Time and tide will wait for no man.

Exponents of the Southern hemisphere theory believe that the Lo Shu with Fire in the South must be associated with the sun. The sun is at its highest point in the North and the seasons are reversed. Based on the idea of the waxing and waning of the seasons, Roger Green has advocated adjusting the cycle of 60 Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches for the Southern hemisphere so that there may be a difference of five years between a Rat year on both hemispheres.

The origins of Xuan Kong Feng Shui can also be traced back to the observations of the North Dipper. San Yuan cycles of time is connected to the Jupiter Effect and the alignment of Jupiter with Saturn every 60 years marks the beginning of a cycle. Ancient scholars used an amazing system of Ten Heavenly Stems and Twelve Earthly Branches known as 60 Jia Zi to record this time. The 60 combinations of time are like an eternal spiral. And is this spiral that Roger Green wish to change for the Southern School? The year 2002 Ren Wu Water Horse is part of the spiral. A new calendar for the Southern hemisphere must show consistency and a working system.

These are the years when a Jia Zi year begun. Note the 60 year cycle.
1864 was a Jia Zi year and the 1st year of period 1
1924 was a Jia Zi year and the first year of period 4
1984 was a Jia Zi year and the first year of period 7
2044 will be a Jia Zi year - the first year of period 1

Yin stems and yin branches combine while yang stems and yang branches combine. There are ten stems but only twelve branches. It is like a gear with ten teeth rolling on another gear with twelve teeth. The first one completes one revolution of 6 x 10 = 60 teeth. The other one will have then completed 5 revolutions of 5 x 12 = 60. The end of one cycle will denote the beginning of a new cycle. This is the basis of the Xia Calendar.

It is believed a clever man by the name of Da Nao who lived in the time of the legendary Huang Di (2697 BC - 2599 BC) invented this system. Our forefathers of Feng Shui placed a great deal of emphasis on Jupiter and its effect on our planet. And it is this system the exponents wish to adjust for the “Southern” school. Unless they have a good system to break into the present gear box and not upset the revolution of teeth, their system needs a completely new gearbox. Their idea was presented in the mid 90s. The Jia Zi for period 7 started in 1984. The next Jia Zi year will be 2044.

Diagram 13: Part of the 60 year eternal spiral

Adjusting the cycle of 60 Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches for the Southern hemisphere so that there may be a difference of five years between a Rat year on both hemispheres is part of Roger Green’s program. So he may be referring to any Rat year. There are five types of Zi (Rat year): Jia Zi, Bing Zi, Wu Zi, Geng Zi, Ren Zi. Which one will he choose? So often the 12 Earthly Branches are mistakenly construed as the Twelve Chinese Animals.

Adjusting the “Chinese solar year” to start on 6 or 7 August of any year for the Southern hemispere, rather than 4 or 5 February as traditionally practised in both hemispheres is also Green’s plan. The Chinese year is defined by a Heavenly Stem and an Earthly Branch. 2002 Ren Wu (Water Horse) begun on 4th February. The stems and branch of a year pillar are the energies from the Universe. It does not matter where we live or where we were born, we are all influenced by the cycical measurement of time. Those who know 4 Pillars know that even when the strength of the elements are concerned, the Zi month, for example, is strong in water no matter where you are. This does not come from the seasons. When you have established that a chart needs fire for a person born in the Southern Hemisphere then when it is summer in the Zi month, the useful god is more powerful than one born in the Northern Hemisphere at the same time. This means that the birth-place affects the quality of the chart.

Placing the month of Shen (Monkey) as the start of a “new year” for the Southern hemisphere is literally saying south of the equator is not influenced by one time dimension. Since we define one year as the time for one complete revolution of the planet earth around the Sun, it is natural to define a year as the moment the Sun enters and is above the earth at 15 degrees Aquarius. This is in the East where it rises everyday. This is the beginning of the Yin Branch. Yin corresponds to the Beginning of Spring, which usually falls around or on the 4th Feb which is the first Jie. It is not always 4th though. Jie are the 24 season points Chinese used in a year. A Jie is the beginning of the 12th solar month. A solar year usually begins on the Coming of Spring (“Li Chun”) which falls on the 4th of February for most years and falls on the 5th of February, occasionally. The Coming of Spring is when the Sun enters at 15.0 degree of Aquarius. The ancient scholars linked this astronomical observation to certain particular changes in vegetation. The seasons timing might differ between hemispheres but the five types of qi exhibited is the same kind.

