Are You Moving In the Right Direction?

According to Japanese Astrology, which takes some of its formulas from feng shui, each year there are good, bad and neutral directions that you could move to. Firstly, you need a crash course in the five elements: water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. Each element has a particular relationship with the other elements.

As an example, Water is nurtured by Metal. Water then does the nurturing to Wood. Water can destroy fire or be dominated by Earth. In any given year, the eight basic directions will be governed by an annual influence and those annual influences are related to an element as well.

Here is a key to the relationships of the elements:

Water strengthens Wood Wood strengthens Fire Fire strengthens Earth Earth strengthens Metal Metal strengthens Water Water destroys Fire Fire destroys Metal Metal destroys Wood Wood destroys Earth Earth destroys Water

Example: In 2003, the direction of North has an earth influence. If you are a Water person based on the feng shui Trigram system, then moving North this year would have a dominating affect on you because Earth can destroy Water. Keep in mind that these directions are fairly precise. North is not at all the same as northeast or northwest. And it is all relative to where you have been living and where you want to move.

As an example: if you live in San Diego and move to Los Angeles, that could be pretty much a northerly move. But if you lived in Torrance and moved to Malibu, that would be a northwest move. To be precise, you would want to look at a map and draw a straight line from one point to the next.

Whatever your Personal Trigram is, which reveals your essential element, try not to move in a direction whose element will have a dominating affect on you. The element that visits each direction will change every year.

For 2003, the annual influence for each direction is as follows:

Earth visits North Fire visits NE Wood visits East Earth visits SE Water visits South Wood visits SW Earth visits West Metal visits NW

In order to know what element you are, follow this formula:

For a woman: Take the last two digits of the year of birth and add them together. Then reduce that number to a single digit if it isn't already. Whatever single digit you end up with, add that to the number 5 and you will get the personal trigram number for a woman, always reduced to a single digit. Let us say you have a woman born in 1962. Add 6+2 to get 8. Then add 8+5 to get 13. Again, reduce 1+3 to get number 4 as the personal trigram number.

For a man: Take the last two digits of the year of birth, add them together and then reduce that number to a single digit. For instance, a man born in 1957 you would add 5+7 to get 12 and then 1+2=3. Take that number (which in this example is 3) and subtract it from 10. That would yield the number 7. So a man born in 1957 is the 7 Trigram (Metal).

Very Important Note: The year of birth is based on a Solar calendar which commences on February 5th, NOT January 1st. So if you were born between January 1st-February 4th, then it makes you one year older. Example: If you were born January 14th, 1969 then you must consider yourself born in 1968 and add the 6 and 8 together to start your personal trigram formula. This is the method for both men and women.

Whatever number you come up with, check to see what element is associated with it.

1=Water 2=Earth 3= Wood 4=Wood 5= No personal trigram 6=Metal 7=Metal 8=Earth 9=Fire

Do a comparison chart for the annual influence, plus your personal element.

For instance, let us say you are the Number 4 trigram, which is Wood. This year, the NW is visited by Metal energy. This would not be a good directional move in 2003 for the Wood person because Metal can dominate Wood. On the other hand, Water nurtures Wood and specific to 2003, the Water element visits South. For the Wood person, moving South this year could have a nurturing affect.

By comparing a person's Personal element with the element associated with a direction for the year, you can see if it will be a favorable direction or not to move to.

Each year, the direction is associated with a number (element) that descends as the years go forward. Example: If South this year is associated with 1 water, then in 2004 the south will be associated with 9 because there are nine single digits that cycle through and repeat themselves. In 2005, the south will be the number 8, in 2006 it will be the number 7, etc. This descending pattern is consistent with ALL the directions.

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© Melt Magazine 2003