As such Steve Jobs radiated and brought warmth to the people through computer-related products, all Fire symbols. Through his company Apple he is really the perfect example of the Sun that “gives” his rays to millions of people.

 

He is clearly a strong Fire day master, supported by the Wood and Fire in the Yin month pillar; as such he can use the output of Earth, Metal and Water.  His output is right next to him in the month pillar under the form of Wu, Yang Earth stem; therefore he could naturally “produce” easily, the Earth being the Fire natural output.

 

That makes his death during  the Gui/You pillar, Yin Water over Yin Metal, puzzling at first; but we’ll see that clashes and combo give us a different picture.

 

 

Jobs founded Apple and had a major success in the late 70ies; his luck pillar was Bing Zi, and the success came early during the Zi period. With Bing in the luck pillar, while Fire is not best for a strong Fire person, it is all about affirming his personality and producing by himself. Water is one of the outputs of Steve Jobs, therefore he produces during the Zi pillar. Zi and Chen tend to combine to produce Water; I suspect the hour pillar has a Water stem to allow the combination to form, therefore becoming useful to him. However the Fire-Water clash is still present even if the Yi Wei year pillar is buffering it. It’s no surprise that the success was short lived as the Water makes the foundation of the Fire instable; however such a clash is visible, and Steve Jobs is therefore noticed and successful (Fire and Water clash is often used by some Feng Shui masters to convert restaurants into successful ones with a large turnover).

 

 

Jobs however entered a rough patch with the Yi Hai (Wood Pig) luck pillar. In 1984-85 he was fired from the company he formed – so during a Wood period. Wood is feeding the Fire and putting him under stress; hence Jobs being pushed away. Hai is however combining with Yin in the month pillar to form Wood; Wood is not the best element to a strong Fire person, but this is the symbol of new ideas arising, illustrated by the new company Jobs founded, NeXt, and his involvement with the newly formed Pixar.

 

 

His return to Apple was in 1996, almost at the beginning of the Xu period in Jia Xu (Wood Dog) pillar; the Earth output is the perfect one for a Bing strong Fire Day Master; and therefore brings the biggest success into Jobs’ career and his triumphal return to the company he founded.

 

 

The health problems arisen in 2003; exactly at the change of luck pillar, entering Gui You (Water Rooster). Why are Water and Metal, two useful Elements to a strong Fire, so damaging to Steve Jobs health? In this case the combinations give us a full picture.

 

 

In the stem, Wu (month pillar) and Gui (luck pillar) combine to produce Fire; the combination happens because it is supported by the Wood and Fire in Yin (Tiger), branch of the month pillar. So actually the Yin Water is not helpful anymore, and transforms into an aggressive Fire.

 

 

Steve Jobs developed a pancreas cancer; pancreas is seen as relating to the Earth Element in TCM. With the Earth transforming into Fire that stress the already strong Fire Day Master, and the combination happening on the month pillar that related to health, it is not all together surprising to witness that the problem was affecting a primary Earth organ.

 

Fire by itself is not enough however to affect the health of a strong Fire so badly; there must be a more significant event. The event is actually the Metal combination of Chen (dragon, day pillar branch) and You (rooster, luck pillar branch) to form Metal. The Metal is not rising on top yet but will be during Metal years (Metal stems), and therefore trigger a full Fire/Metal clash that violently affect the foundation of Jobs chart (spouse palace) as well as the surface (stem). Fire and Metal clash is a symbol of bloodshed, accidents, acute illness and inflammations. Moreover the Metal weakens the Earth of the pancreas, already affected by the Fire combination.

 

2011 is actually one of this Metal year; Xin Mao, the year of the Metal Rabbit. With the Metal stem the Metal combination is now fully formed and arises on top to clash with the Fire of the Day master and the Fire combination in the month pillar, relating to health.

 

Moreover Mao, the Rabbit in 2011 brings a full Wood frame: Yin-Mao-Chen (Tiger-Rabbit-Dragon) the seasonal Wood frame, and a half elemental frame with Mao-Wei (Rabbit-Goat). Both are fully forming because of the Yi stem in the year pillar that allows the Wood to rise.  The Wood is the element that depletes the Earth of the pancreas the most; Earth already putunder attack with the Metal formation and the Fire combo. What we have now in 2011 for Steve Jobs is a very strong Wood combination rising on top and feeding the Fire; and a triple clash Wood-Metal-Fire with the Metal, Fire and Wood combo. All pillars are affected (not knowing the time pillar).

 

However that’s not all! The Xin stem of this year combines with Steve Day Master: Bing-Xin forms Water, combination supported by the Metal in You (luck pillar), and the Water in Chen (spouse palace). So the whole day master is affected, combining into Water on top, Metal at the bottom. The whole Fire is wiped away in the chart the sun is dying, literally.

 

 

Now why this day of 5/10/2011 for this death? Let us have a look at the date. Once again we will not take the time into account at this stage.

 

 

The day illustrates perfectly the triple clash Wood-Metal-Fire:

 

• Yin Water is the stem of the day: once again bringing the Fire combo in the month pillar.

• Si-You, day and month, tend to combine to form Metal; You is the symbol of the Metal clash and brought health problem to Steve’s chart.

• Mao again, reinforcing the strong Wood combo, both seasonal and elemental,

• Gui, Ding and Xin on top are all fighting – symbol of Water-Fire-Metal clash. So the year is fighting the month, the day is fighting the month; the month has a Fire stem totally “erased” by the stem and branches. This day is not a good symbol to a Fire person; the Fire is very weak and attacked from all sides.

