Pure Feng Shui

Happy New Year 2023 to all readers of this blog.  While New Year's Day has been celebrated at the stroke of midnight on December 31st 2022, the Lunar New Year celebrated by Chinese people all around the world is yet to come.  We are in the final month - Lunar Month 12th , month of Gui Chou / Water Ox in the Chinese Luni-Solar calendar. Traditional Chinese Lunar New Year will be celebrated on 22 January 2023, while Spring Begins / Li Chun starts on 4 February 2023. 

7th of December, Wednesday is the changeover day, from Hai / Pig month to the month of Zi / Rat. In the Chinese luni-solar calendar, there are 2 months to go before the next year of Gui Mao / (Yin) Water Rat starts. In the international calendar, it is the last month for the year 2022. The social mood of people is focussed on the festive year end period celebrating Christmas Day and New Years Day.  In 2022 Singapore went from COVID-related pandemic lockdown restrictions to the country fully opening up. Quite a change in circumstances. Singapore citizens are free to travel abroad again, depending on their destination countries' restriction. Air fares for the Christmas festive period in late December and for the Chinese Lunar New Year period in January are already at their highs.  An important date in the Chinese festive calendar is Winter Solstice or Dōng Zhì that falls on 22 December 2022. Besides being the mid-month Solar Term marker, it also marks a Yin/Yang transition, as Yin re

Xin Hai month starts: 7th of November, 2022 from 18:45 hours Mid Point of the month: 22nd of November, 2022 from 16:20 hours Elements of the Metal Pig month: Metal, Water, Wood Elements of the Water Tiger year: Water, Wood, Earth, Fire

When looking at the 24 Solar Terms of the Chinese calendar, it will be helpful if you distinguish between the Five Elements Qi of the Solar Terms in the calendar, and the Qi of the Five Elements of actual physical nature in real life. It is only at the geographical location around the Northern latitude marker of the Tropic of Cancer that we see a close sychronicity between the calendar and the weather.  Elsewhere on the earth globe, like at the Equator where Singapore is located, we only experience a tropical weather system with just 2 types of seasons - "Hot" and "Hot and Wet", locally influenced by tropical monsoons. In contrast, the temperate countries experience the 4 seasons.  The Five Elements Theory is applied to the Chinese calendar system and also to nature, and it is important to not mix up the two and infer that both have to, or will be the same.  Metal Dog month starts: 8th of October, 2022 from 15:22 hours Mid Point of the month: 23rd of October, 2022 f

The second Autumn month in the Chinese luni-solar calendar starts of 7th of September at 23:32 hours. It is the month of Ji You Earth Rooster. The months rotate on a Yin - Yang - Yin - Yang basis, and this month is a Yin month, with the elements of Earth and Metal only.  Autumn Equinox will occur on 23rd of September.  The Chinese Festival for this month is the Mid Autumn Festival that falls on 10th of September. It is also known as the Chinese Lantern Festival and the Mooncake Festival, where as their names imply, there will be lanterns and Chinese mooncakes.   

The calendar "Autumn" season started on the 7th of August, 2022 at 20:28 hours. The solar term to mark the beginning of the month is "Autumn Begins" or Li Qiu.  In this particular month of the Chinese Luni-solar calendar, there are clashes of elements on both the Tian Gan (Heavenly Stems) and Di Zi (Earthly Branches) levels, between the month and the year: Year Heavenly Stem / Tian Gan : Water Month Heavenly Stem / Tian Gan : Earth Water X Earth (clashing relationship) Year Earthly Branch / Di Zi : Tiger / Yin Month Earthly Branch / Di Zi : Monkey / Shen Tiger x Monkey (clashing relationship)

Note: Apologies for the late posting of this month's Solar Terms. I left for New Zealand in June  with a last minute urgent travel for personal matters.  Was away for 6 weeks. Solar Terms for July 2022

This evening the solar term of Spring Begins Li Xia starts the summer months off in the Chinese luni-solar calendar. The sexagenary pair for the month is rotated to Yi Si or Yin Wood Snake.  In Singapore, Vesak Day is celebrated on the 15th of May, and is also the 15th day full moon of the 4th lunar month. 

