On the eve of the new millennium I was watching each country welcome the arrival of the New Year of 2000 on CNN. It was a global event that stretched for hours as countries were from different longitudes but it united the people of the world.

Just as countless people watched the fantastic displays of fireworks in the night sky, the ancient Chinese watched the sky for different reasons. They believed the sun and the moon reside in the 28 palaces. They calculated the cycle of the moon takes 27.32 days. According to them, the sky was divided into 28 segments, each one representing a day of the moon’s path through the sky. The Jupiter Cycle enumerating the 12 year-cycle of Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Hai is in fact the journey of Jupiter taking 11.86 years to complete its circuit.

The Cyclic Measurement of Time

The Ancients predicted with accuracy the rotation of the Northern Ladle.The origins of Xuan Kong Feng Shui can be traced back to this.The five planets were seen as “stars” and studied closely. Saturn is the Earth Star taking 29.46 years to complete an orbit around the sun.

By describing Wood Fire Earth Metal Water, Chinese metaphysics also mean Jupiter Mars Saturn Venus and Mercury. The Wood Star (Jupiter) features greatly in Chinese metaphysics. Theories like the Tai Sui /Grand Duke and the 3 Killings are derived from understanding the influence of Sui Xing/ Jupiter. Every Chinese household will buy a Tong Shu to get this annual information.

It will take approximately 20 years for Saturn to align with Jupiter, marking the beginning of a new period. In Xuan Kong Feng Shui application, we concern ourselves with the time cycle. The next big shift of energy occurring in 2004 is making practitioners prepare for the 8th period change. Every 60 years the alignment of Jupiter and Saturn takes place marking the beginning of another cycle of time. The planets aligning in a straight line once every 179 - 180 years (Jupiter Effect) is a remarkable event having a great impact on life on earth. These scholars observed the first alignment of the planets in our solar system 2500 years BC. 2043 (9th period) will end the 180 years big cycle. Ancient times recorded it as the alignment of the Wood Star and the Earth Star. Even before the arrival of technology, the Chinese were able to determine the cyclical measurement of time. They were able to observe the earth orbit around the sun calling it the Yellow Road. Observing and marking its positions at certain moments in time was how they defined the start of a new year, rather than the observations of seasons.

Feng Shui has been around for more than 3500 years. Feng Shui is founded on key principles derived from a sound understanding of the I-Ching. The classical schools of San He and San Yuan include time dimension in their analysis.

An emphasis on classical feng shui in the wake of its renaissance

There has never been such an emphasis on the distinction of being classical as now. Masters and fellow featured speakers have given us such great insights into the subject. When its renaissance occurred a few years ago, many bandwagons laden with books on non-traditional forms appeared. Many new age books contradict traditional Feng Shui teachings. Traditional Feng Shui methods involve much calculations, observations and formulas, basing theories on sound principles and methods derived from ancient literature and classics.

There was even a claim that Feng Shui for the Northern hemisphere is not applicable south of the equator. The oneness of the universe is seen in one heaven, one earth, one sun, one moon, one magnetic field and one time dimension. This call for dismembering the spheres in Feng Shui is absurd.

The altered Ba Gua

In the early seventies the authors, Sherrill and Chu suggested that there should be a difference in assessing Qi for both hemispheres. As authors they had an academic interest in Chinese metaphysics but they were not practitioners. Their rationale was that the Chinese had not been aware of the Southern hemisphere, but they should have understood that the Chinese had discovered the earth magnetic field and invented the magnetic compass.

Their concept was later adopted and expanded by Australian teacher Roger Green who studied this supposed difference and came up with a sophisticated program, including:

He laid more stress on the energies as shown in the Ba Gua, rather than the earth magnetic field: “It  represents the eight primordial trigrams, arranged as a mandala to map the energetic qualities of the seasons, colours, directions, life situations and many other associations”.

In the Early Heaven Ba Gua, Qian Heaven is associated with south and Kun Earth with the north. In Later Heaven Ba Gua, the south is Li Fire and the north is Kan Water. Against tradition, the “Southern” school places Li in the magnetic north and Kan in the south.

Lindy Baxter, another exponent, based her ideas on the wrong hypothesis. Where ancient Chinese knew about magnetic and geographic north and south, Ms Baxter wrongly assumes: “The bagua symbolizes conditions valid only in the north. People must have the receptiveness to modify when and where conditions vary. The bagua shows the progression of the seasons and the directions”.

The Ba Gua is not based on the progression of the seasons. In Chinese Ba Gua, Ba means “eight”. The Ba Gua is generated from Tai Chi, “the supreme ultimate”. From nothingness emerges two primary energies, the yin and the yang. From the Duality of yin and yang comes 4 Images: Old Yang, Young Yin, Young Yang, Old Yin. The 4 Images signify the order of the universe (4 seasons, 4 cardinal directions, 4 stages of life) The 8 Trigrams are thus generated from further interactions of these yin and yang energy resulting in symbols for Heaven Lake Fire Thunder Wind Water Mountain Earth.
Diagram 1
This “flip flopping” of the Ba Gua has stirred the traditionalists enough to ask for an end to this debate.

People in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong & Taiwan had upheld the Chinese system practised as a tradition in China. People living at the Equator are never physically aware such a line exists. The equator exists only as a “human construct” a demarcation between the two hemispheres. With the emigration of overseas Chinese, Feng Shui was brought to different continents. The Ba Gua has remained unchanged just as the Feng Shui compass has remained constant.

The traditionalists dismiss the difference between hemispheres.
Another group of practitioners defends the difference.
Recently, the controversial school gives the option of using the traditional Ba Gua or the reversed Ba Gua. The eternal question is “to flip or not to flip”. Not flipping means the Ba Gua is not adjusted to suit their hemisphere. With one System one Ba Gua then “to flip is to flop”.