The eternal spiral of one cycle ending is the beginning of the next one. Will Green start at the beginning or at the end to fit in his revolutionary idea? In an eternal spiral how do you define the beginning or the end. How do “break” into a system without upsetting an amazingly accurate working system that can trace back time. If it suceeds and it works then the new one will be a revolutionary one for the Southern hemisphere.

The Lo Shu Path and its application in the time dimension study.

Nine Stars migrate through the Lo Shu in a fixed ascending order called the Lo Shu Path. The Earth chart carry Number 5 in the centre. Shown are the Numbers in their basic sequence, starting at the center migrating through the Luo Shu in a fixed pattern: Northwest, West, Northeast, South, North, Southwest, East, Southeast.

Diagram 16

The Luo Shu is used to show Time dynamics, e.g. the changing twenty year Periods. Also, each year the Annual Star changes, following a nine-year period of waxing and waning Qi. The Five Transformations in the Lo Shu sectors are fixed. No matter what Star migrates to the South, South is a Fire sector. With the proposed change the Lo Shu Path is out of sequence in the order of application.

This Time Dynamics is applied science. The Lo Shu which is derived from the Later Heaven Ba Gua is the application of a complex study of time and its predictive techniques of events. The prediction of future events or the description of past events is just not done by looking at the Stars but at the quality of the surrounding Forms and the Time aspect in a combination. The accuracy of the time dimension system in the southern school must definitely be questionable if changes to a system is made.

What has heat got to do with it?

I first heard Lindy Baxter speak at a Feng Shui society meeting in Sydney. She advocated the Ba Gua to be altered to be different from the northern hemisphere where the source of heat is from the south. Irrespective of whether the sun moves through the northern or the southern sky the sun still rises in the east and sets in the west. The orientation of the house to take advantage of as much yang qi as possible (sun) does not alter the relationship of the front to the sitting nor the south to the north. The major argument is to do with the trajectory of the sun through the southern and northern skies and that greater heat occurs at the opposite ends of the year and orienting a house to access the maximum sun is merely a design issue not a Feng Shui issue.

A Chinese Feng Shui master addressed the same society later and gave his example of placing a stone in Hong Kong in the sun and placing this same stone in the sun in Sydney and watch its changes. The stone did not undergo any changes in either hemisphere. According to him, all that happened was that the stone became warm each time it was placed in the heat. Of course he did not advocate any change to the compass directions.

In Xuan Kong Flying Stars application we avoid placing ourselves in evil energies connected with flying stars 5 and 2 wherever they occur. It is not about favouring the heat to avoid the cold. It is about tapping into auspicious qi versus inauspicious qi. It is using a strong mountain star versus avoiding a weak mountain star. It is also about activating a timely prosperity star versus deactivating an untimely prosperity star. It is also about checking the visiting Annual Stars. Learning theories and going out there and actually practising them are real eye openers. Xing Fa and Li Chi cannot be separated. One cannot do without the other. Development of Xuan Kong Flying Stars without form is like auditing numbers in a box.

Diagram 17: In this star chart of a house facing Wu South 2 period 7 what do the Stars represent?

Can we say # 9 Fire is the sun, so we will find a warmer temperature in the house, because it has 9 Fire in the East and NE? Are the commonly used attributes to show the properties of the Star just meant to be analogies, or are their attributes to be taken as literal explanations?

Should we agree that these universal energies are the same around the globe, or should we accept that there are differences? 8, 6 in the South Palace is universally residing in the south sector of the house in both hemispheres if we agree the energies are the same. If we are comfortable with the idea that there should be differences for the flying star charts for the Northern and Southern hemisphere, then the 8, 6 residing in the South palace is now in the North palace for the Southern hemisphere.

Is a past luck water star # 6 at the door or are the residents having the good fortune of having the potential to activate a current prosperity star # 7? This is because the directions are reversed and 7, 7 is now in the south palace where the door is. But what if the stars are flown differently as a result of a different Lo Shu Path? The Lo Shu Path can be different again in the Southern Hemisphere. The outcome is different again.