In honor of my Teacher, Liu Ming,
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Commentary and compilations by Jamie Shulander
All notes from class notes/works by Liu Ming
INDICATORS/aka Auspices Listed: Yearly, Monthly, Lunar then Daily
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LUNAR YEAR: YEAR of the OX
Deplete: Insensitive, ruthless if crossed, humorless, sullen, slavishly conventional, fearful of change, aloof and dull.
Image: The Ox talked about in Chinese Astrology is well known to all Chinese farmers. When China turned away from the wily horse to the sedate ox as the plow animal, rice productivity greatly increased. As a plow animal the Ox plows straight furrows and needs no coaxing. Ox are linked with the profits of consistent hard work and the Confucian virtue of perseverance in what is right. Naturally strong they are at their best when they are constantly challenged. Their sense of justice (and the law) makes them good leaders. Though often materially successful, they lack attachment to material things.
Metal Ox are accommodating, strong and reliable. They never shy away from difficulty or back down in confrontation. They promise more than they can deliver. Hurtful trauma in childhood (orphaned, immigration) and repressed anger ultimately polish their cold-heartedness into a calm and generous character. They are good parents and friends to a small in-crowd. They are rarely sick, and live long lives. Though their fortunes wax and wane they have comfortable old age.
LM Notes: Metal Ox
Fire Monkey’s are organized, industrious and frank characters. They have strong sexual energy and work on their appearance. They are late to settle down. Their fortunes are good (though their motivation may be inspired by escaping hardship) and they are successful in business. They are particularly capable of avoiding negativity, but they will unfortunately need this skill. Though vigorous they are susceptible to wind disorders and may have coronary problems.
QI NODE: 13 Autumn Begins
"Yin Reverses Yang
“In Autumn Begins there is the reversal of what the Chinese call "late summer". At this time autumn qi (particularly in evening/night), which is Dry, will reverse the lingering damp heat pattern. It often causes typhoons and tornadoes.
During this qi node qi is the best at 3pm.
Now and then, during the day, practice neigong facing southwest. Do not overexert yourself (or sweat); let the qi move the blood and transform nutrients. Dress lightly (cover well), and stroll about in the morning to avoid the damp.
Chew well. During the day eat two meals, rest (nap) after lunch, snacks of fruit (pears) are good on hot days. Drink green and flower tea and in the evening enjoy a light savory soup.
Vegetarian meals are fine.
Activity should turn from outward to inward - begin to edit and then store what has been accomplished. Continue the cautions of Great Heat.
Before bed bucket bathes and go to sleep not long after dark. Do not go about in the evening or by the coast. Rest, relax, travel (inland), exercise (modestly) and do not be exposed to coastal or night winds."
LM The Way of the Three Treasures
LUNAR HEXAGRAM 32 Heng: Constancy
“Heng is very favorable for carrying out routine work. Maintaining and practicing what is durable in life brings good fortune."
LM Changing: Zhouyi 32 Heng
Hexagram 42 Yi: Increase
Solar Indicator: Design
Solar Indicator: Divide
WEDNESDAY, August 18, Yang Earth Dog 11
Lunar Mansion: The Trio / Gibbon
Solar Indicator: Full
Lunar Mansion: The Well / Tapir
Solar Indicator: Level
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LUNAR HEXAGRAM 41 Sun: Diminish
“Sun is about how sacrifice brings good fortune. It is also about the enlightened management of diminished resources and the transformation of reduced circumstances into an advantage. Sun is about attracting new resources into your life by eliminating inessentials. It is a time when recycling the trappings of success allows you to stay in power. It is when less is more.”
LM Changing: Zhouyi::: ::: :::
Lunar Mansion: The Ghost / Sheep
Solar Indicator: Settle
“Inauspicious for all intimate personal relationships. It is a time to withdraw and cut your losses. Both sexes are at risk to be abused by the inappropriateness of a relationship. Think rot and ruin. A kind of corruption has entered the very foundation of things.”
LM Changing: Zhouyi 44 Guo“It is especially auspicious for funeral/burial (resolution of fate). It is also good to make gifts/donations to temples and offerings to the divinities, spiritual guardians and make memorials for the dead (ancestors/lineage). It is advantageous for entering retreat, meditation, fasting, spiritual initiation, ordination and ‘crossing over’ into transitory states.
