CHINESE ALMANAC ASTROLOGY
Commentary and compilations by Jamie Shulander,
All notes from class notes/works by Liu Ming
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LUNAR YEAR: YANG WOOD DRAGON (1844, 1904, 1964, 2024) ‘Laughing Dragon’
“Wood Dragons are artistic, righteous and ingenious. They survive difficult childhoods to become caring parents. They are persuasive, humorous and easily make friends. Jealousy haunts them. They are productive artists. Their fortune steadily improves throughout their life. In old age they will cultivate elegance and own a considerable amount of property. They are prone to lung and liver disharmonies due to suppressed anger. They are susceptible to possession when passing through damp forested areas.”
LM Notes: 60 Characters
LUNAR MONTH: YANG FIRE TIGER (1866, 1926, 1986, 2046, 2016) ‘Forest Tiger’
“Fire Tigers are risk-takers and landmines of emotion and passion. Uncontrolled drama and half-baked scheming make their lives calamitous and their fortune dark. They are suited to warfare, but do not make good soldiers (lack education, discipline and respect). Many Fire Tigers die with more fate entanglements than they had at birth. A teacher/mentor can be a savior. They are likely to die young from wounds or accidental injury. If they live long their powerful constitutions make them insensitive to minor signs and symptoms that accumulate to crippling respiratory and circulatory illness in later years.”
LM Notes: 60 Characters
QI NODE: 2 Rain Water
New Yang and Old Yin
"Rain Water is the gentle, first yin response to the new, emerging yang. Heaven and Earth renew their active relationship. The moisture of the first spring rains refreshes the Earth. This Yin rain gives the Yang trapped in Earth (seeds, grains) nourishment. If the response of the Yang of Earth is weak, or if rain does not come, decay, rot and mold may occur. If yang responds well seed break open underground.
Yang is ‘jump started’ in this qi node, but there may still be very few signs. Yang has survived another winter. Though Spring Festival is over, fresh offerings are made at ancestor and Earth altars to support Yang. This is the gan ying principle. Yin is weak and yang is still unformed, effort or exertion must be avoided.
During this qi node qi is best at 4am. One should practice neigong just before dawn facing the sun as it rises in the northeast. Do not exert yourself, but let the yang and yin play - this renews us and gives us longevity. When the sun is up walk about the courtyard with arms akimbo. Loosen up. The environment is becoming very ‘friendly’ and ‘yangish’ - it is no longer pernicious, but it is our own impulsiveness (inner yang) that is dangerous. Impulse is the renewal but caution, rather than enthusiasm, makes it work.
Yang is also beginning to move on its own. Mild and inspired, new actions are auspicious and rewarding. Avoid being ‘very productive’. Cultivate the qi of spring by reading new fiction, watching the latest film, go for short walks outdoors and enjoying and/or playing music."
LM The Way of Three Treasures
LUNAR HEXAGRAM: 62 Xiao Guo: Small Succeeds
"Success in small matters. The judicious and timely use of small force succeeds. Being an assistant is favorable. Things go well if you avoid pretense."
LM Changing: Zhouyi 62 Xiao Guo
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Hexagram 30 Li: Oriole
“METAL is the native element of the Rooster Earthly Branch. Metal Roosters are meticulous, articulate and confident characters. They have great good fortune in material terms. They make good financial advisors and this attracts many people to them. Their bodies are strong but they are troubled by mental instability. Their ability to analyze often leads to belligerence and this undermines their good fortune. Their argumentative compulsion to win is a defense mechanism for their delicate mental states. They are prone to mental disorders, kidney failure and exhaustion.”
LM 60 Characters
“Though things seem bright, one cannot rely on the brightness to last for a long time. Seize the moment. No battle is won without sacrifices on both sides."
LM Changing: Zhouyi 30 Li
"To consult a physician and consult oracles (divination of all kinds) will bring clarity. It is a good day for industry (labor/gardening = long term wealth), building (restores clarity) and burying the dead (enhance intuition). It is inauspicious to take anything for granted. It is inauspicious for revolution, confrontation, breaking taboos, neglecting responsibilities or travel (someone at home dies/gets sick)."
LM Notes: The Net
“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
TUESDAY February 27, Yin Metal Rooster 18
“METAL is the native element of the Rooster Earthly Branch. Metal Roosters are meticulous, articulate and confident characters. They have great good fortune in material terms. They make good financial advisors and this attracts many people to them. Their bodies are strong but they are troubled by mental instability. Their ability to analyze often leads to belligerence and this undermines their good fortune. Their argumentative compulsion to win is a defense mechanism for their delicate mental states. They are prone to mental disorders, kidney failure and exhaustion.”
LM 60 Characters
"Feng is about an enormous windfall, harvesting a bumper crop or a fated reward that comes (and goes) naturally. It expresses the mysterious and fertile generosity of nature. The mention of astronomical and astrological influences in several of the lines indicates that success is a matter of fate-synchronicity with the cycles of time. Do not waste time feeling unworthy or claim the success is yours. Honor all co-factors and reward all co-workers. Celebration and generosity express abundance."
LM Changing: Zhouyi 55 Feng
"It bodes well to follow superiors, practice austerity and/or pool resources with others. It is a good day to sincerely comply with divination and maintain taboos meticulously.
"It is inauspicious to push forward, be industrious or initiate new ventures. Revolution or demanding idealistic justice on this day will be catastrophic."
LM Notes: The Beak
“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
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LUNAR HEXAGRAM: 42 Yi: Increase
“Yi is about the natural progress of things when it is enhanced by the best of conditions. Sun and water and good soil help the tree grow strong; yet a tree is also subordinate to the warmth, the rain and the soil. The tree also naturally "knows” what to take and leave. Yi is the “knowledge” of nature.”
