Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
Lets try to look a little into small part of the numerology that is used in the daoist systems in China.
There are 2 types of schools in China and the countries around it when it comes to Feng Shui, Purple Star or some of their other metaphysical systems.
One is called San He三合 , the other is called San Yuan三元 .
San He, that is directional combination, is very conservative, usually is based on books and texts made thousands of years ago and is usually either related to space or at least related to something unchanging in the system(for example forms in Feng Shui).
San Yuan are very connected to time. There are periods(Yuans), and with that periods the base idea of the Lo Shu changes. With the change of the Lo Shu, everything else changes as well.
Most professional practitioners are using both at the same time.
In San He the Lo Shu is viewed as static. North is always water. South is always fire(in later heaven that is, as they still use earlier heaven when North will be Metal).
And while in parts of San He Feng Shui systems, there are different calculations that can change some parts of that, in general its always the base behind it all.
These are the so called 8 inspiration of the Eight Palaces system ba zhai八宅.
That is the most widely practiced Feng Shui system and the most simple one.
Then it divides the trigrams to middle and oldest son and dauther, with youngest one and the parents and make the 2 groups that are suited for each other in their foundamental text(BaZhai MingJing - 八宅明镜 , the bright mirror of the 8 palaces).
The rest of San He in Feng Shui works heavily with forms. Time play very limited role, as the important factor is the relation of mountains and rivers to the Qi maps, trigrams and directions and the property we are looking at. There are many different types of mountains, there are insanily complex calculations of how a water can move to create different events and stuff like that.
Lo Shu is Lo Shu, 5 is in the middle, 9 is on the top etc.
San He Lo Pan looks like this(the compass used for calculation in San He Feng Shui systems):
Tip for learnings - you can recognize a San He Lo Pan, by the 2 or more 24 mountains rings(basically stems and branches and trigrams). San Yuan, QMDJ and other Lo Pans usually will have less.
(image from google search images)
San Yuan systems are a little different. They are heavily based on time.
Probably nice to mention that the text with the lines or the wings isn't used in either of these schools even though they cover more or less all professional practitioners. They can be added sometimes, though the changing lines and hexagrams when used form Feng Shui perspective have their own texts more connected to a Earth/property/landform perspective.
The reason they aren't used... Well, as mentioned already many times all around that is philosophical system for governing. Very related to confucianism, the practical metaphysical schools are almost entirely related to daoism.
That doesn't mean it doesn't have place in practical Chinese Metaphysics, its still respected and used, only its somewhat added on top of much more complex calculation performed in the systems all the time all around that parts of Asia and less often but still seen in other parts of the world.
So back on San Yuan. Lo Pan is usually more complex as it includes many systems like XKFX, XKDG(where the hexagram rings are from) and others.
The big difference in San Yuan systems is that Lo Shu is rarely static(depending on the type of San Yuan system, but we are focusing on Feng Shui schools here).
That means that the middle 5 is not always 5. There are time periods of around 20 years that change the number in the middle. That was the big discovery Shen made, from Dahongs stolen book and that is the base for much of the calculation in present day San Yuan systems(like Flying Star Feng Shui).
So what does it mean that middle is not always 5.
Well, it means that it moves, in period 8 for example, middle is 8. Then the path stays the same while the other number changes. So for example from 2004-2023 later heaven periods we are considered in period 8. That means that the current star map looks like this:
(since 2019 was also the same map as the whole period, I'm posting image of both).
The Trigrams still take their positions, but as we can see, now there are "flying" stars/trigrams that go around the house. Its much , much more complex, but the base idea is that the so called "period star" will basically mean in 2019 Trigram 1(as the stars have characteristics of the Trigrams, including the family member and all else, only with some added meaning), is on the West. We have Water on the West(Metal), so the sector is empowering the Star. Then we look at the personalities, Water is the middle son, male from 18 to 35, its also kidneys and bladder and many other things, so we use the calculations but we add the images, otherwise it won't full y work.
The idea I'm trying to point out is that very heavy numerology is used all around the daoist part of the Chinese Metaphysics and is used everyday in business consulting, Feng Shui assessment and everything else used there, even in medicine for the few practitioners that know how.
And as usual the reason that isn't in zhouyi or the wings is that zhouyi and the wings aren't used as the practical system, they are viewed much more as philosophical ideas for governing very connected to Confucianism(so much that countless Chinese masters even today insist that Confucius wrote the wings, even if western historians disagree).
