"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 [申] – 202.6 – 247.5 degrees SW

Hai [亥] - 292.6 – 337.5 degrees NW

Yin [寅] – 22.6 – 67.5 degrees NE

Ssu [巳] – 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 [寅] – 22.6 – 67.5 degrees NE (wood element)

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

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

pig, rabbit, lamb – ssu [巳] – 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

    

Baby Conceive Feng Shui

                                             

As the environment pollution is getting worst in our modern cities day by day and coupling with the modern "strange" and complicated design of home, more and more couples are experiencing the problem of unable to bear children. Some of it may due to health issues; nonetheless, I believe feng shui is also a main factor. Therefore, I am here to share some of the feng shui ideas regarding this topic and hopefully it will help some couples to fulfill their dreams of having a lovely baby in their life!

Firstly, I am going to list some of the inauspicious conditions at the bedroom that will affect the chance of conceiving baby:

1. The bedroom is too dark and humid. This is usually caused by the having little windows, cluttering, limited space, having fish tank inside the bedroom; and too much trees outside the bedroom windows. All the above will affect the chance of conceiving because there is an imbalance of the yin and yang energy.

2. The area of the bedroom is too large. Under the authentic Chinese feng shui, it believe that our energy or life force will escape from out body when we are sleeping. If the area of the bedroom is too large and has plenty of empty space, more energy will escape from our body and therefore this will reduce the ability to conceive. It is no wonder that the bedroom of the ancient Chinese emperors never exceed 20 meters!

3. Irregular shaped house. In feng shui, different shapes and forms will generate different chi patterns or feng shui. Under the Later Heaven Ba Gua, the SW sector represents the female household and the NE sector represents offspring in the family. Thus, it is not auspicious for a house to miss these two corners, or they are occupied by the bathroom or kitchen. Furthermore, inauspicious exterior "luan tao" like some rugged land forms sharp angle facing these two sectors will also affect the female to get pregnant.

4. Too much chi flow at the west sector of the house. Generally speaking, in order to increase the ability of conceiving, the health of the kidney is very important. In feng shui, the kidney is associated with the water element which is related to the north sector of the ba gua. On the other hand, metal is considered as the resource of water or kidney (metal carries water under the Five Elements concept); and it is associated with the west and NW sector. Therefore, if there are too many windows at the west, NW and north side of the bedroom, this represents there are no protection to contain the metal and water chi in the bedroom and this will affects the ability to conceive baby accordingly.

5. Living too far away from the ground chi. In feng shui, we believe the ground chi will not reach more than 5 floors high. Thus, living in a tall building is referred as "lonely sha", which means there are no protection on the four sides of the building and the chi got scattered. This will also affect the ability of conceiving baby.

6. There is altar, balcony or car port beneath the bedroom or the room directly above or below is the washroom.

7. There are more than two access doors in the bedroom. In feng shui, it states that the bedroom must only have one entrance door, otherwise it will affect the fertility of the couple.

8. The bed is placing too near to the window.

9. The bedroom door is facing the door of the kitchen or the bathroom. It is also not auspicious to have the bedroom sitting beside the bathroom or the kitchen, especially the bed is sitting against the same wall with the kitchen where the kitchen stove is located.

10. There are too many mirrors in the bedroom. The logic is mirror is associated with the metal element in feng shui; and metal will injure the fetal chi and affects male vitality.

11. Placing too many electrical items and metal objects beside the bed, this will cause difficulty for the female to get pregnant.

As for those couples that had been married for many years and still cannot have babies, there are some feng shui methods to enhance the chance of fertility if health is not an issue:

1. By applying the Chinese legend of "gift of children by the Chi Lin (麒麟送子), the couple can place the Chi Lin figurine at the "sheng chi" sector of the house and the bedroom (refer to the table below).

Sitting/Facing direction of the house                         Sheng chi sector

SE sitting/NW facing house                                               SE
NW sitting/SE facing house                                               west, north
NE sitting/SW facing house                                               NW
SW sitting/ NE facing house                                              east
South sitting/north facing house                                        south
North sitting/south facing house                                        SW, north
East sitting/west facing house                                           east
West sitting/east facing house                                           south, NW, SE

2. It is also auspicious to place the bed at the "sheng chi" sector (refer to the above table) of the bedroom as this will improve the chance of conceiving baby.

