Taomeow

Something like the central one.

Thank you, Limahong! That's beautiful. Believe it or not, they taught us how to make Chinese lanterns in kindergarten, and I still half remembered when I decided to make one recently (though I did go to youtube to refresh the instructions I got at the age of 5! )

Thank you for your thoughts, CH. Yup, we would have to push hands to really discuss it. Chen isn't "learned by slowness, then accelerate" -- no one abandons the slow form after adding the fast one. Cannon Fist can't be slowed down unless you know how to levitate, but the first routine -- once you've made it your own, you decide how you want to do it. You can slow it down more whenever you decide you need to or want to, and you speed it up when you have to -- e.g. when doing a demo or teaching. I can't teach a beginner the slowest version, nor the fastest -- there's a medium pace for learning, which from other arts' perspective is slow, but in taiji, just that -- medium pace, for the learning stage (which can and should last a number of years), for beginners. Slower and faster than that, for more experienced folks. Beginners who do it slower or faster than the medium pace are making a mistake... actually, I've never met a beginner opting for slower than medium. Yang is the same. If you have a standard 18--25 minute pace, that's the learning pace, the beginner pace. And it is pretty much the same as the learning pace of Chen, only our form is a bit shorter. If you want to say that the learning phase never ends, in a sense, yes, it's true -- but there's something like, I dunno, I can compare the time when I started learning English, memorizing words and grammatical rules, to the time I could honestly call myself bilingual, and they are not the same. Not that someone bilingual has nothing left to learn -- but you've made the language your own at some point, not foreign. It's the same with taiji. But of course there's always deeper to go, it has no bottom. When the great pianist Horowitz was asked, at the age of 85, why he keeps practicing every day, he responded, "because I think I'm making progress."

The slowness of practice is not a feature of any one taiji style, it is used in all of them, and how slowly you practice only depends on how strong and skillful you are. I remember the days of a continuous internal scream for mercy when my teacher wanted me to do Chen laojia, which at a normal-slow pace takes some 15--20 minutes to complete (and 15 is a breeze compared to 20), so slowly that every move could be picture perfect -- stop externally (but not internally) long enough for someone who wants to illustrate a book on all postures of the form to take a picture of your every move. That torture sometimes took upwards of 75 minutes -- but the number of "bugs" caught and eliminated in the process simply shocked me -- at that time I thought I got it to perfection already, well, maybe someone very nitpicking might catch five or six bugs... we caught more like fifty or sixty. There's no way to catch them if you go fast. You just jump over them, and never find out they're there until they start biting you in push-hands and you don't know why. Then of course, all styles can be sped up to be lightning fast -- aside from the forms designed to be fast to begin with, the slow ones can be executed in a blur. It's just that it's counterproductive to do that before you can do the slow thing perfectly. I've noticed in classes that people who have left too many bugs of assorted sizes unaccounted for always tend to rush it. Slow is hard where there's a flaw in your execution -- whatever the flaw, you tend to try to get out of that uneasy spot as fast as you can. I was trained to stop right there, in the uneasy spot, and find out what it is that makes it uneasy. And to make every single spot easy by leaving none of them in the blind zone. And that meant slow down, slow down... slow down till you can't take it and find out what it is that makes you unable to take it. And then you can fix it and then you can take it. And then when you speed up, it's soooo easy... People don't understand why taiji is practiced slowly to be used fast because it seems so counterintuitive until you actually do it -- and do it right. The best analogy from the world of sports (which of course is only very remotely analogous) is a marathon. They don't run slowly because they can't run fast. They run slowly because they want to go the entire distance.

Chen as I've been taught it (fully orthodox straight from Chenjiagou) is perfectly yin-yang balanced in every move. Of course we have the explosive Cannon Fist that throws all the yang in your face, but it is not doable at all as an external/yang-skewed routine without doing damage to your body -- it has to still be yin-yang balanced in every move... It's just that yang is what "everybody" can see there but yin preceding and following every yang move is what only a trained eye sees -- but it's there, trust me, always there. One reason no one should put fighting taiji on a fast track is that this continuous yin-yang flow must be established first -- if it's not there, if you go yang and then yang again and get stuck in the yang expression without instantly returning/restoring/replenishing/settling into yin in between, you are invariably using li and losing qi, a taiji anathema. The yin phase of the move can be very short, as short as the fajin phase -- but it's always there. If it's not, it means the practitioner is a beginner (no matter how long he or she has remained at that level.) Yang style I don't comment on because I don't have much to say, except it has everything too, but not the kind of "everything" I could use. It bores me... ...but that's just personal preferences and body type (I'm a natural born Chenster, LOL), Yang is not inferior. Just differently flavored.

I guess we all see features of what we know best in different but related arts. To me all things Yang always looks like "simplified Chen." I would even go so far as to draw a parallel between them akin to the parallel between "traditional" and "simplified" written Chinese -- 太極 vs. 太极 -- the same word, first in traditional script, second, in simplified.

If you wind up getting deeper into taiji, I predict you'll start finding more, not fewer, differences. But they are not limited to technical ones, and among those that are deeper-than-technical, the differences might be even more profound at a high level. I'm not talking some woo woo, I'm talking wuwei... which, because words "about" it can only mislead, is not worth talking about. But really worth experiencing... it's a one-way door of sorts -- once you've convinced your body (after much preliminary ado) that the wuwei way is the best way to do things, and secured its cooperation, there's really no going away from that in any direction. Just MHO of course.