Confucius is still very respected, the wings are sometimes added as interesting text going along with the actual daoist calculations. But the practical systems are heavily connected to daoism, may look very similar to numerology on the west and are what is used in business and most practical settings in Asia as far as I'm aware.
The reason I'm posting this is because through getting this type of Yi jing from Wilhelm and the few translations before him, back then, it inspired many books to be written based on the ideas there. With our ideas of numerology and other stuff like that. All very good, however, meanwhile we didn't knew there are very practical systems with heavy numerological aspects used in China and they work somewhat differently. The numbers aren't used by themselve, they are always combined with Images. And that is combined with how it can show in the house(Feng Shui) or in the organs of the body(medicine), or in someones life(bazi/zwds) or in a asked question(Yi jing/QMDJ/DLR etc).
While looking for numeralogical relations to all this is a noble path, it also needs the images, otherwise it won't work in practice, very well. For images it also need a little more then the Trigrams and Hexagrams and that would need the stems and branches(as the 5 elements are the stems and branches).
Since all is viewed as cyclical there aren't very big numbers, the calculations are always simple.
What do I mean... Lets look at hetu.
If we look at what this actually shows, it shows the relation of the Stems, the state/situation when they move to early heaven flow. Meaning the situation when in a reading, be that bazi, WWG, or any system, these stems will move back to a more ideal/perfect flow for some time.
wu戊 combines with 癸gui(5 and 10),yi乙 combines with geng庚(2 and 7, the sister of the Emperor, marring the enemy shown by the shimmering white in QMDJ)etc
In practice in bazi that may mean a marriage. Or someone "obtaining"(or trying to) something(doesn't mean always something material, it would depend on other factors, can be obtaining "authority", or obtaining "knowledge" etc.)
There are endless depths to the way they view the "number" aspect of the systems, its worth learning that, then the rest can fall out into place... But we need to know what they saw, in my humble opinion, as the practical aspect of the system is there. And that are the 5 elements(as stems and branches, or as trigrams in different circumstances). The philosophical one is great and it can be used in practice as we can see, but if we want numerology - will need the daoist part of it all or it will just be interesting calculations that seem to coincide at times, but doesn't seem to point out to clear result, or to help to see deeper meaning that we can utilize in practice.
There are 2 types of schools in China and the countries around it when it comes to Feng Shui, Purple Star or some of their other metaphysical systems.
One is called San He三合 , the other is called San Yuan三元 .
San He, that is directional combination, is very conservative, usually is based on books and texts made thousands of years ago and is usually either related to space or at least related to something unchanging in the system(for example forms in Feng Shui).
San Yuan are very connected to time. There are periods(Yuans), and with that periods the base idea of the Lo Shu changes. With the change of the Lo Shu, everything else changes as well.
Most professional practitioners are using both at the same time.
In San He the Lo Shu is viewed as static. North is always water. South is always fire(in later heaven that is, as they still use earlier heaven when North will be Metal).
And while in parts of San He Feng Shui systems, there are different calculations that can change some parts of that, in general its always the base behind it all.
These are the so called 8 inspiration of the Eight Palaces system ba zhai八宅.
That is the most widely practiced Feng Shui system and the most simple one.
Then it divides the trigrams to middle and oldest son and dauther, with youngest one and the parents and make the 2 groups that are suited for each other in their foundamental text(BaZhai MingJing - 八宅明镜 , the bright mirror of the 8 palaces).
The rest of San He in Feng Shui works heavily with forms. Time play very limited role, as the important factor is the relation of mountains and rivers to the Qi maps, trigrams and directions and the property we are looking at. There are many different types of mountains, there are insanily complex calculations of how a water can move to create different events and stuff like that.
Lo Shu is Lo Shu, 5 is in the middle, 9 is on the top etc.
San He Lo Pan looks like this(the compass used for calculation in San He Feng Shui systems):
Tip for learnings - you can recognize a San He Lo Pan, by the 2 or more 24 mountains rings(basically stems and branches and trigrams). San Yuan, QMDJ and other Lo Pans usually will have less.
(image from google search images)
San Yuan systems are a little different. They are heavily based on time.
Probably nice to mention that the text with the lines or the wings isn't used in either of these schools even though they cover more or less all professional practitioners. They can be added sometimes, though the changing lines and hexagrams when used form Feng Shui perspective have their own texts more connected to a Earth/property/landform perspective.
