What is I Ching Astrology?

I Ching Astrology is the most ancient astrological system. Over 5,000 years old, it shares the same heritage and philosophy as the I Ching, the world’s oldest book.

As ancient as it is, it is simple to use. You can easily find out:

• About yourself and the others in your life
• How best to spend your time and direct your energy in any given month or year
• The most advantageous places to be in

Deeply rooted in nature, I Ching Astrology was once known as the farmers’ almanac. Its signs are named after the elements, the seasons and other imagery from the natural world. Scientists are convinced the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching anticipated the genetic code.

It’s amazing influence further extends into the digital age, the father of computer code Gotfried Leibnitz developed the binary system from his study of the I Ching.

Without it, almost unbelievably, you would not be reading this on your computer screen today.

Now with I Ching Astrology, you can start to decode the significance of your Birth Star and your life as it unfolds.

To discover your Birth Star, use our Star Finder to the right

To see what 2010 has in store for you, click here

For a deeper understanding of how each I Ching Astrology profile has three component Stars: Birth, Inner and Outer, and how they travel through a set pattern of Houses throughout the year. And also how the elements relate to you particular Star and what is in store for you in 2010, please click on the

Star Sign Selector

Star Sign Selector

For more about any Star Sign, click on the Trigram below. If you don't know your's or your friend's or family member's, click here to find it.

Feng Shui numerology

“Nothing we learn in this world is ever wasted.”

The Chinese are very superstitious when it comes to numbers, they choose telephone numbers, house number, business numbers, car number plates and anything that has numbers in very carefully.

Every month we get to visit many homes and businesses on consultations and it amazes us as how far our clients take Feng Shui almost to paranoia, which is not good. If you have bad numbers do not worry about it, as I will show you how to eliminate the inauspicious effects.

A little story to begin with, last Friday night I was parked outside the cinema waiting to pick up my two boys and as much as I hate to admit it I was listening to BBC radio 4. I know you always think of the Archers or such like and this is what my Grandma used to listen too, they have some great debates on some nights.

Anyway this program was about superstition, and one of the interviewers was saying how she was not superstitious but had spent the last 30 years saluting magpies or never walking under ladders or the cracks of pavements. Well numbers and Feng Shui, are more superstitious Chinese folklore than anything else, do I take it seriously? Yes and no, if I found the perfect Feng Shui house with a good facing direction and it was good for my family but the house number was number 4, I would still buy it although I have to admit I would use the counter measures listed below.

The main reason these numbers are considered unlucky is because the way the numbers sounds when spoken especially to the Cantonese. An example in western numbers would be the #11 could sound like heaven or #8 sounds like weight or #1 sounds like son, do you see what I mean? So if you have an unlucky #4 and you are from a country other than China. Think of #4 as sounding like “more” which is great.

Numbers considered unlucky:

#4 (Sei) the worst number, why? Because in Cantonese when spoken sounds like the word death. #13 because if you add 1=3 = 4 as above. #24 #104 are also considered unlucky

Numbers considered lucky

8, 18, 28, 38, 48, 54, 68, 80, 84, 88, 99, 168 & 108 are all good numbers, the reason #8 is so lucky is because if you say the word (patt) it sounds like “faat” which means “prosperity & abundance”

There are many other numbers I have read about that are considered unlucky in my opinion this is “cannon fodder” and just written about to fill books, if you think about it you could go on for ages, #4 when spoken in English sounds like door, more, store, bore, jaw, paw and “SAW” which out of all of these sounds the worst

The cure:

If you own a home or business with a 4 or 13 is to draw a circle around the number, seriously it is that simple. The circle is extremely powerful and encloses the inauspicious effects of a negative number. So if you have a house number 4, a cheap way of curing is to go outside and draw a circle around your number or if you have time and money pop down to your local hardware store and find one of those ceramic door numbers that you can customise with a circle around the number, all this time you were worrying about nothing.

How seriously do we take numbers? I would be over the moon if we found the perfect house with great flying stars and it was #8 or 88, but I would not be put off buying it if it were #4 or 13, I would use the cure as above though or change it to a house name like “rose cottage” etc.

