A Funny Thing Happened on my Way to Zi Wei Dou Shu 2

by Dr YM Cheng, PhD

The person instrumental in popularizing the work of Rips is Michael Drosnin who penned The Bible Code and The Bible Code 2: The Countdown. Many world events were recorded in the Code, e.g. President Kennedy’s assassination; Hitler and the Second World War; the six day war in the Middle East; the bombing of the twin towers in New York; the Great Depression of 1929; and the death of Princess Dianna. Drosnin himself saw the words, “Yitzhak Rabim” running across the words, “Assassin will assassinate” in the Code. Even the predicted year was there. He found this information more than a year before Prime Minister Rabim was assassinated in November 1995. He had tried to warned Rabim through a letter but it was ignored. Rabim probably thought he was an absolute nutcase!

What is even more fascinating, for my purpose, is information concerning the origin of humanity and the identity of Yahweh, the biblical God. In The Bible Code 2, Drosnin devotes a chapter on the code of life, DNA, and a chapter on the alien identity of man’s maker. It seems that the Bible Code is in agreement with Francis Crick’s theory of Directed Panspermia. That is to say, that life on earth originated from the stars. It was brought to earth from elsewhere. In the Code we can find the words, “DNA was brought in a vehicle” running across the words, “in a vehicle your seed.” In another instance, we also find the words, “DNA spiral” crossing over the words, “in Adam the model, template.” Yet on another occasion, the words, “Creation of Man” running across the words, “I gave it to you as an inheritance, I am God” were found.

The third jigsaw piece comes from the works of Zecharia Sitchin. Sitchin has written a series of six books entitled, The Earth Chronicles. In a nutshell, his thesis is that advanced civilizations existed on earth many thousands of years ago and they were of extraterrestrial origins. The story can be found in the ancient Sumerian tablets. A race of space beings called the Annunaki arrived on earth about 450,000 years ago. Anu, Enlil and Enki were three main characters or gods in our story. Anu was the father who eventually went back to the planet of Nibiru. The two sons, Enlil and Enki were left behind in charge of the Annunaki who were mining for gold, for whatever purpose is not clear. Because of the all the toil and hard work, they mutinied. Enlil wanted to punish the mutineers but Enki was more lenient. Enki suggested that a suitable candidate to replace the Annunaki at the mines existed. This candidate was the early hominid, a creature at a particular stage of evolution on earth. It was Enki, with the help of Ninmah, who genetically altered the hominid to have the intelligence of modern man. Thus mankind was created in the image of God. But so was the primitive worker for the gods! According to the Sumerian tablets, the gods were physical beings from the skies who possessed incredibly advanced knowledge and were the ones who taught homo sapiens techniques of agriculture and gave them culture and civilization. Now this is not an isolated story from a past civilization alone. Many ancient myths from Europe, South America, Middle East, and China all tell the same story, that our intelligence was imparted to us by the gods who came down from heaven. It would be rather fool hardy to simply dismiss them as aspirations or fantasies of early man, especially when there are just too many parallel accounts from dissimilar cultures.

The Flood or the Great Deluge account in the Bible is found in an even earlier version in the Sumerian tablets. The Bible Code, mentioned above, also confirmed the event of the Deluge. The point here is that this is an actual event, possibly resulting from the ending of the last Ice Age about 11,000 to 16,000 years ago. I don’t think we should give too much credit to early man for making up such a fantastic phenomenon. Sometimes a spade is really a spade.

I propose that Zecharia Sitchin’s work should be taken seriously however incredible his theory may seem because his is based on ancient records and is supported by many other sources. The first volume of his Earth Chronicles, The 12th Planet, is a perfect example of how science confirms ancient claims regarding our solar system. According Sitchin, the Sumerian cosmology has 12 planets in our solar system, including the sun and the moon. But as we know, there are only 9 planets orbiting the sun. Even if we include both the sun and the moon, it would still only make a total of 11. So where is the 12th planet? In recent years, this planet has been located by astronomers and it has shown to have a very different orbit from the rest of the other planets in our solar system. Again this was already known by the Sumerians. They called named this planet, Nibiru, and they maintained that it has an orbit of 3,600 earth years.

Let me explicate the main points of all the above jigsaw pieces. There’s little doubt in my mind that earth had been visited by space beings in the distant past, and is still a place of visit to them! If one takes the time to do the research, one will come to the conclusion that these higher intelligences have been with us since the beginning of humankind. (Graham Hancock’s book, Supernatural, is a scholarly researched and very convincing account of this view.) Some people might see them as gods, demigods, extraterrestrials, aliens, fairies, angels, demons, etc. Whatever they are is hard to establish, but what is indisputable is their effect on humanity throughout history.
They reside in our very psyche and they feature in our myths of creation, fall, and redemption. That they are still here with us is almost a foregone conclusion given the evidence.

Of course, one should not just take my word for it. One must do the necessary slog work by reading the appropriate books, checking out the pertinent articles, surfing the net to get to the relevant websites, and then weighing the information in the light of one’s own experience to arrive at one’s conclusion. What matters is that one has done or is willing to do the search, not the result of the search. If at the end of the search, one comes to the conclusion that all the jigsaw pieces above are a load of crap, then at least the conclusion, if not the contents of the search, warrants respect. But, on the other hand, if one simply dismisses them as rubbish without thorough examination, then one would be akin to an ostrich with its head in the sand, refusing to confront reality.

There are many more jigsaw pieces than the ones mentioned above. It’s up to the reader to go and search for them. As I have stated before: there are more questions than answers in life. It’s another way of saying that life in its essence is mysterious and it’s unlikely that we will be able to unlock the mystery in our lifetime. Yet it’s something to celebrate about. We can marvel at the mystery even though a large of me desperately wants to know what it is all about. The enticing thing in this whole affair is that whoever or whatever is behind it all has left numerous clues for us to find.