“It is not auspicious for worldly industry of any kind. It is a bad day to go to war (many casualties) or get married (husband will die early). One should avoid the wilderness (possession/illness will result).”
LM Notes: The Ghost
“Preparedness makes action timely and successful. Tradition, convention, training, education - all forms of readiness, inspire action. Forces join together and new alliances produce unexpected results. Action taken with such thorough preparation is bound to succeed. The qi of the day is stable, progressive and functional. Clarity and calm (yin) are not unseated by action (yang). Focus and repetition succeed. Procrastination and equivocation is contraindicated.”
LM Notes: Settle
SATURDAY, August 21, Yin Metal Ox 14
Lunar Mansion: The Willow / Roebuck
“Da Guo contains instructions on how to avoid disaster in heavy, grave or weird and unconventional circumstances. When you get entangled in excess, going forward with caution may be the best thing to do. Excess and eccentricity have their place. Something greater than the usual mechanical sense of cause and effect is at work in Da Guo."
LM Changing: Zhouyi 28 Da Guo“It is especially auspicious for seclusion and the composing of memorials. It is favorable to make offerings and practice divination. It is fruitful on this day to fast, enter retreat, practice meditation and receive spiritual initiation and/or ordination (lineage). It is ideal for funerals / burials and the complete resolution of the unsettled dead (exorcism).
“It is not auspicious for marriage. Do not indulge in lawsuits (as it will ruin 3 generations).”
LM Notes: The Willow
“Spontaneous action and inspiration (yang) become the new tradition (yin). Qi assertion (yang) is repeated again and again to hold and harden gains (yin). Establishing a new state is the focus. The qi of practice and the drilling of troops is awesome. Allies appear from all quarters. True majesty succeeds without pressing forward. Today success breeds more success and everyone may be included in the new victories. Generosity is a prophylactic to decline - giving is a sign of strength and cements alliances. It is the sun at noon.”
LM Notes: Maintain
SUNDAY, August 21, Yang Water Tiger 15
"It is a time of education and great spiritual and material success. Don’t rush. Your superiors notice you. Opportunity is abundant. Alliances are offered to you on all sides.”
LM Changing: Zhouyi 50 Ding“Think powerful, but gentle succeeds...It is auspicious for building and routine work (you will meet / hobnob with the powerful). Good auspice is directly related to continuity, convention and not innovation.
“It is not auspicious for funerals/burials or marriages (rape, divorce). It is a dangerous day for travel and/or medical treatments.”
LM Notes: The Birdstar
“The successful prince as warrior must now lose his youthful ambitions and develop into a proper king….Today calculated loss (cancellation) succeeds”
LM Notes: Destroy
QI NODE: 14 Heat Ends
"Yin Seduces, Metal
"The End of Heat qi node is just that. It is the end of what the Chinese call 'late summer'. In this qi node autumn winds, though still slightly damp, turn slowly drier. Summer's yang is completely exhausted and harvest can begin in earnest.
It is common for the body to feel slightly 'heavy' at this time of year because the fluids and qi are slowing down in anticipation of the Dry and Cold. Harvesting is the main qi pattern. Gather in your resources, plan for the less productive months ahead.
What we harvest now is what we will rely on during the months ahead.
The dreams and aspirations of spring/summer must now be edited with sound and practical strategies.
During this qi node qi is best at 4 pm. Neigong should be practiced in short sessions in morning and afternoon. Afternoon naps are recommended (10 - 25 min). Plan to be at home most evenings. Party's over, time to clean house and tighten up the protocols."
LM The Way of the Three Treasures
Hexagram 32 Heng: Constancy
Solar Indicator: Danger
“Heng is very favorable for carrying out routine work. Maintaining and practicing what is durable in life brings good fortune."
LM Changing: Zhouyi 32 Heng“Auspicious activity: It is auspicious to build and buy new property. It is an especially good day to get married. It is favorable for divination, signing contracts, romance/courtship and all forms of partnership. Good auspice is especially related to festive group events, banqueting, family gatherings and/or community celebrations. It is an excellent day to take office (begin a new job).
