Well, things are going to change February 3, 2011, year of the metal rabbit. After the aggressive lashing out of the tiger, we will see more of the rabbit’s peacemaking and perserverance:

THE SIGN OF THE RABBIT

Rabbits, like their animal counterparts, are quite calm people who do not exhibit aggressive behavior and will avoid confrontation at all costs. When angry about something, a Rabbit will approach it calmly and considerately, hardly ever raising his voice or becoming visibly annoyed. Because of their serenity, Rabbits seem to miss things, whether they are confrontational in nature or not. However, the Rabbit is quite keen and pays close attention to the situations developing around him. He is intelligent and quick and can talk himself in or out of most situations with no problem.

WESTERN EQUIVALENT: Pisces

IN YOUR ELEMENT

The characteristics of the Rabbit are tempered by one of the five Chinese elements of Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth overlaying a 5-year cycle of characteristics on the original 12-year cycle.

THE METAL RABBIT 1951 AND 2011

Metal gives Rabbits a more resilient demeanor than the other more quiet Rabbit. These Rabbits are very ambitious and can be quite crafty in their dealings with others. They throw themselves and their emotions into everything they do, making them intense lovers, but not outwardly affectionate lovers. Their determination can affect their work as well, whether through personal relationships with colleagues or with the work itself, a Rabbit can be known to immerse himself in his projects…business and personal. (link)

A placid year, very much welcomed and needed after the ferocious year of the Tiger. We should go off to some quiet spot to lick our wounds and get some rest after all the battles of the previous year.

Good taste and refinement will shine on everything and people will acknowledge that persuasion is better than force. A congenial time in which diplomacy, international relations and politics will be given a front seat again. We will act with discretion and make reasonable concessions without too much difficulty.

A time to watch out that we do not become too indulgent. The influence of the Rabbit tends to spoil those who like too much comfort and thus impair their effectiveness and sense of duty.

Law and order will be lax; rules and regulations will not be rigidly enforced. No one seems very inclined to bother with these unpleasant realities. They are busy enjoying themselves, entertaining others or simply taking it easy. The scene is quiet and calm, even deteriorating to the point of somnolence. We will all have a tendency to put off disagreeable tasks as long as possible

Money can be made without too much labor. Our life style will be languid and leisurely as we allow ourselves the luxuries we have always craved for. A temperate year with unhurried pace. For once, it may seem possible for us to be carefree and happy without too many annoyances.(link)

So what can we expect? Digging in and working out the problems that exist instead of creating new ones.

Hope the rabbit treats us well!

(photo by james.t2 on flickr)

2010 is the year of the tiger, a well-liked sign of excitement and adventure. It is also a metal year according to five-element astrology, which is at odds with the primarily wood/fire nature of the Tiger sign. According to the Chinese, we can expect some struggles this year- in fact many think this year will be downright unlucky because metal is represented by the color white, and white tigers are a bad omen.

Anyone who is interested in what Chinese geomancy has to say about this year for you personally can send me a message with your birthdate, and I’ll check your chart for you. As you may know, I’ve taken an online course in true Feng Shui and need some practice. I intend to take some more classes when I can afford to- the knowledge I’ve acquired already from one class is more than I got from dozens of books and seminars.

Which leads me to where I wanted to go with this post, and what I mean when I say “true Feng Shui”.

Feng Shui has gotten somewhat of a bad and/or crunchy representation here in the US, and seems to be inextricably linked with the New Age community who are famous for appropriating distant cultures and completely choking them of any meaning they once had. The Chinese have made it worse by trying to make a few bucks selling cheap “feng shui” chotchkies. Feng Shui always has, and always will be about observing patterns of changes in relation to geography, time, and magnetic fields, and no lucky bamboo or frogs or coins will change it.

It’s no doubt that the widespread fallacies and mysteries of Feng Shui are due to the fact that, although it has been around for nearly 3,000 years, it used to be a highly secretive collection of knowledge only aristocrats had access to. Most of these groups were separate, and before they started compiling all of the knowledge, many came to different conclusions. Over time it has been tested and refined. In the last forty years the “black hat” or “form school” version has proliferated- in fact, it’s probably 99% of what the US has been exposed to. However, it’s a bastard offspring of real Feng Shui. This style is typified by the one-size-fits-all bagua that looks like this one from the Moongate school:

Now don’t get me wrong- this form of Feng Shui is probably somewhat accurate, and is very loosely similar to the Feng Shui I study. To use a math metaphor, they’re visually estimating three sides of a triangle while I am using proofs and equations to calculate lengths and angles. This method does use a bagua, but it is different because the sectors are only labeled with trigrams (which correspond to numbers and elements).

True Feng Shui is ALWAYS done with a lo-pan compass:

In the center is a magnetic needle which is used to align the grids to north. The center ring is made up of trigrams (identical to those in the I Ching), the second is the moving 9 stars, then the earth plate circle, the later intercardinal points, the 10 heavenly stems, the 12 earthly branches, and on and on and on, including the phases of the moon. I think you can get the point.

There are 2 main categories of Feng Shui- that of graves, and that of buildings. To do a Feng Shui reading for a building, you need to know exactly when it was built, the surrounding geographical features (i.e. trees, rivers, streets, skyscrapers, etc), the compass direction it sits and faces, and the birthdates of each of its inhabitants. Without ALL of this information, you cannot give an accurate reading. From these variables come the solution of probable outcomes. These outcomes will tell you if a house is right for you, what years will produce misfortune, which will be prosperous, the effect the house will have on health, money, conception, accidents, interpersonal relationships, and so on.

A lot of Feng Shui fallacies come from assuming that the outcome applies to ONE variable- i.e.- it is beneficial for Chien signs to paint an east-facing front door red under some circumstances, but even native Asians can mistake this for meaning that red doors are always lucky. The AFSI has been great for sorting out what is tradition and folklore and what is considered real Feng Shui.

A lot of authors, most especially in the US have taken the essential principles of Feng Shui and have extrapolated it into just about anything including how to arrange your desk at work to diets and workouts. All fine and good I suppose, but again, it’s really beyond the scope of real Feng Shui. It’s still better than all the hundreds of books claiming that Feng Shui is basically a superstitious way of decorating your home. Feng Shui has probably fallen prey to this because it is extremely difficult to learn and we live in a society of quick-fixes. Advanced practitioners have reassured me that after years of experience, you can give eerily accurate readings. Intuition has nothing to do with it. Sorry if this is all sounding a little harsh, but it’s hard to be passionate about something with so much misinformation about it going around. This is my attempt to rectify the situation.

If you would like to know more, I highly recommend the introductory course at AFSI… accurate, easy to understand, lots of forum help from instructors, and IT’S FREE!