And this leads to my claim that ZWDS absolutely fascinating because it is like the Bible Code in that based on one’s year, month, day and hour of birth, it is possible to predict accurately the events or things which will happen to the individual. Honestly speaking, I was rather a skeptic when I was first introduced to ZWDS. Only after I had drawn up my own chart and those of my relatives, and saw how the charts correlated with our lives, I began to seriously investigate and study the subject. Since then I have never ceased to be amazed by the accuracy of the charts. How is this possible? How can just the birth details reveal so much about a person? Apart from determining significant issues such as the wealth and profession of a person, I have in the past been able to tell that my client’s menstruation period was irregular, one particular client visited a prostitute on the day he consulted me, and one client had an argument with her husband on a particular day. All this comes from a reading of a ZWDS chart.

ZWDS is a very complicated system based on specific rules and calculations. Legend has it that ZWDS was invented by Chen Xi Yi, but where did the formulas come from? Were they from a much more superior intelligence, possibly from another dimension? After all, science is now telling us that there are possibly eleven dimensions to our universe. Buddhism have long been saying to us that there are at least thirty-three levels of existence. Interestingly, science is only beginning to catch up with the truths of religion. F. Capra’s The Tao of Physics, L. McTaggart’s The Field and E. Laszlo’s Science and the Akashic Field are especially informative on such issues. But that’s digressing, so let’s return to our place of departure. ZWDS points to a much larger pattern, with ZWDS as possibly only the first of many layers of the Code to revealing the Mystery of Life. Only from such a perspective is ZWDS highly meaningful and immensely interesting!

Part 1 of this article

(Article kind courtesy of Dr YM Cheng, PhD)

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A Funny Thing Happened on my Way to Zi Wei Dou Shu 1

by Dr YM Cheng, PhD

What follows is a rather personal and esoteric account because I believe that people are drawn to Zi Wei Dou Shu (Purple Star Astrology) for very different reasons. Hence I can only offer my own story here which may not be applicable to everyone.

Firstly, Zi Wei Dou Shu (ZWDS) would be boring for me if it is not placed within a meaningful context. By that I mean ZWDS is only a jigsaw piece in the puzzle of life! Some people may be amazed by the accuracy of ZWDS’s predictive power. But to that, I would reply, “So what? What’s the big deal if someone can predict correctly that I will make money in 2008, or my wife will have an affair in 2009?” It does not necessarily follow that if one particular prediction comes true then the others will also be fulfilled. That’s not logical, especially if we are talking about different predictions with regard to entirely different issues.

ZWDS only becomes interesting if, and only if, it points to something else, namely, a larger pattern. Let me put this in another way. There’s an old movie called “Alfie” in which Michael Caine starred. (I’m not referring to its remake where Jude Law plays Alfie.) Michael Caine played a womanising young man who didn’t care very much about life or anyone else. All he seemed to be interested was to have his more than fair share of hedonistic and carnal pleasures. But by the end of the movie, after he had satisfied himself to no end, he felt empty and meaningless. He then asked himself the simple but yet profound question, “What’s it all about?” We could elaborate by adding, “Who are we? Where do we come from? Where do we fit in the cosmos? Where are we going? What is life? Why there is life in the first place?”

ZWDS only becomes really interesting when it fits in as a piece in the puzzle of life, that is to say, when it offers clues to the meaning of life or to the nature of the reality of life. I have come to this conclusion after a number of years in my search for the other jigsaw pieces. However, before I spell out the relevance of ZWDS in the puzzle of life, let me offer you readers a sample of other pieces which are equally fascinating.

It has once been said by a philosopher that an unexamined life is not worth living. And if we are to face facts, the truth of the matter is that most people don’t really examine their own lives. Why? Not because they are unintelligent or lack the mental capability, but because if they really scrutinize their lives, they may find their suspicion confirmed. That deep down inside their lives there is no centre; their ground of being is shaky and without form or substance. This realization will lead to existential angst and will be unbearable, and therefore it’s best not to venture too deep. Let’s then just coast along with a herd mentality and amuse ourselves with conspicuous consumption and the latest offerings of technology.

However, let’s not go down that road. Instead, let’s take an alternate path and see what an examined life can bring. Before taking the first step on this path we need to face 3 facts.

Fact 1: THERE ARE MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS IN LIFE.
Fact 2: THE ANSWERS ARE THERE IF WE SEARCH FOR THEM.
Fact 3: THE ANSWERS ARE ONLY MEANINGFUL IF WE MAKE THEM SO.

With the above in mind, let’s look at some of the jigsaw pieces of life mentioned earlier.

The first piece comes from the Dogon tribe of West Africa and their connection to the Sirius constellation. This was first brought to popular attention by Robert Temple in his book, The Sirius Mystery. In it he relates the story of how two anthropologists, Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlan, managed to extract the most secret knowledge of the Dogon after living among them for years. Griaule became the first outsider to gain their trust and confidence, and consequently, the first to access their inner most secrets regarding their origin and their rituals.

Some of their startling revelations include that they were visited by beings from the Sirius system in the long distant past, and that there was another star (the Digitaria star of the Dogon, called “Sirius B” by Temple) orbiting Sirius A every fifty years. Griaule and Dieterlan published their article, “Un Systeme Soudanais de Sirius” in 1950. However, they appeared to have missed the incredible significance of the Dogon’s claims. They merely remarked in a footnote: “The question has not been solved, nor even asked, of how men with no instruments at their disposal could know the movement and certain characteristics of stars which are scarcely visible.” The point is that the Digitaria or Sirius B is not scarcely visible but completely invisible and was only discovered through the use of a telescope in the last century. And how did they know the orbital period was 50 years? This orbital period was later confirmed by astronomers as correct.

