Everyone is talking about Feng Shui Period 9 right now. I get it. It is perhaps the most significant celestial and astrological event of 2024. Or is it really 2024? The situation we’re dealing with right now is as though someone gave birth but forgot she had a baby – because does Feng Shui Period 9 really start in 2024?
If you’re a practitioner who happens to be reading this page, I rather you sod off. This post isn’t for you because talking to you is like watching an eggroll oxidise on my crack, especially if you want to insist you already know enough because you took some courses out there conducted in English. You also develop the gall to presume you know enough as someone unable to read Chinese and the source material. Even if you did take some courses conducted in Chinese, do you really think it’s enough? Seriously, you never liked me in the first place, so why are you even here?
I will start this post by saying that this will be an incensed one because it intends to set things straight and for me to vocalise a few things I’ve been repressing. I’ve never been this livid. These are topics which I’ve spoken about before, but I wish to touch on them again because it’s relevant to bring them up now to show everyone just how far we’ve strayed and how messed up the Chinese metaphysics and Feng Shui industry is.
You guys will have to bear with me because I’ve never been so pissed off in my career, and I cannot help it. Because everywhere I go, every social media app I’m on, people are talking about Feng Shui Period 9 like they are sent down by the Heavens like they know what they are talking about, as though their lineage imbued them with some special insight when everyone is just repeating what’s on the Internet.
It is even more infuriating that they are using Feng Shui Period 9 as part of their marketing campaign! To do what? Sell you more useless items that cost $5 to manufacture, but they’re selling you at $688 while telling you it will help you get the best from Feng Shui Period 9. I’m sorry – that’s not happening. Some of these items even go out to the hundreds of thousands, and some people get deluded into purchasing these useless items and even go into debt doing so. May I also remind everyone that I exist in an industry where a Feng Shui practitioner is so shameless that this person created a page of “11 best bidet sprays” for the sake of internet traffic, hoping that someone will Google for a bidet spray and then suddenly want to do a Feng Shui audit? Where the hell is your dignity?
The Trigger And ‘Inspiration’ For This Post
Nothing inspires me to write more than tedious imbeciles that make me question why humans even bothered to evolve brains but not use them. It’s as though I’ve been taunted to write this post, and I think I will have a stroke if I don’t let things out as a form of relief.
First Trigger:
I had a Feng Shui audit recently. This client has been following me for years, but for some Heaven-forsaken reason, she still had the audacity to wear this in front of me for some reason. This Yang Earth 戊土 necklace is the ugliest piece of metaphorical faecal matter I’ve seen in my life. It even costs $320. What makes things even more laughable is that the practitioner’s wife sold this, and she did a completely wrong BaZi reading for her, and Yang Earth happened to be her worst element. Not that it matters because it’s just a necklace with no magic powers. The mistake was made because my client’s chart falls under a Follower Chart (从格), so the “Useful God” changes, and you do not simply strengthen a Daymaster under this special category.
This person has been following me for over five years, and she still does this. Everyone always questions why I have so little faith in others and their ability to transcend their charts. This is why.
Second trigger:
Let’s call this person “Hugh Jass”. I have a friend who works in a tech company, and he mentioned that his colleague does astrology as well, and this colleague is Hugh Jass. I know of Hugh Jass because I saw him on a practitioner’s website before. One day, Hugh Jass recognised me at my co-coworking space and came up to say “hi”. Turns out, he was actually a client of mine way back in 2016, but I forgot he existed. It’s funny because, for a brief period, I wondered who this prolific moron is churning nonsense content about Death Emptiness (空亡) on YouTube when we’ve actually crossed paths with each other. Hugh Jass spent close to $100,000 to study Chinese metaphysics, only to work for the same practitioner he studied from and for free. Amazing ROI. I asked him about the inner workings of these Chinese metaphysics companies. It was interesting to hear it first-hand, but nothing that I didn’t already know. He’s now practising Western astrology – because of Chinese illiteracy. You should have started with Western astrology in the first place.
And no, if you’re seeing this, I’m not interested in being friends. Don’t even say “hi” to me. I just needed your hand. Thank you.
Third Trigger:
I will leave this here and let you come to your own conclusions about why I am livid. A client sent this to me, and I don’t want to know or guess who this practitioner is. People usually send me stuff but will check whether I wish to see them because they know it’ll trigger me, and I tell them to remove anything that can identify the practitioner because I really don’t want to know. I hope everyone understands why I say there are a lot of spiritual narcissists and mentally ill people in my industry, and one ‘sovereign’ woman even went to jail recently.
It’s not just the above list. Seeing every article or reel on Period 9 done by some intern and how they package a sales campaign with Period 9 doesn’t sit well with me. People and practitioners repeat the same thing blindly, over and over again, without fully understanding or questioning it.
Going Into The History & Theory Of Feng Shui
2023 has been an interesting year, and I suppose I have Saturn to thank for it because it’s supposed to give me an upgrade by posing some challenges and discomfort and a much-needed wake-up call to be better.. My knowledge of the technicals behind BaZi and Feng Shui has improved vastly, and I have several factors and people to thank for it, which I will talk about another time.
To set expectations clear first, this post will not reveal everything in my head. Firstly, it’s not possible. I will need to segment everything into different blog posts. Secondly, even if I had all the time in the world, I refuse to share what I know so openly. You can call me “selfish” – I don’t care. I’m sick of other ‘practitioners’ copying me and passing off the knowledge like they’re the ones who put in the hard work or research when they are the ones selling your Feng Shui items, Pi Xiu bracelets, or jerking off to their Feng Shui certificates. I lost count of the times my ideas were copied, copywriting blatantly plagiarised, and my logo was stolen. I don’t want to keep calling them out constantly and turn this blog into something else.
Feng Shui Period 9, which is supposed to start in 2024, is already here since 2020, and I want to discuss it again. The purpose of this post is to tell you what Flying Stars are and aren’t and relook at the issue of the starting date of the Feng Shui Period now.
