While the Chinese community all over the world celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year on January 23rd, it is technically still the year of the Metal Rabbit before 4 February 2012. There are 2 calendars that are used in the Chinese calendar systems - the Solar calendar and the Lunar calendar.
The Lunar calendar is based on the movements of the moon around the earth, and hence is calculated based on the earth's shadow on the moon. The Sun's light is involved and it should be called the Luni-Solar calendar. Each lunar month is about 29-30 days and so the resulting shortfall when compared to the western Gregorian calendar of 365 days, creates first day of the Chinese Lunar year falling on different dates through the years. In some years, the shortfall is compensated by having double months in a year. In 2012, the “闰” month is the 4th lunar month, and so we have double 4th lunar months.
The Solar calendar is based on the movements of the earth around the sun, and hence it is calculated based on the sun's shadow on earth. This has been mapped in ancient China using the Gnomon stick. Based on the method of measuring the sun shadow, the ancient Chinese were able to accurately capture the seasonal changes in the country, and has mapped out 24 divisions of a year - called the 24 solar terms (节气). Jie marks the beginning of the month while Qi marks the middle of the month.
The Solar calendar matches closer to the western Gregorian calendar's 365 days and so the first day of the Solar year is always in February around 4th, 5th or 6th.
You might like to know that the actual Ba Zi system and the Flying Stars Feng Shui are all based on the Solar Calendar. The Zi Wei Dou Shu method is based on the Lunar calendar.
As such, the monthly changeover of Jie Qi follows the Solar Calendar. The first day of the Solar Calendar is Li Chun (Spring Begins) and it is on 4th of February, 2012. This the day when the year pillar changes from Xin Mao (Yin Metal Rabbit) to Ren Chen (Yang Water Dragon).
4 Feb 2011
4 Feb 2012
Besides the changeover of the Tian Gan Di Zi (Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches) of the year, the Xuan Kong System of Feng Shui (Flying Stars) also has a changeover of the annual visiting stars.
In 2011 - the annual chart was :
In 2012 - the annual chart will be :
As you can see from the above charts, the calamity star number 5 will be residing in the South East / Shun for the whole of 2012, beginning on 4th of February 2012. That is why you will have read from many web sites, newspapers and magazine articles that the South East sector is an afflicted sector for 2012 - warning of dangers, etc. Many are quick to point out that the last time 5 was in the South East, it correlated to the outbreak of SARS in South East Asia, including Hong Kong, resulting in economic turmoil in the region as travelers refrained from visiting.
That was 9 years ago, and as the intelligent reader will notice, that by having 9 numbers, we can see that every 9 years the same Flying Star number re-visits each sector! Does that mean that every 9 years - a major disaster will strike the same region? Does the reality of occurrences correlate to such a 9 year cycle?
As you can tell from this simple logic, many Feng Shui masters use the annual rotating Flying Star charts to provide Feng Shui entertainment predictions around this time - Chinese Lunar New Year to either create publicity for themselves or for earning that extra dollar by charging for Feng Shui talks.
You may notice that at such talks and articles, the more experienced and older Feng Shui masters always encouraged listeners and readers to take it as a guide only, and not as an absolute.
In reality, the annual Flying Star chart is used in Feng Shui to predict what kinds of Qi combination is triggered off by the annual visiting stars - and it is all specific to each house type and their accompanying Flying Star charts. Only then can a Feng Shui master accurately predict and pre-empt what kinds of influences of Feng Shui are on each particular premises.
Happy Reading!
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