When Robert Temple first had The Sirius Mystery published in 1976, he asserted that the Dogon also revealed the existence of a third star, Sirius C, in the system. But at that time astronomy was unable to confirm its existence, hence rendering the claim and the whole account as unreliable. Twenty years later, in 1995, astronomers Daniel Benest and J. L. Duvent published their finding of a small red dwarf star (Sirius C) in the Sirius constellation in the journal, Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Until now no one has been able to explain how the Dogon were able to obtain such detailed knowledge without the aid of any advanced telescopes. Perhaps the simplest explanation is to accept their claim at face value, that is, indeed earth had been visited by space beings or aliens thousands of years ago and had imparted the knowledge to them!

The second jigsaw piece comes from the Bible Code. This is a really amazing piece; its academic credibility is impeccable and its implications should shatter the Fundamentalist Christians’ understanding of God. It’s another case, as with that of the Dogon, of transpiring of knowledge from the annals of academia to the popular press. It has been known for centuries that there exists a secret code in the bible, especially in the first five books of the Old Testament. When the biographer of Isaac Newton, John Maynard Keynes, the great economist, went through the long forgotten handwritten papers of Isaac Newton, he discovered not notes of scientific inquiry but piles upon piles of paper devoted to unlocking the purported code in the bible! Lots of Jewish biblical scholars have gone down the same road but ended up with little fruit to show as well. It is only until the advent of computers that more headway is evident.

The greatest breakthrough was made by Dr Eliyahu Rips and his colleagues who experimented with equidistant letter sequencing using the first five books of the bible. Their results were published in 1994 in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal, Statistical Science. Within the Code, they were able to locate the all the 32 names of Hebrew sages who lived after the bible was written. Not only that, they also located the dates of their birth and death all in the vicinity of their names. To have their names and dates encoded together is highly significant; that this can only happen by chance in the odds of 1 in 10 million! Rips and his colleagues tried to perform the same experiment with 3 non-Biblical texts but were unable to produce similar results.

Part 2 of the article.

(Article kind courtesy of Dr YM Cheng, PhD)

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Different Schools of Feng Shui

by Master Francis Leyau

There are numerous schools of Feng Shui which deal only with landscapes, directions and locations.

The San Yuan School happens to be the only school which includes the time dimension when assessing Feng Shui. This adds a three-dimensional effect and gives it depth thus making the school superior to others. The San Yuan School’s insistence on the time factor means that it places great importance on the changing forces of different periods, thereby incorporating the astrological aspects into it which allows a more accurate and minute prediction of the Feng Shui effects. Good times and bad times do not last forever but change as time goes by…

To gain an insight into the different schools of Feng Shui and the differences between the two major schools of Feng Shui known as the San Yuan (Xuan Kong) and the San He (Ba Zhai); please refer to the comparison chart below:

San Yuan (Xuan Kong)San He (Ba Zhai)
Feng Shui arrangement is based on the time dimension of 20 years (the length of 1 Yuan Period).Feng Shui arrangement is based on the East and West group of the inhabitants.
Direction of the building is obtained from the measurement of the main door.Direction of the building is measured from the centre of the house.
The house must firstly be in harmony with the universal and earth Qi of the reigning Period prior to the matching of the inhabitant’s Qi (obtained using the date of birth) to the house.Under this school the house must suit the inhabitants Qi (also based on his date of birth) but taking no account of the time cycle.
The chart of the house is divided into nine equal squares as shown below.9 palacesThe chart of the house is divided into eight sections as follows.8 sectors
The house orientation is adjusted to account for the new and upcoming reigning Periods.The good and bad directions for any chosen individual are the same throughout his life thus the house matches the occupant’s direction which is considered good permanently.
Good and bad directions change with time.Good and bad directions for each group (East and West) are fixed permanently.
The reading of the house can fall into any of the 24 sectors of 15o each.
When sleeping, the leg’s direction is considered as the facing direction.
The readings only fall into 8 sectors (cardinal direction) of 45o each.
When sleeping, the head is considered as the facing direction.

(Article kind courtesy of Master Francis Leyau, Central Academy of Feng Shui)

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Brief History of Zi Wei Dou Shu Part 2

by Master Tony Tan

Slide 19

Slide 19Commentary – Next, look out for the locations of stars that come in pairs. When a pair of stars are found in the Matrix, they give synergy. In this illustration, the Left Deputy Zuofu and the Right Deputy Youbi each affects the domains where they are placed, but the domain represent by the star symbol gets the most benefits.

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Commentary – This means that the interpretation of a ZWDS chart must not be done on individual domains only. In this illustration, Career Domain directly shows what industry or what sector is good for the subject, whether it is appropriate for him/her to take up a business or stay employed. However, his/her luck with money (Wealth Domain) also has a major influence on the job/business he takes on, while his/her personality (Self Domain) also plays a vital part in his/her rate of success in certain fields of job/business.

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Commentary – With the availability of the enormous information ZWDS can provide, it is easy to fall into traps of such thought that we are unable to change our life or dictate our future – because so much have been written. Rather, the idea should be the other way round that we can make full use of the information to maximise our potential and to minimise risks and avoid pitfalls in life. The future is in our own hands. The next phase of slides illustrate this philosophy well.

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Commentary – This is familiar to all of us, is it not? Their weight of influence on our lives is the heaviest from the top down, while the amount of control we can exert over them is the biggest from the bottom up. To me, it is more critical to find out our likely trends first than to talk about Feng Shui. For instance, when both the structural trends and the cycle luck of Estates Domain is good, it is easier for us to get a good house and good Fengshui. When they are the reverse, it is easier for us to get a bad settlement and bad Fengshui. Modern applications of ZWDS:

Slide 25

Slide 25

Slide 26
Slide 26

Commentary – Personality analysis. This is a chart of a young engineer. Passion Star Lianzhen and Pleasure Star Tanlang are about Peach Blossom luck and represent talent. When they are found to be in a combination like this, however, it indicates a free soul who prefers to wander than to get tied down, to express freely than to be meticulous, to be creative than to follow rules. Together with the pair of Interference Stars, Dikong and Dijie flanking the Self Domain, this quality is even more exaggerated. Do they fit the description of an engineer? The young man is already very frustrated with his daily work two years into the profession. This is a result of wrong guidance from the parents who wanted their children to have their (parents) choices of professions. What should he do now, especially in a society that is very restrictive? I have found out what his true talents are, and have encouraged him to indulge in those artistic talents over the weekends. This aims to balance his life.

