Feng Shui for the year of the Rat 2008

Here is wishing you all the success, prosperity, good health, love, happiness and everything else you want from life in the New Year. This year is even more important to me as I am also born in the year of the Rat.
While the New Year is beginning on 1st Jan, the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Rat begins on 7th Feb 2008, as per the western calendar. It is 4706 for the Chinese, whose calendar is over 2000 years older.
The Chinese calendar is a lunar calendar, where each month begins on the darkest day. New Year celebrations, therefore traditionally start on the first day of the month and climax on the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest.
Every year as the New Year nears, my friends, clients, Feng Shui enthusiasts, students of Feng Shui and other Masters ask me about the precautions to be taken in the New Year.

Those born in the Rat years tend to be leaders, pioneers, and conquerors. They are charming, passionate, charismatic, practical and hardworking. Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Affleck, Samuel L. Jackson, William Shakespeare, and Mozart were all born in the year of the Rat.

Here is some Feng Shui advice for the year 2008.

Remedy: If you want the Rat to be on your side, hang / place a painting or figurine of Rat – painting I personally do and energize – in the Northwest. The Rat will support you the entire year.

People in the Orient believe that if the Grand Duke of Jupiter is on your side, you are a winner and so it is important that one should never incur the wrath of the Grand Duke. All hell breaks loose if the Duke is against you.
His place of residence changes each year but wherever he is, it is important that you should not annoy him with loud banging and construction.

Upsetting the Grand Duke brings bad luck.

Thus the first thing to take note of is to find out where he is located in each lunar year. In 2008, the Year of the Rat, the Grand Duke is in the North. If you are thinking of making renovations to your house that involve banging and breaking down walls, you should take note of the GRAND DUKE JUPITER.

Remember also never to sit in a position that requires you to directly confront the Grand Duke.

Thus in 2008, the Grand Duke is located in the North. This means you do not sit in the South facing North-Northwest. Even if you discover that the North is your best direction based on the Black Hat Sect or Eight Mansion or Form School of Feng Shui, avoid using your best direction in the year 2008. You can meet with losses, failures and problems. If you know your compass, you should move your seat by at least 30 degrees clockwise or anti-clockwise.

Thus in 2008 you should not undertake any renovation in this sector of your house, since this will disturb the Grand Duke. You must postpone any planned renovations to the following year. To break this rule is to invite misfortune as the Grand Duke does not like being disturbed or touched in any way.

And never ever confront the grand Duke in other ways. Old Chinese warlords always avoided advancing towards the enemy if it meant moving in a direction that represented the Grand Duke's location for that year.

They always preferred to engage in battle with the Grand Duke behind them rather than in front of them. Thus in 2008, if you have to attend an important meeting or negotiation, do not sit facing North. Sit facing South. This way, the Grand Duke will be behind you, supporting you.

Remedy: Acquire a Pi Yao and place it facing North. This Pi Yao can be moved by 30 degrees clockwise every year. Treatment of the Three Killings or Saram Saat is in continuation of the treatment to the Grand Duke of Jupiter. The location of Saram Saat in 2008, the Year of the Rat, is in the South. You must never have the Saram Saat or Three Killings behind you in any year. Thus in 2007, it means you should not sit with the Three Killings behind you. Confronting the Three Killings will not hurt you but having it behind you will. It is far more advantageous to sit directly facing South, thereby facing the Three Killings head-on.

The last taboo is the deadly Five Yellows.

The location of the Five Yellows in 2008 is South.

Remedy: Hang a 5-rod wind chime with a pagoda and bells in this area, to nullify the effect of the Five Yellows.
Note: If you are doing a complete interior and renovation, the above restrictions – the Grand Duke of Jupiter, the Three Killings and the Five Yellows - do not apply.

In case you have any problem understanding this, don’t worry. You can choose single corner Feng Shui and send me the floor plan or diagram of your house or office. I will mark the exact directions on the floor plan and return to you.

Note: The right of privacy is sacred for me. The names of the people mentioned in the diary are usually changed to protect the identity of my clients.