We have already moved into the second month of the year of the Water Tiger, Ren Yin 2022 in the Chinese luni-solar calendar on 5 March 2022 .  The beginning of the month is marked by the Solar Term " Jin Ze " or translated as " Awaken Insects " that started at 22:43 hours on the 5th of March, 2022.  In the Chinese luni-solar calendar , the 60 sexagenary pairs sequence alternate on a Yin - Yang - Yin - Yang basis, and so while February was a Yang Water Tiger month, March is a Yin Water Rabbit month. April will be Yang month again, and so on and so forth.  The elements of the month are Water (癸 Gui / Yin Water) and Wood (卯 Mao / Rabbit). You may be wondering why the name Jin Ze / Awaken Insects was used to name this second month. The ancient Chinese observed the natural phenomena in their surrounding environment. It was observed that insects were beginning to awaken from their winter hibernation, and hence gave this name to the second month . It is useful to note

The year of Ren Yin, Yang Water/Tiger started on the 4th of February 2022 on the Solar part of the Chinese Luni-solar Calendar. The beginning day is marked by the Solar Term "Li Chun" or translated as "Spring Begins". In the analysis of Ba Zi charts, we use the year as marked by the first Solar Term of the year, "Li Chun". There is also a mid point for the month on 19th of February with a Solar Term "Yu Shui" or translated as "Rain Water".  

Five Tigers - 5 Elements Tigers 壬寅，甲寅，丙寅，戊寅，庚寅 The popularity of the annual Zodiac sign predictions reaches its height during the Chinese Lunar New Year period. They are simplified readings to cater to the masses as the whole population is grouped into twelve Zodiac signs; which means that hundreds of millions share the same reading per sign. Too general to be precise, and so it is infotainment. In modern days, the annual Zodiac sign readings serve a largely commercial purpose as many capitalist business entities use the predictions as marketing and promotional events for news and publicity. Temples and religious organisations use them as annual fund raisers. Historically these readings were done by scholars working at temple fairs as a side income while waiting to take the Imperial Examinations in the ancient cities of China.  The annual Zodiac signs predictions are simplified to twelve, which is already quite lengthy to write and talk about. To bridge the gap to the actual 60 Jia Zi

During the Chinese Lunar New Year festivities period, web sites, news agencies and social media are filled with articles on the luck of the 12 zodiac signs according to the year of birth. There is a ready readership/viewership keen to know what the lunar new year is like, and what it holds for them.  The 12 signs of the zodiac in Chinese metaphysics studies are called Di Zi 地支. The 12 Chinese characters used are 子丑寅卯辰巳午未申酉戌亥, and assigned the 12 animal names 鼠牛虎兔龙蛇马羊猴鸡狗猪. They are then rotated in the above sequence on an annual basis.  子丑寅卯辰巳午未申酉戌亥 Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai 鼠牛虎兔龙蛇马羊猴鸡狗猪 Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig In the Chinese luni-solar calendar, these 12 Di Zi's are also used to denote the 12 months, 365 days and the 12 si-chen (2 hour block) in a day. And so, on any given day and time, there are actually up to 4 Di Zi (zodiac animals) in the year, month, day and si-chen (2 hour).  While the annua

From preparations for the Chinese Lunar New Year, to the final 15th day of the festival celebrations, at least 3 to 4 weeks of a Chinese person's calendar is dedicated to this festive event. Although the public holidays declared is only 2 days here in Singapore, there are many other customs and traditional practices that take place before and during this festival. It is an important event in the Chinese calendar.  The meaning of the word 元宵 comes from 元 as in the first (month) and 宵(night). The timing of this event moves to the evening as it is the 15th day of the first lunar month, and that means it is a full moon night. And being practical and appropriate for the night time darkness, lanterns are used to light up the night. In English, this day is also called the Lantern Festival. One of the traditional games is finding answers to riddles attached to the many lanterns.  This is our very own Chinese "Full Moon Party".  It also marks the end of the festivities for the Lun