Slide 27
Slide 27

Commentary – Personality analysis. This is the chart of the younger sister of the engineer, who is about to make a choice of study course. The mother wanted her to be a teacher, but she has wished to be in hospitality trades. In fact, the girl offered to pay me extra to dissuade her mother. I have told her there was no such necessity, as the combinations of her chart show that she would excel in tourism studies/work.

Slide 28

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Commentary – Potential maximisation. When ZWDS is the most powerful in providing details about personality, it naturally helps to identify the best type of profession/business. Chief Advisor Tianji and Inspector Tianliang combines shows a clear and meticulous mind sharp in picking up details instantaneously. Combining with the stars found in the Career Domain, it is only appropriate that the subject is in the legal profession.

Slide 30
Slide 30

Commentary – Potential maximisation. This chart shows that the subject is born with the natural capacity of a business person. In fact, she was a home-maker because the husband was doing well, and she did not need to work. After the children have grown up, she started some business in a very small way but it grew naturally. In about ten years, she has four branches.

Slide 31
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Slide 32
Slide 32

Commentary – Risk identification. With the power to go for details, ZWDS is certainly helpful for this function. Slide 32 shows a typical structure that the subject will be ultimately betrayed by the partner, while the initial period (a year, two years, etc.) does provide good returns.

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Commentary – This is the same chart as in Slide 29. While the lawyer can excel in his profession well, he is to avoid investments, reading from his Wealth Domain.

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Commentary – As ZWDS also provides details in periodic luck, it is an excellent instrument to help us in deciding the right timing. Slide 36 is the chart of young entrepreneur whose turnover met the qualification of the Young Entrepreneur Award if he were to submit his application. As he was sort of working for his family business, he

wished to strike out totally on his own when he was 29. Going with the periodic luck, the Seal Minister Tianxiang indicates the luck of a number two instead of the luck of a leader. The advice was to put the idea off until his next decade. Meanwhile I have advised him to make use of the remaining years in the current period to learn all he can.

Slide 37
Slide 37

Commentary – This is from a chart that is structurally good, but the subject has made an investment in real estates during the period. Although that is the only one major mistake, it has also cause some great anxiety.

Slide 38
Slide 38

Commentary- Life Crisis Management. Likewise, prior information is the key here. We can work out the best solutions to a problem, and also find out the duration of a crisis.

Slide 39
Slide 39

Commentary- Compatibility Studies. Due to exactly its power to read personality and luck cycles, ZWDS is useful for studying the compatibility of business partners and marriage partners.

Slide 40
Slide 40

Commentary- Marital Counselling. ZWDS is an effective tool to carry out what I call alternative counselling, because it presents two people stripped nakedly in terms of personality. From there, their expectations in life and their expectations of a relationship can be described clearly. When they hear these from a third party, they are more willing to pay attention clearly. With the additional descriptions of what are the possible problems in the future, and in specific time frames, the prior information helps two people work better for the relationship. It is like they have found out what might be in store, and I have always encouraged them to take it as a task to overcome an issue or a bad patch in the future hand in hand. With the right

intention and in the right frame of mind, we can alter course, or minimise the negative impact of a potential problem.

Slide 41
Slide 41

Commentary- HR Management. Enough is said by now about how to make use of ZWDS.

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Commentary- Self explanatory.

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Slide 44

Commentary- The 32 Main Stars have different degrees of brightness when they are placed in different positions. A bright star is able to show more of its strength while its weaknesses is minimised. A dim star manifests more of its weaknesses while its strength is reduced. There are altogether six or seven levels of brightness (left box), but I advocate simplifying them to a total of three (right box). There is no real requirement to go for such detailed grading, and we can afford to make learning ZWDS slightly easier.

Slide 45
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Slide 46

Commentary- Self explanatory.

(Article kind courtesy of Master Tony Tan, Harmony Academy of Chinese Metaphysics)

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Four Pillars and Me

by Master Peter Leung

I don’t even remember how many 4P charts or ZWDS charts I have spent hours staring at.

The past 10 years, I have focused my research mainly on personality analysis and health. Most of the time we don’t know who we are and we don’t know our loved ones. Through four pillars studies, I learned to accept the uniqueness of each individual, the natal 4P chart gives us the basic personalities and characters, the basic personality may be affected by the 10 year luck period and annual luck period. We may see people behave differently, or personalities change from time to time.

A lot of family feuds, divorces and human conflicts are often caused by misunderstandings and personal ego. A wife or husband may try to change the other into his/her mirror image; a mother may try to clone her kids into herself. We, as human, refuse to accept that we are born different. If we try to change others by force, we are looking for a fight, we can only try to understand others better, know ourselves better, change ourselves and accept others if we want to live in harmony.

Knowing our strengths will allow us to utilize them to benefit us in life. Knowing our weaknesses will allow us to work on them, to remind us of them, or to mask them.

Knowing our luck periods will allow us to make the right move at the right time and to lay low during bad luck periods, so we can save our ammunition for the coming good luck.

If we can find out what may be the organs that can most affect our individual health, it’s possible for us to look into preventive medicine at birth for each individual, or it’ll be easier for us to tackle illness by dealing with the organs that may be the root cause.

Knowing the different deities and their specific characteristics might help us to understand criminal behaviours and might help police investigations in crime or to prevent someone from committing a crime.

