Call it the curse of Chinese Metaphysics. Just as students of Feng Shui are obsessed with ‘The Formula’, so students of BaZi are obsessed with ‘The Technique’. In my recent M2 class, any mention of an advanced approach or technique often makes the students wonder if the reason why they aren’t getting the answers they want to get from the BaZi chart is because they don’t know something.

Are there some special combinations that we don’t know about? Is there some special structure that we haven’t learnt about that therefore impedes our ability to access the hidden secrets of a particular chart.

Personally, I think students think far too much about the building blocks (the Combos, the Harms, the Destructions etc) than they do about the house. There’s to much fixation on technique, and not enough focus on concept.

So what is ‘concept’ in BaZi? It’s in the word of Robin Sharma, a ‘big idea’.

Concept involves thinking about what the purpose of BaZi is supposed to be. It involves thinking about BaZi in the broader context of life, happiness, greatness, achievement, progress and advancement. Concept involves if you like, deriving some form of principle or philosophy or approach about how to do a certain something.It’s a hypothesis. A theory about how to do a certain something, or handle a certain situation.

For example, an important CONCEPT in BaZi is that of connection. BaZi affords us an opportunity to understand how we connect with the people around us. Why person x at this point in time? Why person y 10 years ago, but not now? Why this particular Day Master only. Why in a given year, a certain type of Day Master seems to constantly emerge to offer you assistance, or guidance?

Another important concept that I’ve arrived at in the course of my consulting practice is (I hesitate to say that I originated the thought since original thought isn’t that easy) relates to careers. BaZi cannot tell us if a person should be a doctor, or a scientist or a social worker. People often expect me to be able to pull a profession out of the hat for them. BaZi cannot do that. But BaZi can tell us if a person has the skills and abilities to be a doctor, scientist or social worker and how well they will do in those roles, based on their skills.

The BIG IDEA that BaZi is putting across here is the concept of trying to understand yourself from a SKILLS perspective first, and not a JOB perspective. Figure out what you are good at doing (based on your chart) and then find a job that fits those strengths, which could be any number of possibilities. Or better yet. Find out what you are good at doing, and then invent a profession or job that fits those strengths and abilities.

For many Asians, this is a completely unorthodox, even absurd, way of finding a career. In the old days, you took up a profession or vocation, and then you got good at doing it. The old 10,000 hours that Malcolm Gladwell talks about in ‘Outliers’. And then you just practiced and practiced. And you would eventually acquire a vocation or a skill.

Guess what? Anybody can get good at doing something by just doing it all the time. As with anything in this life, with enough practice, you will get somewhere. Perseverance is 99% of genius after all. But that being said, you’re never gonna be as good at it as someone who not only works hard, but has their BaZi pushing them all the way. And guess what? You might certainly not be happy doing your job, which you’re only good at because you’ve been doing it for so long it’s impossible to be bad at doing it.

What is the path to career excellence? Dedication AND Passion. You’ve got to like doing it, and be good at doing it. And whilst you can get good at a job or skill without liking it, you’d be so much better if you also liked your job at the same time.

The big idea that BaZi promotes is not to look for a JOB. It is to look for a CALLING. A calling that suits your skills, plays to your strengths and doesn’t press your weaknesses too much. Better yet, invent a calling that you can OWN. If Mark McCormack didn’t do that, we wouldn’t have a company called IMG today. And sports stars wouldn’t be flogging watches, and perfume, and cologne and shaving blades, whilst earning a fortune doing so.

Here’s another concept. One of the advanced ideas that you learn (in m3 of the MA syllabus at least) is that all the elements in a BaZi chart have an inter-dependent relationship. So for example, if you have Ding Fire in your chart, then you must have Jia Wood to help that Ding Fire candle keep burning. But you also need a Xin Metal or Geng Metal to chop the Jia Wood to provide the kindling for the Ding Fire. And it goes on.

The inter-dependent nature of all the elements in a chart is played out against the backdrop of the fact that every chart has a magic key element. This is the Useful God or the Regulating Useful God element. It is the element that unlocks the power and potential of the chart. But, the Useful God or Regulating Useful God element has to be a good quality element and have all the elements that the particular Useful God or Regulating Useful God element is inter-dependent upon.

So what’s the big idea?

Christmas lights.

Turn on one switch, and you light up the whole row.

What BaZi tells us is that there is one key integral action or personal quality that each person NEEDS to possess (or acquire) or regularly make use of, that represents the element that their Useful God or Regulating Useful God is MOST inter-dependent upon. The more you use that quality or do that action, the more you hone, encourage, feed, nurture, grow, forge, shine, water, or focus your Useful God or Regulating Useful God element.

Flip the switch. And watch your ducks line up in a row.

