When talking about the dynamic of our relationship, it is actually being influenced heavily by our personal energy cycle. Some years you may fall in love, some years you may feel like enjoying yourself. Someone has recently asked me to see her relationship luck from her bazi and asked whether she would be happily married to her loved one. So let us see her four pillars:

Female, 23th Mar 1980, 07.50am

This person is a weak wood person. To determine her relationship luck, first of all we need to see the so called ‘spouse palace’, the element underneath self.

By rule of thumb, a weak wood person does not like earth. However, this type of earth she has underneath has wood inside as hidden element. Therefore her spouse would be caring and supportive to her especially in times of needs, although might not be obvious from the outside. Interestingly, this spouse element tells you about your ‘type’ : the criterias you look for in a partner. Therefore irregardless of the person, the basic character of your partner remains similar.

‘When is a good time to get married?’

We often hear the saying ‘to love someone you need to love yourself first’. This rule applies here as well: for a relationship to be successful you need to be secure with yourself. This means your self element cannot be too weak, otherwise you will resist the relationship subsconsciously. Even if it manages to translate to the next step such as marriages, there will be lots of unnecessary quarrels.

This person is a weak wood, she needs water and wood to support and strengthen her. The question is, where can she get more water and wood? The answer is to see her ‘luck cycle‘ or cycle of visiting elements every 5 years:

At the moment the person is about to enter water luck (age 30-35), thus it is a good timing to harness relationship as her self element will be more balanced with water element visiting. The next ten years consisting of wood and water element is also good for her. Thus if she asked when is a good time to get married, I would say starting next year (2010 and 2011- wood years).

‘Would I be happy?’

Happiness is one thing a Four Pillar cannot tell; it can only tell whether the timing is right or not. Happiness and sadness are all part of a cycle, there will always be both in a relationship. Therefore let us not be indulged in ‘analysis paralysis’. I would say let the course of the nature lead you and you’ll be fine. Agree?

Until next one!

My apology for not updating the blog for a while, I had been busy travelling. Well now that we have passed the first quarter of 2009,  I hope it has been good and productive quarter for everyone

Before we move on to my next Four Pillars case study, I have some good news to share! In my earlier post I have help analysed someone’s Four Pillars who had been anxiously looking for a job for sometime. I told the person to be alert come March to July, because these months would be his ‘up’ cycle where opportunities will arise. I have also suggested a few things to fix his house feng shui. True enough, his wife emailed me  on the second week of March informing that he had finally got a job, bang on the first week of March! I am delighted and glad to hear the news!

In the next case study, I would like to touch on how to look at your wealth luck this year? Let us have a look at this person:

Male, 14 March 1976, 6am

Looking from this Four Pillars, this person’s self element is WOOD (the day top pillar). For a wood person, earth is their money element. This person is borderline strong wood element, therefore earth- or money- element is favourable for him.

As we know 2009 is a yin earth over earth year, which fortunately are the soft and fertile kind of earth instead of the dry and hard ones. However as the earth are quite strong this year, coupled with the many earths inside his own Four Pillars, this year can be quite exhausting for him. He would still need some water and wood to help support him and balance his energy. This can be translated into resources and friends.

So what would I advise him in terms of wealth luck this year? I would say that this year will present him with a number of opportunities related to wealth and career. Overall earth as his wealth element  is considered good, therefore if he goes for it, work smart and keep focused,  this year will be a fruitful one . However, I would also advise him not to spread himself too thin and take care of his health, especially those area that are related to stomach and digestive system.

Until next one, everyone. Take care!

First we will have to erect the Four Pillars from the person’s birth data to see his energy map, then determine what elements the person lacks of .

The subject case is a male, born on 13th September 1982, 16.45 hour

This is a weak earth person (the one circled in red is your self element). From his Four Pillars there are plenty of metal elements that will weaken him more (in the elemental cycle, earth is producing metal). Furthermore, being born in autumn season with plenty of water around makes him ‘cold’. To balance himself out, he will need some fire (fire is producing earth in the cycle, therefore strengthen him as well as warm him up) and some wood to sustain the fire.

Timing is very important

The last two years were pig and rat year; both were strong water years. As we can see, water is not so good for him- hence the difficulties in career. Getting a job requires both opportunities and your self preparation. Since the best elements for him is wood and fire (wood represents ‘power’ and job opportunity in his case, while fire strengthens him up), he will be presented with more chances towards the wood and fire months this year, starting from this month until mid year (June-July). Although this is a strong and cold earth year, it is still a better year than last year in his case. Next year 2010 is a wood year, which may present better opportunities. In fact, the next five years leading to fire years will be an upward curve for him. So he needs to be patient and stay alert!

Can Feng Shui help?

Yes, Feng Shui will be helpful to enhance your energy balance, so that you can be better off physically and in your state of mind, resulting in better productivity. I have suggested this person to work more on his wood and fire sector in his house. Put some potted plants on the east to energize wood energy and light a lamp on the south to keep it bright. Use more red and green colours, knowing these two are his most auspicious colour. Having said all that, be more alert of opportunities as his energy cycle is getting better these coming few months.

Cheers!

First step – knowing the year’s element

Any given year has its own energy based on the five elements cycle. By knowing the element of each year, we will be able to see the general characteristic of the year. There are two different energy carried by the year, the heavenly stem; elements on the top, and the earthly branch; which is one of the 12 animal signs. Year 2009 is the year of JI CHOU: yin earth on top of OX, which is also a yin earth. There are many types of earth, and this year’s earth are the damp/wet, cold, soft and fertile kind of earth.

Step 2 – knowing your favourable and unfavourable elements

In order to do this, you need to have a complete set of Four Pillars based on your birth data. Example, a female person born on the 15th October 1973, 4.20am. Her Four Pillars would look like this:

Let me give an example from the above case study. From the analysis, the person is a weak wood person (for those who are new to this, your personal self element is the top element on the day pillar). Her unfavourable elements are fire, earth and metal. Her favourable elements are water and wood. This year is a damp and wet earth year, therefore it is not too bad for her. However, for wood people earth represents wealth and money. Since earth is unfavourable for her, this year may pose her with some financial problems. Therefore it is suggested to be careful in finance matters and not to engage in risky ventures.

Animal year clash is just one fourth of the whole equation…

Whether a  year will be a good one or bad one for you, it all depends on the overall composition of your birth data. Many people are mistaken that as long as your animal sign clashes with the year, he or she will be bestowed with bad luck. For example, in this ox year, it is said that everyone born on the ram year will suffer a bad year. This is not always the case. A ‘clash’ usually will bring about some changes in your life, for better or for worse. Some clashes are actually good for you; it might help weaken an unfavourable elements in your Four Pillars.

In the next few posts, I hope to put up some case studies anonymously so if anyone have a burning question, you can email me your birth data and I can help to analyze. I would like to apologize first as I may not be able to accommodate all that email me. I promise to help as much as I can.

Until then!

Note:  If you do not know your Four Pillars chart, there are many free ones available on the net. Just google ‘four pillars calculator’ and see what you can find!

‘Wealth’ sector: south east, centre and north west

Now let me underline first here that ‘wealth’ is very subjective, and it could come in many different ways- it does not always mean winning lotteries! You can have good health and great relationship- that is a wealth in itself. So how do we use these areas to enhance 2009?

1. Activities, activities. Energy comes from movement, and this is the best way to activate a good area. If your front door happens to be facing it or located in one of three sectors, it is definitely a bonus! South east is the best out of the three, so you can use this to locate or orientate your living room, play room or working desk. Computers, TVs and radios can help activate the sector too. Keep this area clean, bright and uncluttered.

2. Water. In Feng Shui, energy can be accumulated by this medium, so you can put a water feature in the south east area of your house. Put some fish there if you want to keep it clean and moving- you don’t want stagnant and dirty water! Please note if south east happens to be in your bedroom, I wouldn’t suggest to put water there; you might get restless and have poor quality of sleep due to too active energy.

Academic and Romance Sector: south

This year, wood energy in the south is a good area to study, so you can activate this sector by putting your desk, stationery and bookshelves there. Keep this area clean, and you can add some pot plants to make the area more lively. Interestingly, yearly academic sector also goes hand in hand with romance sector, so if you are after finding a partner or enhancing your love life in 2009, you can put some nice fresh flower here (dry or plastic flowers will not work, everyone). For those who are married, don’t over activate this area!

Let’s be practical…

Now let us not forget that Feng Shui is not a magic pill. It is unrealistic to simply place a water feature in south east and expect it will solve all your financial worries in 2009. So how effective these will work? This will depend on several factors:

1. Your house Feng Shui. The original energy birthchart of the house is very important, as the annual energy will either enhance or worsen what is already there.

2. Your personal luck. There are various ways to see this, namely Bazi or Zi Wei Dou Shu. It simply looks at your own fluctuation of energy throughout the years. When the timing is right, Feng Shui cure will work much faster. For example there will be higher chance of meeting that someone special if it is the proper timing in your luck chart, combined with the activation of romance energy sector in the house.

3. Your own effort, attitude and good deeds. If 2009 does not look too rosy, remember that our own action will still count big time. Staying positive and working smart is one potent way to attract good energy into our surroundings.

In the next blog, we will  be moving to your personal luck in 2009! Do drop me a message if you have any questions on the house Feng Shui for 2009. Stay tuned!