There are many, many different areas for us to use 4P knowledge, it should be used in a more positive ways to improve our life and society, not as a prediction of when we’re going to get rich etc.., if you are destined to be rich, you will be rich anyway.

We have spent far too much time trying to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of a chart, the useful god, the useful elements etc.., to me these are only one of the many layers of 4P. 90% of people get stuck in these aspects and get confused and give up learning 4P. It’s very important to learn all of these aspects, but it’s not everything in 4P.

I use the deities and the past luck periods to verify what is good and what is bad. If a deity is favourable certain areas of our life will be affected in a positive way, if it’s unfavourable, certain areas of our life will be affected in a negative way. Different deities represent different events. Learning the deities in details can help to understand 4P better.

There are many, many things we can see from a chart without looking into all those confused theories.

I have studied 4P for almost 30 years now, I’m still learning, I’m continually amazed by what I have learned.

Sharing knowledge is the only way to help others to learn, I’m grateful to a lot of 4P professionals who have shared their experiences and knowledge, that’s the only way to take 4P to the next level to benefit humankind.

(Article kind courtesy of Master Peter Leung)

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Brief History of Zi Wei Dou Shu (Emperor Astrology) 1

by Master Tony Tan

The few oldest civilisations in the world had all developed some form of astrology from the study of astronomy, as our ancestors realised that planetary movements do influence the destiny of human kind. The original Chinese astrology methodologies, however, did not flourish well like their western counterparts, because Chinese rulers from as early as the Chunqiu period (777-476 B.C.) had forbade their wide spread practice for fear of uprisings.

The only form of Chinese astrology that managed to grow was Wuxing (the Five Stars Method) but it was not refined at all when compared to Western astrology methodologies (including Verdic, of course) that have developed uninterrupted.

Wuxing first uses Ganzhi (Stem/Branch) to build four pillars from year, month, day and hour of birth, then studies the positions of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, together with the sun and the moon, in four sectors, to read the four pillars. Hence, Wuxing is also called Qizheng Siyu (Seven Stars and Four Sectors).

The Ziping Method (Bazi Method, or the Four Pillars Method) was refined from the first part of Wuxing, using the four pillars of birth, but ignoring totally the reliance of planetary movements. Although the Ziping Method finally gained ground over Wuxing after further refinements during the Tang Dynasty by Master Li Xuzhong, and later, Master Xu Ziping, it is not able to provide certain specifics in reading like Wuxing because of its different approach. It was said that a new methodology was created at that time, that was able to provide more details in reading, to compete with Ziping in place of Wuxing. This new method was call the Eighteen Flying Stars (Shiba Feixing) and it is the first time the phrase Ziwei appeared in a destiny analysis methodology.

While some like to take Shiba Feixing as a form of Ziwei Doushu, which, in fact, was created later, they are not the same. Ziwei Doushu appeared in the Song Dynasty and it is much more dynamic and detailed than Shiba Feixing. As the name implies, again, Shiba Feixing uses only 18 stars in addition to Ziwei, while Ziwei Doushu employs 120 stars in addition to Ziwei, and the former does not provide reading in periodic luck, while Ziwei Doushu goes all the way from 10-year cycles to annual cycles, monthly cycles, daily cycles and hourly cycles.

It remains a mystery who had invented Ziwei Doushu, although it is generally created to a Taoist priest Chen Xiyi in Song Dynasty. However, official historical records and unofficial notes from the Song Dynasty have never associated Chen Xiyi with Chinese metaphysics.

Although Ziwei Doushu has achieved the goal of providing strong competition to Ziping because it is in the capacity to give enormous specific details, the methodology did not flourish for the next 1,000 years for two reasons. First, while able to provide detailed readings, the method did not provide the logic of the interpretations, and it was seemingly not based on profound theoretical basis like Ziping. Second, it has become the exclusive instrument of the Bureau of Astronomy of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, used to serve only the Emperor. Therefore, Ziping was the only well known main stream destiny analysis method until the recent times, when some masters began teaching Ziwei Doushu openly after World War II.

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Slide 1

Commentary – Ziwei Doushu first appeared in the Song Dynasty, hence, it has a history of slightly more than 1,000 years.

Slide 2
Slide 2

purple star astrology

Commentary – There is nothing *purple* in Ziwei Doushu. It is wrong to call Ziwei the purple star, thus, it is wrong to call Ziwei Doushu the Purple Star Astrology. For instance, there is nothing purple in Zijincheng – the Forbidden City (the Purple City?), and there is nothing purple in Ziqi Donglai – auspiciousness (purple energy from the East?). It is like we cannot translate white elephant from English to Chinese directly – there is nothing white, and it is not even an elephant.

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Slide 4
Slide 4

Commentary – Ziwei refers to the centre of focus, the reference, the authority, etc., thus it is apt to translate it as the Emperor. Dou refers to the stars (symbols) when they are static, i.e., their essential quality. Shu refers to the systems the stars form when they move, and there are 120 systems. Shu therefore refers to the dynamism the stars create. However, it is critical to note that there are no real stars in Ziwei Doushu. The term *stars* is the accepted way to mean the *symbols* we use in Ziwei Doushu. Thus, Ziwei Doushu is Emperor Astrology.

Slide 5
Slide 5
Slide 6
Slide 6

Commentary – There are a total of 121 *stars* used in ZWDS, but this figure depends on how we count them. For instance, the 12 Boshi Stars are employed twice, some may count them as 24 stars, etc.

Slide 7
Slide 7

Commentary – These are the twelve domains of life that ZWDS interprets. I have chosen the word DOMAIN in place of PALACE or COURT because unlike face reading and Fengshui, the Chinese word gong here does not refer to a location or position. The Self Domain may be placed in any of the twelve frames, but the sequence of the twelve does not change. ZWDS is about reading the meaning of the stars when they are placed in the twelve domains.

Slide 8
Slide 8

Commentary – These are the two domains we should interpret together to understand a personality completely. Thinking Domain is the most misunderstood of all the twelve because of the original Chinese words Fudegong, when fu generally means blessing and de generally means virtue or karma, but they do not mean those when it comes to Fudegong. We should call a spade a spade. Self Domain shows the outwardly apparent personality and the Thinking Domain reveals that part that is hidden.

Slide 9
Slide 9

Commentary – These four domains form Sanfang Sizheng – what I call the Matrix. They reveal the aggregate strength (luck) of destiny we have in this life.

Slide 10
Slide 10

Commentary – To assess how wealthy one can be, we have to also include the interpretation of Estates Domain as it represents wealth beyond liquid cash.

Slide 11
Slide 11
Slide 12
Slide 12
Slide 13
Slide 13

Commentary – Beyond the twelve domains, there is a Shengong – what I call a supplementary domain, or the domain of main influence, but it is formed by one of the six domains shown in Slide 11.

Slide 14
Slide 14

Commentary – This shows the key interpretation technique of ZWDS. One will never understand the true power of ZWDS if one does not get familiarised with their applications.

Slide 15
Slide 15

Commentary – First, the Mirroring Technique. It is used when a domain is found to be void of the 14 Major Stars (from the Emperor Ziwei to the Forward General Pojun). Regardless of how many other stars are present in a domain, when a domain is void of any of the 14 Major Stars, we have to use the stars present in the opposite domain. All the stars in the two groups of 73 stars (32 plus 41, in yellow fonts in the slide) found
in the opposite domain must be mirrored into the domain to be interpreted. Merely mirroring the first 14 Major Stars, as it is widely taught, is wrong.

Slide 16
Slide 16

Commentary – The next three slides illustrate the Mirroring Technique. The Siblings Domain in the chart is void of Major Stars. The pair of Trouble Stars – Turmoil Star Huoxing and Turbulence Star Lingxing, are found to be placed in the Offspring Domain and Peers Domain respectively. They are not the 14 Major Stars, but part of the 32 Main Stars. They are the Adverse Stars that are the most menacing to human relationships.

Slide 17
Slide 17

Commentary – In this chart, on the surface, three human relationship domains are negatively affected (in red) but not all five domains, if we do not mirror Turbulence Star Lingxing into the Siblings Domain which is void of the Major Stars. It therefore means that the Siblings Domain and Love Domain are not affect by the pair of Trouble Stars. This is the wrong interpretation result.

Slide 18
Slide 18

Commentary – When we mirror Turbulence Star into the Siblings Domain according to the correct application of the Mirroring Technique, we will have the correct interpretation result that all human relationship domains in this chart are ruined by the stars. The two that suffer the most impacts are the Parents Domain and Love Domain, the latter because of the flanking effect.

Click here for part 2

(Article kind courtesy of Master Tony Tan, Harmony Academy of Chinese Metaphysics)

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Are the benefits of Feng Shui only in the mind?

By Mario Najm

“Feng Shui is an outdated superstition and absolute nonsense! It’s a con that plays on the self-indulgence of a feeble-minded public with the aim of making its practitioners rich. Through subliminal suggestion, a gullible public believes their lives will improve if they spend a fortune on redecorating their homes,” I once heard a shrink say on the National Geographic Channel.

No doubt, such a statement would get anyone thinking. Especially me, since I had my house designed according to the most exacting Feng Shui principles possible. Here, I found myself faced with a dilemma. Had I fallen into the trap of self-suggesting that with Feng Shui my life would move along more smoothly or did Feng Shui actually yield results?

At one point or the other in our lives, we have all read or come across books that encourage us to practise positive thinking. Why? Because according to many respected authors and scientists, everything happens in the brain. In short, we have the power to create our own reality. Now, that’s a very powerful assertion. If the power is in our hands to shape our lives, where does that leave Feng Shui?

Granted, I personally tend to agree with the power of positive thinking, and yes, it does work – up to a point. Life is how we perceive it. Yet, certain challenges and surprises we face defy the very foundations of the power of positive thinking. So, is there anything that exists beyond our control? The answer is yes.

Look at it this way, if there’s a meteorite heading towards the earth, say about now, I doubt that through positive thinking I can prevent it from crashing and sending us into oblivion. For a simple reason: I am not ‘aware’ the meteorite exists. Can you control something you can’t see? This means, even though we can control a great part of our obvious reality, we can’t control all of it, because they are so many variables involved in our day-to-day existence.

In all my research, I found one main factor to be true about Feng Shui: it’s a science and not a superstition. Hence, it has a strong foundation. When the Chinese were perfecting Feng Shui in ancient times, half the population in the West lived in caves. The Chinese understood (and we still don’t know how) the earth’s energy grids and used this knowledge to build great cities and homes that were in harmony with nature. Of course, modern science scoffs this “superstition” and refrains from giving it scientific recognition.

Nevertheless, these scientists endorse the Hartmann grid. “It is a worldwide grid in accordance with the earth’s magnetic field, i.e. approximately N/S, E/W. There are considerable variations in the grid spacing dependent on local conditions and the degree of latitude. High voltage power lines and radio stations can affect the straightness of the grid lines!”

Science is now telling us what Feng Shui has been saying for thousands of years! Note the last line in the paragraph above. It reinforces what modern Feng Shui practitioners say: stay away from high voltage stations because they affect the Feng Shui in your home negatively! Coincidence? I think not.

Again, this same modern science mindset once poked fun at Chinese acupuncture and labelled it “unscientific” and “ineffective”. Today, it is widely accepted as a “genuine and alternative tool to surgery in many cases”. The same goes for the “aura”. Before aura cameras existed, the existence of auras was attributed to the metaphysical stories of the ancient world. Now, it’s an accepted part of science albeit with different definitions!