I will not be able to talk about Feng Shui history in its entirety because I’m only talking about Flying Stars and its relation to Feng Shui Period 9 and not other schools of Feng Shui. I’ll have to leave that for another post. The purpose of this post is to present things in a more didactic manner so that you can see why I am utterly pissed off with the industry.
The Atrocities In The Feng Shui Industry
Everyone should know by now I think very little of my industry despite being part of it. I am very proud of what I do, but I cannot help but be ashamed that it’s in such a state. My mission has always been to make it better and get people to approach this subject properly and think critically. The layman won’t know just how bastardized this field has become. If you want to continue thinking that items and colours will change your life, be prepared for the consequences. It’s your life, not mine. It’s none of my business that you wish to stay mediocre.
I no longer want to touch on Feng Sui items, Pi Xiu bracelets, or jadeite mountains and whatnot. All you need to know is that they don’t work. I’ve spoken about them enough and even brought in the Buddhist philosophy of Śūnyatā. If you still don’t get it, pray for a sharper mind in your next reincarnation.
Talking about all this is not about wanting to be famous or having the whole pie to myself. Having the whole pie means I need to serve Category 4 dickwads, which I don’t want to do. A tiny slice of shepherd’s pie is good enough for me – I don’t need a whole pie stuffed with s***. I love that other practitioners take them away from me. As for fame, you can piss off if you think I chase it. You would have seen me giving annual zodiac forecasts by now if that was my aim. I enjoy my own company, and unless I’m absolutely bored out of my mind, I wouldn’t say I like talking to other people unless they are fascinating to talk to or we can vibe very well together. Unless you’re someone I call a friend, I don’t want to hear about your spouse cheating on you – because it is not my problem. I can only tell you that your chart explains why. I also don’t want to hear how many times you had a one-night stand and the person didn’t want to marry you – seriously, don’t you have better things to do than catch an STD?
I’ve said this before, but my dream is to serve a bunch of elites and be on a retainer. As politically incorrect as that sounds, my time and energy are limited, and I want to live my life in peace and really have no time and mood for Category 4 people who don’t want to help themselves. Come on, you wouldn’t want to spend time with them, too, and I’m not judging you about it. As for the masses, my way of serving the masses is through this blog.
It’s very hard to explain to you or let you feel the intensity of how I feel towards my industry and how big of a cesspool it is. Most people cannot feel this intensity because they cannot distinguish right and wrong in my industry, but I can.
I will be the first to admit that I abhor talking to other ‘practitioners’. This will make me sound arrogant, and I don’t say this from an egocentric place, but I have nothing to learn from them knowledge-wise. Nothing. What do you expect me to learn from people touting Feng Shui items, haven’t touched the source material, or saying pieces of paper will change your life? The only thing I learned from them is a reminder of why I chose my path and made it a point to do things a certain way. Because if a non-Chinese speaking person or someone who didn’t touch the source material knows more than I do, then something is wrong.
It’s not just in Feng Shui – but in BaZi and Chinese astrology in general. The standards are baffling and horrid. It makes me want to puke. “Oh, a clash with the Tai Sui is bad!” Sod off. You don’t even know what the Tai Sui is.
Let’s take BaZi, for example. Till today, some practitioners still don’t know why we need to use Solar Time. Some know, but because their empire has been built on the belief that “Using Solar Time is not necessary. Go with what feels right.”, it’s too late for them to admit they are wrong and for them to embarrass themselves in front of their followers who have been using the wrong approach for the past decade. Some claim they know adjusting for Solar Time is needed but go on to pluck something out of their ass, saying that “Solar Time is required because we are in different GMT timezones.” As sexy and pseudo-intellectual as that sounds because complexity sells better, it’s the wrong way to interpret what Solar Time is. Try harder, or maybe the universe will send you a sign someday – which the message better be you’re cognitively impaired.
It’s unfortunate that the progenitor of sloppy standards of Chinese metaphysics standards is from the Chinese-speaking side of the world itself. The consolation is that there are still some people who know the roots of it, and no, I’m not referring to myself, although I am trying very hard to get there. The only credit I’ll give myself is that I bother seeking out these people. What is even more unfortunate is that these sloppy standards spread to the West, but not in the name of wanting to proliferate the wisdom of the Chinese sages. No, oh no. Let’s be honest here and tear down the veil: The main reason why Chinese metaphysics and astrology spread to the West (Europe, Americas) is that they are such a bloody good cash cow. You can teach them superficial stuff, and they get wet thinking they have privileged access to some ancient secret to a good life because they took lessons from some grey-haired Asian man. Who doesn’t want that sweet USD, GBP, or Euro?
This is also not about cultural appropriation. Given our current xenophobic state of the world, I am the last person who wants to throw this term around. If someone from the West wants to wear a traditional Chinese costume, I am cool with it. Wear it with pride because you’re genuinely curious about Chinese culture. I wore the Bhutanese gho when I was in Bhutan, and I was very humbled I was allowed to wear it. If people want to do the whole Chinese have small eyes thing, I am also copacetically fine. I mean, we do have small eyes. Have you seen my motherf***ing eyes? Here you go:
If I hold an eggplant or cucumber in front of an African person or make a gesture that he has a huge dick, am I being racist? It feels more like I’m showing admiration. I mean, these are our physical traits, and I am happy and maybe a little jealous that you can give someone a concussion with your salami. An African dick is probably equivalent to ten Asian ones, and if my eyes are half the size of another race’s, what the hell is wrong with that? I sometimes don’t get the woke world and what people are trying to get at. I’m proud of my small eyes as much as an African guy can be proud of his gargantuan gonads and supreme schlong. Personally, I’d like to think my small eyes make people take me seriously.