Each of these sectors have different types of energy. Star 2 and 5, our main concern, has the energy of earth, while star 3 is of a wood element. By knowing the elements of each energy, we will be able to find appropriate ways to counter them using the theory of 5 elements.

Cure west and north sector: use anything metal

According to the cycle of 5 elements, metal will absorb bad earth energy. So, what metal object should be used? Anything pure or made mostly of metal will do. But the most important thing is this: you should personally like it, be it windchimes, Chinese coins, ancient or modern sculpture.  The cure will do more harm than good if you are annoyed by the way it looks or sounds.  Here are some possible suggestions:

1. To cure your main door: you can put  metal objects near the entrance, anything from round metal pots or metal sculptures. If the space is too narrow, you can hang the object on the wall near the door. Last resort when those are not possible, is using metallic colour- gold, silver, or white- although this will not work as effective as the real material.

2. To cure your bedroom: you can put metal object on your bedsides, or hang metallic objects on the windows facing the bad directions. You can also enhance the metal energy in the room by adding white coloured bedsheet or soft furnishing, but always use real metal objects when possible.

You can also put metal objects in any other room in the west or north sector, and be creative with this. Any metal furnitures that are practical and will blend with the room is always preferable.

Cure north east sector: use fire

This sector has strong wood energy, therefore fire is needed to absorb it. Please note that I wouldn’t recommend real fire; you don’t want to burn down your house…Lamps or candles are good enough, or anything red coloured. If you need to cure your north east door, you can use red door mat.

A couple of final notes…

1. If you are unsure ( like when your door is facing in between north and north west), if i were you, I’d play it safe and cure it anyway.

2. The ‘official’ change of Ox year energy date is February 4th, 2009 (not the Chinese New Year day itself!) However, energy does not really change on a strict cut off date, so better do it before February. Remember to  do a  ‘spring cleaning’ of your place first to get rid of old and stagnant energy from last year before you cure for 2009.

I think we’re done for the bad energy, so in the next blog I will be discussing on the good spots for 2009 and how to make the most out of them. Until then, take care!

What is this ‘bad energy’ anyway?

In geography, we observe different kinds of wind: hot wind, nice breezy wind, and cold harsh wind blowing from certain directions at certain times that will bring winter. Similarly, for thousands of years Feng Shui scholars recorded prevailing enery from various directions and times, and noted which direction bad energy will come from and when.  Although we cannot really feel it, bad energy is like cold and strong wind: it is unusable for us and could be affecting our health too.

When do you need to be concerned?

It does no harm to check your house plan and note where north, west and north east area are. In saying that, it does not mean that you should avoid these areas altogether throughout 2009. However, please pay extra attention to:

1. Your main door, where it is located and what direction it is facing (west , north or north east)

2. Your bedroom, and any windows it has facing the three non auspicious directions

3. Your office cubicle, whether is located at the west/ north/ north east corner of the building, or if you are working facing these three directions

Main door  is the ‘mouth’ of your house. Therefore you should pay attention to what kind of energy it receives, because it will be circulated in your whole dwelling. The next important one is your bedroom; you spend one third of your lifetime there! Check on any openings to the three non auspicious directions. Please note that there are two possibilities: it could be facing the directions, or it could be located in the non auspicious sectors. Look at the illustrations below:

From this example:

The main door is in the southwest sector (star 6) but it is facing west where star 2 is, therefore potentially bring non auspicious energy into the house.

The west sector is where the kitchen resides. It is recommended to be mindful of this , especially if you use the kitchen often.

The bedroom is located at north corner of the house, where star 5 is. Luckily, the window of the room is facing east, receiving a neutral energy. Nevertheless, you should still be mindful.

What to do to ‘cure’ it?

The best possible cure, frankly, is to avoid using any room affected with bad energy if you can. But if your main door happens to be facing these non auspicious directions, I wouldn’t recommend you to move house for the year! In the next blog, I would share some practical solutions to help dissolve the bad Qi or energy in these areas. In the meantime, get a small compass if you haven’t and start looking around your house and office.

Until next blog, have fun!

]]> http://anitazou.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/feng-shui-for-2009-part-2-more-on-the-bad-energy/feed/ 15 anitazou bad-energy11 example-fs-1 http://anitazou.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/feng-shui-for-2009-part-1-overview/ http://anitazou.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/feng-shui-for-2009-part-1-overview/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:17:59 +0000 anitazou http://anitazou.wordpress.com/?p=399 ]]> Happy New Year 2009 everyone! Finally after my end of year break I am burying my nose on my laptop again: back to work! As we are approaching the Chinese New Year, year of the Ox, we can see books after books out there on Feng Shui and forecasts for 2009. As for my blog, I am preparing a series of simple but informative materials that will hopefully give you some ideas of what the year of Ox will bring and what you can do to enhance your luck in 2009.