Contraindicated Activity: It is not auspicious for funerals/burials (become unsettled: ghosts). Seclusion or isolation is unfavorable (miss opportunity).”
LM Notes: The Bow
“To roust hypocrisy in his new alliances the leader must bait his hidden enemies (yin) by showing vulnerability. This day is a qi expression of true power but all the action is fraught with danger and risk. The games of political power are also the precursors of decline. The power plays show yin to be drawing life from the heart of yang. Success is limited now to a kind of survival. Manipulation and covert action succeed. Elegance becomes the mask of cleverness and intrigue. Doing only what needs to be done is best. Old habits or patterns of pressing forward will invite catastrophe. Beware grudges.”
LM Notes: Danger
Solar Indicator: Complete
“It is auspicious to continue routine work and to uphold and support your superiors. It is auspicious for religious rituals (not ancestral), divination (and compliance), family gatherings and celebrations. It is favorable for sponsoring and/or attending public and cultural events.
“It is very unfavorable for marriage (cause chronic illness and premature death for both partners), funerals and burials. It is inauspicious for traveling far from home. Buildings begun today become money pits (need constant repair) and the construction will cause injuries and/or accidental deaths.”
LM Notes: The Wings
“It is a day for resting on your laurels. Success is established and secured and the new state seems to govern itself. Enemies are few. It is a time for inward reflection (yin) on the bare face of reality (yang). Struggle (yang) is no longer possible or necessary (yin). Decline is not feared and success not celebrated. Wisdom approaches and withdrawing succeeds. Art is the demonstration of confidence, dignity and wisdom - be artful. No more accumulating - decorate with modesty. The way of perfecting power is austerity and restraint. Do less, have less, show less and seek nothing. Enjoy what is already manifest.”
LM Notes: Complete
WEDNESDAY, August 25, Yin Wood Snake 18
Lunar Mansion: The Chariot / Earthworm
Solar Indicator: Harvest
"Favorable for success in small matters and/or taking the subordinate role. Good fortune relies on your compliance to divination, so failure to submit to wise omen brings disaster."
LM Changing: Zhouyi 57 Xun“Auspicious Activity: Great success comes to anyone who initiates and continues industry. Business booms, all prosper. Building and remodeling go well (bring prestige). Marriages will inspire both partners to be their best and they will produce brilliant offspring. Funerals, memorials and burials will allow the dead true peace (and produce scholar offspring). Contraindicated activity: It is very unfavorable to procrastinate and/or postpone.”
LM Notes: The Chariot
“What makes this day smooth is a sense of fearlessness. It is not so much how it goes (yang) as what it shows (yin). Rise and fall are no longer the point - the wide view can be taken. Ease is possible - effortless continuity on all sides. The qi seems to float us forward quite naturally - ebbing and flowing are both acceptable. The lessons of earthly life are found in both maturing and declining. Everything succeeds. Cleverness and survival give way to courage and directness. Be like the beloved monarch and not an ambitious merchant. Let new resources and assistants come forward by standing back.”
LM Notes: Harvest
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LUNAR HEXAGRAM 13 Tong Ren: Community
“It is favorable to go forward in concert with others after reflection and alliance is established."
LM Changing: Zhouyi 13 Tong Ren::: ::: :::
Lunar Mansion: The Horn / Crocodile
Solar Indicator: Open
"Jing is about the natural reciprocity in the human relationship to nature. The Zhouyi says that the unevenness of nature (well) mirrors the unevenness of our conduct. If we act inappropriately we ruin our resources (dry well). In the Zhouyi nature is not an almighty god that stands in judgement of us, meting out punishment for our wrongs. Nature is a dialog. ”
LM Changing: Zhouyi 48 Jing
“It is auspicious to begin or initiate any activity (marriage) or series of activities. It is a good day to buy property, plant a garden, apply for and/or begin a new job. It is ideal to apply to or enter school, begin a construction or remodeling project. It is auspicious for marriage proposals and making your case as asking permission is favorably received. All activities related to children and/or young people are auspicious. Its first appearance each year (or any Spring season) is particularly auspicious. A child born on this day will be intelligent and fortunate.
“Contraindicated activity: Funerals, memorials, constructing tombs and burials will bring about disaster to a family. It is not time for exerted effort or overcoming obstacles. The qi is fresh and unformed and therefore should not be pressed into fixation (slavery).”