Before this post turns into something else, I’m happy people wish to explore my culture and its history. I completely get the allure of mythicism in esoteric fields. It was what got me started, too. But what I cannot stand is the person who doesn’t give it the due deference it deserves and parades him or herself like you’re some saint or doing this just because you see this as a business opportunity because you’re too useless to do something else. I’m not going to fault anyone for being unable to read Chinese and study straight for the source material, but the least you can do is try and find English sources to make up for this gap and have some self-respect instead of living like a lie. But no, there will always be that practitioner who took some course conducted by someone on the stage or some old fella who looks like a child molester, and they decide to hang the label of “Feng Shui master” or “BaZi master” on themselves and make a living repeating the same garbage they were taught.
You cannot wait to make that dough or feel important about yourself, could you?
The Ancient Chinese & The South-Pointing Compass
Using one reductively simple example, let me demonstrate why the standards in Feng Shui are heinous and why I refuse to engage with most practitioners. It doesn’t matter whether they’re practitioners from the region or the West because most practitioners in the West learned from some dingus in the East anyway.
I’ve been a lot more vocal recently because of the buzz around Feng Shui Period 9, and some practitioners in the West who follow me (and I decided not to block) developed the gall to ‘engage’ me because, suddenly, they are hearing different things from what they’ve learned! They usually wouldn’t dare because they know I don’t think very highly of them, and the truth is, I don’t. I’m probably also more blunt than your average Dutch person.
I was chatting with one of them and posed a test or two. Of course, I would. I wanted to see for myself what the standards are like out there and what people were being taught. I asked, “Do you know why the Chinese compass has South at the top?” In case you didn’t realise, the Chinese call the compass 指南针 and not 指北针。南 is South.
The answer I got was mind-numbing, and this was someone who learned from someone with the title of “Grandmaster” given by a meaningless institution for circle-jerking Chinese metaphysics enthusiasts.
This European practitioner shared that the “Grandmaster” taught her that the South is at the top of the Chinese compass because Fire rises to the top and Water drains to the bottom. This is the kind of explanation you give when your five-year-old asks, “Where do babies come from?”. You have no choice but to tell them it’s the bird and the bees, or some flying elephant probably dropped them off at the window, when the process is much more carnal.
I’m really glad this person with the title “Grandmaster” discovered gravity. I do. Isaac Newton would be so proud. But I have to be honest and say that the answer sounds like someone on the border of dementia gave it.
Do Europeans think that water levitates and defies the laws of gravity because they use a North-pointing compass?
Let’s apply logic. The above statement does not make sense because if we were to look at the planet Earth, the North as we know it is at the top of the globe or the North Hemisphere. If we go with this perspective, is water flowing down? Or is it flowing upwards towards the North, where the North Pole is? The response given by this “Grandmaster” is actually a red herring. Don’t get distracted because the debate here is not about where water flows – we don’t need dementia to know gravity pulls things downwards, right? Does gravity not pull Metal or Wood downwards, too? The Grandmaster’s response does not answer why the ancient Chinese used a South-facing compass. He might as well say, “Water is at the bottom of the 9 Grid Square because of gravity!” and return home to jerk off in front of his “Grandmaster” certificate. If we go by this warped logic, Europe and the USA will not have trees because Metal represents the West. Then comes the question, “Is Europe West enough? Or is the USA the true West?” Go West enough, and you’re back in the East! Oh, how convoluted Feng Shui is!
Think about it. If going West enough brings you back to the East, then are we perceiving space and time the way we are supposed to in the first place?
It’s not that I enjoy being rude to elders – although I have to say it can be quite fun to put them in their place sometimes. If someone is 30 years old and is an idiot and chooses to stay an idiot, this person will remain an idiot even at 60. People reach the pinnacle of their Category 4ness at that age. In an ideal world, wisdom and experience come with age, but it’s not always a given. I know a title can be nice, and it’s a hallmark of our achievements and recognition, but it really doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.
I was very blunt with this European practitioner, and I told her I had nothing to learn from her other than perhaps what a traditional Romanian meal involves. It’s also not that I enjoy putting people or other practitioners down. You went for a course, and you call yourself a “practitioner”, “consultant”, or “master”, and you take other people’s hard-earned money – it is your job to know what you’re doing instead of expecting me to spoonfeed you.
There is a very simple reason why the ancient Chinese used a South-pointing compass, and you don’t even understand this. Where do you even find the gall to call yourself a practitioner or a grandmaster? Sorry, but I’m not going to answer this because it is unthinkable that I have to point this out to other people in the industry.
Revisiting The Debate On The Starting Year For Period 9
I wrote about the topic of the actual starting year of Feng Shui Period 9 a long time ago. It’s time to add more, especially after more research and ruminating on this topic.
Feng Shui had standards back in those days before the Cultural Revolution, and there was rigour. I approached this topic in the spirit of wanting to uphold the rigour and knowledge of what was passed down, and not that I wanted to challenge our ancestors and sages for the sake of it.
Let’s revisit a few key things about the Feng Shui Period:
- There are nine Periods in total. Each Period is 20 years. A super-cycle is 180 years.
- The 180 Years is divided into three major cycles lasting 60 years each.
- Twenty years is a mini-cycle, and it’s the talk of the town now because we’re supposedly shifting into a new mini-cycle also known as Period 9.
There are a few questions I would like to pose before we move on:
- Does anyone not question why it’s 180 years and sub-divided into 3×60 years?
- Does anyone not question why a mini cycle is 20 years?
- Does anyone not question why the year which kicked up our current super-cycle was 1864?
The above are very superficial questions if you think about it. The deeper questions are these:
- How does a year feel like, and how do you measure it? How would you know twenty years have passed?
- How was the calendar developed? Are we able to measure cycles in whole years forever?
Why the hell would you hang the label of “practitioner” or “Feng Shui consultant” on yourself so proudly when you go into astrology or Feng Shui without any interest in how the calendar was developed or how the reckoning of time was done?
We know how a year feels like because the calendar has already been invented for us for millennia. But even the average modern-day educated person won’t know that our Gregorian calendar will eventually regress and need adjustments and recalibration. If even our Gregorian calendar needs adjustments, don’t you think our perception of Feng Shui Period 9 must also adapt?
