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Water Snake year has begun!
| Hour | Day | Month | Year |
| 戊 Wu +Earth 子 Zi |
辛 Xin -Metal 丑 Chou |
甲 Jia +Wood 寅 Yin |
癸 Gui -Water 巳 Si |
| -Water | -Earth -Water -Metal |
+Wood |
+Fire +Earth + Metal |
So, the Water Snake year has just begun… accordingly to the 10K year calendar, it started at 12:31 am on February 4, 2013 (today), hence the above natal chart is established.
What do we see on this chart? Very superficially, a very strong tall tree flourished in the Month Pillar with support from Heaven and Earth. The Yang wood represents wealth in this chart. Excellent news… money is in the air. But is it for everybody? You'll have to know your personal Bazi chart to find out.
2013 Calendar with auspicious dates
Here's Feng Shui Heritage 2013 calendar with auspicious dates. Make sure you get your copy to ensure a smooth and successful jump start to your important projects.
Happy New Year!
After three weeks of traveling, and subsequent absence in this blog due to the preparation rituals of Christmas and year-end celebration, I cannot but swiftly begin this New Year by wishing you all and your loved ones a very Happy New Year. May 2013 bring you more success, lots of happiness, peace, good health, and prosperity!
That being said, from a Feng Shui standpoint, please be reminded that the new Water Snake year will begin only on February 4, 2013.
All the best.
Jeannie
Earth
The characteristics of Earth is solid and firm like the Mother Earth in the picture. The shape is square or rectangular.
The color is yellow, brown, or beige. The compass direction is Southwest and Northeast; the season is between end of summer and beginning of autumn. Numbers 2, 5, and 8 carry the Earth energy. Righteousness is the virtue, worry is the sign of emotion. Saturn is the planet associated to Earth element.
In the Chinese horoscopes, Dragon, Goat, Dog, and Ox are four animals representing the Earth people. Earth people are diplomatic, loyal, solid; they like to pay attention to details. They are honest and trustworthy, but can be rather stubborn.
Spleen and Stomach represent the yin and yang organs of our body. The mouth is the sensory organ, and the touch is one of the five senses.
Fire
The characteristic of Fire is warmth, radiating outward, and energetic. The shape is triangular, and the colors are red, pink, purple, and orange. The compass direction is South and the season is Summer. Number 9 carries Fire energy. Propriety is the virtue, and joy expresses the emotion. Planet Mars is associated to the Fire element.
Horse and Snake in the Chinese astrology represent the Fire people. Fire people are passionate; they like pleasure and excitement, however, they dislike boredom. They are extroverts, very communicative and intuitive.
Heart is the yin organ while small intestine is the yang organ of our body. The tongue is the sense organs and taste is our senses. All these are related to the Fire element.
Wood
Wood portrays the characteristics of height, solidity, and upwardly mobile. The shape is column-like, extending upward. It also symbolizes growth.
The color is green or light blue. The compass direction is East and Southeast and the season is Spring. Numbers 3 and 4 carry the Wood energy. Benevolence is the virtue, anger is the emotional sign. Jupiter is associated to Wood element.
In the Chinese horoscopes, Tiger and Rabbit are representatives of Wood people. Wood people are expansive and benevolent; they are practical and keep themselves busy. They can be stubborn and rigid, can be very competitive as well.
Liver and Gallbladder represents the yin and yang organs of our body. The eyes are the sensory organ, and seeing classifies the senses.
Water
Continuing from my last post, let us start with some of the main characteristics of the Water.
From the picture, the image of Water is moving, free flowing, running downward. You can also picture the rain. The shape is wavy and the colors are black and dark blue. The compass direction is North and the season is Winter. It is represented by the number one (1). Wisdom is the virtue, panic or fear is the emotional sign. In the Chinese horoscopes, Pig and Rat are symbols of Water. Tortoise also symbolizes Water. The planet is associated to Mercury.
Water also represents wealth in the Chinese beliefs. It can bring prosperity, however, too much water can create destruction and loss.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, kidneys and bladder both represents Water. Ears are the Water sensory organ, while hearing is one of our five senses.
In Bazi life reading, strong Water people are intelligent, knowledgeable rather independent and easily adaptable. They can be secretive, self-centered, and tough too. The weak Water people can be mean, inconsiderate, timid and coward.
The Five Elements 五行
The Five Elements (五行 pronounced Wu Xing) is a very important concept in Chinese Metaphysics such as Feng Shui and Chinese Astrology (Bazi). As a matter of fact, it is also widely practiced in Chinese medicines, philosophy, martial arts, and even psychology.
What are the Five Elements? They are Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal. Wu Xing (五行), the Chinese word Xing is action related, so the word "element" is misleading. However, we have adopted this expression as it has been in use by the ancients for many many decades.
These five elements represents five types of prevailing qi (energy) and they are interactive. The interaction between these five elements can be productive, controlling, or weakening.
The five planets of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn can be associated with water, metal, fire, wood, and earth as well. Furthermore, one can derive personality, character, shape, color, taste, compass direction, season, animal, the flying stars, body parts, family members, and so on from these Five Elements.
I shall outline a few of these characteristics in my next post. Stay tuned…
Taking a break
Hello Friends and Readers,
A quick apology for not being active in the past couple of weeks, I can feel the fast pace of Dragon year upon me. Now I’m looking forward to a well-deserved holiday starting tomorrow and for a week.
Stay healthy and be well. Will be back soon 
Ba Gua
In my last blogpost, I mentioned Ba Gua (八卦 = 8 Trigrams) mirrors, so let’s try to get acquainted with the Ba Gua. The Ba Qua originated from ancient Yijing, also known as The Book of Change. I won’t go into details here.
Essentially, there are two types of Ba Gua, one is known as Xian Tian (先天) Ba Gua; literally means the Early Heaven Ba Gua, or born naturally Ba Gua. It represents a perfect balance of natural and human energy forces. The second one is known as Hou Tian (后天) Ba Gua; literally means the Later Heaven Ba Gua, or a re-arrangement of the Early Heaven Ba Gua to reflect the natural energy flow from the eight different directions.
In the practice of Feng Shui, the Hou Tian Ba Gua (image above) is used more frequently. A trigram is made up of three lines, it can be a complete line ___ or a broken line _ _. The 8 trigrams carry 8 different names (namely: Qian, Dui, Li, Zhen, Kun, Gen, Kan, Xun). These 8 trigrams also represent 8 compositions (Heaven, Marsh, Fire, Thunder, Earth, Mountain, Water, and Wind); 8 directions (Northwest, West, South, East, Southwest, Northeast, North, and Southeast); 8 family members (Father, Younger daughter, Middle daughter, and Eldest son, Mother, Younger son, Middle son, and Eldest daughter); 8 body parts (head, mouth, heart, liver, Stomach, hands, kidneys, thighs); 4 seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter); and 8 numbers (6, 7, 9, 3, 2, 8, 1, 4).
For information, Yijing has a total of 64 Hexagrams, and each of the hexagram is a combination of two trigrams.