One would have to define "powerful" I guess. Two would then have to agree on the definition. I've come across quite a few taiji masters who are very powerful (granted they are not all over the place, it's just that by now I know where to look ), roughly one third of them started out with hard arts, and some, with extreme sports. Of those one-third, 100% never looked back, and 85%, for one thing, profoundly regretted having started with things that did damage to their bodies, and for another, scorn those practices from their current perspective as barbaric and pointless. I had only brief exposure to TKD before taiji and don't regret it at all, but because it was brief, it took my teacher no more than a year to get all the habits of use I acquired there out of my system. Others may not be able to get it out at all, once it is embodied. It depends...

Looks like he's trying to give taiji fighting instructions to people who don't know what to do with them. There's people who are talented. Some are talented artists, they can see what others can't from the get-go. Some are talented philosophers, they can think what others can't from the get-go. Some are talented fighters, they can feel in their body what others can't from the get-go. This guy is a talented MA guy, but I don't see how he can make a Michelangelo out of a student without teaching the techniques that would re-wire the student to be Michelangelo. I don't see how he can make a Zhuangzi out of a student without re-wiring the student to be Zhuangzi. He can only proclaim, "Look at me, I am Michelangelo, I am Zhuangzi." Yes, he can show, but he can't show the inside of his feelings, and he is not teaching the techniques of acquiring them because he does not teach an internal art. Internal arts differ from external arts in that they have those re-wiring techniques. You don't have to be born Michelangelo to become Michelangelo in taiji. You just have to be taught the techniques and practice. External arts don't have those techniques clearly and systematically formulated and practically implemented. That's why this guy tells the students "I feel it," "I see it," "it's a feeling" and so on all the time and they are looking at him like they're looking at a three-legged chicken who tells them how easy it is to lay eggs. Yes, I believe he feels it (especially in his upper body, his lower body is still rather disconnected, though nothing a good taiji teacher wouldn't fix... like I said, the guy is talented). But I don't see how he can get the students to feel it too, and to use what they feel the correct way. So, thanks for pointing out one more difference. Internal arts are the ones designed and structured to teach the internal student within the external student. External arts, in this example, inform the internal student that he exists, and of course that's a start... but where do they go from here? It's not enough to know something exists. I know planes exist but I can't pilot one. A family member who can had to learn how -- and it wasn't done via just watching someone who can, or hopping in a plane and trying.

"The most spectacular peacock tail covers up an ordinary chicken asshole. Don't be too pompous, gentlemen." -- Faina Ranevskaya

Kedi, a Turkish documentary about the cats of Istanbul. Kind, thoughtful, humane, touching, and of course full of cats. My cat was spellbound too, which is very unusual for him.