3. Place yellow colored crystal under the mattress.

4. Place black colored obsidian at the "sheng chi" sector of the bedroom (see table above). In feng shui, black color is associated with the number 1 water star which represents the kidney and uterus of the human body; this will enhance the fertility energy of the couple.

5. Choose an auspicious day and time based on the Chinese Almanac to re-set the bed. It is also important that the couple do not sleep in a bed with four legs; instead sleep on a bed with solid base support.

6. Place a red lantern on the outside of the bedroom windows on every full moon day or on the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. This will also fulfill the wish of offspring. In some practice, the couple will appoint an elderly relative who has many children to hang the red lantern.

7. On a full moon day (Lunar Calendar), place a mixture of red dates, peanuts, longan and lotus seeds at the living room or beside the bedroom door. Cook the mixture as deserts and eat it after three days. This symbolize the Chinese saying of "having baby early" (早生貴子).

8. Below is a summary of showing where to place the feng shui items to enhance the fertility luck of couple in their house and bedroom:

Feng Shui items/Locations

- Figurine of the "gift of children by the Chi Lin"  -  west, "sheng chi" sector
- Black colored obsidian - bedroom
- Black color crystal column - east side of bedroom
- Combination of red date, peanuts, longan, lotus seeds - living room, bedroom door
- Chinese painting of the "hundred children" (百子圖) - living room or bedroom
- Marigold flowers - balcony or bedroom window
- Yellow colored crystal - under the mattress
- Red lantern - outside bedroom window

Lastly, I want to stress the importance of using an auspicious day and time which has no conflicts to the Chinese horoscope of the couple to apply the above feng shui enhancements. This is the last and most important step in feng shui application in order that we can achieve the best result that we want.

You can only find this in China!

Someone Dreams, Other People Feng Shui and Living Nightmare

 

 

In today China, those who are rich and powerful really have their way doing their own things without considering the wellbeing and benefits of the other people! On today’s Toronto Star, they were reporting that in Beijing, a so-called professor decided to fulfill his own “dream” or idiocy have spent six years building a roof top villa with rocks, trees and waterfalls on top of a 26-storey apartment building; and is now being ordered by the local urban management unit to demolished this illegal construction!

Technical speaking, any trained architect and engineer shall notice immediately that this illegal structure will cause substantial damages to the rest of the building. Unless it is designed in the planning process, the roof of a building normally does not design for the support of a massive structure. Another potential nightmare is the waterproofing and drainage system as there are water falls, trees and rock formation in this illegal structure.  If I were the occupants of the lower floors units, I will demand a complete inspection and assessment of the above potential problems and hold this professor responsible for any structural damages in the future.

Now, let us look at what kind of feng shui nightmare caused by this illegal structure. Any feng shui masters will tell you immediately that this is the perfect example of “water shower on the head” (淋頭水).This scenario will cause illegal activities, serious illness and accidents to the families living below. This will affect more to the occupants living on the top few floors of the apartment building. Furthermore, because living under the massive structure, they will also suffer the same effects as living/sleeping under a beam or heavy objects in feng shui.

Besides creating bad feng shui effects on the occupants of the apartment building, it will also cause problems for the other buildings which are close by facing this roof top structure. Due to its rugged formation, it is referred as “Lian Zhen Shan” (廉貞山) which is an inauspicious “luan tao”. This will caused serious health issues based on which direction is facing this illegal structure:

- East – liver and limbs

- SE – liver, face

- South – eyes, accidents

- SW – skin and stomach

- West – mouth and throat

- NW – lung and respiratory system

- North – bladder stone, abortion and miscarriage

- NE – nose and skin disease

Under the Xuan Kong Flying Star feng shui, this inauspicious luan tao will enhance the ill effects of the flying star combination of the sector which is facing the luan tao.

To conclude, I believe this will be a total nightmare in feng shui for the other occupants of the apartment and it will be a disaster living in this apartment building especially when the demolishing works begin for this massive illegal structure. Therefore, my recommendation to the occupants especially those living in the top floors will be simply it is about time to consider to move out of the building!