The reason they aren't used... Well, as mentioned already many times all around that is philosophical system for governing. Very related to confucianism, the practical metaphysical schools are almost entirely related to daoism.
That doesn't mean it doesn't have place in practical Chinese Metaphysics, its still respected and used, only its somewhat added on top of much more complex calculation performed in the systems all the time all around that parts of Asia and less often but still seen in other parts of the world.
So back on San Yuan. Lo Pan is usually more complex as it includes many systems like XKFX, XKDG(where the hexagram rings are from) and others.
The big difference in San Yuan systems is that Lo Shu is rarely static(depending on the type of San Yuan system, but we are focusing on Feng Shui schools here).
That means that the middle 5 is not always 5. There are time periods of around 20 years that change the number in the middle. That was the big discovery Shen made, from Dahongs stolen book and that is the base for much of the calculation in present day San Yuan systems(like Flying Star Feng Shui).
So what does it mean that middle is not always 5.
Well, it means that it moves, in period 8 for example, middle is 8. Then the path stays the same while the other number changes. So for example from 2004-2023 later heaven periods we are considered in period 8. That means that the current star map looks like this:
(since 2019 was also the same map as the whole period, I'm posting image of both).
The Trigrams still take their positions, but as we can see, now there are "flying" stars/trigrams that go around the house. Its much , much more complex, but the base idea is that the so called "period star" will basically mean in 2019 Trigram 1(as the stars have characteristics of the Trigrams, including the family member and all else, only with some added meaning), is on the West. We have Water on the West(Metal), so the sector is empowering the Star. Then we look at the personalities, Water is the middle son, male from 18 to 35, its also kidneys and bladder and many other things, so we use the calculations but we add the images, otherwise it won't full y work.
The idea I'm trying to point out is that very heavy numerology is used all around the daoist part of the Chinese Metaphysics and is used everyday in business consulting, Feng Shui assessment and everything else used there, even in medicine for the few practitioners that know how.
And as usual the reason that isn't in zhouyi or the wings is that zhouyi and the wings aren't used as the practical system, they are viewed much more as philosophical ideas for governing very connected to Confucianism(so much that countless Chinese masters even today insist that Confucius wrote the wings, even if western historians disagree).
Confucius is still very respected, the wings are sometimes added as interesting text going along with the actual daoist calculations. But the practical systems are heavily connected to daoism, may look very similar to numerology on the west and are what is used in business and most practical settings in Asia as far as I'm aware.
The reason I'm posting this is because through getting this type of Yi jing from Wilhelm and the few translations before him, back then, it inspired many books to be written based on the ideas there. With our ideas of numerology and other stuff like that. All very good, however, meanwhile we didn't knew there are very practical systems with heavy numerological aspects used in China and they work somewhat differently. The numbers aren't used by themselve, they are always combined with Images. And that is combined with how it can show in the house(Feng Shui) or in the organs of the body(medicine), or in someones life(bazi/zwds) or in a asked question(Yi jing/QMDJ/DLR etc).
While looking for numeralogical relations to all this is a noble path, it also needs the images, otherwise it won't work in practice, very well. For images it also need a little more then the Trigrams and Hexagrams and that would need the stems and branches(as the 5 elements are the stems and branches).
Since all is viewed as cyclical there aren't very big numbers, the calculations are always simple.
What do I mean... Lets look at hetu.
If we look at what this actually shows, it shows the relation of the Stems, the state/situation when they move to early heaven flow. Meaning the situation when in a reading, be that bazi, WWG, or any system, these stems will move back to a more ideal/perfect flow for some time.
wu戊 combines with 癸gui(5 and 10),yi乙 combines with geng庚(2 and 7, the sister of the Emperor, marring the enemy shown by the shimmering white in QMDJ)etc
In practice in bazi that may mean a marriage. Or someone "obtaining"(or trying to) something(doesn't mean always something material, it would depend on other factors, can be obtaining "authority", or obtaining "knowledge" etc.)
There are endless depths to the way they view the "number" aspect of the systems, its worth learning that, then the rest can fall out into place... But we need to know what they saw, in my humble opinion, as the practical aspect of the system is there. And that are the 5 elements(as stems and branches, or as trigrams in different circumstances). The philosophical one is great and it can be used in practice as we can see, but if we want numerology - will need the daoist part of it all or it will just be interesting calculations that seem to coincide at times, but doesn't seem to point out to clear result, or to help to see deeper meaning that we can utilize in practice.
Last edited: