In the last article in this prediction by date of birth series, I have introduced how to find out your representing star by referring to your date of birth. Although the representing star changes once a year, you cannot simply find out your representing star by looking at your year of birth. The date of birth also matters.
The Myth of Year of Birth Explained
According to Chinese Feng Shui theories, a year ends on the last day of winter and the following year begins on the following day, i.e. the first day of spring. The first day of spring is NOT equal to the first day of Chinese New Year. This is an interesting fact but unfortunately not many Feng Shui practitioners know it.
Chinese Calendar is a mixture of Yang and Yin calendars. Yang Calender is based on the relative position of the sun and the earth. The Yin Calendar is based on the location of the moon in relation to the earth. The Chinese New Year we usually celebrates is based on the Yin Calendar, this is why some people would call it the Chinese Lunar New Year. This Yin Calendar has been in place for thousands of years.
However, Chinese Feng Shui is related to the flow and cycling of energy. All planets in the solar system, including the earth, is affected by the sun. As for the earth, summer is the hottest season in a year, because during summer the earth is the closest to the sun in a year. On the other hand, it is the coolest in winter because the earth is far away from the sun in its orbit. The four seasons are the “products of the sun”. The kind of energy that Feng Shui examines is that brought by the sun. So, for Feng Shui purpose, we use the relative position of the earth to the sun to determine the time in a year.
Feng Shui Year as Determined by Lichun
There is a scientific definition of the first day of spring (a.k.a. Lichun in Chinese). It is the day when the Sun is at the celestial longitude of 315° (For more details about this, you may read this Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichun). This day is usually the 4th of February in the Gregorian Calendar. The exact time when the Sun is at the celestial longitude of 315° differs every year, so as the first day of spring. Sometimes it is on the 3rd of February, sometimes on the 5th of February, but the majority is 4th February.
When you want to find out the representing star of a person, and that person was born in any month between March to December, you can simply look for the year of birth as is. But if that person was born in January, you need to look for one year before (say, you check the representing star of 1980 if the person was born in January 1981). If he or she was born in February but not on the 3rd, 4th or 5th, you can tell which year to look for easily.
The real problem is if the person was born on anyone of these three days. The first thing you need to do is to check the actual date of Lichun in that year. Usually the local observatory should have that information. If the date of Lichun is the 4th of February in a year while he or she was not born on that day, you know which year to search for in the table of representing stars.
What if his or her birthday is exactly the day of Lichun? Then you need to find out the exact hour, minute second of Lichun. For example, if Spring begins at 6:38:25 on that day, a person born in that year while before that moment should be treated as born in the previous year for Feng Shui purpose. Otherwise, that person should be treated as born in that year. Again, check with the local observatory at where that person was born.
The above paragraphs may seem to be quite complicated, but they describe a very fundamental idea in divination, Feng Shui, destiny analysis and all other aspects of Chinese Numerology. You must make sure you understand what I said above. If not, please read this post again.
In the next post in this prediction by date of birth series, I will introduce the Five Elements System and how you could use it to do basic fortune telling.