August 13, 2013    Toronto

 

Feng shui for Rona Inc.

 

 

Some bold feng shui ideas to help Rona Inc. to restructure its home improvement business in Canada among keen competition from the major US companies like the Home Depot, Lowes and even Wal-Mart

Based on an article in the Toronto Star dated June 28, 2013, they are reporting that Rona Inc. will close eleven (11) unprofitable stores in two provinces, both Ontario and BC; and cut more than 325 administration jobs as part of its ongoing cost cutting and restructuring efforts. It is come as no surprise to me because Rona has been facing cut-throat competition from the major US home improvement companies like the Home Depot and Lowes.

I believe in order for Rona Inc. to survive in this market, they really have to think outside the box in order to gain some advantages from both the Home Depot and Lowes as they are almost operating identically both in the management style and store layout; the only difference is the associates of these two companies are wearing different colors aprons! So, here is some of my feng shui advice to Robert Sawyer, Rona’s president and CEO of how to turn things around and right the ship based on the Xuan Kong Flying Star feng shui ideas:

1. Change the color of the logo – For discussion purpose, I will use the date: July 20, 1960 when the Rona name was adopted to calculate the birth element using the Four Pillars Destiny or BaZi system. It turns out that the birth element is yin earth, and the auspicious element is earth and fire. Therefore, we can see that the current design of Rona’s logo which is white letters on black or blue background is not auspicious in feng shui terms. My suggestion is to change the logo to red letters and yellow or brown background.

2. Go with the “flow” – According to the Xuan Kong Flying Star feng shui, we are now in Luck Period Eight (2004 – 2023) which is represents by the number 8 star and that means the world is affected by the characteristics of this star. For example, since the number 8 star is associated with the operating of our hands instead of our month as in Luck Period Seven (1984 -2003), we can see the changing of our behavior (customers) from talking on the cell phone to texting with the smart phones and I-Pads. This really makes me wonder if Steve Jobs is a feng shui follower! Anyway, I will list below some major trends and the profitable types of business in Period Eight (2004-2023):

- Anti-traditional innovative products; new scale business; emerging religious gathering ideas; green environment doctrine; new concepts or products that will reduce the process of time and space; stunts; house rental business; message and natural healings services; products relate to the children; ceramics products; pharmaceutical technology using natural materials and novel gene.

- Transportation; communication equipment; timber business; building industry; aviation; paper industry; cotton related business; landscaping; building materials; marriage agency; furniture shop, fast food.

From the above, I believe any smart CEO of the home improvement business shall be able to pick up what is important and decide on the strategy of how to turn their companies to be successful in Luck Period Eight!

3. Redesign the layout of the store – In feng shui, we all understands the importance of the five elements. If we want to achieve auspicious results both in our home and business, it is vital that we have to achieve a balanced state of the five elements. Simply put the five elements must be compliment to each other (forming a generating cycle) instead of destroying each other (forming a destructive cycle) within the walls of the building. This is very critical for stores that are selling building improvement materials to have an auspicious and profitable setting which contain all products that are associated with the five elements. For example, the landscaping materials are related to the earth element, the hardware products are related to the metal element and the plumbing products are related to the water element etc. My suggestion is to design the store based on the Later Heaven Ba Gua. For example, the center will be fitted with earth element colors design and allocate specifically for the management office and customer service area. Based on this idea, I have designed the “ideal” layout for a big-box home improvement materials retail store and will happy to share it with any CEO of the home improvement products companies who is interested.

4. Follow the trend (Luck Year Period in feng shui) – In order for a business to be successful, the management must have the ability to identify the places or market where its business can flourish.

By applying the Xuan Kong Flying Star feng shui’s “zhen shen”, “ling shen” and “zhao shen” concept, we can actually identify the prosperous sectors based on the Luck Year Period. In Period Eight (2004 -2023), the “zhen shen” is located at the NE; the “ling shen” is located at the SW and the “zhao shen” is located at the west sector. In principle, it is good feng shui that the “ling shen” and “zhao shen” sector are facing water. If we look at the map of Canada, we can see that Ontario has the great lakes on the SW and British Columbia is facing the Pacific Ocean at the west. That means if any business who want to be successful in Period Eight, they shall concentrate on the market in Ontario and British Columbia. Therefore, I believe it is not a good business decision for Rona to cut eleven (11) stores both in Ontario and BC!

