When Water is at its strongest, Fire is weak. This is yin and yang; a cycle without end. The Fire Rat month emphasizes these elemental interactions. Water tends to dampen our faith in things turning out right. We lose optimism. Do we stick or split? Do we give up and start over or stay the… Read More
Metal Horse Month : It’s Only a Test
This year, the month of the Horse is a Metal Horse beginning on June 6. The monthly star is a 7 – young women lead the way. Both the pillar and the star refer to Fire and Metal together. Forging and refinement are most timely. The Horse is often called the most Yang of the… Read More
A Horse In The Running : Joe Biden
The Horse respects rules only in the sense that rules are for others. This is slightly less true with Water and Metal Horses. That’s why it will be interesting to see what transpires with Joe Biden this summer, especially in August. He’s a 1942 Water Horse born in the Metal Pig month. With those two… Read More
Chris Cornell and Generation X
I didn’t really know Chris Cornell but I had seen him in Post Alley a couple of times and once at the restaurant where I worked. And of course I had seen him perform with Soundgarden. Arriving in Seattle in late 1989 I was a little late to the Grunge scene, or maybe just in… Read More
A (Re)Productive Cycle
The Pig Month, which covers most of November, marks lap dung in the Chinese almanac. This is the beginning of winter. The winter season also includes the Rat (December) and the Ox (January). In terms of 5 elements, winter is the season of water. Think ice, snow, cold, rain, sleet, hail, flooding, slipperiness, clouds, downward… Read More
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Conor McGregor
My son Joe asked me to make a prediction for the upcoming fight between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Conor McGregor. I’m not one to follow boxing or UFC but I thought it would be a challenge and add some flexibility to my readings. I decided not to do any research on either fighter before writing… Read More
Cooking, Kitchens, Relationships and Feng Shui
There are some interesting historical correlations between kitchen design, feminism, women in the work force and the divorce rate in the United States The decline of the so called “nuclear family” and “home cooking” follow the same timeline as the rising popularity of the open concept kitchen which came into fashion in the 1970s. As… Read More
Using Science to Understand Five Elements Theory
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITpDrdtGAmo[/youtube] I saw this video of Richard Feynman explaining the physics and chemistry behind fire on Diane Kern’s blog and just had to share it. I don’t think most people understand that a scientific style of observation is the foundation of practicing Feng Shui. Feng Shui, Chinese Astrology and other components of Chinese Metaphysics are… Read More