I gave it some thought and felt like I should do something a bit more refreshing.
I usually shy away from commenting about what’s going on in the real world in my blog, taking a more philosophical and educational approach towards Chinese metaphysics as I felt it was what’s most needed. Most of my posts in the last 5 years were aimed at achieving this and I felt it was time to change things up a little. I could still reference my older posts in my newer ones to keep the educational aspect alive.
I’ve been wanting to demonstrate the relevancy of how Chinese metaphysics (BaZi, Zi Wei Dou Shu & Qi Men Dun Jia) and felt I should give it a bit more focus from now onwards before my blog becomes a bit too repetitive, always lamenting about how messy this field is, how many scams are out there and how people are approaching it wrongly. Most people aren’t going to take this field and what I do seriously, which is fine because this field I’m in isn’t supposed to be mainstream anyway. I’m happy just operating behind the scenes with the minority that has an affinity with this field.
I’m going to talk about WeWork and Softbank today. They are a bit too interesting not to talk about. I’ve been following the news on Softbank very closely because, after all, Softbank is one of the largest investors of Grab, my ex-employer. The next few years will be very interesting for these companies. Some trivia: I look at the charts of famous people whenever I’m taking a dump (because why waste time).
If you’ve been following the news on the tech world closely, you’ll know that Softbank’s investments have been under a lot of scrutiny lately, especially after WeWork’s massive failure with the shelved IPO and being on the verge of bankruptcy. One can’t help but wonder if the charts say something about these events.
It’s not always a good thing to be famous or well-known.
I’ve mentioned this in one of my older blog posts about how people are often biased in their perception of things.
A lot of us envy the people who are up there – those famous people getting a lot of media attention and whatnot. I’m not saying it’s always a bad thing. Fame has its perks but one must realize that it may severely backfire anytime.
We like to buy into the hype. If it’s famous and everyone’s talking about it – so it must be good. We often lose our ability to objectively look at things because of this, especially when you also don’t want to sound like the sour grape or odd one out and the real world out there tends to shape the narrative into something that suits vested interests.
Once in a while, we get an epic example like WeWork to remind us to look deeper and under the hood. The CEO of WeWork, Adam Neumann, is no doubt well-known but his fame has also made him the most notorious entrepreneur of late.
Let’s see what’s going on.
Could Softbank’s CEO have avoided this massive hiccup? Of course, he could.
I actually tried looking up WeWork CEO, Adam Neumann’s birthday some time back but couldn’t find it. For some reason, it’s on Wikipedia now and everything seems so clear now.
First and foremost, I do not have this birth time. I did hypothesize his birth time to be under 申时 (3pm to 5pm) based on what has been reported about him and the events in his life thus far, which puts in him under a star we call 破军 in Zi Wei Dou Shu. People under this star will always have a lot of changes going on in their lives and they are often entrepreneurial. Constant changes are of course tiring, and for someone under 破军 to constantly move up or progress will require quite a top-notch chart.
Adam Neumann also has 5 children who were taken into account when hypothesizing his birth time. He should have a lot of Earth elements that represent his children (官/Officer ‘God’ represents children for males), and indeed he does.
Now, let’s take a look:
Not much is known about Adam Neumann’s childhood other than he is severely dyslexic and his parents separated when he was 7. The first impression of his chart is that, yes, he definitely had a tough childhood, seeing that his BaZi chart is severely imbalanced with the Year and Month pillars both being harmful to him. His first two 10-year phases (大运) were not ideal as well – not entirely negative, but definitely a tumultuous one.
What stands out the most is that his chart structure is under 官杀混杂 which is a well-known BaZi chart structure considered to be very negative which must be remedied by encountering the right elements. 七杀 (7-Killings) is his most dominant ‘god’ in the chart, so no doubt he’s ambitious and will likely be the kind of person that’ll do whatever it takes to reach his aims – without boundaries.
Despite him being so well-known and all, Adam Neumann has got quite a crappy natal chart, it’s just that he’s finally moved into a positive phase now and for the first time in his life as well which gives his chart quality a huge uplift. You could consider WeWork to be Adam Neumann’s first major ‘success’ because this was the company that made him world-famous after all and will likely give him a windfall.
His only entered into his positive 10-year phase recently in 2015 which is his 甲子 10-year phase where the negative 官杀混杂 structure gets partially resolved and a 子申合水 (zi-shen Water combination) also forms, but bear in mind this phase also has 空亡 (Void Emptiness), so one cannot regard it as a truly supportive phase and the flaws so his chart will still trigger at some point and I think everyone can agree that it has.