5. Heaven Luck, Land Luck and Man Luck – Under the authentic Chinese feng shui, in order for a business to be successful, it must include three components, namely the Heaven Luck, Land Luck and the Man Luck.

After decided on the way to conduct its business, the layout of the store and identified the market trend based on the above captioned; the company has basically grasp hold two of the successful components in feng shui which are the Heaven Luck and Land Luck. The last component which is also very important is the Man Luck which is the customers. Just like any other retails business, in order to be successful, it is important that the company must have well trained and experienced staffs, excellent customer service and innovative products to satisfy the customer needs.

6. Good feng shui of the head office – There are many big corporations in the past have used feng shui to turn the business around. One of the most prominent examples is Coca Cola Ltd. In 2000, they have appointed a famous feng shui master in Hong Kong to improve the feng shui of their head office, and by following the advice from the masters, they have turn their business around and become the world number one brand in 2007. Therefore, I believe Rona shall also consider hiring a capable and seasoned feng shui consultant who are specialized in authentic Chinese feng shui to check the feng shui of the head office and make sure everything are good for Luck Period Eight (2004 – 2023).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to determine the proper facing direction of the bed for a couple who belongs to different Group of person (East and West Group) in the Eight Mansions feng shui ?

                                                                Earlier Heaven Ba Gua

                                                                  Later Heaven Ba Gua

In our life time, we spend around 1/3 of our time in the bed; therefore the feng shui of the bed is very important to us. For example, if we place the bed at the inauspicious sectors, it will affect our health and the relationship between husband and wife. According to the guidelines of the Eight Mansions feng shui, it is auspicious for the East Group person to sleep at the four (4) auspicious East sectors and the West Group person to sleep facing the four auspicious (4) West sectors of the house. However, there are many times that this is not possible because of the limitation of space and structural restriction. Therefore, we will then concentrate on having the bed (headboard of the bed) facing the four (4) auspicious directions; based on the kua number.

Well, in theory this will works perfectly if both the husband and wife are belong to the same Group. However, what happened if the husband is an East Group person and the wife is a West Group person? The reason is the auspicious directions for a West Group person is the inauspicious directions for an East Group person and vice versa.  As a matter of fact, this is a very common scenario for people who are following the Eight Mansions feng shui. Sadly, there are little explanations about this dilemma in many books and web sites in the market by the self-proclaimed feng shui masters!

Here I want to introduce a work around method to solve this problem by using the theory of the Earlier Heaven Ba Gua and the Later Heaven Ba Gua (refer to the above drawing). In traditional Chinese feng shui practice, the Early Heaven Ba Gua is used for reference and the Later Heaven Ba Gua is used for the actual application. Now, let me demonstrate this idea with an example:

Let say a couple want to know which is the appropriate direction the bed shall face, with the husband’s kua number is 4, which is xun (East Group) and the wife’s kua number is 6, which is qian (West Group).

Solution:

First of all, the four auspicious directions for the husband’s ming kua are: zhen (east); xun (south-east); li (south) and kan (north). Furthermore, by comparing both the Early Heaven and Later Heaven Ba Gua, we can notice that his xun kua on the Earlier Heaven Ba Gua is located at the kun (SW) sector of the Later Heaven Ba Gua. That is to say, the kun (SW) direction is also suitable for the husband. Since the kun direction is also the auspicious direction for the wife (West Group), that means the bed can be placed at the SW direction and will suit both the husband and wife.

On the other hand, the four auspicious directions for the wife’s ming kua are: kun (SW); dui (west); chien (NW); and gen (NE); and her qian kua at the Earlier Heaven Ba Gua is located at the li (south) sector of the Later Heaven Ba Gua, that means the li (south) direction has no harmful effect to the wife; in addition to the fact that the li (south) direction is also auspicious to the husband.

In short, based on the above method, the couple can place the bed either facing the kun (SW) or the li (South) direction without any conflict to their kua number. However, since in most cases the husband is the bread earner in the family, thus it make more sense to have the bed facing the li (south) direction!