Article FS10/jan5 2010 NEW YEAR PREDICTIONS: FACTS AND MYTHS Prof. Dr. Ong Hean-Tatt. 2nd January 2010 http://www.guiculture.com/fs10asny.htm Around the end of the year, the time arrives for many to try their hands at forecasting the incoming year. Their predictions often make fun readings, especially as different practitioners could give different conflicting forecasts. As one astute news editor said, these predictions, even by reputable masters, were often wrong! Diverse Methods of Astrology There are a few methods used by Chinese astrologers to peer into the incoming year: There is the sexegenary cycle method, which is a basis of the Tong Shu (Chinese Almanac) predictions. From the matching of the tiangan and dizh signs one can predict if a year would be sunny and dry or rainy and wet and so on. This method can even be used to forecast a month to month and day to day fortune. It may be integrated with the 28 Lunar Constellations method. Another is the Flying Stars method. The individual year has a number (from 9) which is used to create a flight of stars through the squares of the Lou Shu. This method is used to tell the general fortune of the year. The individual square can tell what can happen to a sector of the nation. Related methods include Qi Men Dun Jia, Liu Ren, Tai Yi, etc. Another way should be through the birthdate of a nation. The nation will take the character of an individual. Then the elements of that character would be matched against the element of the year. It would be almost like telling the Ba Zi Eight Characters or Zi Wei Dou Shu divination of a person, except in this case the person is replaced by the nation. The diverse methods may explain why practitioners may obtain conflicting forecasts. But, basically, the forecasts should not have been different. Why then the conflicting differences? An easy answer would be to say only one or two of the methods may be sound. Or, that the practitioners do not know how to use the methods. In my research into Feng Shui and astrology I respect the ancient origins of these arts. Only through Time, distortions and deviations have occurred among the arts, thereby making them so different, with different conflicting results and errors. A major error in Chinese astrology is the failure to correct for the precession of the equinoxes. Errors in Astrology Methodologies In my previous articles and writings I have highlighted again and again a simple but serious mistake made by almost all these practitioners of Chinese Feng Shui and astrology which renders their arts questionable. This simple mistake is their failure to correct dates for the precession of the equinoxes. The rotating axis of the Earth makes one complete cycle every 25,800 years, or one Zodiac sign every 2,000 years. While Hindu, Western and even Hebrew astrology corrected for this precession, Chinese practitioners had not corrected for this since the end of the Han dynasty. What is called the Year of the Tiger for 2010 is actually the Year of the Rabbit! It is actually not difficult to find out whether there is indeed a shift. Look up 20 or so of your relatives and colleagues animal signs. You may find that most of them do not fit the characters of their so-called Zodiac signs. About two thirds of them will get much better fits when their Zodiac signs are shifted one sign. Try it and see! Afraid to Say Bad News Another mistake is the tendency to gloss over the negative aspects. In 2008 the Chinese New Year had a solar eclipse. A solar eclipse is always a bad sign for the rulers in the region where it could be seen. I informed that 2008 would be bad for the ruling party, but the news editor dared not print it. One practitioner even forecast that the solar eclipse signaled improvements in trade and forecast that the economy would pick up. However, 2008 was a set back for the ruling party in the country. The economy remains in doldrums even into 2009 where there was again another solar eclipse at the new year. Both in 2008 and 2009 the ruling party suffered traumatic changes. An Adjusted Astrology for 2010 For 2010, where there will be no solar eclipse at the new year, there may be less trauma as in 2008 or 2009. Those who had been able to adapt to the turmoils of 2008 and 2009 will reap the benefits in 2010 and 2011. If 2010 is the Year of Tiger it will be turmultous. However, according to the evidence of the precession of the equinoxes, 2010 is really the year of the Rabbit. It is a year of opportunities but one will need foresight and wisdom to realise them - i.e. be creative. Those who seize these opportunities will become much richer or realise their ambitions in 2011. These opportunities would be mostly those related to the Wood element. 2010 is also good for those supposed to be under the sign of the Tiger, but are actually Rabbit - they should especially seize the opportunities. Those born under the conventional signs of the Horse and Dog will also do well. Western astrology predicts that 2010 is the year for change and that the turmoil of the past few years will give way to a realisation for new planning. New ways of doing things will emerge. Pressing world problems, financial discord, corporate corruption, climate change, starvation, energy shortages and global epidemics of the current past are calling for a worldwide change of attitude. World problems call for world solutions with dialogue and decisions made on a global scale. Go for Accurate Research-based Scientific Feng Shui and Astrology The Chinese imperial astrology always refered to actual positions of planets and planetary events and made forecasts accordingly. The Chinese emperors would not use the erratic calendars. This imperial approach is what is seen in Hindu and Western astrology, where forecasts are based on actual positions of planets. The current typical Chinese astrology with their calendrical calculations are only approximations of actual astronomical movements. They have become more inaccurate due to deviations through time - and they require new re-calibrations. It is time for practitioners to realise that astrology and Feng Shui have scientific astronomical and geography basis. Too long practitioners have been mired in superstitious mind sets.