He met his Masayoshi-son in 2016 which was 丙申 year which was considered a really good year for him because his chart needs Metal, and 2016 also saw another 子申合水 formed between his 10-year pillar (大运) and annual pillar (流年运) which is extremely beneficial for him as his chart will benefit from both Metal and Water which is why he met his big daddy who is going to make him rich. 2017 was also another exceptionally good year for Adam chart-wise because Metal was significantly strengthened by 申酉戌三会。
The element Adam Neumann needs the most is Metal, but he’ll only encounter a Metal 10-year phase when he is 2045. He’s in a Water phase right now which helps, but it’s not considered a true remedy to his chart.
Now, let’s take a look at Masayoshi-son’s chart.
My hypothesis is that he’s also born under 申时。Under this timing, the Zi Wei Dou Shu chart shows huge wealth inflows from his fourth and fifth 10-year phase which can be referenced back to the early days as an entrepreneur and his extremely successful investment in Alibaba. Out of the 12 possibilities for 11th August 1957, only this chart is worthy of the billionaire status.
Both his BaZi and Zi Wei Dou Shu natal chart quality is on a legendary level. Using Zi Wei Dou Shu: Not only is he born under 天梁 in a good position, but he also encounters beneficial stars like 禄存，文曲，右弼 and even has 三奇嘉会 where 禄，科，权 are all in his critical sectors. It is an extremely rare chart.
Using BaZi: He’s under 食神生财格 which is a BaZi chart structure that successful businessmen typically have, but of course, the conditions in the chart must be right in order for it to be a fully qualified 食神生财格 chart. His Elemental Phases (运) are superb as his 1st to 6th 10-year phases can all be considered supportive, with the peak being in 1998’s 癸卯 10-year phase as both Wood and Water start to come into play.
In case anyone didn’t hear me clearly: That’s not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but six freaking positive 10-year phases.
Although the year 2000 was when the dot-com bubble burst, Masa-son, arguably, was not affected at all. It’s reported that he lost $70 billion, but that was based on his overall networth determined by the stock prices going down because of market sentiments. It was just a paper loss that had no tangible impact on him. Bear in mind the best investment of his life happened during that period and that was Alibaba where he turned a USD$20million investment into USD$108 billion (yes, with a “B”) by 2018.
He is in his 7th 10-year phase which is 辛丑 and this is the first time he encounters a negative one, which is why one of the most successful investors in history is suddenly under a lot of negative limelight. The environment, as represented by your 10-year phase, has changed. Tech companies are no longer just about starting a website, developing an app and then scaling it, hoping it will become the next Alibaba. The more perceptive readers will realize there is also a 空亡 (Void Emptiness) in his 辛丑 10-year phase but it is not a qualified one, so we disregard it and we should expect this 10-year phase to be a negative one for him.
Could astrology and Chinese metaphysics have saved you billions of dollars?
I know all the people from the consulting or investment banking world will probably look at me, roll their eyes and think I’m a complete idiot because my existence makes a mockery of what they do sometimes. But yes, in my humble opinion, astrology really could save you billions.
Another trivia: There was once I jokingly told my boss, an ex-consultant, I don’t need data or numbers to forecast a business case because I read the future. I’ll leave what happened next to your imagination.
Anyway, let me sum up my thoughts:
On Masa-son’s chart
If I were Masa-son’s advisor, I would already be pointing out to him to look out for his 2018 辛丑 10-year phase. He’s probably not prepared for it because he has been ‘lucky’ his whole life so there would definitely be some form of bias or miscalculation on his part.
Secondly, as I always said, do not underestimate what a shift into a new 10-year phase can do to you. Most people, and even practitioners themselves, make the mistake taking this lightly.
But then again, for someone who has a very good natal chart and had six consecutive positive 10-year phases, this isn’t going to cripple him as his foundation is already very strong. He still has a chart and life that most of us can only dream about.
On Adam Neumann’s chart
People under 破军 can create, but this star is also known to destroy. Charts under 破军 are always volatile and are not highly regarded in the past because of their unstable nature. A peek into his past will reveal that he’s started and closed multiple businesses which is very typical of someone under 破军。Most of my clients under 破军 end up jumping from industry to industry and end up getting nowhere.
Adam Neumann is the perfect example of how people under 破军 can quickly undermine their own success. Pick up any book on Zi Wei Dou Shu and they will describe 破军 this way. Also, if you want me to be perfectly honest, someone under 官杀混杂 is bound to have some sort of character flaw which Adam Neumann reportedly has.
Adam’s chart paints a positive note because he’s in a good 10-year phase now, but Masa-son’s chart doesn’t, which is why Adam will reportedly walk away from the whole debacle a much wealthier man at the expense of Masa-son. That being said, I don’t think this money has been paid out yet and it may not end up being this sum.