(one month of the year of Ren Yin goes into January 2023) Besides assigning a pair of the 60 Sexagenary Pairs (Jia Zi) to the year, a pair is also assigned to every month of the solar part of the Chinese luni-solar calendar.  For example, in the year of Ren Yin 2022, all 12 solar months are assigned a Tian Gan Di Zi 天干地支 pair, beginning with Ren Yin 壬寅 (coincidentally the same as for the year this year) for the month beginning with Li Chun (Spring Begins). The following month starting with the solar term Jing Ze (Awakening of Insects) is assigned Gui Mao 癸卯, and so forth, as illustrated in the graphics above drawn up by myself.  The same 60 pairs of Tian Gan Di Zi are rotated also for the day and for the hour, resulting in 4 Pillars of Year, Month, Day and hour. This is why Ba Zi is also called 4 Pillars.  As you can tell by now, in a Ba Zi chart, there are actually 4 possibilities for the 12 Di Zi (used for the annual zodiac signs). There is a possibility of up to 4 different zodiac s

(C) 2022 Chua Chee Hiang Here is a chart graphic drawn up by me on the laptop that contains the 24 Solar Terms time and date for the year of Ren Yin Water Tiger 2022.  You can see that the solar part of the Chinese luni-solar calendar has similar month timing to the Gregorian international calendar, but the start and end dates and times per month differ by 4 to 8 days. Also, note that the month changeover timings are not at 00:00 hours.  The Chinese 24 Solar Terms were inscribed in 2016 (11.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Link:  https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/the-twenty-four-solar-terms-knowledge-in-china-of-time-and-practices-developed-through-observation-of-the-suns-annual-motion-00647

Did you know that the Chinese calendar system is made up of 2 parts; a lunar calendar and a solar calendar? It is called a luni-solar calendar.  Many are familiar with the lunar calendar part of the Chinese luni-solar calendar that tracks the shape of the moon in the night sky, with special days for Chinese festivals and events on the 1st and 15th day of the lunar month. Traditionally the older generation of Chinese people celebrate their Chinese lunar birthdays. The solar calendar part of the Chinese luni-solar calendar corresponds to the orbit of planet earth around the sun, and is systematically divided into 24 parts, called Solar Terms. The first of the Solar Terms is Spring Begins or Li Chun and it falls on 4 February 2022. Although the lunar new year of the Tiger had already started on the 1st of February, the start of the Water Tiger year in the solar calendar part of the luni-solar calender is actually on 4 February 2022.  For the Ba Zi birth chart, we use the solar calendar pa

Wish all readers a happy Chinese Lunar New Year 2022 龙腾虎跃 Dragon Soar Tiger Leap 五福临门 5 Good Fortunes arrive at your door 万事如意 May all go according to your wishes 虎年大吉 Big auspicious Tiger year 好运连连 Good luck non stop

(1) How many "New Year's Day" are there in a year?  There are 3 "New Year's Days": (i) 1st of January, 2022 (International Gregorian Calendar) (ii) 1st of February, 2022 - Lunar New Year (based on the orbit of moon around earth), and  (iii) 4th of February, 2022 - Li Chun day or Spring Begins solar term, beginning of the solar calendar of the Chinese luni-solar calendar (based on the orbit of earth around the sun). (Note) Although I use the word "orbit", the ancient Chinese mapped the path of the moon in its waxing and waning phases across the night sky, and likewise used the Gnomon stick's sun shadow to track the path of the sun across the sky.  For all of the three first-days of the year, you can construct a Ba Zi chart for the beginning hour of the day and analyse them for the 5 elements interaction. It means that there will be 3 different Ba Zi charts with different meanings and interpretations according to different masters. Confusing isn&