Michael has a car number plate with #88 in it; our fax number has three #8’s our telephone # has double nine, so yes we are superstitious a little but not paranoid about it and using the countermeasures above negate the problem, so please do not waste any energy worrying if your house number is 4 or 13, remember in many European countries #13 is very lucky and in Xuan Kong flying star #4 is a romance star. Also remember how far do you take it, both Michael and I were born in the forth month April, could this be bad? If you divide 8 by 2 it equals 4, you can play with numbers all you like and make them work good or bad.

Are beams really as harmful as people make out in Feng Shui?

I visited an old client a while ago who had just bought an old barn in the middle of nowhere to covert into a business and home. My first impression was wow, when I arrived it was beautiful, the views were stunning and the barn which is around 3000 square feet with two acres of land has so much potential along with hundreds of ceiling and wall beams, overall this barn was perfect in my eyes and from a Feng Shui point of view also pretty good. This was a big project for the both of us but I am always enthusiastic about this type of work.

On every consultation I go to, I always make sure that I take many photos so that I can build an electronic library to use when I speak to clients in the future. It also helps me when I am writing their report up, as sometimes you cannot see the woods for the trees and looking at the photos later may show up some points that I will address with the client in the report. Anyway, I was taking these photos thinking how great this place was and will be and thought of a great article for you all.

I receive an emails every week asking about the negative effects of beams as someone has read in a book or a website that if they sleep, work, eat or sit under a beam their head will fall off in the next six months; the last bit was slightly exaggerated but not that far off.

If I had read that 25 years ago I suppose, I would have panicked aswell but nowadays I have thousands of clients who have hundreds of beams in their home and they live very happy, healthy and wealthy lives. If you look at the photo below that I took a while ago, you will see some great examples. Think about the people you may know who have beams; all those large country homes with beams that would hold up a skyscraper, they really are not that bad.

The books and websites usually need something to fill the pages and they do tend to exaggerate problems, which is not fair in my opinion as it worries so many people. I have had people crying over the phone with worry that their child has been sleeping under a beam and they may have caused them misfortune or caused them to be bullied at school or similar trauma.

Let me tell you what is good and what is not good…

If you look at photo #1 and #3 below you will see a large beam that I have marked with a red arrow, these types of beam you should avoid sleeping, working or even just sitting under, this will cause you problems and it is like sleeping under a guillotine. Photo #2 is the more common beam, these are fine to sleep under and I have hundreds of clients who sleep under these and it causes them no problems at all, just avoid big intense low beams, it is common sense really.

I have visited so many homes where they had a Feng Shui Practitioner come along and advise the client to paint the beams the same colour as the wall which is normally a ceiling standard white colour, I don’t know about you but the attraction of beams to me is the fact that they are a dark or wood colour standing out from the ceiling, I think they look lovely and add character to the building, if they are in a modern home they do not have the same affect for me but we all have different tastes.

It is far more important to sleep, work and sit in a good magnetic compass direction which is calculated from your personal Min Gua (life Trigram). This is one of the reasons why we produced our Feng Shui software so people can instantly calculate their best four directions, colours, elements and so much more; this is real traditional Feng Shui not the Mickey Mouse Feng Shui that is so often written about. I will be doing an article on good and bad directions very soon or if you are impatient have a look at our software that calculates this and many many other valuable formulas for good Feng Shui.

I find myself continually looking at land formations and buildings; I was in a coffee shop in Bicester (UK) a few weeks ago called “Pret a manger” apparently they are a large chain, I am not sure if this was standard décor for them but this place was kitted out in great big shiny stainless steel beams and large old style ventilation pipes the types that most Feng Shui books and websites would be spitting blood over, this coffee shop was packed though and the quality of food and coffee was pretty good too, but if they had read the Feng Shui books about this type of décor they would have had condemned this business and according to my son Daniel they are extremely successful.

Try to think of all the homes you know with beams, they normally belong to manor style homes with fairly wealthy owners, how many old English successful pubs with beams? How many successful businesses do you know with beams all over the place? If you really think about it, they cannot be that bad, just think carefully where you would place your bed, chair or desk, do not let it sit right under a large heavy beam and if you are not sure about where you are sitting, sleeping etc hang a pair of bamboo flutes or crystal spheres to weaken some of the negative energy, it will not be the perfect cure but it will help.