To trust someone under 官杀混杂 with a few billion dollars is a huge risk and I cannot emphasize enough how negative 官杀混杂 is. Personally, I will never work with someone with a chart like this. Furthermore, the so-called remedy to this negative structure is not a fully qualified one, so he’s sort of like a ticking time bomb. Not everyone with a tough start to life eventually ends up like Jack Ma. Some end up developing a messiah complex.
A few words on the practical application of astrology and Chinese metaphysics.
One thing that I must make clear is that when certain things have already been set in motion, you cannot expect astrology or metaphysics to come in and magically turn everything around. Everything is a process and practitioners are mere observers of this process and we see things with a very different lens.
There is a reason why I constantly ask people to look at every 10-year phase and every year as interconnected. Just because you have one positive 10-year phase doesn’t mean you’ll be the next Masa-son. He has six consecutive positive 10-year phases with an extremely good natal chart and I think people fail to realize just how rare that is. It is not something most of us will get to appreciate, because we are not that fortunate to have that kind of chart. His chart is really on another level.
If you have 6 consecutive negative 10-year phases and you just moved into a positive one, don’t expect to be a billionaire. You can’t expect a rotting plant at the end of its life cycle to suddenly bear fruits and it’s the same for our lives because our charts are a reflection of nature’s laws.
To have avoided this whole mess, Masa-son would have needed to tell Adam Neumann to sod off and maybe fornicate himself in 2016 and get his money elsewhere, and bear in mind this was before Masa-son’s 10-year phase (大运) shifted into a negative one. The signs usually start to show up a few years prior to the official shift, and his Masa-son’s case, the shift happened during Metal and Earth years from 2016 to 2018 (丙申，丁酉 and 午戌) which were not good for him.
If Masa-son ever granted me an audience and I told him “Hey, I think your investment is going to fail” after he already put in billions, he’ll probably ask me what the hell am I doing there, call my boss, and get my boss to drag my sorry Taiwanese-backside back to the Grab office to slog for him.
In case you didn’t know, part of the reason why I decided to leave Grab was also because of what I saw in everyone’s chart, including my own. I love the company by the way, just that I felt it was the right time to go.
What I think will happen next to WeWork and Softbank
2021 is meant to be a tough year for both Adam Neumann and Masa-son, especially Masa-son, so I do foresee some form of conflict going on because their charts paint a similar story. That $1.7 billion that is meant to be paid out to Adam Neumann probably won’t happen so quickly – such deals don’t get signs so quickly and I suspect the media is hyping it up a little too.
2021 is 辛丑 year made up of Yin Metal and Earth. Adam Neumann’s 官杀混杂 is made up of Earth and is the biggest issue in his chart. There will also be a 子丑合 which removes Water and strengthens Earth which triggers all the flaws in Adam’s chart. Masa-son’s weak Yin Wood Daymaster also does not welcome Earth, and 2021 also has Yin Metal 七杀 appearing. On top of that, he’ll also encounter 伏吟 (fu yin) which makes things worse.
If you generated Masa-son’s Zi Wei Dou Shu chart for 2021, there are a lot of severe clashes in his important sectors, with his 大运父母宫 (10-Year Parents)， 大运疾厄宫 (10-Year Health) and 流年事业宫 (2020 Career) being the weakest. Not that his parents and health will have any issues. Remember that one sector in a Zi Wei Dou Shu chart can represent many other things. When 父母 and 疾厄 are looked at together, we call it the 父疾线 which is also known as the 光明线 which governs one’s reputation and social standing. These two sectors can also represent legal issues. 父母宫 is often used to assess the returns on your investments too.
I would say both parties will be equally harmed. Adam Neumann will probably not walk away with as much money he thought he’d get, whereas Masa-son will have to recognize the losses in his books and get hell from shareholders.
The next highlight for Masa-son will be Grab’s IPO which needs to happen before 2023 (this is public knowledge by now so don’t sue me). Assuming that I’ve got Masa-son’s birth time correct, my opinion is that Grab’s IPO will go smoothly and it will list unlike WeWork’s shelved IPO, but it will still not yield good returns in within that year and there are clear signs of this in the charts. To expect another investment miracle is not possible in my opinion.
Masa-son will re-enter into a positive 10-year phase in 2028, making it his 7th positive 10-year phase. Ridiculous good fortune.
***
Feel free to screenshot this in case anyone wants to hold me to my word and worries that I’ll come back to edit this when 2021 and 2023 comes. Let’s see what happens.
(Read this in a cheeky tone) Lastly, should anyone wish to hire me as an advisor, feel free to reach out? I might just be able to save you billions. I can wait till 2021. 😛
– Sean
Or perhaps, he is simply a crook.