By Raymond Lo, one of the feng shui/Chinese astrology rocks in the ocean of online nonsense. (I'm not always 100% in agreement with his analysis, but interpreting the stars, the Heavenly Stems and Earthly branches and the rest of it is a complex art, so the disagreement is like that between, say, El Greco and Hokusai, rather than between El Greco and Andy Warhol or Hokusai and Justin Bieber.) THE YEAR OF THE DOG The Year of the Dog, 2018, in the Hsia calendar, is symbolized by two Chinese characters – with Yang earth sitting on top of Dog which is also earth. So it is a double earth year with Earthly branch supporting Heavenly stem on top. According to the cycle of birth and destruction, which governs the inter-relationship between the elements, if the two elements are in the destructive cycle and have fighting relationship, then the year will have more conflicts. This happened in the previous years of 2015 wood over earth, 2016 and 2017 fire over metal. However this year 2018 the two elements are earth supporting each other. Normally such configuration will mean more harmony and less conflict. But the nature of Earth over Dog is a pair of elements called “Fai Kong” in the 60 Heavenly stem and Earthly Branch cycle of the Chinese calendar system. A person born on a “Fai Kong” day is exceptionally tough in character and never surrender. Such person has strong determination to achieve his goal and will fight to the end. Hence the atmosphere is that people may choose to stick to principles and take a firm stand and hard to compromise. Under such atmosphere, there will be harsh confrontation and clashes in the international relationship and not easy to achieve harmony and peace. The Dog is related to spiritual matters and so there will be tension and conflict arising from religious and cultural causes. The Earth dog is a massive mountain which is image of heavy pressure and brute forces. So it is associate with earth disasters such as earthquake, landslide, collapse of building and avalanche. Earth also means the road which will trigger Traffic accidents. Looking back in history, there are quite serious earth disasters related to earth Dog years. Just pick some significant examples from the previous earth Dog year 60 years ago in 1958 –There is serious earthquake of Magnitude 6.7 occurred in Iran on 16/8 killing 132 people. Another earthquake of magnitude 7.6 happened in Ecuador killed 115. The biggest earthquake was of Magnitude 8.3 occurred in Russia on 6th November and another one of magnitude 7.2 happened in Japan on 11th March killed 51 people. Even big earth disaster can happen on Earth Dog day. Take for example, on 7/4/2012 a big avalanche occurred in Pakistan buried 135 soldiers alive. On 11/5/2017 there is serious earthquake of scale 5.5 in Xinjiang, China, both dates are Earth Dog day. In Four Pillars of Destiny system, the Dragon and Dog are said to be gate to “Heaven and Hell” which is twilight zone where no “Nobleman” or angel from Heaven will arrive. In other words, there will not be angels come to rescue when one is in grave danger. In particular the Dog is related to underground, spiritual and occult matters. Hence disasters occurred in Dog hour (7 to 9 pm) or Dragon hour (7 to 9 am) will have more horror and casualties. Take for example, the 911 terrorist attack on New York happened in Dragon Hour, the South Asian Tsunami of 2004 occurred in Dragon Hour, both triggered massive casualties. On 23/8/2010, 9 Hong Kong hostages were shot in Manila in tourist bus in hour of Dog. Also the horrible Hong Kong MTR subway fire disaster happened in hour of Dog in 2017…….. So it will not be surprising that there will be international tensions and confrontations, religious conflicts and earth disasters with heavier casualties in 2018. The Dog is a complicated earth element which is symbol of “grave of fire” “underground” “Gate to Hell” and so it is related to death, religious, spiritual and occult matters. Dog year often associate with excavation and archaeology discoveries from underground. Take for example, the tomb of King Tut was discovered in 1922 which is year of Dog. As Dog refers to underground, it will also be more trouble related subway. It so happened the Chairman of the HK MTR Corporation Mr. Frederick Ma was born on 22/2/52, so he is born on an Earth Dog day in a Dragon year. The Dog and Dragon is under clash. So it is expected more subway traffic problem will happen in Hong Kong in 2018. The Chinese calendar of Heavenly stems and Earthly Branches goes on 60 years cycle. This means that we had experienced the same yang earth Dog year 60 years ago in 1958 as well as 120 years ago in 1898. The year 1958 saw the Vietnam war escalating with serious insurgents by the Viet Cong against the Government under Ngo Dinh Diem. In 1898 China is under Qing Dynasty ruled by Empress Dowager Cixi and declining with aggressive invasion by Russia and other western countries. There is outcry for reform and the reform movement supported by the Emperor Guangxu lasted 100 days (11/6 to 21/9/1898) and was finally crushed on 21st Sept by the Empress Cixi. So the Dog year, being grave of fire, can also mean strong and stubborn stand of conservative elements against progress and change. 60 years ago in 1958 was also beginning of a great famine in China which lasted into around 1961. It is estimated over 20 million might have died of starvation. In the five elements system, fire is happiness and optimism which prevailed in the previous years of fire monkey and fire rooster. However when the year of Dog arrives, the fire enters the grave hence it brings setback to optimism which in turn will cause setback in the economic atmosphere. The Dog represents the month of October which is end of autumn and beginning of winter. The optimistic fire element is dying and the fearful water element is going to takeover. Hence in the history of Wall Street, there had been Black Octobers in the stock market crashes of 1929 and 1987. As such, the Dog year will bring decline in economic growth and activities leading to longer term setback of the stock market and more economic crisis will come up. As there will not be return of fire year until 2025, we expect a long lasting bearish market ahead. The Dog is also a “Flower Hat” in Four Pillars of destiny. This means artistic academic quality and lonely feeling. As such both 1898 and 1958 were remarkable with cultural and scientific developments. In 1898, in December, Marie Curie announced the discovery of Radium and radioactivity. In 1958 The USA sent their first satellite Explorer 1 to orbit in Jan, followed by Vanguard 1 and Explorer 3 in March. Then continued with Explorer 4 in July. Also NASA was formally created by U.S. Congress in July 1958 and launched the first spacecraft Pioneer 1 in October. The U.S. also launched the first communication satellite called SCORE in December 1958. The Soviet Union also sent Sputnik 3 to orbit in May. Also the first video game “tennis for two” was introduced in Oct. 1958 . The MGM musical movie Gigi was big success and got 9 Academy award in 1958. Sleeping Beauty – the very popular Disney cartoon movie was also launched in Jan 1959 which is still Dog year in Chinese calendar. It is interesting that the Earth Dog year in 1958 was also the International Geophysical Year and the Earth’s magnetosphere was discovered in that year. As fire element is related to flying objects and airline business, the year of the Dog brings fire into grave. This also mean air disasters. The previous earth Dog year 1958 was marked with serious air crashes – In Feb, 21 people were killed in air crash in Munich. In March, a US Bomber accidentally dropped an atom bomb in South Carolina which destroyed a house and injure a few people. In April, United Airline plane had mid-air collision with a U.S. Air Force Jet fighter near Las Vegas, killing 49 people. In August, a KLM airline crashed into the sea with 99 passengers. The Dog being Grave of Fire, is also considered as Storage of Fire and it will be also fire disasters and explosions when the fire is unlocked from its storage, especially when the element of Tiger and Horse is present. There are many fire disasters in 1958 as well. In March. 1958 a big fire broke out in an underwear company in New York killing 24 people. In December a horrible fire in a Chicago school killed 90 students and 3 nuns. Also in same month, a serious fire in a Department store in Bogota killed 84 people. The strongest ever known solar maximum is recorded on 11/2/1958. The Dog is also considered as storage of fire so there is fire energy hidden inside. This energy once released can also bring about disastrous explosions. In 1945, the second atomic bomb was dropped onto Nagasaki on 9/8 which is a metal Dog day. Also radium the radio active substance was first discovered by Madam Curie in 1898, year of earth Dog So it is possible issues about nuclear weapon problem will continue to prevail. Yang Earth is symbol of a mountain, Yang earth sitting on the dog is massive big mountain. So such a year indicates more chance of disasters related to mountain. So there is danger of landslide, avalanche and it is not so safe for mountaineering sports. The Titanic disaster happened in midnight hour of yang earth on 14/4/1912. This is yang earth hour when the Titanic collided with the mountain of iceberg. On 30/1/1959 a similar accident happened to a Danish cargo ship which also collided with an iceberg and sank off Greenland cost killing 95 people on board. This is still under the influence of the earth dog year. In Chinese Metaphysics, earth represents cells and muscles. The trouble of cancer is caused by disorder of the cells, hence it is very much related to excessive amount of unfavorable earth elements. 