If you are an author of a book or website and you have written about beams in a negative way please do not write to me condemning me with a “who do you think you are” type attitude, I have heard it all before and will not reply unless you can convince me of a case where you can prove it has caused a problem, believe me I have been proved wrong before, I only write what I think is true based on results I have personally experienced and can account for.

The reason for this article is so you do not get worried about small things as the power of the mind is exceptionally powerful and if you have something in your mind that is negative you can make small things grow into very large monsters.

How do the doors in my home affect my Feng Shui???

Feng shui is not all about placing Buddha’s, three legged Toads and making your home or office look like the inside of a Chinese restaurant (unless of course you are a Chinese restaurant). You need to concentrate on the Feng Shui essentials that are so often overlooked. The main entrance door is perhaps one of the most important areas of a home or office; it is where all of the qi (ch’i) enters the building and the quality of the qi is dependant on the quality of the door area, hall and driveway.

It does not get any worse than this…… i hope!

Qi (energy) enters the building through the doors and windows in your home or office. However, the front door of your house is where the major bulk of Qi enters and therefore this door plays an important role in determining the quality of Feng Shui experienced by the household or office. The location of your main entrance door within the house is extremely important.

Most homes have two main doors; the most used one would be the door that all your post comes through and all your guests enter and leave through (front door) and the other, which could be a garage, kitchen or side door. This is usually the favoured door chosen by the occupants due to the convenience of its position.

How serious do we take all this information? I teach Feng Shui to hundreds of Feng Shui Practitioners and students from all over the world. There are times when I do not always practice what I preach, but believe me when it comes to doorways, halls, driveways etc my home and business will always be kept spotless. The doormats will be replaced as soon as they start to wear, Doors, frame, paintwork and the area around door outside is cleaned weekly, brass door furniture polished when needed, hinges oiled when needed, glass cleaned every few weeks.

The best way to look at this situation is by associating your door to your mouth; it is where the food (qi) enters the building and the cleaner the mouth (door) area the better the quality of nutrition entering the building.

The problem with Feng Shui these days is that it has been romanticized with thousands of books and websites portraying it as a quick fix to all your problems by placing a Buddha statue, Mandarin Ducks or a three legged Toad here and there and low and behold, your dream date knocks on the door with a case full of money along with a miracle cure for eternal youth. I am sorry to disappoint you but if you placed your three legged Toad on top of all the dust in your hallway by the main door and you have not cleaned this area in a few months, do not expect anything great to happen, the energy of these symbolic cures and enhancers work with the environment they are placed in; so a nice clean area will synchronize better.

It really is no different to your body. If you smoke 40 cigarettes a day, drink 2-3 bottles of wine daily, eat junk food all the time; do not think by taking a vitamin C tablet daily that it will counteract all the damage these products will be doing to your body. Please do not think I am standing on a pedestal and making out I am whiter than white, I love good wine and because of my travels, I sometimes eat junk food but it is all done in balance and moderation. Do not take Feng Shui to the extreme, just get a good balance in the home or office and spend some time looking through our facebook page (which you can find the link to on the left hand side of this site) and all our extensive free resource on our website, there is some good advice here and you do not have to spend hundreds of pounds, it’s all free.

Some golden rules when it comes to main entrance doors:

1 ) Decide on which door to use and use this one door only. Having two main entry doors can often cause unnecessary squabbling and arguing amongst occupants. That is why it is important to just use one door to enter and leave, it is okay to use the other door if it leads to the garden and you want to access it or throw your rubbish away. If you live in a home that has two or more doors but you can only enter through the main front one as it could be terraced or semi-detached, it is fine to use all the doors as the main entering and leaving will only be through one door.

2 ) Make sure the size of the door is in proportion to the size of the property. If your front door is too big, opportunities will slip you by and if it is too small, it can cause disharmony within the household. If you feel your door is too big or small, hang a faceted crystal sphere on the inside of the door. In traditional Feng Shui there are auspicious measurements for doors and one of the reasons why we introduced auspicious dimensions in our new V3 Feng Shui software; this automatically tells you exactly what sizes are good and bad with preloaded doors, windows and other household furniture and fixtures. These auspicious measurements are used for doors, windows, desks, beds, furniture and every item you can think of and are taken very seriously is China and other eastern countries.

3 ) Strictly speaking, a solid front door is always preferable to a glass-panelled one. If you have a glass door do not worry, just hang muslin, voile or a similar cloth over the glass. Personally I prefer a glazed door as I prefer natural light so please do not concern yourself if you have a glazed door although you should really avoid glazed panelled doors like below as they represent a cutting energy.

The photo below was taken by myself a while ago in London and gives a superb example of how you should NOT keep your doorway; notice the shape of the caged type door and the wheelie bin beside the door and also right below a window and before you email me saying they probably did not have an option with the bin, they had many options and chose the easy route. The home actually tells even more stories which I will be publishing very soon. You can refer back to the wheelie bin article I wrote in the notes section for good placement of rubbish bins.

4) Ideally, a front door must be bigger than the back door encouraging Qi to enter through this aspect. If you have a larger rear door hang a crystal faceted sphere here.

5 ) I visit a lot of City properties all over the world and many of the homes I see keep their waste bins right beside the main door (see picture above) most because they have no choice. If you do have a choice please try and store it as far away from your door as possible, it might help to refer to the article I wrote on wheelie bins in the note section on our facebook page which you can find the link to on the left hand side of this site. If you think of it logically, it is obvious if you leave such a smelly and dirty bin beside your door the smell alone is not good so you can imagine what the quality of the energy is like. If you do not have a choice make the sure the bin is cleaned and disinfected every week. A Chinese belief is if you have your wealth area where you have a bin it will bring in stinky money (a Chinese saying for money that has been obtained illegally or immorally) and if you have your relationship area where you have your bin it will bring… you get the picture?

6 ) A front door needs to open inwards to allow beneficial Qi to enter. There is no cure for this one it must open inwards.

7 ) It is important that the front door opens easily without obstacles or difficulties. Broken door furniture must be replaced. Hinges should be oiled regularly. The front door must be well maintained and clean. Brass (metal) door furniture should be gleaming and paintwork or varnish should be in good condition.

8. Make certain that the name or number of your house is clearly visible by day and night in order to maintain harmonious relationships with callers.

9 ) The most vital thing to do is to make very certain that this door is not being hit by anything sharp or angled. This is what is considered ‘exterior poison arrows’. These structures can transform quality energy into a bad one and you would not want this transformation at your front door. If you feel you have poison arrows directed at your home place a Ba Gua mirror above the door.

10 ) Make sure the front door bell is easily located and works at all times. It should also have a nice ringing tone to it. I have stood waiting outside many front doors and had to use my mobile phone to call in as the doorbell was not working.

Warm wishes to you all.

Michael

ba gua mirror

I don’t quite know what to make of this story, but I have to say it’s an amusing tale that perhaps will encourage some of you to consider the effects of Feng Shui and luck in your day.

Having been advised by a horrified Feng Shui practising friend that ‘all his money was going down the drain’ William Hill client Jim kept his toilet seat down and his bathroom door firmly shut and has since been on an extraordinary year-long winning streak that most recently landed him a £175,933 online jackpot.

while I can’t say that everyone will win a big casino prize, perhaps it’s time to consider the effects of Feng Shui in your home, click here for the Fortune & Feng Shui 2010 Dragon

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Dorm Room Feng Shui
December 6th, 2009

Whether it is money troubles, self-image, relationships or making sure you pass that class, creating a new aura in the dorms can change it all. Katherine Olaksen’s “Dorm Room Feng Shui” gives tips on how to let the stress melt away like snowflakes during the St. Louis winter.

More Dorm Room Feng Shui here!

Year of the Tiger Bad For All?
November 14th, 2009

According to Singapore famous Feng Shou Master Tan Khoon Yong in facebook, in the Year of Tiger 2010, all of the 12 Chinese Zodiacs are not good, If not cautious enough, may land in lawsuits, also need to beware of health problems.

“In tiger year, Everybody’s is quite hot tempered and emotional impulse, easy to affront other people, some people possibly will get rid to fight with others, therefore, everybody may land in lawsuits.” Tan told the reporter.

A new look at combining western astrology and feng shui
October 16th, 2009

Those of you have have been following my feng shui writing for a while will know that I am a big fan of western astrology. I mean no disrespect to the Chinese system, it’s just that I’ve been using western astrology in my personal life for about thirty years now and it works for me and I’m sticking with it.