LM Changing: Zhouyi 42 Yi::: ::: :::
Lunar Mansion: The Trio / Gibbon
Solar Indicator: Complete
“Water Dogs are kind, generous and frugal characters. Their material fortunes are very uneven but they are, nevertheless, very generous. Their friends and family love them. They are sentimental and vulnerable to a sad story or a hopeless cause. They are prone to temper tantrums and ecstasy. They never enjoy good health. They are prone to accidents and will be injured or killed by metal weapons or tools.”
LM 60 Characters
"It bodes well to dispose of inessentials (haircuts), edit, fast, study (Classics), take exams, enter retreat and practice meditation. It is good to be industrious close to home (house clean). Initiating business (particularly group enterprise) will be fruitful if planning has been thorough.
"It is inauspicious to push forward aggressively. Do not get married, finalize divorce, bury the dead (it will create family dissent), spend savings or speculate financially as these all lead to losing resources and cooperation."
LM Notes: The Trio
“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
THURSDAY February 29, Yin Water Pig 20
Lunar Mansion: The Well / Tapir
Solar Indicator: Harvest
“WATER is the native element of the Pig Earthly Branch. Water Pigs are volatile, open-minded and gregarious characters. They enjoy career, personal and financial experiments. Their preoccupation with others goes past caring into jealousy and envy. They often squander their qi hoping to please others. Their volatile emotions make them susceptible to all manner of illness and possibly suicide. Their maternal ancestors haunt them. If they resolve their ancestors’ negativity they have great spiritual potential.”
LM Notes: 60 Characters
“Jia Ren is about well-ordered, supportive families and family-like groups that have a collective purpose. Selfless caregivers (mothers/nourishment) make households and family-like groups strong. Selfless and consistent inner strength is the basis of true communities. Orderly family/communities nurture great leaders who, in turn, make the alliances that create fair and just nation-states."
LM Changing: Zhouyi 37 Jia Ren
“It is auspicious to build, remodel, do fengshui adjustments, take exams, and maintain routine industry. The earth can be dug (gardening = wealth) and it is a good day to donate, buy or sell (investment) real estate. Community or charity projects will flourish. It is favorable for apologies. It is favorable for medical treatments (particularly for initiating a series of treatments for a chronic condition).
“It is not auspicious to postpone needed repairs, apologies or difficult tasks. It is not good for funerals or burials of those who died by suicide, violence or sudden illness because others will soon follow.”
LM Notes: The Well
“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 early life are found in both maturing and declining. Everything succeeds. Cleverness and survival give way to courage and directness. Be like a beloved monarch not an ambitious merchant. Let new resources and assistance come forward by standing back.”
LM Notes: Harvest
FRIDAY March 1, Yang Wood Rat 21
Lunar Mansion: The Ghost / Sheep
Solar Indicator: Open
“Wood Rat is the first of 60 configurations of the Stem/Branch system. It is therefore very precarious. Wood Rats are particularly studious, industrious and naive characters. They are extraordinarily clever but also insecure. This may be the result of clinging to trauma (being orphaned or abandoned in childhood). Their rat-like resourcefulness is therefore held back by a lack of depth. Their cleverness and impatience often turns to frivolity, trendiness, deception and cunning. The fortune of wood rat is average and their wealth modest. Endless worrying weakens their constitution and they are prone to injury, skin problems, bowel disorders and arthritis.”
LM Notes: 60 Characters
"Everything is ending well but decline and disorder is inevitable. Do not hurry or press for completion...Do not imagine that change ever stops. Things do not come to an end. When you succeed, do not assume things are complete or finished. To maintain success is no easy matter. When we are triumphant, we are fated to have the same decline and loss as our predecessor."
LM Changing: Zhouyi 63 Jiji“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
“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
SATURDAY March 2, Yin Wood Ox 22
Lunar Mansion: The Willow / Roebuck
Solar Indicator: Shut
“Wood Ox are particularly humble and naive characters. They do well in school and in any conventional activity involving strength and commitment (romance, marriage and family). They often imagine their own resources (material and emotional) to be more limited than they are and this leads to miserliness and shyness. Their constitutions are strong and they have few illnesses when young. Sleep is a remedy for most ailments. In later life (after 48) they age quickly and may suffer from chronic digestive disorders.”
LM Notes: 60 Characters
"Bi is favorable when appearances match the inner nature of things. Simplicity, rather than extravagance, is recommended as the aesthetic of confidence. Beware of the deception that comes from superficial decoration."
LM Changing: Zhouyi 22 Bi: Ornament“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
“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
SUNDAY March 3, Yang Fire Tiger 23
Lunar Mansion: The Birdstar / Horse
Solar Indicator: Design
“Fire Tigers are risk-takers and landmines of emotion and passion. Uncontrolled drama and half-baked scheming make their lives calamitous and their fortune dark. They are suited to warfare, but do not make good soldiers (lack education, discipline and respect). Many Fire Tigers die with more fate entanglements than they had at birth. A teacher/mentor can be a savior. They are likely to die young from wounds or accidental injury. If they live long their powerful constitutions make them insensitive to minor signs and symptoms that accumulate to crippling respiratory and circulatory illness in later years.”
LM Notes: 60 Characters
“When integrity demands action, be cautious and prepared to fail. The situation is unfavorable because the clear warnings of doom are being ignored by the powerful."
LM Changing: Zhouyi 36 Mingyi
“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
“It is an excellent day to recover wisdom by stepping back, planning, recalling alliances and reassessing our position.”
LM Notes: Design