The point is this. Science always refutes ancient knowledge until it rediscovers aspects of it. Note the word: rediscovers. The ancients always knew somehow, but we still don’t. Nothing exists in a vacuum and once we understand that, we will not only understand Feng Shui, but also our lives and the world around us.

So, What do I think of the psychiatrist on National Geographic? Either he needs a shrink or his house has bad Feng Shui.
About the contributor

Mario Najm is a well-respected English-language author and gifted writer. Backed by years of writing experience, he has previously held senior positions in both the advertising and magazine industries. Silver, his first novel, caused a stir. He is currently working on his second hard-hitting and controversial book. Najm’s talented writing skills have been greatly sought after by many prestigious companies and individuals for a variety of writing jobs. He can be contacted via e-mail: mario.najm@yahoo.co.uk

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How to make an ordinary apartment extraordinary Through Feng Shui?

Author – Mario Najm

The home I share with my wife, Marie-Paule, son, Marlon, and family pet, Smokie, is innovative in its décor – at least that’s what everyone who has come to visit us claims. And the greatest part of this achievement is due to the meticulous and dedicated efforts of Feng Shui Master, Henry Fong.

Main Door
Main Door

The unit’s novelty is evident from the second you step out of the elevator and glimpse its beautifully carved wooden mahogany entrance.

Superb and harmonious Chinese-like lighting and ornaments complemented by stonework surround the main door’s frame to overcome what was once a boring, empty space with off-white walls.

After an intense study and 100s of e-mail going back and forth between Master Fong and me, we found the perfect formula to turn a mundane unit into a fully-fledged Feng Shui-compliant residence.

For many who have hired the services of a Feng Shui consultant, this is a very commonplace procedure.

Isn’t that how all Feng Shui experts work? Well, not really.

Master Fong resides in Malaysia and I in Lebanon. It’s no joke, we’re talking halfway across the globe here – different time zones, cultures and geography, etc. What a challenge it was for Master Fong, especially since he had to rely on only satellite images, pictures, and architectural floor plans!

Living Room
Living Room

So, what recommendations did Master Fong put forth to transform an ordinary-looking apartment into an extraordinary living space?

I’ll tell you, but first, let me acquaint you with the unit’s location.

Nestled in Rabweh on the outskirts of Beirut and surrounded by an expansive forest of pine trees, the apartment offers a breathtaking view of the entire city and the glistening Mediterranean Sea.

That in itself is a work of art.

Now, let’s take a guided tour of the unit.

Starting with the somewhat small corridor leading into the rest of the unit, you can’t miss the beautiful hand-crafted metal works that adorn the walls on all sides. Subtle lighting adds warmth to the entrance.

Study
Study

The trick here was to keep the floor empty to make the space appear larger, so everything was hung on the walls, leaving enough room for easy moving and cleaning. The colour green dominates the walls to both re-define the area and add depth.

This colour scheme (green) runs across all the common areas of the home to give it a consistent aesthetic – kitchen, living and dining room, guest bedroom and bathroom. The colours were chosen according to Feng Shui recommendations and adhere to our birth dates and the overall energies in the unit.

The kitchen, as opposed to the entrance, is very spacious, practical, and well designed. From the stove and sink to the washing machine, dryer and dishwasher, everything has its place.

The kitchen took some time to perfect, because Master Fong asked us to switch the locations of the stove and wash hand basin to tap into the best energies for that sector. In short, nothing in the kitchen clashes with Feng Shui principles – nothing! Which is quite a feat.

All the appliances are placed on either side of the walls to leave ample room for moving around. There is also room for a practical and extendable wooden breakfast counter that also cleverly conceals the building’s service shaft.

To avoid cluster, the cooking gas (two 30-kilogram bottles) and cleaning gear are housed in two separate floor-to-ceiling cupboards on either side of the kitchen’s small balcony, which is curtain-glassed to prevent rain from flooding the area.

The living and dining rooms are the crowning jewels of the unit. Under the illumination of contemporary crystal chandeliers, a large and handcrafted bar fills what was once a vacant, monotonous wall and is complemented by a truly unique fireplace jotting out of the feature wall, which also dominates the midpoint of the room.

Again, all the elements are positioned in harmony to one another. A small Chinese fountain in the corner of the living room energizes the area and salt crystal lamps balance the flow.

A round, eight-seater dining table with its large overhanging mirror serves to make the dining room area appear larger and takes up just the right amount of space.

Wonderful and novel decorative pieces play their roles to perfection in every corner of the living area. The lighting throughout this sector of the unit is cleverly formulated and relies on dimmers to help set any type of mood we wish to experience.

The cherry on the cake in this part of the unit is the breathtaking view of the city and the sea we talked about earlier. Both the living room and balcony offer excellent views.

Fire Place
Fire Place

The exceptionally large curtain-glassed balcony is reached via the living room. Stunning stonework on the walls, including a large mosaic of the sun, gives the once unexciting balcony a certain magnetism. Green plants and an inviting bamboo seating arrangement with bamboo curtains to match add to the charm. Here, the bamboo and plants complement the energies.

The bedrooms all have a feature wall with different colors. The large master bedroom and its adjoining bathroom are dominated by the color blue. This room promises night after night of coziness and relaxation.

One of the rooms has been converted into a red-colored study. I’m a writer, you see, and Master Fong wanted to find the best room in which my creative juices could flow throughout the year.

The third room, or the “green” room as we now refer to it, was meant to serve as the guest bedroom, but my son took it over. Nevertheless, I can tell you this, its well-matched colors and décor beckons anyone to spend a restful night.

Our goal was to create a truly unique yet simple home that was within our budget. We started each project on a blank sheet of paper. Master Fong (who had to bear the bulk of the headache), my wife and I worked together to design and decorate every aspect of our home (dimensions, colors, tiles, fireplace, bar, etc) – right down to the smallest detail.

