Properties from a Feng Shui perspective: Part 221
By David Koh and Joe Choo | December 30, 2011
Feng Shui: Dealing with the Grand Duke
The New Year is upon us soon and many will be celebrating with parties, performances and fireworks. To the Chinese, the New Year will take place about three weeks later and they have their own cultural and customary practices to ring in the year.
One of the things that the Chinese are concerned about is the Grand Duke (or Tai Sui). In ancient China, dukes were practically kings in their fiefdoms, acting as representatives of the emperor. The Tai Sui is often portrayed as a fearsome military general who can wreck the life of anyone who dares disturb him.
Many Buddhists or Taoists would visit temples to make offerings and pray for blessings and protection from the Grand Duke’s ire.
According to tradition, the Grand Duke occupies a particular direction, and moves 15 degrees of a compass each year. As such, he is given 24 different names, suggesting that a different general takes charge each year, bringing with him certain characteristics or fortunes for the year.
It is taboo for main entrances, sitting or sleeping positions or renovations to be done in the Grand Duke’s location.
Jupiter
In reality, the Tai Sui is the planet Jupiter, not some fearsome supernatural force. Some practitioners try to retain some mysticism by modifying his English name to Grand Duke Jupiter. We prefer to call it the governing planet.
Some Feng Shui practitioners dismiss Jupiter’s connection, insisting that the Tai Sui is a mystical force that can only be countered by placing special charms such as the mythical pixiu or peiyau (a Chinese mythical hybrid creature), or some other amulet or statue.
Jupiter’s orbital period is 12 years, which corresponds to the western zodiac’s 12 astrological signs. From earth, Jupiter is seen to have a retrograde motion – it appears to loop backwards in its path. This corresponds with the 15-degree shift of the Grand Duke each year.
As the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter exerts a powerful but subtle influence on Earth. Its mass affects the orbits of all the planets. Some astronomers predict it will eventually force a planet to be ejected from the solar system.
Jupiter also has a powerful magnetic field stronger than the sun’s. The field is 10 times stronger than Earth’s and extends up to 7 million km from Jupiter. As such, there is also an effect on Earth and its magnetosphere.
Susceptible humans
Human beings are susceptible to energies in their surroundings. We perceive a certain bandwidth of energy as visible light; we feel infra-red as heat; we have magnetic sensors embedded in our eyes; and our body contains large amounts of iron, among others.
Scientists already recognise a phenomenon called Schumann Resonances, which are spectral peaks in the extremely low frequency portion of Earth’s electromagnetic field spectrum. It is linked to lightning activity, global temperature and water vapour in the troposphere.
Some even believe that it is related to bioenergetics and acupuncture. A small study in Japan found that it lowers blood pressure. However, none of these have been extensively researched – the scientific community seem to dismiss it like it does Feng Shui as a science. What a pity.
Sunspot activity can affect the Schumann Resonance, and it has been linked to human melatonin levels which in turn affect our moods and behaviour. Depression and suicide rates have been correlated to melatonin, a mood hormone.
Interestingly, a website called jupitersdance.com presents an argument that large earthquakes occur at low sunspot frequencies. It also notes that Jupiter orbits the sun 15 times in 178 years. This correlated with 16 sunspot cycles (Saturn also plays a part in this) and the occurrence of earthquakes.
 |
|
In reality, the Tai Sui is the planet Jupiter, not some fearsome supernatural force. - AFP - Show quoted text -
|
Enough with the science
Before you get too overwhelmed by all this scientific stuff, let us stop here by pointing out the possibility that Jupiter may somehow have an impact on earth’s geology, climate and human behaviour, the same traits that the Grand Duke is feared for.
The ancient sages may not have understood the exact workings as we described here but nonetheless, it is very likely that they noticed and recorded these correlations when they worked out and refined their formulae.
Convincing the emperor that a little speck in the sky can affect the earth and its inhabitants, however, is a different matter altogether. Perhaps that is why they personified the planet as a war-like entity. It would appear to have worked very well.
In 2012, the governing planet or Jupiter is located in the South-east (112.5 to 127.5 degrees). If a building’s entrance is located in this sector, some work need to be done to mitigate the effects.
These days some Feng Shui practitioners advise their clients to renovate their houses to seal the entrance and create a new one. This tends to be costly, inconvenient and time-consuming.
Mitigating Jupiter’s influence
The traditional method to mitigate the Grand Duke was by changing the dimensions of the entrance, as it somehow changes how energy is inducted into the house. This is the purpose of the plank placed across the base of the entrance. Children were told not to step on this plank as they crossed the portal.
In today’s settings, the same mitigation can be done without placing such an unsightly plank across the front door. Instead, a strip of wood – one-inch thick will do – can be affixed to the lintel or top of the door frame.
It is preferable to make this alteration at certain appointed times, namely Jan 2 and 16, 2012 between 5.30pm and 7.30pm. If done correctly, the occupants can see certain phenomena within 24 hours. This will confirm that the mitigation work was successful.
A list of such phenomena can be found in the MINGS Outlook 2012 guidebook, available from MINGS for a small donation of RM 50. Please write to infocentre@mingsweb.org if you wish to purchase a copy.
The ancient practice of predicting the appearance of certain phenomena, Qi Men Dun Jia, is no longer widely used because the knowledge has been lost. To our knowledge, we at MINGS are the only ones who still apply this in our work.
More science!
We are not physicists and the closest explanation for the occurrence of specific phenomena could be due to the Butterfly Effect, Schrodinger’s Cat or by a further stretch, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.
The Butterfly Effect in chaos theory states that a small change at one place in a non-linear system will create big differences in a later state. By simply changing the door at the precise time and date mentioned, events are set into motion leading to the person to encounter such events.
Schrodinger’s Cat is a thought exercise on quantum mechanics that talks about a theoretical cat being alive or dead depending on an earlier random event. Thus, certain phenomena may occur only if and when the door is modified at that moment.
The Heisenberg principle in quantum theory states that the very act of measuring something will affect the accuracy of the measurement. So, the very act of changing the door and looking out for the list of phenomena will cause those very phenomena to appear.
Again, the ancient sages who created this Qi Men Dun Jia may not have been aware of quantum physics as such, but their observations and studies led them to create these formulae.
Next week, we will take a look at the Three Killers, another fearsome threat along the lines of the Grand Duke and, if space permits, a glimpse at the global outlook for 2012.
This series on Feng Shui and real estate properties appears courtesy of the Malaysia Institute of Geomancy Sciences (MINGS). David Koh is the founder of MINGS and has been a Feng Shui master and teacher for the past 36 years.
Other articles on Feng Shui by Master David Koh and Joe Choo:
|