This sounds confusing so here’s an example.

Let’s assume that the Day Master is Jia Wood. Jia Wood as a rule, must be made useful. It must be chopped. And so for all Jia Woods, the presence of Geng Metal in the chart is integral. Now, Geng Metal, as an element, requires Ding Fire (or in the absence of that, Bing) to bring out its true qualities and the Sha that it carries inherent within it. So, the Jia Wood now needs both Ding and Geng. Assuming the chart has both these elements, how then does the person ‘flip the switch’?

Ding is the key here, which represents a Jia Wood person’s Hurting Officer star.

The more Hurting Officer in temperament the person is, meaning, the more opinionated, forceful, outgoing, unorthodox, bold and daring the person is, the more they are doing what is needed to unlock the power of the Geng Metal in their chart, namely, forging the Metal. As the Geng Metal in their chart represents their Seven Killings star, this means that the bolder, more daing, more forceful, more outgoing, more bold thinking the person is, the greater their  influence and power, their ability to be decisive is enhanced, their capacity to make big decisions grows, and their ambition, drive and desire to win big, as well as belief in their own invincibility, will become more pronounced. And they will in turn be able to make the decisions, take the jobs, or make the choices that are needed for them to become a ‘useful’ Jia Wood.

So,don’t fixate on the small ideas, the secret techniques, and the combos you don’t know about.

Think Big.

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A reader sent me a great list of questions about Peach Blossom Stars to answer.  I thought that instead of writing the answer to just her, I’d print them here, and answer them.

Ok, when is it extremely auspicious when a peach blossom is in your chart?

The word ‘auspicious’ here is misleading really. It’s a very old-fashioned concept that I suppose means ‘good’ in general or ‘positive’. The modern outlook on BaZi is that all the stars are ‘usable’, meaning, each has a purpose and a basis for usage. For example, in the old days, the 7 Killings star 七 刹 was considered ‘inauspicious’ because it was considered bad to have petty people in your life. Now, it’s all part and parcel of daily life really. But back to the Peach Blossom.

A little Peach Blossom is regarded as a good thing. By a little, I mean ONE.  One Peach Blossom star means that you are (irregardless of your true physical appearance) an attractive person in the sense that people are drawn to you, enjoy your company, or find you pleasant and personable.

I suppose you could say being personable, nice, and someone people are drawn to and enjoy spending time and company with is an ‘auspicious’ thing. Obviously in the relationships game, having an attraction star is a favourable thing. Getting a date is a lot easier if someone is willing and keen to talk to you in the first place and finds you pleasant company right?

One of the additional positives of the Peach Blossom star which is not usually discussed is it’s advantage in the workplace. Being liked at your job is helpful – it means that people are more likely to extend you a favour or do something for you or close an eye to a misdemeanour, or work better with you because well, you’re nice to look at, attractive, or just someone they enjoy being around. Hence, people in front-facing jobs (sales, marketing, customer service) usually benefit from having a Peach Blossom star in the chart.

But to answer the question above, it is never EXTREMELY AUSPICIOUS. I don’t like to use that term and I think it is misleading. It is simple positive and favourable to have. But if you don’t have it, it’s not in my view a big deal.

Having it in the Marriage pillar, or day pillar, month? or year? hour?

Each position exerts a different effect obviously. (and I think the asker doesn’t't mean Marriage Pillar – she means Spouse Palace). The answer to this question very largely depends on what you want to use the Peach Blossom star for. In other words, what’s it being deployed to do? Peach Blossom Stars at the Hour Pillar are regarded as the ones having the quickest but most transient effect so that’s great if you need to do a lot of charming on the job or you’re into serial dating or serial relationships. When the star is located at the Year Pillar have a more lasting effect, but in my view is usually less of a problematic type of attraction (meaning, no stalker girlfriend/boyfriend types and people who you really don’t like coming after you)

A Peach Blossom star in the Spouse Palace would not in my view be considered a positive or favourable feature in the chart UNLESS that star is the true Spouse Star for the Day Master. But then again, we want to only see the true Spouse Star in the Spouse Palace so arguably, it’s not just the Peach Blossom Star that is discriminated against in the Spouse Palace.

Also, does it only count as a peach blossom star if you take a look at only the Day branch animal sign/ Year pillar?

This question is ambiguous but I take it to mean that a Peach Blossom star is only significant if it is one’s PERSONAL Peach Blossom star, as opposed to just being one of the Peach Blossom Stars, namely, Rat 子 Rabbit 卯  Horse 午  and Rooster 酉.

Obviously the Personal Peach Blossom star is superior in terms of your ability to utilise it compared to having a Peach Blossom star in your chart that is not your personal Peach Blossom Star. (Incidentally, you can have more than one since it is based on your Year and Day Branch). However, a Peach Blossom star, seeing as it is quite useful, is better than none. But obviously, a Personal Peach Blossom star is better than a non-personal one.

What if you just have a zodiac animal in your chart that is one of the four peach blossom star, but not necessarily a peach blossom to the day animal/year animal? does it still have peach blossom effect?

Answered above but to make it clear: it’s still a Peach Blossom Star. So it still has the attraction + charm effect. What’s more important is how it interacts with all the other Branches in your chart AND more significantly, which of the Ten Gods that particular Peach Blossom star relates to which will have some impact on its ultimate effect.

Also, would each peach blossom display differently? Or is peach blossom JUST peach blossom luck? Say,if one has a peach blossom star as a rabbit and the other one has the rat… How is it portrayed differently? or is it just the same peach blossom luck is all?

You have to co-relate the Peach Blossom star to the 10 Gods, and then relate the particular Ten God that the Peach Blossom Star co-relates to back to the Day Master. For example, a Geng Metal Day Master with a Rooster Peach Blossom Star has the Rob Wealth Star as their Peach Blossom. So, their Peach Blossom Star will manifest in the manner of the Rob Wealth star (ie: gift of the gab, ability to charm through conversation or speaking or in social situations, a person who converts friends in to relationships and back again easily).

The general approach to Peach Blossom is that its an attraction star. But when you put in the 10 Gods, you get a more specific interpretation and understanding of HOW that star works for that person best and in what situations and environments.

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Who else would know how to  save the face of a Yi Wood, but another Yi Wood? In a sense, it was win win. Both got leverage and mileage out of the event. Clinton ostensibly was there just to bring back the two journalists but has re-established his international man of diplomacy status big-time. He was always seen as a great international diplomat but the man now shows he’s never lost his mojo. Dear Leader gets some nice political mileage as well at home as he ‘pardoned’ the two journalists (thereby clearly sending the message that the US also acknowledges they had committed a crime) and everyone’s now wondering what’s on this kemo sabe’s mind with all the nukes and taepodong missiles he has.

You gotta hand it to those Yi Woods. They always come out of everything even when there seems to be nothing to gain…WITH SOMETHING.

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…or a bossy, overbearing bitch who thinks she knows everything. (See “I am a terrible BaZi Consultant“)

Well, we’ll talk about the overbearing bossy bitch another time. This week, let’s talk about the Male Chauvinist Pig BaZi consultant.

In the old days, it was UNTHINKABLE that women would be allowed to dabble in metaphysics. God forbid become BaZi consultants or even Feng Shui consultants. Nope.

For women, BaZi is not Destiny.

Biology. That’s Destiny.

Fortunately, the metaphysical world has moved on along with the rest of the world and, nowadays you have many female BaZi consultants (less in the Feng Shui world it would seem). In Hong Kong, it seems things are very even when it comes to female BaZi consultants.

I think it’s natural that there should be women in this field, given that a large proportion of the time, women are the ones likely to be seeking out advice these days.  That being said, from a practice standpoint, I see about an even number of males/females. Although I suppose even in the old days, men would not have called going to see a BaZi consultant to be “going to get advice”. They would have called it something else, as in the old days, seeing a BaZi sifu was for manly things like “finding out information about when I am going to get a promotion” or “how much longer do I have to be stuck in this position before I am promoted to the Emperor’s Number 1 Mandarin”  or “when will I find a wife because I really need someone to give me some kids because working the fields by myself is damn hard work”.

Manly important things. Indeed.

But I digress.

So your Bazi consultant is a male chauvinist pig. What do you do?

By the way, this assumes that you, the reader, are not a man.

My opinion on this is largely informed by two things in my view. First, I am of the view that a BaZi consultant is not an Oracle, although sometimes we do get ahead of ourselves a little here. Their word is not FINAL. And most of the time, their advice and the validity of their advice, is dependent on your goals and your actions. In short, they just talk the talk. YOU are the one who has to walk the walk.

Secondly, and as is quite self-evident, I happen to be an educated member of the XX gender. So I have very little respect (and heaps of scorn) for BaZi advice that is predicated on the extremely outdated, decidedly Confucian belief that:

1. Women require marriage (and children) in order to be fulfilled, completed, satisfied, happy, and not bitchy old crones.

2. Women are somehow inferior to men because our brain happens to be where it’s supposed to be.

3.Women need someone to take care of them, financially, put a roof over their heads, and occasionally buy them diamond rings.

4. A truly good female BaZi belongs to a female who does not have to work.

If you have any good ones that you’ve heard, please send them my way. I will add them to the list.

So, let’s deal with these in order, except (2) which obviously requires no further explaination.