2018 is a very heavy earth year, and the Dog will also create earth penalty with the Goat and the Ox. As such, this year the major health problem will be cancer and it is necessary to take heavy dosage of anti-oxidant if earth is your unfavorable element in the four pillars of Destiny. The heart and blood circulation aspect is related to fire element, as the Dog means fire enters the grave, it is also unfavorable for people who have weakness of fire elements. This will bring problem of weak energy, weak heart poor blood circulation and indigestion. The imbalance of earth element will also bring stomach problems and diabetes. So the suitable health supplement should be anti-oxidant for protection against cancer, and COQ10 for enhancing fire element. As earth is also our stomach and muscle, one will also gain weight more easily in such heavy earth year. It is also necessary to pay attention to more healthy diet. It is interesting that both Instant Noodle and Pizza Hut began in 1958 the previous earth dog year. Pizza Hut was opened in June 1958 which is earth fire month in earth dog year. Yang earth is described as Mountain earth. People born on Yang earth day are firm, steady, straight-forward, faithful, patient, accommodating, practical, but sometimes conservative, a little stubborn and inflexible. And as it is a mountain, it may exert pressure. As earth is flesh and muscle, a strong yang earth person could be heavily built, more square shape, and may appear a little clumsy. Such as the Oscar movie star – Philip Seymour Hoffmann. Other examples of famous yang earth people are Mark Zuckerberg, Hillary Clinton, Yoshiki of X Japan, David Beckham, Eric Clapton, Will Smith, Michael Jackson, Natalie Portman, Maria Sarapova, Bashar al Assad….. People born on the day of Yang Earth Dog or Yang Earth Dragon are called “Fai Kong” which means exceptionally tough and strong in character. Such people have strong determination to achieve success and very strong will to survive under very harsh circumstance. Examples of Yang Earth Fai Kong people are Maria Sharapova, Louis Zamperini whose life story of extreme hardship was shown in the Angelina Joli movie Unbroken. Also Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Tamerlan Tsarnaev – the terrorist who bombed the Boston Marathon in 2013, are also born on Earth Fai Kong date. The Yang earth element, in particular Dog, is complicated element as it is storage of fire containing metal, fire, and earth. As such, it is found in industries which affects all walks of lives. In particular insurance industry and high tech computer business. This earth dog element is very commonly found in people who are outstanding in high tech business. Examples are Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg all show strong presence of earth elements in their Four Pillars of Destiny. As such, Earth Dog year may also bring fast advancement in internet, computer software business. The fire element basically symbolize happiness in the Five mood of people, and it will generate optimism and confidence. As such, fire years often boost peoples confidence about the economy bringing good performance to the stock market. This has been the driving factor behind the stock market boom since 2013 until 2017 with strong presence of fire element in these years. However, the cycle of fire elements ended in 2017 with the yin candle fire, and as 2018 year of Dog represents Grave of Fire, it means the optimism of fire is going down and the pessimism of water will come up. The coming years of 2019, 2020, 2021 are all years of water and metal and the fire element will not return until the next snake year in 2025. Therefore the general economic atmosphere is entering a bearish cycle and the economic pace will be gloomy and slowing down in 2018. The Dog in the Chinese calendar represents October which is end of autumn and beginning of winter, with fire going away and water coming up to generate fear. Looking back the history of Wall street, most of the stock market collapse happened in “Black October” which is month of Dog. In Chinese medicine, earth element is pancreas and stomach, it is also muscle and cells. So if earth element is out of balance, it can bring stomach and pancreas trouble. Diabetes is also a sickness related to pancreas, so this will be more serious in 2018. The more dangerous aspect is that the Dog, Ox and Goat will create earth problem with the “Three Penalty”. Penalty is a negative configuration causing worries, hate, hidden dangers. In respect of health, as earth is muscle and cells, the imbalance of earth caused by Three Penalty will bring cancer. This will become more serious problem in 2018 and it is necessary to take heavy dosage of anti oxidant to minimize the chance of cancer. The Dog is also the “grave of fire”. This means fire element is into a very weak cycle. Fire element is heart and blood circulation. With weakening of fire, it is also necessary to pay attention to the heart. When fire energy is weak, there will also be indigestion problem as the stomach is earth which needs support from fire. So there will also be health problem related to stomach and digestion. To improve on the quality of fire, it is necessary to take COQ10 as supplement. This becomes more and more important as the fire element will not return until 2025. There are many examples of health problem caused by excessive amount of earth- this happened to Steve Jobs who died of pancreas cancer caused by excessive earth element. David Bowie is a weak fire person also died of excessive amount of earth in 2016. Famous people facing the negative influence of earth penalty in 2018 include the Queen, J. K. Rowling, Julia Roberts, Donald Trump, Donald Trump is strong earth person born in year of Dog, Day of Goat, and currently 72 year old is in luck pillar of Ox. So there is already unfavorable Three earth penalty of Ox, Dog and Goat in the current luck, and 2018 the Dog year will trigger the negative influence of this earth penalty. Earth being his enemy, earth penalty may mean he has to face serious challenges from his opposition and enemies in 2018. The Queen is born on Dragon Day and Dragon month. So there is serious clash between her Dragons and the year of Dog in 2018. Furthermore, she is born in Hour of Ox, and currently at the age of 92 is in the luck pillar of Goat, these Ox and Goat will combine with the year of Dog in 2018 to create three earth penalty. The Queen is strong metal lady and earth is not her favorable element. As such, she is into unfavorable year in 2018 may have to attend to her health and position. Her husband Prince Philip also shows a clash between Dog year and his Day pillar of Dragon-his “House of Spouse”. Other examples of “Three earth penalty” can also be found in J. K. Rowling’s birth chart. She is born in July, month of Goat, she is currently age 53 in the luck pillar of Ox. And she is born on a day of Fire Dog. The year 2018 will bring the Dog to trigger Three earth penalty causing problem in health and relationship. Julia Roberts also have three earth penalty in her Four Pillars as she was born in 1967 year of Goat, October month of Dog and Day of Ox. The Dog of 2018 will also trigger her penalty affecting her marriage House of Spouse. Three Earth penalty of Ox, Goat and Dog is a very serious configuration which may cause problem in cancer or in marriage relationship. It is necessary to carry pendant of Rabbit to try to attract away the in coming Dog, so as to reduce the impact of Three Earth penalty. The Dog is the animal in clash against the Dragon. It is heavy earth clash so it will generate earth disasters such as earthquake, landslide, or accidents on the road. The Dog and the Dragon are called “Gate to Heaven and Hell”. People who are born with both Dragon and Dog in their Four pillars have the gift of 6th sense. This pair of Dragon and Dog is often found in sportsmen, Martial art expert who need such intuition power to make lightning response to the opponent. Examples are Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Maria Sharapova, Jeremy Lin, Li Na…… Dragon and Dog is also found in the birth chart of Steve Jobs so he can produce innovative products with 6th senses to foresee what the market needs. People who are born in the year of Dog are offending the year, People born in year of Dragon is in clash against the year. They usually have more movements and travelling in 2018, it is ok to take such chance to make necessary changes such as moving house, moving office, or changing job or taking trips. However they should take extra care and refrain from risky sports such as driving fast cars, driving airplane, skin diving, parachuting etc. It is recommended that they carry the pendant of a Rabbit which will help to attract away the Dog, so as to minimize the negative influence of the clash. For people born in year of the Dragon, it is good to minimize travelling direct towards the north-west direction as it is the direction of the Grand Duke in 2018 The heavy earth element of 2018 is expected to bring prosperity to wood industries and fire industries; this is because wood conquers earth, so the earth element is a symbol of money to the wood industry, which includes fashion, media, paper, books, education and environmental industry. The second best industries could be fire, as fire produces earth, so fire industry is active and productive in 2018. Fire industries are energy, finance, entertainment. Earth industry faces strong competition in earth year. So earth industries such as property, mining, high tech…..etc are not very prosperous. Also the money to earth industry is water which is totally absent. Metal industry such as banking, machinery, cars, also into unfavorable year as the money element to metal is wood, and wood is totally absent. The last one being Water industry which is transport, communication, shipping. The money element to water industry is fire, as fire enters grave in year of Dog, water industry also not profitable in 2018. In summary, the industries that will perform well in the year of the Dog will be industries related to Wood element. Wood industries are environment, fashion, media, books, education, plants and flowers. Fire industries are productive but not so profitable. The other industries of metal, water, earth are into not so prosperous year in 2018. In general, the Yang Earth Dog year, with earth on top and earth below, is symbol of obstacle and conservatism. There is still conflict and disharmony in international relationship and may not be a peaceful year but people tend to be careful and conservative to uphold traditional values so there is resistance against changes. Also there are natural disasters such as earthquake, landslide, fire, explosion, nuclear issues and some environmental disasters and disease and epidemic still prevail. The yang earth dog year is also a year with absence of Nobleman . This means there will be more casualty in any accident, natural disasters as there is no angel coming from Heaven to rescue. In the past there are examples of serious casualties happened during the Dog hour. Such as the Manila hostage crisis when 8 Hong Kong tourists were killed happened in Dog hour on 23/8/2010. Also a horrible fire bomb attack broke out in a train at Tsim Sha Tsui Subway station happened in Dog hour on 11/2/2017, injured at least 18 passengers. The animal sign which is most unfavorable is the Dragon which is in direct clash against the Dog. Such clashes will usually bring about turbulence, movements, accident or changes...As it is heavy earth clash, it will stimulate misfortunes related to earth, such as earthquake, mountain disasters, collapse of buildings, landslide, also traffic accidents on the road. . .People born in the year of the Dragon will anticipate more traveling, or movements such as changing jobs or moving house. It is necessary to carry the pendant of a Rabbit as protection to attract the Dog away. For people who are under clash with the year, it is ok to travel more, making changes such as moving house, or change job. However, for people born in the year of the Dragon, it is recommended not to travel directly towards the direction of the Grand Duke, which is the north -west direction. . The other animal’s signs facing unfavorable positions is the Dog which is offending the Grand Duke. It is also good to carry pendant of Rabbit to reduce any negative influence. The more serious aspect are the Three Earth penalty which will affect people who have both Goat and Ox in their Four Pillars chart. Such Earth penalties will usually bring disharmony, irritation, worries and frustrations, as well as sickness related to earth, which could be stomach, pancreas, muscle pain and cancer. As heavy earth will exhaust fire and the Dog is grave of fire, it will also cause sickness related to heart and blood circulation. To reduce the effect of Dog creating Three Earth Penalty, it is also good to carry pendant of Rabbit as protection to minimize the negative effect. The animals combining with the Dog year is the Rabbit, the Tiger and the Horse. These animals are into a year of harmony. However, such animal astrology is not totally reliable as the system is not recognized as a formal type of fortune-telling. For more reliable assessment of one’s fortune in the year of the Dog, it is recommended that one checks the full Four Pillars of Destiny, which requires full birth data information of the Year, Month, Day and Hour of birth. As the animal signs can appear in all four pillars in a person’s birth data, the clash and penalty relationship with the Dog will not only cause impact on people born in the year of Dog and Dragon. Such clash and penalties can also impact anyone who has such animals in the birth month, or day or hour. Some examples of famous people born in the year of the Dragon and in clash against the Dog in 2018 are Valdimir Putin, Michelle Obama, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Bezos, Russel Crowe, Benedict Cumberbatch, Frederick Ma… There are people not born in the year of Dragon, but they are also under clash because they are born on the day of Dragon, so they will also face a challenging year. Some examples of these people are Prince Philip, The Queen Elizabeth II, Shinzo Abe, Li Na, Kate Middleton, Kristine Stewart, Edward Snowden, Roman Polanski…. The clash against the Day Pillar will usually cause movement or conflict in the family or human relationship area, especially in the relationship with the spouse or opposite sex. People born in year of the Dog is said to be “offending the Grand Duke”, it is also recommended to carry pendant of the Rabbit.. Examples of people born in Dog year are Melania Trump, George W Bush, Sylvester Stallone….. People born with both Ox and Goat in their Four Pillars chart also will suffer “Three Earth penalty” which will affect relationship, marriage and health. Penalty is hidden danger and will cause irritation, worries and serious disharmony in relationship. It can also create health problem particularly earth is element of cell which will trigger cancer. Some examples of such people coming up with three earth penalty in 2018 are The Queen, J.K. Rowling, Julia Roberts, Donald Trump, Tory Burch, and Julian Assange. The minimum protection is to carry pendant of Rabbit to attract away the incoming Dog year. Feng Shui energies also change from year to year. Therefore, it is necessary to watch out for the re-allocation of good and bad energies at the beginning of each year, so that we can take necessary precautions if some bad energy happens to arrive at important locations of our residence or offices. In the year of the Dog, the bad energy called “Five Yellow” – symbolizing obstacles and misfortune, arrives at the North. It is recommended that one hangs a metal wind chime in the North of the house to dissolve this bad energy. The worst months will be in July, October, 2018. Another bad star number 2, symbolizing sickness, will arrive in the west in 2018. The traditional method to dissolve this 2 is to hang a string of six metal coins in the affected area in the west of the house. The Grand Duke this year is in the North West, hence it is not favorable to “move earth” or make substantial construction work in this direction. It is also not recommended for one to sit with back against North as you will be sitting against the unfavorable energy called “Three Shars” or “Three Killings”. The South East is the “Crash position” against the Grand Duke which is also not good to sit. The bad star 3 is a star of conflict and robbery. This is present in the north east.. It is necessary to put a piece of red paper in this position to minimize such bad influence. Also the bad star 7, representing scandals is in the East, the traditional solution for this bad star 7 is to place 3 piece of bamboo plant grown in clear glass vase of water in the East location. The annual star 9 located in the centre is the Trigram Fire. As such, it is anticipated that more fire related disaster can happen in 2018 and the affected area could be Central and north area and. This will often affect countries in the North as well as Middle East and countries and regions with name “Central”, this may include China as well as the name of China is Central Country. The White House has it is front entrance facing North, with the presence of bad star 5 yellow in 2018, there will be more obstacles. Another not so good month to watch out is April 2018 Yang fire Dragon month in clash against the year of Yang earth Dog. with flying star 2 and 5 in West. With serious clash of heavy earth element, one can expect earth disasters such as earthquake and land slide more easy to occur in western region of the world. Since middle of 2016, the Chinese calendar is actually entering a long cycle of metal, earth and water without the yang elements of wood and fire. The next wood year will only come up in 2022 the year of water tiger. Before 2022 the powerful metal and earth is not favorable for strong metal people. The prominent world leaders who are strong metal persons and will be adversely affected are Theresa May, Shinzo Abe, Tsai Ing-wen… On the other hand, leaders whose favorable elements are metal and earth will enter a phase of smooth luck, these include Putin and Xi jinping…..

I wouldn't say it "operates at a yin level," rather it's yin-yang balanced. While indo-european religions and sciences alike (one is the direct continuation of the other, fundamentally speaking, despite superficial differences) are yang skewed. Yin is imperceptible time and hidden change to yang's open space and obvious energy. Our sciences haven't touched the former, having been busy conquering the latter. Taoist sciences begin with the study of the nature of time and change, but don't stop there, since space and energy are their functions. Our sciences begin and end with the effects (with a few very recent and still marginal exceptions like the study of fractals, power laws, and fuzzy-logical processes.) The effects are on the surface, observable, yang. Taoist sciences start with the causes, and those are hidden, not obvious, yin. In a nutshell.

My pleasure! I finished the whole trilogy by now. I think the second book was the best! And if you think (foreshadowing) the "dark forest" premise is a dark way to look at the nature of the universe, try disproving it... I tried hard! And the third one had a twist that will make anyone's hair stand on end!! Here and there, I had to skip over a few pages of heavy futuristic science backing up the author's designs (not because it's not interesting in and of itself, but because I was impatient to find out what happens next ), and the first book annoyed me a bit with its videogames (although the one dealing with using the army as a computer I found mighty educational -- now I know how computers work! ) but those, mercifully, never returned once their point in the plot arrived home. Overall it was great fun. I am back to nonfiction for now but I will eventually seek out something else by Cixin Liu.

where I live

Don't call yourself that, call yourself a genius and think "self-fulfilling prophecy."

Today someone messaged me on FB. A snippet of some conversation that made no sense to me. The guy sent a friend request at some point, FB inundates me with those from time to time, I had no idea who he was. So, I go to his profile to find out. A very accomplished karate, taekwondo, krav maga, MMA master, internationally certified in this and that, winner of this and that, pictures of certificates and awards, posts from his students full of respect and admiration, the whole shebang. I go back to the conversation to tell him, sorry, I don't think we ever spoke before, so I have no idea what you're talking about. His response: "Please forgive me, I've been on very heavy medications for my epilepsy and seizures, can't remember a thing, my memory is gone. Please forgive me. I saw on top of my message board got scared because I've done things like posted something like this and later I don't remember." Of course I don't know the details, but it is not unheard of to develop epilepsy and seizures from traumatic injuries. From someone attacking them in the streets or from the way they practice toward being prepared in case someone attacks them in the streets? I don't know but if I were to take a wild guess...

When I go swimming in the ocean and the lifeguard tower starts broadcasting, "shark in the water! Everybody OUT!" I promptly swim toward the shore. I enjoy swimming, but ignoring information that has become available is not my choice. I can't see the shark, but the lifeguard can, he's been trained to watch the waves and he's got the binoculars and he's got the responsibility. I choose to trust all of these. I could choose, as you put it, to let "the mind go above that in my world" but then chances are the shark might make me only half the woman I am. The shark is not "bad." But when it's around, I want to know, and adjust my actions accordingly. We have rip tides, dangerous ones, they take about 100 lives every year. They aren't there all the time, and when they're there, they aren't always in the same location. If the lifeguard announces, "rip current to the south of the tower, keep north," I swim northward. The rip tide is not "bad." But I want to know when it's there and decide which way to swim (if at all) based on this information. Feng shui and Chinese astrology are like that lifeguard tower. You are free to ignore whatever they have to say, of course. Chances are you'll be fine. I believe in improving my chances though. Stingrays? Not deadly, but quite painful I'm told, I've seen big muscular men squirm and weep after stepping on one. So I watch my step getting in the water when told they've arrived. Fukushima radiation? I might either get a Geiger counter of my own or ask the I Ching how much I ought to heed the warning. Chances are the outcome will be the same. Taoist sciences don't lie to those who respect them, in my experience.

Four does not mean death, it means a homophone of death to a Chinese speaker, and as a linguist by my primary education, I can assure you that homophones are neither supremely powerful nor completely feckless and may occasionally (depending on the occasion) be meaningful and worth paying attention to. But I'm talking something quite a bit more specific here -- taoist sciences, not Chinese sensitivity to homophones that exceeds that of westerners without making them either wrong or equating this peculiarity to whatever taoist sciences might consider worthy of attention. The days ain't no superstition either. Nor are the hours. Of course it's hard to take control of everything and do or avoid doing everything in a perfectly timely fashion (which is what the bulk of this particular taoist science is about -- timing, timeliness, the nature and quality of the moment... no more unpredictable than any other stochastic process, e.g. in genetics, quantum mechanics, or the stock market.) But I have never had my flight delayed in 15 years (and I've traveled extensively at times) since I started checking the taoist almanach for auspicious and inauspicious travel dates and planning accordingly. Yes, days and hours when possible, but at least days. Before that, I was absolutely like everybody else in this respect, now, I don't even have to consider the possibility... unless I space out on following my taoist "superstitions." I could give you hundreds more examples from personal experience, but it's not my job to fix your superstitions... so please don't make it yours to fix mine.