You were raised to think that time-keeping is easy because it has already been done for you, but the truth is time-keeping is complex.
It is incredibly naive and intellectually slothful to think that cycles are measured in whole years and will stay that way forever. Our calendars are developed to adjust for these celestial events, and our calendars would present things in whole years, but the real timekeeper is the cosmos – not man-made calendars. We adapt to the cosmos; the cosmos doesn’t adapt to us. It is impossible for a “cycle” to be 20 or 180 years exact forever.
It’s a tad ironic that everything in Chinese metaphysics originated from Yi Jing (易经) or the Book of Change, but for some reason, modern-day practitioners are not embracing the spirit of change.
Feng Shui theory will need a very rigorous update, and this can only be done by visiting the roots and foundations of how it was even developed. The sad thing about Chinese astrology is that these pools of knowledge aren’t very well documented or compiled for our convenience, but I can say that it’s still out there. Thankfully, Western astrology has preserved the knowledge really well, and my practice in Chinese metaphysics and Chinese astrology has benefitted a lot from Western astrology.
Why Was 1864 Significant In Flying Star Feng Shui?
1864 was a significant year for Flying Star Feng Shui because it was the starting point of our current super-cycle. 1864 was chosen because of a very special celestial event – because all five planets lined up. I hinted about this in my original Feng Shui Period 9 blog post, but I don’t know who bothered to Google it. Oh gawd, I can already list the practitioners who will eventually copy this and put it on their TikTok.
Some websites said it was on 5th March in 1864, but you need to remember the geographical position you were in would affect this date a little, although it doesn’t matter for our discussion here. It has been 159 years since, and if you are telling me Saturn and Jupiter line up exactly every 20 years, you need to go back to elementary school.
Seriously, now, to all the lazy prick practitioners out there who learned from some grey-haired grandmaster: You are so proud to put on the label of “Feng Shui Master & Consultant”, but did you bother to find out why 1864 was the starting point of the current 180 super-cycle? No, you didn’t. You happily signed up for some seminar conducted in English, and one day, you decided you could do Feng Shui magic when you knew and still know nothing.
I don’t talk to practitioners from the West because most of them disgust me, and I am called arrogant for defending my ancestor’s knowledge while acknowledging I know very little, whereas others parade themselves like they’ve inherited some secret from a grey-haired old man with a creepy smile and both teacher and student have never once touched the source material.
Keep this 1864 starting point in mind because I will swing back to it later.
The Starting Year Of Feng Shui Period 9
Everyone says that Feng Shui Period 9 starts in 2024 since each mini-cycle is 20 years. Sure, if you know basic arithmetic, that’s mathematically sound and basically common sense.
I don’t believe or feel that Period 9 starts in 2024. To me, it started in December 2020 when Jupiter and Saturn had their Grand Conjunction. The 20-year mini-cycle that everyone loved babbling about is twenty years because it is based on the Jupiter and Saturn conjunction cycle. Still, we must remember their conjunction will never be exactly 20 years. Jupiter takes 11.86 Earth years to orbit the Sun; Saturn takes 29.4 Earth years. If we round up these numbers, let’s assume Jupiter takes 12 Earth years and Saturn takes 30 Earth years – the common denominator is 60. Now, do you see why the major cycle is 60 years then?
As for the 180-year super-cycle, there is an argument that this is how long it takes for Uranus and Neptune to be conjunct, but the fact is these two planets were never part of Chinese astrology. I’ve spoken to some historians about it, and I’ve also tried reading up online. Uranus and Neptune are irrelevant to our discussion here.
Be that as it may, the truth is things will regress. Seriously now. If the Gregorian calendar regresses and needs adjustment, the Chinese method of reckoning time will definitely need to as well. It is undeniable that all calendars and systems of time-keeping will need recalibration at some point. In the context of learning Feng Shui, we cannot round things up for our convenience; we cannot assume cycles are always in whole years, and we need to remember the instruments of measurement were not as precise back in 1864.
Now, I know what some defensive practitioners might say in defence, and they’ll likely go, “But Sean, the start of a 20-year cycle has to start on a Yang Wood 甲木 year! These are facts!” Do you know why I like to throw shade at people who don’t know what critical thinking is? It’s precisely because of statements like this.
Most of the practitioners who will use this as a defence, as intellectual and spiritual as it makes them sound, don’t actually know what on Earth Yang Wood 甲木 is. To them, they will tell me, “It represents a tree.” These people probably have more value if they were an actual tree rather than a human being. If you don’t even know where Yang Wood is in space and where it’s supposed to mark, you have no right to bring this up to me as an argument. The Heavenly Stems are called “Heavenly” because they represent a certain point in the cosmos – somewhere in space, marked and measured by a celestial phenomenon. By this, you will know that even the position of Yang Wood isn’t fixed and may need adjustments. This worries me because it means the BaZi calculators I rely on might eventually need adjustments, which I’ve been trying to explore recently.
The assumptions of a Feng Shui Period are these:
- The assumption is that a Feng Shui period’s start must be on a Yang Wood 甲木 year.
- A Feng Shui Period starts when Jupiter and Saturn conjunct because of their supposed 20-year cycle.
I hypothesise that a Feng Shui period is based on Jupiter and Saturn’s conjunction, which in Western astrology is a significant event that marks the start of a new era.
The two so-called axioms above now present a dilemma because they contradict each other. Because Jupiter and Saturn conjunct in December 2020. The vital question it poses is whether 2020 should be designated as 甲 year, making 2020 a 甲子 year, or should we ignore the Annual Pillars (流年) in totality because we need not measure Feng Shui cycles using the Heavenly Stems and Earth Branches anymore. Let’s go back to the 1860s. In that century, Jupiter and Saturn conjunct in 1861, but Period 1 started in 1864, deemed a 甲子 year. Even the starting point of Period 1 already posed some discrepancies.