Women require marriage (and children) in order to be fulfilled, completed, satisfied, happy, and not bitchy old crones.

Just like there are some charts where money buys happiness, in some charts, marriage does by happiness. In some charts, the Husband Element does indeed happen to hold the key to the person’s happiness and satisfaction in life. Certain Day Masters for example, do experience significant quality of life improvement as a result of marriage. Ji Earth and Gui Water Female Day Masters in particular.

However, guess what? The Star the represents the Husband Element, known as the Direct Officer 正 官 also represents a person’s boss or superior. (you can of course, kill two birds with one stone and marry your boss but I don’t advise it). So in fact, a woman who’s chart requires the Direct Officer star in which to experience an improvement to quality of life and general personal happiness, can actually obtain this effect by doing the unthinkable.

HAVING A CAREER. WORKING FOR SOMEONE. USING THE BRAINS SHE WAS GIVEN FOR THE BETTERMENT OF OTHERS, or maybe her wallet. The consumer economy needs support after all.

In les ancient times, working was not an option for women. Today, it is not the case.

So, far from the view that women need a husband in order to feel satisfied, contented and happier in life, you could have the same effect from a totally amazing, absolutely stonking, kick-ass job/career. Marriage is a CHOICE, because ladies, we have options. Which means that whomever you do pick to stroll down the aisle with should be someone you’re with for reasons other than frickin elemental necessity.

Here’s what that Male Chauvinist Pig BaZi Consultant probably didn’t mention. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, except of course, the gander gets sauce with a splash of XO in it, according to the Old BaZi Consultants Club.

Some MALE charts only have their potential unlocked only after they’ve gotten married.

And even the guys have a choice. Money or Honey. This is because the star that represents the Spouse Element to a man, the Direct Wealth star 正 财, is also the element that represents actual money or assets or investments. So the guy could see his life improve, as his financial situation improves, whether or not he gets a wife to go with the nice house with the picket fence.

And equally, there are male charts where marriage isn’t actually the answer to happiness in life. To wit for these people, why on earth would marriage even be a requirement? Marriage, be it for a man or a woman, should be a choice. Not a necessity.

In the case of women, I highly discourage picking someone simply because you’ve decided you need a man to complete your life. I mean, unless it’s in your chart that you need a man (literally, and even then…see above), it really is external pressure that it is telling you a trip up the aisle is a necessity of life and that we all should just settle for whatever dead fish comes our way.

So on this point, check IGNORE on the advice unless you fall into the exceptions and tell the MCP to stuff it.

Women need someone to take care of them, financially, put a roof over their heads, and occasionally buy them diamond rings.

For this, I can do no better than to quote the great Beyonce:

The shoes on my feet
I’ve bought it
The clothes I’m wearing
I’ve bought it
The rock I’m rockin’
‘Cause I depend on me
If I wanted the watch you’re wearin’
I’ll buy it
The house I live in
I’ve bought it
The car I’m driving
I’ve bought it
I depend on me

So yeah, tell that MCP BaZi consultant to just STUFF IT.

A truly good female BaZi belongs to a female who does not have to work.

In the old days, a good chart was a chart where one was a wealthy landowner and had serfs to do the work. If you’re familiar with those endless recycled-plot TVB Cantonese serials, set in the turn of the century in China, on some wine-tea-leaf-lotus-roof plantation, you’ll know what I mean.

That is why the Resource Star 正 印 is traditionally regarded as a good star when it comes to the conventional outlook on BaZi. (the ‘occasionally’ used modern reference of the Resource Star is ‘laid-back’).

So guess what – in both male and female charts, not having to actually WORK was considered a good thing. Having other people to do stuff for you, was a good thing. Having money to spend, status and reputation was THE LIFE. And most of the time, people inherited this rather than actually achieved it.

In modern times, although inherited wealth does account still for a number of wealthy people in this world, that is rapidly changing.

I take the view that CHOOSING not to work is not the same as not being able to work therefore not having to work. Please also remember in the old days, women didn’t have much choice in terms of the types of jobs they could do. They were not allowed to engage in the family business, not allowed to trade or be merchants, and certainly not allowed to become Imperial employees unless they were ‘employed’ in the harem. Being a scholar, an artist, or a general was obviously also out. So pretty much in the old days, if you had to work as a woman, you were either a servant, a farmer or a harlot.

These days, obviously it is not the case. And so why should the conventional wisdom apply?

So as you can see, a good number of the reasons that Male BaZi consultants put forth when it comes to advocating marriage or the necessity of marriage stems from their on old-fashioned outrageously outdated thinking.

So the next time you see a male BaZi consultant and he gives you the whole ‘get married is better spiel’…

SAY IT WITH ME LADIES.

Stuff it ya old coot.

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