I’ve often wondered how western astrology could be more deeply coordinated with the western style of feng shui that I practice and write about. But, although I’m a highly experienced consultee, I am not a professional astrologer and simply don’t have the depth or breadth of expert knowledge to have explored that question on my own.

Which is why I was so thrilled to read this excellent article today that matches up the Houses of a person’s natal astrological chart with the ba gua, and discusses how to use this information along with new moon cycles for very powerful and effective feng shui rituals and/or remedy placement.

This is exciting new information, and I’m thrilled to have found it just in time to do some feng shui empowerment on the New Moon happening tomorrow, Oct. 17. (It’s a bit last-minute to be sharing this info with you here, but if you miss the October new moon, just start planning ahead for next month.)

The Oct. ‘09 new moon lands in the 9th house of my chart, which correlates to the “Knowledge/Wisdom” area — which in my home is to be where my office is located. As soon as I’ve finished this post I’m going to start preparing for the new moon by cleaning up my desk!

Do be aware that to use this method you will need:
1) a basic familiarity with western astrology and its symbols.
2) a copy of your “birth” or “natal” chart that defines the exact location (in degrees and minutes within a sign) of each house cusp.

Then, keep an eye on upcoming new moons. Look up the date and time (adjusted for your local time zone), and where that moon will be in what astrolocial sign. Here’s an example of an ephemeris (astrological calendar) page for November ‘09. I’ve enlarged the box that shows the lunar phases:

(most of the info on this page can be ignored if all you want to know is when/where the new moon is happening)

The Nov. ‘09 new moon (marked in red) happens on the 16th at 24 degrees 34 minutes Scorpio. What house is that in in your chart? Remember to adjust the time of the new moon for your local time zone.

If you don’t know enough about western astrology to work this out on your own, Simone Butler (author of the article) can prepare personalized info for you … or you can invest some time in reading up on the basics of western astrology. There’s a TON of information available on the web to get you started, including this overview. (Please do NOT email me with astrology questions, BTW: I will just send you back to this page to read this paragraph again.)

Stephanie R.

Fast Feng Shui is now on Facebook
October 6th, 2009

“Fast Feng Shui” is now on Facebook!
I invite you all to join our page there:
http://tiny.cc/FFSonFB

House Divided Into Duplex
September 14th, 2009

Q: I am looking at apartments, and saw one recently that I liked. The building was originally a one-family home, but has been converted into a duplex with two separate living spaces and two different addresses. What does this do to the ba gua for the house? If I take this apartment, will I be living in just one half of the ba gua? Or are there now two ba guas, one for each unit?

A: There are now two ba guas, one for each unit of the duplex. Conversion of older, larger homes into apartments is quite common. When this happens each individual unit has a new ba gua that applies just to that space. Placement of each apartment ba gua is now determined by the main entry to each apartment, not by the building entry (as it would have been for the original single-family home).

Five Effective Ways to Stage Your Home for Sale with Feng Shui
May 24th, 2009

Any edge in todayand#39;s real estate market is a good one, and feng shui provides some easy ways to invite a buyer into your home. If your home has been sitting stagnant on the market, now is the time to give it an energetic lift! Discover five ways you can use feng shui to properly stage and sell your home.

Energy/mood level and feng shui
May 8th, 2009

Q: Since a big part of feng shui is raising the energy levels of your living space, and since women’s energy levels regularly rise and fall with their monthly cycles, are there certain times of the month that are better or worse for practicing feng shui? I’m guessing that since hormones can have such a powerful affect on women’s moods, that must affect the power of their intentions too?

A: The best time for anyone, male or female, to do feng shui (i.e., move things around, place remedies/imagery, etc.) is when your energy is high, your mind is clear and undistracted, and your outlook is optimistic and enthusiastic. If your hormonal cycles, or a poor night’s sleep, or family/work stress, or whatever, put you physically or emotionally or mentally in a frazzled, low-energy state, it’s a good idea to wait until you feel “up to it” to implement feng shui changes.

Ba Gua Mirrors and Your Neighbors
April 10th, 2009

Two questions have come in asking if a ba gua mirror can be used inside an apartment or in an apartment house hallway, to deflect noise and/or “negative energy” coming from a neighbor’s unit.

The short answer is no: hoping that it will help with a bad-neighbor situation doesn’t negate the rule that a ba gua mirror should never be used in an interior space. That includes an apartment building hallway. The hallway is outside your apartment, but it’s inside the building, and it’s a space that you use on a daily basis. Be careful what you put there.

I believe that a ba gua mirror is only used appropriately as protection against inanimate sources of sha chi — such as a road aimed at your house, or the sharp corner of a neighboring building. Bouncing “behavioral sha chi” (noise, or other inconsiderate behavior) back at your neighbors with any kind of mirror may feel empowering, but I think it’s a bad idea. You want to defuse the situation, not add fuel to the fire.

A better solution is to find a way to send positive intentions to those troublesome folks next door — no matter how irritated or exasperated you may feel. Hang an image that conveys blessings of some kind (whatever religious or spiritual heritage feels right to you) either within your home or above your front door so it faces the neighbors and showers them with good vibes.

If your neighbors often play loud music at night, visualize them making lots of new friends and socializing with those friends at a bar or club… so they make noise in a more appropriate place than next door to you. Feel happy for them that they’re having such a good time, and happy for yourself that you now can enjoy some peace and quiet, even before it happens.

Truly aggravating neighbors may prompt you to wish the problem would be solved when they get hit by a bus. If you’re tempted to imagine that kind of fate for anyone, try to rise above it. Imagine instead that these irksome pests encounter great good fortune, such as getting a fabulous job offer in another city so their luck literally moves them out of the building to somewhere far away from you.

This will be much better for both of you than focusing on annoyances and frustrations, which is unlikely to result in a pleasant outcome for anyone.

I’ve had nothing but fabulous neighbors for many years now, and wish the same for all of you.

Stephanie

PS: If it turns out you’re the one who gets that irresistible offer to move, be sure to include “wonderful, quiet, considerate neighbors” on your list of what you’re looking for in your new home.

Ba Gua or Ba Gua MIrror?
March 21st, 2009

I’ve received several questions recently asking about use of the ba gua and/or ba gua mirror, and whether or not it’s “bad luck” to have one in the home.

No wonder people are confused. There are many styles of feng shui (some much more superstitious than others) and a lot of conflicting or even misleading information out there. I’m wondering if this tip, which recently appeared in someone else’s newsletter, may be why I’ve been getting ba gua-related questions lately:

“The Bagua is an all-powerful tool to ward off bad energies and poison arrows from your home, and they are expressly created to be hung at the exterior of one’s home. Do not under any circumstances hang one inside your house as a form or decoration!”

This tip was accompanied by photos of various ba guas and ba gua mirrors as though they are the same thing. But according to the contemporary style of feng shui that I practice, the advice quoted above applies to ba gua MIRRORS only, not to the ba gua itself.

A ba gua mirror is a round mirror in an octagonal frame. The frame is usually yellow or red, with black and/or green accents, marked with the eight I Ching “trigrams” arranged like this:

The ba gua MIRROR is a powerful tool for deflecting negative energy, and yes, it should only be used outside the home.

BTW: I have occasionally seen octagonal mirrors marketed as “ba gua” mirrors, but they’re not. It’s the octagonal frame and trigrams that make it a “ba gua mirror.” An octagonal mirror is just an eight-sided mirror. While the octagon itself is considered an auspicious shape because it references the ba gua, an octagonal mirror has no special qualities in and of itself.

However, the BA GUA is not the same as a ba gua MIRROR. The ba gua is a representation of the univeral energy qualities of a space, and as such is a HIGHLY AUSPICIOUS object that can be used anywhere in the home. It is particularly good to place in the center of the home as a symbol of good chi and good fortune. This includes a feng shui compass, because the compass includes the trigrams on one of the innermost rings.

The trigrams on the ba gua symbol or compass are in a different arrangement than they appear on the mirror. The ba gua map/symbol/compass shows the trigrams in the later heaven sequence (on the left, below), while a ba gua mirror should have the trigrams in the early heaven sequence (on the right, below).

So, to summarize:

Ba gua MIRROR: a protective remedy used only to deflect NEGATIVE chi, and only outside the home.

Ba gua (no mirror): a positive symbol that can be used INSIDE the home to add POSITIVE energy to your space.

As always, that’s my opinion, coming from the contemporary style of feng shui practice. Practitioners from other traditions may disagree.