The key to our dilemma here is addressing whether a new Feng Shui Period absolutely has to start during a Yang Wood 甲木 year. Some people, especially other practitioners, will probably think I’m trying too hard to spin something off to make myself look legitimate.
This is where I put you in your place and humiliate you like the sloppy, unintellectual pissant you are.
In that ancient era when 太乙神术， which is the very first Chinese astrological forecasting technique that is now lost in time, there were not one, not two, but three different ways of interpreting what the starting point, marked by a 甲子 year, is. This act of finding the starting point is called 太乙积年 in Chinese astrology, and all four Pillars will be deemed 甲子。 This “starting point” marker shifts throughout time, and determining the “starting point” depends on a celestial phenomenon. Before 1864, which we all know is the starting point of Feng Shui Period 1, there was a record of 724 A.D. being a starting 甲子 year. The most recent 甲子 year was 1984, 7×180 years from Year 724. Do the math yourself, and you will realise that 1864 isn’t involved in the 7×180 years. Both years 724 and 1864 were 甲子 years, but why was 1864 designated Period 1? We already know the answer.
By the above, I am trying to say that a 甲子 year, or sexagenary cycle, doesn’t count for much in measuring cycles in the long run. The sexagenary system works for smaller cycles but not more extensive ones that measure a larger time spectrum.
Imagine this: You can see the 60-year sexagenary cycle somewhat like a ‘weekly calendar’. However, this’ weekly calendar’ doesn’t count for much if it doesn’t exist within a larger, more comprehensive calendar that can measure months or years. What is the point of telling you which day of the week today is if I don’t tell you what season it is? And if you can’t tell the seasons back then, you’d be dead.
The reckoning of time is taking different cycles and putting them together so that we know what it looks or feels like.
I think people forget one thing. The 60 Pillars we use are but 60 Pillars. It is a system but imperfect because it mainly involves three planets – Earth, the Sun, and Jupiter – not the rest of the planets. There is a reason why dates were recorded by putting in the “reign period” and then the Pillar back in feudal China. For example, dates will be recorded as “Song Dynasty, [One Pillar In The Sexagenary Cycle]”.
I’ll also need to remind you that Chinese astrology does involve other planets like Mercury, Venus, Mars, and even Rahu and Ketu. You won’t know because they aren’t used in BaZi or Zi Wei Dou Shu, and no one practices them anymore this ancient form of Chinese astrology anymore.
Don’t believe me? Check this out:
For those who are supposed to be able to read Chinese but can’t (yes, you Singaporeans): 罗喉 is Rahu; 水星 is Mercury. The most ancient forms of Chinese astrology involve the 28 Lunar Mansions, which allows for measuring even bigger cycles, and we call it「二十八星宿占星学」。
As much as I wish I had the time to master all these ancient techniques, I don’t have that luxury. But what would be interesting is to see where the parallels are between ancient Chinese astrological techniques that use the planets and modern-day Western astrology.
My professional opinion is this: I would remove the Pillars and the hypothesis that each Period has to start on a Yang Wood year because 甲子 is now a moving goal-post. In our age of being able to measure the movement of the planets with precision, the 60 Pillars, on its own, isn’t enough. It’s not that the 60 Pillars are completely irrelevant to Chinese metaphysics because we’ll still need them for BaZi, but we need to reestablish the 60 Pillar’s relevancy in the bigger picture.
And yes, in case you were wondering, I finally found out exactly what the 10 Heavenly Stems represent and which point in the sky they’re in, thanks to the help of some historians and astronomers I’ve had the privilege of speaking with.
Is The Next The Starting Point Of Period 1 2044?
Suppose the start of a Period is because of the five planets aligning – and it is because 1864 was selected as Period 1’s starting point – we can assume that the next Period 1 would be when the five planets align again. We know that will happen in 2040 thanks to our precise astronomical instruments. Please note the five planets do not include Uranus and Neptune. They specifically refer to Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Now, for our sloppy AF, intellectually disabled practitioners who are jerking off to your certificates granting you the title of “master” and “grandmaster” and posing with that sweet Luo Pan of yours with so much pride, 2040 seems rather close to 2044, innit? The original year where our next Period 1 is supposed to kick off was 2044 if we follow our outdated Feng Shui textbooks blindly, but now, you have to question if it’s really 2044 or 2040, just like how you need to question if Feng Shui Period 9 started in Dec’2020, or 2024.
You will need to make a decision here. Do you want to be hung up by the fact that a Feng Shui Period has to start on a Yang Wood 甲木 year, a system that is incomplete because it only involves three planets (Earth, Sun, and Jupiter), or do you want to look at the whole celestial map properly here and think critically for a change?
If Period 9 Started in December 2020 – Did Something Change?
Do you live at the bottom of the well? Or are you trying to fit the idea that Period 9 starts in 2024 into your own narrative? Entering into a new era brings about a torrent of changes. Any form of astrology will tell you that.
Do I need to remind everyone that in 2020:
- We were in the middle of a pandemic where not only our work environment changed but our attitude towards work as well.
- Did we not see technology progress, especially in Artificial Intelligence like ChatGPT, and progress in energy in the form of electric vehicles, batteries, etc.?
- Did we not see the fall of empires and structures because Period 9’s 离 Fire opposes 乾 Metal, representing authority?
- Did we not see crypto-currency become a thing? It’s price swings aside, it will always remain a thing.
Simply put, did we not experience a profound level of change? 2023 moving into 2024 feels a tad uneventful and boring to be marked as celestially significant. Saturn is already in Pisces, and Jupiter is in Taurus. We’ve already been in a new era for a while.
The bottom line is this: If you think change will only come in 2024, you really need to have your head checked. You’re trying too hard to fit the narrative to 2024 because where have you been living in the past 2 to 3 years?
The Western equivalent of Period 9, at least timeline-wise, is the Age of Aquarius. Interestingly, from the Northern Hemisphere, Aquarius appears in the southern sky, south of the equator. We all know the civilizations that came up with Western and Chinese astrology were in the Northern Hemisphere. The Trigram 离 associated with Period 9 also represents the South. This isn’t a coincidence. Vedic astrology labels Aquarius as being in the West because common sense will tell you India is in the South hemisphere, so we cannot use Vedic astrology to compare.
The 9 Palaces Are Not the 8 Trigrams
The common Chinese term we use is 九宫八卦。九宫 are your 9 Palaces, which we hear so often in Flying Star Feng Shui. 八卦 are your 8 Trigrams. Again and categorically, I state that these two things are not the same. If they were the same thing, then common sense tells you there wouldn’t be a need for two separate terms.
Your 9 Palaces are also not “8 Trigrams + The Center”. To the pathetic practitioners: Don’t pull things out of your ass if you don’t understand it.
One thing you can do is to stack these two together and say that they coincide and relate to each other, but they are not the same thing.
The people outside of my industry are not guilty of this because you don’t need to know this. But if anyone in my industry doesn’t know the difference between the 9 Palaces and 8 Trigrams, all I can say is they really didn’t bother with the history and astronomy. You have so, so much pride in your work.
The 8 Trigrams and the 9 Palaces measure completely different things, and if you don’t know, well, at least you have your “Grandmaster” title.
Feng Shui Flying Stars & The 9 Palaces
There is such a huge buzz whenever a new Feng Shui period is here because the “Flying Stars” supposedly change positions, and everyone’s ‘luck’ changes. Everyone wants to tap into this ‘good luck’ and benefit from it. On the surface level, yes, this is what happens. But please allow me to add some logic and sense.
First of all, unless your mother dropped you head first as a baby, we know stars don’t ‘fly’ or move magically every year or twenty years, alright? The stars seem to move because the Earth is spinning. That much I think we can all agree on.
Second, the stars we use in Feng Shui are the 9 Stars from the Big Dipper or Ursa Major. Two stars are now invisible, and they are your 左辅右弼 stars, which are also called 洞明星 and 隐元星。 Now, it’s called a Big Dipper because it looks like this:
Then comes the 9 Palaces that the 9 Stars are supposed to ‘fly’ into. This is usually presented as a 9-grid square or a circle divided into nine segments, like this:
Now, unless you injected some questionable substances into your veins or you’re one of those special-need people who claim they are born with some special power, you know the stars in your Big Dipper will not fit into those squares and segments. Also, no one ever questions what the Mountain Stars (山星) and Water Stars (水星) are when talking about Flying Stars.
We are in Period 9, which is 九紫右弼。 It’s one of the invisible stars. Suppose I’m an idiot (like other practitioners who studied with questionable grey-haired people with dementia) and take the Big Dipper, and I put Star 9 into the centre. It’s going to look like this:
I’m sorry but also not sorry for my dark humour, but did your mother not just drop you – but also try to drown you as a baby?
I don’t care how you orientate the image of the Big Dipper – because Star 9 is in the middle, and that’s what grey-haired Feng Shui Grandmasters taught you, and this is how most morons apply it. Common sense tells you there is no way the stars will fit in those nine squares like that.
Again, do people not question these things? Let me bring in some common sense again. Stars don’t dart around magical squares, but the Earth spins. So, what exactly are we measuring and perceiving?
Now, I posed really simple, basic questions to debunk these myths and misconceptions on my Instagram page. I’ll repeat them here:
Everyone would have heard of the deadly Yellow Star 5 (五黄廉贞星) in Feng Shui. It’s also called 玉衡 or Alioth. This star has a reputation for being a very inauspicious star, but not always. Unbeknownst to most Feng Shui hobbyists, the effects of each star differ from each Feng Shui period.
No star stays auspicious or inauspicious forever. It’s just that we don’t live long enough to witness these effects. We happen to be in a period where Star 5 is considered inauspicious.
The stars supposedly ‘fly’ into different sectors approximately every twenty years.
Period 9’s Star 5 will be in the North sector. Has anybody wondered why, though? Period 8’s Star 5 was in the Southwest, whereas Period 7’s was in the East.
Let me introduce some really basic theory:
Period 9 is 离 Fire; 离 is South. Where does the South oppose? North.
Period 8 is 艮 Earth; 艮 is Northeast. It opposes Southwest.
Period 7 is 兑 Metal; 兑 is West. It opposes East.
Period 1 坎 Water; 坎 is North. It opposes South, and if you check Period 1’s configurations, you’ll see Star 5 is indeed in the South.
You can verify the above for yourself via Google.
What does the above tell us? If your mind is capable of critical thinking, it tells us that Star 5 is a fixed point in the sky. There is a reason why Star 5’s original position is in the middle, and why you will see the ‘He Tu’ (河图) and ‘Luo Shu’ (洛书) with those five circles in the middle, and why the magic square we use in Feng Shui and the 8 Trigrams as such:
This also begs the question. When we talk about the Flying Stars in Feng Shui – are we literally referring to the star we see in the Big Dipper? Or something else?
Supreme Idiocy In Feng Shui & A Complete Misapplication
Here comes the prime example of the idiocy of Feng Shui Masters. Take a look:
Bear in mind this is in the context of Feng Shui Period 9. There exist imbeciles who think the 9 Palaces are simply a stencil for them to slap anywhere they want on a map. What bloody simpletons. Some people even forget that the top-middle Palace represents the South for the Chinese compass, and they superimpose the compass’s South part onto the map’s Northern Hemisphere. Superimposing the 9 Grid square can be done on floor plans of houses because that is a different application of Feng Shui, and it’s at a very micro-level, but you do not assume the same is done for the world map or planet Earth. People think it’s OK to do this on the world map because most people start learning Feng Shui and how it’s applied to their home, but they don’t question the source or understand where this practice comes from.
I don’t understand. Why are people slapping a stencil-like 2D image onto something that is not 2D? The world map is a 2D image, but is Earth 2D? Really, how stupid do you need to be to make such a presumption?
People don’t realise just how complex the astronomy behind Feng Shui can be here because, so far, I’m just talking about the 20-year cycle. There is even the Annual Flying Stars we can consider, but I won’t go there for now.
I hope people understand why I say the standards in my industry are atrocious and why I don’t like speaking to other practitioners if they can even be called practitioners.
Only One Part Of The World Will Truly Benefit From Period 9
Do I need to remind all the cognitively impaired practitioners that Feng Shui was invented in China? The observations, calculations, and whatever else you find in Feng Shui are based on China’s geographical position. It’s the same logic as why Aquarius is South to Western astrology but West to Vedic astrology.
Each Feng Shui Period will see a different star being in command (当旺), and the Star in command will be the most auspicious one. Which star being in command will also change the state, and auspiciousness, and inauspiciousness of other stars. For example, in Feng Shui period 9, Star 8 is weakening and not as auspicious as before, whereas Star 1 is strengthening. This is nothing but an expression of the changing states of ‘qi’ as the Periods change.
We assume that this magical period we call Period 9 will apply to the world. May I remind you that when Feng Shui was developed, China didn’t care about whether the Stars would benefit other parts of the globe. The idea that Period 9 will suddenly send some magical energy to the globe is preposterous. If so, why do we even need to divide space-time into nine segments?
Yes, Feng Shui Period 9 will bring about specific positive effects, but only a certain longitudinal segment of the world will benefit from Star 9’s benefits. Yes, it’s China, and you will agree that China has never been this powerful, and no country can ignore them now.
Think about it. There are 9 Palaces for a reason: to segment space-time. Why bother coming up with 9 Palaces if all we’re going to say is, “The whole world will benefit from Period 9 or Star 9.” The nonsense being taught is that Star 9 will send magical positive vibrations to the entire world. Will wartorn countries benefit or feel the effects of Star 9? Will the rest of the world grow as fast as China? You know they won’t. You are also being sold the idea you get a chance to make a fortune just because of whatever Period 9 represents and that it has arrived, and I need to be the voice of reason here and remind you that your BaZi and astrological charts will always bind you.
I’ve posted this as a quiz before. There is a saying 「太乙行九宫」。 太乙 refers to the Polaris star, which we know is not supposed to move, but how does it move into the 9 Palaces as suggested by the words 「行九宫」then? I’ve been dropping hints for many years, but no – you, the practitioner with the certificate you’re jerking off to, did not bother to find out.
Where Are The Sources Of Flying Star Feng Shui?
These days, people get their knowledge of Flying Stars from the book 《沈氏玄空学》written during the Qing dynasty, or mostly via some lesson conducted by a grey-haired old man with dementia. Most modern-day hobbyists and ‘practitioners’ only study from this one book (if they can even read Chinese). You will be mistaken if you think this is the crucial Flying Star Feng Shui reference. This book covers the application of Flying Stars, but it does not touch on astronomy, and what happens every year is that people just regurgitate what’s from this book without understanding it. The author of this book probably already knows its astronomy and only penned down the application.
The astronomy behind Feng Shui and Chinese astrology are found in books before the Qing dynasty. If you know your Chinese history a little, the Qing dynasty marked the last of the Chinese emperors and then came the Cultural Revolution, where many scholars died. The Qing dynasty ran from 1644 to 1911, so you can imagine how ancient the books that touch on the astronomy of Chinese metaphysics are. The foundational theory of Feng Shui and everything Chinese metaphysical is found in the classics of much earlier dynasties, such as《黄帝内经》， also known as the “Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor”, which was written somewhere between the Warring States period (战国 from 476 BC to 221 BC) and Qin (秦 221–206 BC), Han dynasty (汉 202 BC – 9 AD). There is also 《太乙神数》， which is even more ancient, stemming from 2070 BC, and no one practices or teaches it anymore because this technique is pure astronomy and is lost in time.
Where Does Feng Shui & Chinese Astrology Go From Here?
Frankly, I don’t know. What I do know is that we need a serious revamp, and we probably also need help from other forms of astrology. Chinese astrology has always had help from other forms of astrology. Many Indians worked in China during the Tang dynasty, which is why you see a renaissance for astrology in China during the Song dynasty (yes, because Song came after Tang).
First, let’s mourn the fact that knowledge of Chinese astrology and Feng Shui were not passed down properly, no thanks to the Cultural Revolution. These events are sometimes deemed fated events that countries have to go through. Let’s also mourn the fact that spiritual narcissists and mentally ill people who think they have special powers plague my industry.
Second, for the Chinese metaphysics enthusiasts: There is nothing else I can do but implore you to exercise some critical thinking and be a bit more curious about not just the world. And if you’re of Chinese descent, please have a bit more pride in your culture and heritage and not just blindly follow what you see online. There is a lot to be proud of.
All is not lost. Modern-day astronomy and our ability to track planetary movements can still help us figure out what’s going on, but we need to step into the shoes of the Chinese sages and figure out what they were thinking and how they were measuring things and, at the same time, look at whether some of these formulas need some update.
May I also take this chance to introduce axial precession to people outside my industry and the morons in my industry but shouldn’t? Some practitioners don’t even know what axial precession is, and they are in a role that deals with cosmology. You have no idea how much things will change over time. Yep! We will have winter in Singapore someday! And just for your knowledge, axial precession was discovered in China in 336 AD (they weren’t the only ones, though). That’s how ridiculously remarkable our ancestors were to be able to observe this phenomenon with no technology in those days.
Do you know what’s the even more amazing thing? The Chinese metaphysics techniques we use today have already accounted for this because our ancestors have made the required adjustments as far back as the Zhou (周) dynasty.
Calculations will need to be updated at some point. Thankfully, I won’t live long enough to go through the trouble because f*** me if I have to reincarnate and return to an industry filled with useless low-lives jerking off to their certificates.