There you have it, if you have an ordinary-looking unit, I recommend that you get in touch with Master Fong and work with him to make it extraordinary.

As a friend of mine once stated: “Your home is a dictionary filled with definitions of good taste.”

About the contributor

Mario Najm is a well-respected English-language author and gifted writer. Backed by years of writing experience, he has previously held senior positions in both the advertising and magazine industries. Silver, his first novel, caused a stir. He is currently working on his second hard-hitting and controversial book. Najm’s talented writing skills have been greatly sought after by many prestigious companies and individuals for a variety of writing jobs. He can be contacted via e-mail: mario.najm@yahoo.co.uk

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Finding Love Through Feng Shui

Feng Shui at Work

Unfortunately, too many “Feng Shui Consultants” believe that the perfect approach to take in order to attract love and happy relationships is to adjust the living environment by re-placing images of Lone Figures with pictures and paintings of happy couples, by creating cosy seating arrangements, by removing televisions out of bedrooms. My favourite advise is the one which says to down-size from a king size bed to a queen size bed. By analysing some of the advice it is very obvious, these so-called “Feng Shui professionals” all have one thing in common: This is called wishful thinking.

The art and science of Feng Shui is based on a complicated set of calculations based on the year of construction of a home, ones personal supporting directions, an exact 15 degree Compass reading as well as the individual floor plan we are dealing with. Replacing images of “lone figures” with “pictures of happy couples” will not do the trick. As we are only working with the Five Elements Earth, Water, Wood, Metal and Fire you can decide for yourself – Pictures do not belong to either one of the Five Elements! This could be very easily be compared to a PLACEBO. Placebos have a big impact on the subconscious, though should not be confused with the subject of Feng Shui.

Simply replacing images does not replace the need of a “Feng Shui Consultation” by an experienced “Feng Shui Consultant. A complete Feng Shui Reading will offer information if a home is good for people. If it is indeed “not so perfect for people” this could be one of the reasons why love is not as easy to achieve as one hopes for. This aspect plays an integral part which needs to be taken care of in order to be able to raise the chances of attract love.

Creating cosy seating arrangements are definitely an attractive interior design approach. Trying to make people believe and stating that single chairs send a message to prospective spouses to “Back Off” is a rather ridiculous statement. It has never crossed my mind before that anyone who has chairs situated in an angle to each other signals being ready for a relationship. Again, this also has nothing to do with the Feng Shui of a home.

Keeping television sets out of the bedroom is for sure a great idea since late night TV can indeed kill romance as well as magnetic interferences can stop you from having a rested good night sleep.

Downsizing from a King to a Queen bed also has nothing to do with Feng Shui. Many “Feng Shui Auditors” spread false information by giving advice that sleeping on an over-sized mattress does not promote intimacy, and instead by investing in a smaller, comfortable queen-sized bed it would easily help people to attract love and a good relationship. And as this explanation on Feng Shui remedies does not already offer enough irrational and false advice it is topped off by saying that if you simply can not make the change from a big king mattress to a small queen a person should also sleep on ‘patterned bed sheets’ in order to add some spice to their sex life. It is just out-right flabbergasting what kind of advice can be found on the internet and in most books. If sheets would have anything to do with the outcome of good sleep and good relationships in a bedroom the only thing we can suggest are the colours as they are related to the Five Elements Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal to be used in your bedroom after doing a “Feng Shui Audit” of your home.

Bio*: Michael Schnippering is Chief Executive Officer of Feng Shui at Work. Feng Shui at Work is an international company that provides Feng Shui Consultations worldwide.

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The Dreaded 2-5 Combo

The 2-5 or 5-2 combo is one of the more feared stars combination. Find out if it is really so fearful.

When Star 2 (aka Heavenly Doctor) is timely it signifies good health. It also signifies prosperity and wealth generate from property and land transactions. However when untimely it signify sickness.

When Star 5 is timely (during Period 5), it is beneficial and signifies high status and great wealth. However when untimely, it is highly inauspicious and signifies health problems, injuries, bankruptcy and even death.

In the current period 8, both star 2 and star 5 are not timely, their negative attribute surfaces and form a fearsome combination.

Star 2 represents the mother or oldest women in the household. Its element is earth and it also relates to the abdomen. When untimely it can bring illness especially to the women. Pregnant women especially (due to the abdomen) should be extra careful.

The general consensus is to avoid using the sector with the 2-5 stars combination for the main door, kitchen, bedrooms and other often used areas such as the living. Instead designate the sector/s for use as toilet or bath or as a store.

Both Star 2 and 5 are earth elements and a popular cure is to place metal in that sector to weaken the inauspicious earth energies. Earth produce metal and is weakened in the process.

The north west and west sectors (based on the Lou Shu) are associated with the metal element. Therefore if the 2-5 combo appears in the north west or west palaces, the negative characteristics of the 2-5 combo can be reduced by the Lou Shu elements of these sector. This is another example of metal weakening star 2 and 5.

Actually we should not be too fearful or paranoid of the the 2-5 combo. By itself it is not very harmful but when afflicted by external “Sha Qi” or agitators it can turn harmful. “Sha Qi” can be in the form of natural land form (e.g. rocky mountain) or man made structures (e.g. high tension cables or T junction). A good example of a agitator is a T junction directly in the from of the main door (or mouth of qi).

Nevertheless it is best to play it safe and avoid it wherever possible as ancient ancient text did suggest that the 5-2 and 2-5 combo can create widows and widowers!

While on the star 5, I would like to touch on the annual star 5. It depreciates the quality of the stars in any palace that it falls into. If possible you should avoid using that palace for important activities (e,g, bedroom) in that year.

More importantly you should avoid ground breaking or major renovation works in that sector. Violating it can result in life threatening events and financial losses.

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