LM Notes: The Horn
“The choice here is whether to call fate something to fight or something to embrace. It is a day with an easy qi. It is a day to appreciate how things really operate beyond the desire that creates images and appearances. Accepting should be a boundless (yin) act beyond goals - the goal has always been return to our beginningless origin (Dao). There is no protagonist (yang) that should relax - there is only relaxation itself (yin). Look around for a successor (new plan, idea, task) and resume the heart/mind of a novice. The son of a rebel leader may become the second emperor of a new dynasty. An open heart gives the option to acquire great wisdom.”
LM Notes: Open
Lunar Mansion: The Neck / Dragon
Solar Indicator: Shut
"Gu indicates that life is a continuous flow, not just an individual personal experience. Success is not simply a matter of personal control. Unseen environmental forces do affect us."
LM Changing: Zhouyi 18 Gu"It is auspicious to comply with the orders of superiors and/or let assistants/helpers lead the way. The image is auspicious, in a preordained sense, but can be ruined by unnecessary effort. It is about the useful conventions of education. Collecting data before action.
"Contraindicated activity: Industry, marriages and weddings, signing contracts and starting or initiating production invite calamity. These activities will bring ruin over the following 10 days. Building on this day causes strokes for fathers and eldest sons. Burying the dead will cause the spread of disease. Going to battle is disastrous. Travel by sea invites shipwrecks."
LM Notes: The Neck
“A Shut day is a day of rest, whether you like it or not. Qi resources are spent and the notion of a spender (yang) is long gone. Dispersion has ended in exhaustion (big yin) and no memory exists to create joy or negativity. Struggling to act on such a day borrows qi from fantasy and sets up a ghostly pattern of bad qi credit. What’s it like to float down the river with no boat, no river and no protagonist? It is ideal day for retreat, mediation and severing ties with everything - don’t worry, it is not the end of anything! Let go anyway - feel the freedom and inaction, disconnectedness, because it offers limitless insight. Focus on your golf swing and forget about how the kids are squandering their inheritance on cocaine. It’s that kind of day! The river has reached the sea and even the water is confused.”
LM Notes: Shut
Lunar Mansion: The Root / Badger
"Since Sheng is about ascending naturally, the auspices stay favorable if you are receptive and subordinate. Your talents are recognized and they suit the times. Steady gradual progress is indicated."
LM Changing: Zhouyi 46 Sheng"It is auspicious to go to school, make offerings to ancestors, consult oracles and/or physicians. Avoid abandoned buildings and the wilderness (as spirits that cause illness are active). Comply with superiors and taboos (follow conventions/traditions).
"Contraindicated activity: Marriages and weddings bring accidental death. Contracts signed today invite betrayal and embezzlement. Travel by sea invites shipwrecks."
LM Notes: The Root
“It is an excellent day to recover wisdom by stepping back, planning, recalling alliances and reassessing our position.”
LM Notes: Design
SUNDAY, August 29, Yin Earth Rooster 22
"When a situation lacks clarity it is best to retreat and wait for fortunes to change. Using litigation is a costly and risky way to succeed. If disputes are successfully resolved, caution is still required in handling the outcomes. Do not exert yourself in complicated or obstructed situations. Do not force things. It is favorable to self-reflect and to seek counsel.”
LM Changing: Zhouyi 6 Song
"It is auspicious to make (sincere) offerings to ancestors, consult oracles, practice ritual and meditation, move home, begin construction and add rooms (remodel) to homes and shops. It is a good day for fengshui adjustments, acquiring luxuries, medical treatments (esp food/herb cures) and making investments. Success will visit anyone who studies and/or takes exams today. Funerals on this day benefit both the living and the dead. Straight-forwardness and sincerity bring success."
"Contraindicated activity: Finalizing divorce, excessive ambition and ingratitude. Exaggeration and hypocrisy bring disaster. Not a good day for taking leadership or management responsibilities."
LM Notes: The Room
"Holding back on this day is related to deeper self-reflection, education of all sorts and consulting with experts and elders - rather than forward action. It is not about immature reluctance or cowardice but about shedding inessentials."
LM Notes: Divide
