Triple Tigers in Chinese astrology

Julia Butterfly Hill is famous for her actions to protect nature. She has a very interesting horoscope, which corresponds to her interesting life. To me, the most striking feature in her horoscope is the presence of the triple Tiger branch. She is a real tigress!

Born: 18 February 1974

Day: Geng Yin (Yang Metal Tiger)
Month: Bing Yin (Yang Fire Tiger)
Year: Jia Yin (Yang Wood Tiger)

As Julia is born in the year of Wood Tiger (Jia Yin), I would call her the "Green Tigress". She reminds me of the chart of Tang Yin 唐寅 - a famous Chinese painter, poet and scholar from Ming Dynasty in China. You can read more about him in wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Yin

Tang Yin was born in the year of Metal Tiger, the month of the Tiger, the day of the Tiger and the hour of the Tiger... 4 times Yin (Tiger) branch in his natal chart! That's why his name is Yin - Tiger. And he is better known by his courtesy name Tang Bohu 唐伯虎, in which Bohu literally means "White Tiger", corresponding to his year pillar of birth - Geng Yin (Metal Tiger, or white tiger) .

So, if Tang Bohu is the White Tiger, then Julia Butterfly Hill is the Green Tigress.

The divination appears itself

心不动 卜自来

If the heart/mind is not disturbed, the divination appears itself.

Zhuang Zi wax figure full with qi

This is one of the best images of the Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zi which I have ever seen. The picture is taken in the year of 2000, when together with some friends I visited the Chu City (磨山楚城) on the Mo Hill in Wuhan City, China. In the Chu Celestial Terrace there were two wax figures - one of Lao Zi, and the other of Zhuang Zi. You can feel the strong energy coming from these figures about one meter away.



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The Progress star of Hannu Manninen

Hannu Manninen is a famous nordic combined athlete from Finland.

While watching nordic combined event on Eurosport last year, the sports commentators often mentioned his name - "Hannu Manninen... Hannu Manninen..." and to me it sounded like "Hanuman" - one of the most popular gods in the Hindu pantheon, a noble hero and great devotee of Lord Rama.



Hannu Manninen's date of birth is 17 April 1978. According to Chinese astrology, he is born in the day of Earth Rooster (ji you 己酉) and he has the rare symbolic star Progress star. For people born in the day of Earth Rooster the Progress star shows big progress in work - they may start from an ordinary level and often unnoticeably for the others they make fast and big progress, which leads to great success in the end.

The nordic combined sport consists of two parts - ski jumping and cross-country skiing. It's interesting to see how the Progress star works nicely for Hannu Manninen: in the first part, during the ski jumping, his results are not the best ones, but later, during the cross-country skiing, he quickly comes from behind and often finishes first. That's the Progress star in action.

Ox turns Heaven and Earth 牛转乾坤

As this is the year of Ox, a new expression appeared in the Chinese websites in the beginning of the year:
"Ox turns Heaven and Earth" - "Niu zhuan qian kun" 牛转乾坤.

This sentence is a word play. It comes from the Chinese idiom: "Niu zhuan qian kun" 扭转乾坤, which means "to bring about a radical change in the situation; reverse a bad situation or unfavorable condition to one’s advantage". This phrase is also translated as “to turn the tables”, because it derived from the ancient Chinese games. The player that is in a disadvantaged and weak position, turns the situation around and wins the game.

So, now in Chinese there are many wishes such as: "Wish you good luck and let the ox turn the Heaven and Earth!", "Ox turns the universe", etc. ;-)
This shows the hope of people for better changes and better times. 

The Winter Solstice and the energy

December 21st is the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. The Sun is at 270 degree on the ecliptic.

The 3-4 days before and after the Winter Solstice are characterized with very powerful energy in Nature. This is a good time for receiving energy from Nature, important time for more meditation and relaxation. Even when no meditating one can feel the circulation of the energy and blood in the body - so much intense as if in a meditation state.

Now the meditation is of very good quality, it gets easier and faster to enter into the deep levels of subconsciousness. The Daoists and Buddhists give a great importance to meditation during the Winter Solstice. At the this time of the year the Yang energy starts to increase (and the days start to get larger), while the Yin energy gradually starts to decline (the nights become smaller). Slowly and almost unnoticeably the heat in Nature and within us starts to activate from the deeper layers toward the more superficial layers of the body.

To a certain point, all this is related to the lunar month of Rat (Zi), in which we are now. It is represented by the “Fu” 24th hexagram in I Ching:

Lao Zi says "Returning is the movement of Dao". Fu hexagram means “Returning, coming back" and it consists of 1 Yang and 5 Yin. The past month (亥 Hai) was completely Yin (with 6 Yin), but now a new cycle is starting, in which the first rays of the Yang qi start to appear. In Chinese, this is called “Yi yang chu” 一阳出 (“the appearance of first Yang”). That's why it is considered a great time for cultivation.

During the different 24 solar terms of the Chinese calendar, qi is concentrated at different energy points (guan 关, chakra) of the small heavenly orbit 小周天.



During the 15 days of the Winter Solstice period, qi is concentrated at hui yin 会阴 point at the perineum as well as in the lower dantian in the belly. The qi becomes more active on du mai 督脉　(the Yang channel) of the small heavenly orbit. At the same time, the flow of qi can be felt much better and faster throughout the whole body.

In the past times, the Winter Solstice in China was regarded as an official holiday and the New Year's day. The scholars and practitioners of metaphysics have done important forecasts namely on the day of Winter solstice.

Happy December (Winter) solstice to all!

Feng Shui Humor

There was a person who trusted feng shui so much that before doing anything he first asked a feng shui master for consultation. One day, as he was sitting, a wall collapsed above him and he was pressed by it. He anxiously started to shout "Help! Help!" . When his relatives saw him, they said: "Don't worry, be patient, we will now go to the feng shui master to ask whether today is an auspicious day for ground braking."