We see with a deeper analyse that combination and clashes totally wiped out the self element of a chart; and that even a powerful Bing Fire, symbol of the sun, can be extinguished in a couple of years under the forces at work in the luck pillar.

Steve Jobs at the time of his death had:

• his day Master affected by a stem combination (Bing-Xin ) forming water and a branch combination (Chen-You) forming Metal that support the Water combo on top;

• his month pillar affected by a stem combination (Wu-Gui) that forms Fire clashing with the Water combination and the Metal combination; and a branch combination (Yin-Mao-Chen) that produces Wood, feeding the Fire and worsening the Water-Fire-Metal clash

• his year pillar affected by a branch combination (Mao-Wei) forming Wood again raising on top; plus a stem clash, Yi-Xin, with the year 2011.

We can suppose the time pillar was equally affected by a combo and clash.

 

RIP Steve Jobs, your warmth will keep shining and bring satisfaction to millions of people through your inventions. The sun still radiates.

 

Here is a look at the Bazi of Amy Winehouse who sadly passed away on the 23/07/2011.

 

 

 

 

 

So what can we see by observing her chart only already?

• Internal clash between the Spouse palace and the time pillar: Hai greatly affects Si, and make for challenging relationships

• The spouse palace is also experiencing a combo – Si/You manifest as a half metal combo with the Xin stem on top. That makes for a very violent metal toward the Yi stem which is the day stem. Of course Xin by itself already clashes with Yi.

• Notice the year pillar and time pillar clashing on the stem level – the clash is obviously weakened greatly by the distance but is still internal

• Ding is also affecting Yi coming from the time pillar

• Yi is sitting on Si that manifest both as Fire and metal – no support whatsoever for the weak Yin wood.

• What seemed at first to me to be a follow structure (when I had an erroneous time of birth) looks more likely now to be a weak wood personality; there is too much water to be a follow I think. That is surprising as Amy was successful as a singer that can be seen either as metal (work of the voice) or fire (performance); but someone who favours wood and water is less likely to have a breakthrough in music.

• However Amy was praised for her talent as a songwriter and composer: and there we can definitely see the influence of the wood then. Songwritting is wood in nature, so I propose that as a probable weak wood person Amy was using the Wood first and foremost to have her breakthrough in music through her writing; more than her performances actually that for some did not go too well.

• The weak wood interpretation seems to be confirmed when looking at her time of greater success. In 2003 she released her debut album both critically and commercially successful. At this time she is under the Gui Hai pillar, and more under the influence of Gui that would then be beneficial to Yi; like the mist needed for a plant to grow, Gui is the praise from critics and fans alike. The year 2003 itself is Gui Wei, bringing Gui again and some Wood and Earth.

• In 2006 another success with her second album. The year is now Bing Xu. While this seems like a contradiction with all this fire it’s not really. Bing combines with Xin in her chart and produces water as she is under Gui Hai pillar. The combination can then happen, and remove by the way the clash between Xin and Yi. More than a breakthrough it’s a relief!

• 2003 and 2006 both have earth branches: at the time Amy was a stronger wood thanks to the support of her luck period and therefore could make money out of the earth –the wood controlling the Earth.

 

A look at her death…

 

• Her day of birth is Yi Si. She died in the last bit of her following luck pillar – Gui Hai – the change of luck would have been her birthday in September. Hai clashed totally with Si and extinguishes it affecting the spouse palace. This is the THIRD Hai branches for her – reinforcing the two internal ones. Her spouse palace was totally wiped out. With this tension in her spouse palace of course she experienced massive heartbreak with her relationship.

•  This year is Xin Mao.  Xin clashes perfectly with her day stem so it was double whammy in 2011 – two Xin stems now attack the Yi day pillar.

• So as you can already see her day pillar was under a terrible attack from all side – three Hai stems affecting the spouse palace, two Xin stems affecting the day stem. She must have felt very depressed.

• The year Xin Mao also brings a clash with the month pillar – Mao is overcome by You, and form a half-combo of wood with Hai with her year pillar. With the wood trying to form the clash is even more violent. 

• This month Yi Wei brings another clash with Xin – so double clash on the day stem.

• The month brings something different too – Yi Wei allows for a full Wood combo: Hai-Mao-Wei with her year pillar, the year and the month – and the wood expresses itself on top, clashing even more. So it was a very violent clash between the Yi wood and the Xin metal during this year and especially this month.

• The date of 23 of July is Ji Mao – Ji clashes with the day pillar as well (day pillar "winning" over Ji) but also with the year pillar (Ji overcoming Gui) and the luck pillar Gui Hai; and Mao brings an even stronger Wood combo.

So in stems:

• Xin year clashes with Yi day pillar and reinforce the interal clash
• Yi month clashes with Month and the year
• Ji day clashes with Day pillar, year pillar and the Luck pillar

In branches:

• Hai luck period clashes with Day and reinforce the internal clash of the spouse palace
• The two Mao from the year and month bring a wood combo Hai-Mao-Wei in the year pillar and the time pillar clashing even more with the Metal
• The Mao clash with the month pillar You

So every single pillar is affected by a clash or a combo on this date. This is common to see in the Bazi when someone passed away.

The likely time of death is either 5 to 7 a.m Ding Mao (clashes with Xin so at 3 levels plus Mao clashes with month pillar) or 9 to 11 Ji Si (Ji clashes with day pillar and year, Si with luck period).

So as we see already with a superficial analysis the day pillar was violently clashed on all sides – a clash of Wood and Metal with a foundation clashed and gone too. These clashes were too violent to take unfortunately. R.I.P Amy.

 

Laurent Langlais