Giving Thanks To My Teachers
I self-studied everything. People find it hard to believe. I sometimes find it hard to believe, too.
I am fortunate to be effectively bilingual because I am originally Taiwanese. I grew up with Chinese books and in a Chinese-speaking environment. I may not be able to speak Chinese as well as a mainland Chinese can, but I can certainly read Chinese with zero issues. I’ve read the works of some practitioners, but they are not the ones you hear of these days or find on the 1st page of Google because you should know by now I think they’re garbage.
The books I read are from the 80s, written in Chinese, where the sentence goes from top-down instead of left to right. However, these books from the 80s are mainly on the application because no one will write a book on the calculations and expect it to sell. Like myself, they don’t bother advertising or throwing themselves in front of the media. We know the virtues of a quiet life focused on honing our craft and maximising our time. I’m lucky to be born in an era that has the internet, and I can reach more people than any practitioner in the past could.
I’ve been fortunate because I’ve received help. I had teachers, but my teachers are not other practitioners because I exist in an era where everyone is teaching watered-down s***. Friends introduced me to scholars who are historians, astronomers, geologists and whatnot. Some of my friends are historians and astronomers themselves. Much of what they’ve learned is relevant to me, just that their focus is on the subject’s history and development. I started with the application and philosophy, which I am no longer satisfied with. I want to know more. My most meaningful conversations are with historians, astronomers, and academics – not the clowns who took some watered-down course.
My point is I did get help, and I’m grateful that these people could see what I was trying to do and were willing to help me. I’m also going to give myself some credit that my trip to Bhutan earlier this year inspired me to read up on Tibetan and Buddhist astrology because monks there are probably the best astrologers you can find on the planet. Their pursuit of this esoteric knowledge is not clouded by monetary gains. You might be surprised that Hindu and Kalachakra calendars also use the 60-year cycle system, and there are a lot of parallels, especially when Tibetan astrology is a mix of Chinese and Vedic astrology. Perhaps I will write about them one day.
We have more resources than these monks. We ought to be better.
I can guarantee you no one in my industry likes me, but like I care. My responsibility is to my ancestors, the Chinese sages, and those who pay me for my services. I can’t give two s***s about Feng Shui organizations and their certificates when they can only host events so everyone can jerk each other off when the event feels more like a self-help group for people with erectile dysfunctions. I also don’t care how old or how much grey hair the teacher you learned from has, and I also don’t care if your father is a grandmaster and you took over. If all sons were meant to be like their fathers, I wouldn’t have met so many Category 4 prodigal sons in my lifetime.
I hate that my industry is in such a mess, and the sloppy filth spreads like cancer. One Chinese fella goes to Europe to teach ten students and give them certificates. The next moment, these ten students are giving out their own certificates to 10 more students, and we suddenly have 100 dips***s prancing around like clowns.
I know how I come across, and I always get called arrogant. You really don’t need to point out something I already know. But I’ve said this before. We live in a world where not being arrogant means you must be incompetent or not go against what’s wrong when what’s right is clear. Most practitioners don’t know anything about the history and theory and don’t bother figuring it out. Yet, they have the audacity to call me arrogant, as though they already know it all when they tell people floor-mats can change lives and soft toys can bring calamity. It’s funny. The only thing other practitioners can try to pick on is that I self-studied as though I’m some scam or charlatan, and they are the ones who love declaring it’s their dream to help others while trying so hard to run a sales campaign for their Feng Shui products. Try harder.
Other practitioners chide me for not wanting to share what I know, but seriously, why should I? Especially when you lie, you behave as though Heavens speaks through you, your main focus is selling items, and you’re downright lazy. You live in a world where you can make a killing by spouting bulls***, selling items to stupid people, and thinking Feng Shui is just about furniture and fluffy pep-talk about good energy. Let’s not kid each other here – you were never interested in the source in the first place. You’re doing this because you’re not good at anything else. Sell your items, get your signs from the universe, and get out of my face.
The longer I am in this field, the more I realise I know nothing. Yet, I operate in an industry where practitioners seem to behave like they already know everything. These people didn’t even touch the source material or bother to learn about what I discussed here.
Am I the bad person here causing trouble? Perhaps I should join in, make a killing, buy myself a bungalow, start a cult and make people serve me tea, and perhaps launder some money with those five to six-figure Feng Shui items. Do you think the fine art industry is the only avenue for money laundering? You need to get out and see the world more. It’s no wonder my industry has such a bad reputation.
If you think Feng Shui and Chinese metaphysics are nothing but a coaching-like rah-rah session, please go for a normal coaching session with Tony Robins. If you think Feng Shui is just about colour and furniture, go and be an interior designer and stop trying to package it with Chinese metaphysics. If you think using Chinese metaphysics as a means of packaging whatever you wish to sell should be condoned, perhaps that’s cultural appropriation. Don’t cloud your judgement with a pretentious, emotional high because that’s the last thing you need when your brain already lacks critical thinking.
The astronomy behind Feng Shui and Chinese astrology isn’t difficult – people just don’t bother. It’s not the job of people outside my industry to figure it out, but it is for those in my industry, and I don’t understand why they can’t be bothered. I have nothing against people from the West trying to pick up Feng Shui, and it’s not about cultural appropriation, but I beseech you to have some modicum of decency and stop insulting my ancestors and stop being so presumptuous to think that you know what you’re talking about when you really don’t. You need not be offended; the person you need to be angry at isn’t me. This was never about you and nothing personal. You’re as important to me as a cherry pit on a rubbish heap. Get angry with whoever you took your lessons from, and you can continue living a lie like you’ve always been. As for the Chinese practitioners who are supposed to uphold what our ancestors passed down – I’ll leave it to Heavens to deal with you.
Don’t worry. You. Complete. Me. I need you to take away Category 4 clients from me. You are the Yin to my Yang. Thank you.
My f***ing blood pressure.
– Sean
