What is Fate, Luck and how does Feng Shui influence them?

The ancient Chinese believe that our life potential (fate) is influenced by the cosmic (coming from out of space) energies and earthly (on earth) energies present at the moment of our birth.

The ancient Chinese express time using a combination of heavenly stems (representing the cosmic energies) and earthly branches (representing the earthly energies). Every year, month, day and time is represented by a stem and branch which is often called a pillar. Therefore any particular time (for example your date and time of birth) can be represented by four sets of stems branches (or pillars). Since each pillar is composed of two characters, our date and time of birth is also known as eight characters (or Ba Zi).

Each of the stems and branches represents a type of energy or ‘qi’ prevailing at that time and they can have the qualities similar to metal, wood, water, fire and earth. The stems denote the cosmic energy (from out of space) present at the time while the branches denote the earthly energy.

To help you understand this better, contrast of the energy of spring with the energy of autumn. You would associate spring with the climate ‘becoming warmth and things ‘growing’ while autumn is ‘becoming cold’ and things ‘dying’.

Thus, it is not too difficult to accept the ‘postulation’ that someone born in spring is affected differently from someone born in autumn or summer or winter and hence have a different fate and life path.

The quality of the cosmic energy is more difficult to explain. We believe that it has something to do with planetary movement. For example Jupiter takes 12 years (out time) to go round the sun. Saturn takes 20 etc. For now, just accept that the type of the energy affecting earth changes every two years and the cycle repeats every 10 years.

For example a person born in 1972 or Ren Zi year is influenced by both the cosmic energy of ‘Ren’ and earthly energy of ‘Zi’. Since both the energies of Ren and Zi are like water, we say that his person’s year of birth contribute a significant percentage of water ‘qi’ to his composition.

When we take the year, month, date and time of birth of a person into consideration we can express it as a proportion of energies or ‘qi’. For example three (3) parts water, two (3) parts metal, one (1) part fire, one (2) part earth and no wood!

The different combination of elements (or energies) in your make up influences your physique, personality traits, your physical and mental health, career and wealth potential as well as your relationship with others.

(In practice, you are also influenced by the atomic structure of both your parents and possible other factors like karma).

An ideal fate is one where the elements are in balance. Too much or too little of any elements result in an imbalance which manifest as a negative aspect in ones life e.g. poor spouse relationship, bumpy career path, health problems etc.

In the above example, the person is obviously rich in metal and water ‘qi’. Additional metal or water will create imbalance and manifest in a negative fate or imbue him with many favourable characteristics. On the other hand wood and fire helps to restore balance and would influence him positively.

The cosmic and earthly energies continue to influence us after our birth and we are exposed to the five distinct ‘qi’ types as we transverse from cradle to the tomb. The planetary and earthly movement have remains constant for millions of years and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. (When the sun no longer rises in the east or sets in the west, then it is the time to devise a new astrology system!)

When the cosmic and/or earth ‘qi’ are favourable (balance) for our composition (based on our date and time of birth), our life path is positive and favourable. However when the ‘qi’ are unfavourable (out of balance), our life path is negative or unfavourable. The ancients call these ups and downs ‘luck cycle’ or simply ‘luck’. They are measured by decade, year, month and day which explain why an astrologer may remark about a good 10 years or decade or a bad year etc.

Since these cosmic and earthly ‘qi’ are pre-determined, it is possible to predict ones ‘fate’ and ones ‘luck’ at different stages of your life if you have his or her date and time of birth. They ancient Chinese have developed many systems for destiny and luck analysis and the more accurate (and popular) ones such as Ba Zi and Zi Wei Dou Shu can surprisingly reveal a lot. In the hands of a competent astrologer, it can tell you about you about your career (power), wealth, health and relationships as you transverse from cradle to grave.

Knowing your strengths and weakness as well as what lies ahead allows you to make the right decisions and maximize your potential.

So where does Feng Shui come in?

Feng Shui systems can tell us the strengths or weaknesses of a dwelling and allow us to select the right dwellings with the right surroundings to compliment our weakness and boost our strengths.

For example if a person has good relationship and health luck but weak at power and money we can select a house with strong ‘wealth’ potential for him.

It can also tell us the prevailing auspicious and inauspicious energies so that we make the right decisions and not unknowingly be affected by inauspicious prevailing energies.

For example renovation the wrong place at the wrong time and activating the inauspicious energies with dire consequence.

At a personal level, we can also tell from our natal chart the effect of the various directions and sectors on our life path. With this information we can further optimize all aspect of dwelling so that it strengthens our weaknesses and give our strengths a boost at the correct time. Or select the right time to do things!

Astrology and Feng Shui are closely inter-related. It is okay to practice Feng Shui without considering the person’s astrology. It is like seeing a part and not the whole picture.  You will achieve more consistent and better results when your consider both.