Chinese astrology and Feng Shui are two distinct predictive arts, and yet they are totally complementary to each other in forecasting the future. As an example, 2003 is the Year of the Sheep, which is associated with the direction of southwest. Specifically, it is a direction that ranges from 203-217 degrees. This direction of the Sheep is NOT a good direction for construction this year. If a feng shui client of mine were considering remodeling a bathroom or kitchen that fell in this direction of their home, I would strongly discourage them from proceeding this year.

What happens when you remodel in a bad direction for the year? Feng Shui practitioners call it "construction sha." It is like opening a can of worms. The bad timing of ripping things apart of digging things up in that direction can cause accidents, delays, and unexpected hassles with the people working on the project.

As well, if a neighbor is doing a remodel or construction in alignment with YOUR southwest direction this year, it has potential to cause abdominal problems for any members of your household.

Since this "Sheep" direction of southwest is so precarious this year, it is also a bad idea to build a new house that either faces southwest or is backed up to southwest. Again, it is like anchoring the important parts of the house to an irritated direction. In the same way that being born during a weak phase of the moon could affect a person's constitution and health for their entire life, so too can the health of the house be undermined if it is built in a direction that opposes the Year's signature direction.

Other components not related to construction or remodel can be compared between astrology and feng shui. Based on your Chinese zodiac sign you will have directions that are better or worse for you to enter your house, sleeping positions, work desk arrangements, even the positioning of your stove according to some feng shui schools!

The Sheep is related to the Earth element and 2003 is a Year when Earth clashes with Water. Like 2002 (which was a Water/Fire clash year) and we saw so many fires and floods in the News, the Earth energy on the planet will be more unpredictable. We already started out this year with an avalanche in Canada that killed experienced skiers and (on January 22nd) a 7.8 earthquake in Mexico. It is likely that there will be more earth-related events like that in 2003.

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