Oh, sure, just as the missionaries told the natives, nevermind that the natives kept their civilization alive and fruitful ever since they discovered feng shui over 6 thousand years ago while the missionaries (religious and scientific alike, and hailing from the same source) all came from places either gone and forgotten by now, or gone and fondly remembered for their scientific approach -- from the Inquisition to massive carcinogenic doses of X-rays to human feet at the most progressive shoe stores a few decades ago -- scientifically proven to be the ideal way to determine your precise shoe size. Lack of respect for the human species that was never on the brink of extinction while it was maintaining its "superstitions" (aka original, primal, vastly expanded human senses, suppressed today and only available for resurrection through an in-depth study and practice of taoist sciences that kept alive the intricate fundamental knowledge dealing with the mechanisms whereby those senses came to exist in the world to begin with), and got there only a minute ago when it was brainwashed into dropping them to follow the latest fad instead, always smells of alien DNA to me. Or, in superstitious terms, gui.

Thanks and greetings back! The book I always recommend to beginners, although cringing from the title of the series every time I do, is "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Feng Shui," by Elizabeth Moran and Masters Joseph Yu and Val Biktashev. I was in Elizabeth's advanced feng shui and Chinese astrology groups for a few years, waaay back when the internet had "groups" rather than forums and websites (tangent alert: you are probably too young to remember the joys of AOL... "dialing... dialing..." ...ugh, one thing we do have progress with is the internet speed... no wait... I'd rather still be "dialing" than irradiated, the former was merely annoying but the latter snaps your single- and double DNA bonds painlessly and quickly, resulting in... nevermind, tangent aborted.) So anyway, the group maintained and kept updating a huge list of resources, which I sampled extensively at the time and discovered that the one referenced above is still a very good place to start for a novice. It's currently in its third, and probably improved, edition -- the first one had some mistakes I remember discussing with Elizabeth at the time -- which she acknowledged, explained by pointing out the source that had led her astray (happens to the best of us), and corrected in the second edition. I haven't read the third, but Joseph Yu, who used to be a consultant and now is listed as a co-author, is serious FS/Chinese astrology muscle.

There was a big earthquake in Mexico (7.2 magnitude) on Chinese New Year's day. FB asked me if I was in the affected zone. Not to my knowledge. But I did make a mental note of what RL (OP) was saying about earthquakes in 2018. Wood... I am Wood. Yin Wood at that... some authors dismiss us as "mere flowers compared to yang Wood's mighty oak," others point out we're bamboo -- pliable, resilient, resourceful, flexible -- the survivor phase. Wood is a lot more than just plants though. Wood is life on earth (and bigger still -- life in the universe). In wuxing, Wood "conquers" Earth. Personally, of all the phases, I've always paid the least attention to Earth, because it does not help or harm me in a way all others do. It is my stomping ground. Earth endures whatever we live creatures do to it, and being the most reliable and sturdiest of phases, does not disappear from under our feet no matter what. We, on the other hand, we as a species I mean (or whatever other species really calls the shots) get very gang-ho "conquering" it to our own detriment. Winner takes nothing is a very plausible scenario -- and not because there's no spoils, but because the very word means it's spoiled when taken by force. Far as my personal chart goes, if I survived the year 2017 by the mercy of the gods, it ought to only get better from here -- however, universal forces can override personal destinies, cancel them and take them down to a lower common denominator, something that happens during large-scale wars or large-scale economic collapses or epidemics and so on. Well, earthquakes and volcanoes too... not as much though, the scale may be the greatest but the frequency of the history-rewriting ones, the lowest. The last volcano of that nature happened 2.5 million years ago. So unless the Yellowstone one blows (a realistic possibility according to many who've been watching the developments), I think I have other stuff to worry about, more likely and plausible... Good luck to us all.

But what I really wanted to point out posting this particular analysis with its political and social figures emphasis (not the only way to approach a reading of course, just the chosen angle for this particular presenter) is that the Dog-Dragon clash constitutes the qi underpinnings of the ongoing deep state (and deeper stateless) clashes. The queen, of course, as well as the whole royal family and all the unimaginable power and money they never lost, hiding it behind this or that facade of an institution, corporation, or even "country" while retaining and multiplying it through ages-- she as well as the whole family are full of Dragons, I don't think they ever had a blood relative without a Dragon or two in the pillars ( I mean the Four Pillars of Destiny, aka bazi). And Trump is a Dog. The clash will only intensify in 2018. Then again, Trump and Hillary are both yang Earth -- a rivalry made in the stars (and a similarity that may elude those who look at the surface behavior instead of the qi underpinnings. Behaviors may vary, deeper energies driving them, not so much.) So, politically speaking, heavy Earth and the "animal" (which stands for the type of the Earthly Branch qi dominating the moment) make a lot of sense. Yup, that's exactly what's going on, and it's going in the direction of culmination. Just sayin'...

Obviously, since Fire produces Earth. Get a protective pendant RL recommends. I wore a dragon pendant all through 2017 because that's what was protective for me then (I was under the "animal" clash), which is now stashed away and well out of sight. It was my second one last year, the first one broke, even though it was jade (and not bogus at that) -- the lore has it that when a protective amulet breaks, it means it took onto itself the blow that would otherwise strike the wearer. The same thing happened the year before with the then-protective Snake pendant -- I finished the year with a third one, actually.