I thought I should break my blogging sabbatical to make this post. My wife was asking this morning which part of our house faced the southeast point of the compass. Now, that was her first ever question of that sort during our more than 30 years together. Apparently, she was planning to follow some Chinese New Year rituals for good luck and prosperity, which she read somewhere in the local papers, that’s why she needed to know which part was southeast.
My wife is no Filipino-Chinese, but her openness towards Chinese cultural rituals and traditions typifies the attitude of many fellow Christian Filipinos towards them. As I understand it, the simple logic goes: these good luck rituals apparently work for our Filipino-Chinese brothers (given their relative success in business and their enviable affluence) so why won’t they work for the rest of us? Of course, we can take issue with that kind of thinking, but why bother. Today is the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year that will usher in the Year of the Ox. Aren't you curious, at the least, what geomancers say about the Year of the Ox as it affects business, among other things?
The ox is the second creature in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese lunar calendar. According to legend, the ox was the next to arrive, after the rat did, when Buddha summoned twelve animals to name a year in each cycle after each one of them. The ox was then followed by a tiger, a rabbit, a dragon, a snake, a horse, a sheep, a monkey, a rooster, a dog and a pig.
Geomancers and fortune tellers are not unanimous in their predictions for 2009. Master Andy Goh, a practitioner and researcher in the ancient Chinese system of fortune-telling, probably represents the positive end of the spectrum as he predicted the following:
...the global economy will begin to recover from the financial meltdown. 2009 is a year of opportunities with the emergence of many new global empires following the collapse of big names like Lehman Brothers. Under the new administration of Barack Obama (self element earth person), the Wall Street stock market will recover faster than expected as Barack Obama enters his peak luck cycle. We will see world major economies put aside their differences to overcome the financial crisis. The full impact of the unison can be seen in the second half of 2009.
The property market of United States will continue to recover as 2009 is the year of earth. Employment statistics will improve as United States’ job market bounce back from the financial meltdown. This will in turn lead to an improvement of the world’s stock market. However, many major corporations will also undergo restructuring or even a change in leadership.
Singaporean divination specialist Clarice Georgia Victoria Chan, on the other hand, would probably be in the middle of the spectrum because of her more balanced predictions below:
Basically, [this] year will be better in comparison to the Rat year in terms of economy and general affairs.
As this is the year of the Yin Earth Ox, it is metaphysically a harmonious year...
While the year itself is harmonious, it is pertinent to note that there is an absence of the Fire element. And Fire, just like sunlight, is a necessary element for the Earth element to shine and be productive.
Having said that, the effects of the Rat year will continue to spill over to the Ox Year, so we will still feel the impact. But with resilience and hard work, we can ride out the storm.
Then again, there will always be geomancers at the negative end of the spectrum, like Feng Shui masters Alion Yeo and Peter So. According to Reuters' James Pomfret:
Alion Yeo, who predicted major financial turbulence last year as well as a major disaster in the East, sees further seismic shifts in global financial markets come May and June this year.
"There will be another major crisis, the bubble will burst again in the U.S. and it will be worse than last year," said Yeo, who counts top bankers and celebrities among his clients.
Peter So, a pony-tailed guru with his own TV shows and whose books fill the Hong Kong's bookshops, also thinks 2009 will remain trapped within a negative cycle.
"We'll have to wait for the years between 2011 till 2015 for a steadier period. Every 12 years we experience a cycle for the economy and for now, the Year of the Ox is a transition year."
Incidentally, U.S. President Barack Obama was born in the Year of the Ox (1961). Being an Ox person, will 2009 therefore be a lucky year for him? AP's Dikky Sinn wrote thus:
Obama, born in the Year of the Ox, is taking office in a particularly bad year for his Chinese astrological sign. The ox sign is in direct conflict this year with a traditional Chinese divinity called the "God of Year," considered a bad omen. Obama also is the 44th president, a number the Chinese deem extremely unlucky, because "four" is pronounced the same as "death" in Chinese.
"The new U.S. president is not having good luck this year. His honeymoon will only be short-lived," said fortuneteller Alion Yeo, predicting Obama may even face impeachment in his first year in office.
But Obama fans around the world should probably take heart from what Babe Romualdez wrote today in his column at The Philippine Star:
The Chinese consider the number “4” to be unlucky because it sounds like “death” in Chinese, which is why some are saying that 2009 will not be a good year for Barack Obama since he is the 44th US president. However, an Indonesian numerology expert and feng shui master contradicted the dire predictions about the new US president (who incidentally was born in the Year of the Ox) pointing out that in Chinese numerology, 4 + 4 equals “8” — a lucky number.
So there you have it. Depending on who among the geomancers above you'll believe, this year could either look promising or dire. At the end of the day, let us not forget that 2009 will become what we make of it. We may come across tons of opportunities this year but if we don't play our cards well, these golden chances could amount to nothing. Wasn't it Cassius who said in "Julius Caesar" that:
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
KUNG HEI FAT CHOI!
(Photo credit: Google Images)
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