Mapping the invisible energy force  

In Feng Shui, it is learnt that energy changes every year, month, day and even hour. One of the major shift of energy pattern happens once every year. The fluctuation of energy on a monthly, daily and hourly basis only further reinforces or decreases it. As you can see from the simple grid with numbers above, there are different types of energy prevailing with different numbers. I am using a simple but quite straightforward method to map invisible energy force in Feng Shui called ‘Annual Flying Star’.

Identifying bad, good and average energy sectors

The first thing we need to be aware of is that in certain directions and sectors every year, there is unstable energy field that keeps changing every year. In flying star energy mapping method of Feng Shui, take note of where number 2 and 5 are. These are the most potent (bad) ones. For 2009, the two are in west and north. Number 3 ranks second worst, with unstable energy field that may disrupt your emotion in a more subtle way and cause fighting or arguments to rise easily. This year it is in the north east area.

There are good and average energy field sectors as well. The ones circled in green- 8, 9 and 1 are the best ones for this year, which are south east, centre, and north west. I will share with you how to best utilise these area in another part of my blog. The remaining sectors are average, although for this year it is recommended not to do any renovation on the east part of your house. Sketch a simple plan of your house or office, determine where the north is, and overlay these numbers on top like this example below:

So what do we do with these? How bad is bad, and how good is good? To what extent the bad energy will affect us? The answer will vary from one individual to another, depending on your present luck, health and wealth condition, as well as the original house Feng Shui. In the next blog I will explain on the three conditions that these bad energy will affect you the most, and how to counteract them.

So everyone, until then. Take care! 

As I was driving down a busy business district in the town, I came across a massive mall that was undergoing development. The construction was near to completion and I have no doubt that it would cost a bomb just to rent a tiny unit inside this luxurious looking mall. As I drove closer, I was quite surprised to see a big pylon sitting right in front of its main entrance! This is a big no-no in feng shui! Even if we do not take feng shui into consideration, the proximity of the pylon to the main door is a question mark in itself. You can judge the situation yourself by looking at the picture below…

In the example above, the building has already failed two important consideration of a good feng shui practice. Firstly, the main entrance to a building should not be obstructed and secondly, there should not be an offensive structure pointing towards the main entrance of the building. To make it simple, let’s just say that the main entrance of a building is likened to the mouth of a person. If your mouth is blocked, you will not be able to enjoy your food, right?  Likewise if the main entrance is blocked, the qi will not be able to enter building smoothly. Simple. A bad structure will create a ‘sha’ qi or negative energy and it is likened to those fish bones you choke that hurt you mouth and throat :p

To what extent does this pylon affect the building and its surroundings? I drove around to find out. The pictures below show my observation.

The pylon that holds the power grid stretches further down the road and there were other buildings affected by the negative energies these structures generate. As you can see from the pictures above, there was another pylon near these completed shop house complex and the area looks quiet and deserted. What about the area further away from the pylon?

Further away from the pylons, it is another story. It is a lot busier and the area not affected by the negative energies has a significant difference of vibrancy as compared to its neighbour – although both have similar designs and are marketed around the same time.

In short, I think this case study will provide a good input for those of you who are looking forward to buying a new property. As the mall in the first picture nears completion, I would be interested to know how well received it will be. We’ll find out in a couple of months, I suppose. And of course, that would be the next part of the story. Cheers.

Please to allow me to share a few tips that I always advise my clients when they asked for some quick tips on what they can do to improve their house Feng Shui, be it for better prosperity and productivity…

1. Ensure no energy stagnation in your house or office by allowing good air circulation and enough sunlight to come in. If you have an enclosed storage room or household shelter, open the door every now and then so that the air inside does not become stale.
2. If you have a main door that directly faces a window or opening when you walk into a house or office, the incoming energy from the entrance will gush straight out the window without even circulate and nourish the house. Put some plants along the path or place some water feature next to the window. This helps to slow down the qi so that it can meander around the house.
3. Avoid cluttering your desk and working space. Cluttering is basically making the energy around you stagnant and therefore hinders productivity.
4. If you have some wind chimes and wondering where you should put them, I would suggest hanging them on any windows that faces south or northwest. In 2008, the energies coming from these two directions are not very auspicious. Six rod metal wind chimes are the best suited cure. Alternatively, display a metal decoration item nearby.
5. Around mid-January next year after doing your spring cleaning, shift your attention to the north and west sector. You can move your wind chimes and metal items to the windows of these two sectors to counter the malevolent energies that will shift there.

In the end, there are a lot of factors that may affect one’s prosperity. The least we can do is to ensure that the energies within our house and office are harmonized so that we are in a better state of mind and health. It is important to have a positive attitude. “As a man thinketh, so is he”. We attract what we think so we better start to think positively. I will add more tips as we go along. In the mean time, Good Luck!