The Feng Shui Institute
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The origins of Chinese astrology were believed to be passed down from the Sumerian and Babylonian cultures to the Chinese almost 5 000 years ago. To put this in perspective, this was over 2000 years before the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza and the "Golden Age" of Greek philosophy, where most of the western constellations got their names.

Chinese astrology is also used in Feng Shui together with magnetism to see how time and space affects people and buildings. As such, Chinese astrology can be used to map our internal landscape, e.g. our personal chemistry to see how we react in our own environment over any given period of time. Let us look in particular at how Chinese Astrology evolved, to what is widely believed to be the most accurate form of horoscope in the world.

Chinese astrology was originally known as Five House or Five Planet Chinese astrology. It was based on the five major planets in our Solar system namely Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. Later the Sun and Moon were added to make "7 stars" and this provided the foundation for what is known as the 28 Lunar Mansions. This method provided an extremely accurate horoscope for society as a whole, but it was not suitable for individuals. So two new Chinese astrology systems were developed, one based on the Solar calendar called Ba Zi or Four Pillars of Destiny, the other based on the Lunar calendar was called Zi Wei Dou Shu or Purple Emperor.

The 10 Heavenly Stems

Chinese astrology was believed to have begun in 2697 BC when the Yellow Emperor decreed that the years should be counted in a cycle of 60 "Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches". The 10 Heavenly stems represented heavens chi and "providence". They were arranged according to the 5 elements and subdivided into yang and yin polarities. Here is the sequence beginning with yang wood (Jia) yin wood (Yi) yang fire (Bing) yin fire (Ding) yang earth (Wu) yin earth (Ji) yang metal (Geng) yin metal (Xin) yang water (Ren) and finally yin water (Gui).

The 12 Earthly Branches

The earthly branches represented earth chi, meaning nature or destiny. These are also arranged according to the 5 elements, yin yang polarities and follow the four seasons. They comprise the Chinese zodiac signs of Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. They show the rise and fall of chi throughout a year. Because there are 12 zodiac signs and 12 months, each sign is fixed, also the Chinese use double hours, so the hours are always the same too. This means that if you were born in a certain month or hour you would have the zodiac sign for that time period within your horoscope. The table below shows these periods.

Colour coded according to seasonal elements: Black = Winter, Green = Spring, Red = Summer and Autumn = Grey.

As you can see above, both Heavenly stems and Earthly branches are subdivided into yin and yang. When a stem is partnered with a branch this forms a pillar and this is also classified into yin and yang. A yang stem can only be partnered with a yang branch and a yin stem must go with a yin branch. So, the Heavenly stems can form 5 yang pillars or 5 yin. Multiplying this with the number of earthly branches produces 60 different variants or a sexagenarian cycle.

In about 104 BC this sexagesimal cycle was also used to count the months. Xu Zi Ping (Song Dynasty 960-1279 AD), applied this cycle to count the days and hours and produced an extremely accurate Chinese horoscope for individuals and so the Four Pillars of Destiny were born.

The Four Pillars of Destiny

The Four Pillars of Destiny (see example below) are produced by pairing a Heavenly stem and an Earthly branch together to form a pillar, e.g. the year 2005 has the Yin Wood Heavenly stem and the Earthly branch of Rooster, so 2005 is known as a yin Wood Rooster year. So if you know anyone who was born this year, their year pillar would be a Wood Rooster. You may well know your own Chinese zodiac sign for your year of birth. However, most people are unaware that they also have a stem and branch for the month, day and hour they were born, making 4 pillars in total. Xu Zi Ping found by using the day pillar as the focal point of the chart he could produce much more accurate horoscopes. This information allows a Feng Shui practitioner or consultant to understand your personal energy (chemistry) to see how it compares with the energy of your own home or business. By using subtle cures they can create an ambience that is perfect for you, your family or staff.

The chart below is for Galileo born 15/2/1564. You can see that he has a huge amount of fire in his chart and this must have inspired him to make his discoveries. Why not see how it compares to your chart with a free Chinese horoscope?.

You can order a professional reading and have up to 8 personal questions answered for just £144. ORDER NOW!

The next system of Chinese astrology to look at is Zi Wei Dou Shu or "Purple Emperor" It is based on the Lunar calendar. Consisting of up to 144 stars and 12 palaces each of which represents a different aspect of life. This is John Lennons' chart.

A Brief Synopsis

The location of his "Emperor star" and "Deputy star" is in the "Brothers palace". The Emperor denotes his major direction in his life. The deputy is an able assistant and means working very closely with someone that appears as a brother, hence the legendary union between Lennon and MacCartney. To the left of this palace is the "Life palace" which contains the stars "Intellect, Intelligence and Angel 1". Its significance is one of teaching and educating people through communication. The result of this, was the profound lyrics contained within his music about the way life ought to be. Had his Emperor star been in this palace, he could have achieved it on his own. The stars to the right of the Emperor in the Marriage palace are "Wedding, Fiery and Mercy" The wedding star appearing in the marriage palace means that he will marry at least twice. The Fiery star although unlucky in nature together with the Mercy star made him determined to find his soul mate the second time around. Opposite his Emperor is the "Friends palace" with his Flirting star. This made him extremely popular, particularly with his female audience and maybe accounts for the initial hysteria that greeted his earlier public appearances.

The most striking significance of John Lennons chart is that although he brought joy to millions, his own "Happiness palace" was empty. This palace is opposite his Wealth palace and connected to Travel and Marriage palaces. These influences governed his life between 1965 and 1974. The result of this was that realising that wealth did not bring happiness, he got married, with no great success, he also traveled to India to see the guru. He taught him that his happiness would come from the joy and education of others. This was a major turning point in Johns life and upon his return to the UK, he split with the Beatles and started his solo career producing such legendary classics as "Imagine" and "Give peace a chance". He also married Yoko Ono during this period. His next life period was 1975 - 1984 being under the influence of the Property and the Wicked star, the Health and Brothers palaces with the Calamity and his Emperor stars. At the time of his death, these stars were activated by yearly and monthly influences, the result of which was that he was tragically assassinated outside his New York Home.

There is much more that we could say about this chart, but due to space constraints and being discreet we prefer to just supply this brief outline. However should you choose to have a life reading yourself, then rest assured we will clearly show you the way ahead. Full Zi Wei life reading £275.00 ORDER NOW!