Success Without Fulfilment: What They Didn’T Tell You About Ba Zi Astrology

Copyright © 2017 by Au Yong Chee Tuck.

The author may be reached by e mail at [email protected]

Library of Congress Control Number:   2017930880

ISBN:      Hardcover         978-1-4828-8252-0

                Softcover          978-1-4828-8256-8

                eBook               978-1-4828-8257-5

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Contents

BOOK ONE: FORGING THE THEORY

CHAPTER ONE: THE BASIC BUILDING BLOCKS OF SUCCESS – OR DEFEAT

CHAPTER TWO: HOW TO READ A BA ZI CHART?

CHAPTER THREE: WHAT’S IN IT (THE BIRTH CHART) FOR ME?

CHAPTER FOUR: HEY! DON’T CLASH MY SUCCESS AWAY!

CHAPTER FIVE: WHAT’S IN A COMBINATION?

CHAPTER SIX: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (I):I INTEND TO GO IN HARM’S WAY

CHAPTER SEVEN: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (II): WHAT DOES NOT DESTROY ME, MAKES ME STRONGER

BOOK TWO: TESTING THE THEORY

PROLOGUE: SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF A PROLOGUE

EPILOGUE: THE RETURN OF THE SIX CHARACTERS

THEMES FOR PATH I: THE RIGHT PATH – WITH THE WRONG TURNING

CHAPTER ONE: THE DOCTOR WHO PLAYED DETECTIVE – SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

APPENDIX I: THE PUBLISHED WORKS OF SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

APPENDIX II: THE FATHER FIGURE IN THE SHERLOCK HOLMES FICTION

APPENDIX III: DETECTIVE FICTION AFTER SHERLOCK HOLMES AND ITS INFLUENCE ON FILM NOIR

CHAPTER TWO: THE DOCTOR WHO DICED WITH DANGER –SUN YAT-SEN

THEMES FOR PATH II: THE PATH OF THE FOLLOWER

CHAPTER THREE: THE PAINTER WHO THOUGHT HE WAS MORE INTELLIGENT THAN GOD – SALVADOR DALI

CHAPTER FOUR: LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME: THE TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDIES OF BILLIE HOLIDAY

THEMES FOR PATH III: THE PATH OF THE NOBODY

CHAPTER FIVE: I CAN’T BE SATISIFIED: THE BUS PASSENGER WHO SAID NO – ROSA PARKS

CHAPTER SIX: THE FRENCH CONNECTION: HE DROVE FOR THE PRINCESS – HENRI PAUL

THEMES FOR PATH IV: THE PATH OF DUTY AND HONOUR

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE GOOD SOLDIER SCHWEIK - FRIEDRICH VON PAULUS

APPENDIX IV: CHRONOLOGY OF THE BATTLE OF STALINGRAD

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE MAN WITHOUT QUALITIES – CLAUS VON STAUFFENBERG

THEMES FOR PATH V: THE PATH WITHOUT ROOTS

CHAPTER NINE: THE MAN WHO COULD NOT HANDLE SUCCESS – MARIO LANZA

CHAPTER TEN: HE BROUGHT JOY TO THE WORLD OF CHILDREN – JIM HENSON

APPENDIX V: RECOMMENDED READING

Dedicated to my wife

Tay Saw Cheng

For being a capable mother to our brood of children

BOOK ONE

FORGING THE THEORY

CHAPTER ONE

THE BASIC BUILDING BLOCKS OF SUCCESS – OR DEFEAT

"Four be the things I’d been better without:

Love, curiosity, freckles and doubt."

Dorothy Parker,

American critic and humourist,

Inventory, 1926

If some of our readers had played with Lego sets during their childhood, they might have marvelled how a mere handful of colourful blocks could be assembled in so many different ways to build entirely different things.

The five elements and their relationships within the three cycles

In the study of Ba Zi, we would have to start with the basic blocks – the five elements, the three cycles, the ten Heavenly Stems, the twelve Earthly Branches and the interactions between them.

These five elements were wood, fire, earth, metal and water. The five elements had interactions with each other. These interactions took place within the three cycles - the production cycle, the weakening cycle and the controlling cycle.

THE PRODUCTION CYCLE

The wood element produced the fire by providing the fuel to burn the fire. For instance, firewood was the source of the fire in the stove. After the fire had burnt up the wood, it became brittle, like ashes. In that sense, fire was said to have produced earth. If we dug deep enough into the earth, we might be able to extract some minerals. Therefore, earth was considered to produce metal. When the metal was heated to high temperatures, the metal rod melted and became liquefied. So the metal was said to produce water.

THE WEAKENING CYCLE

The weakening cycle was the reverse of the production cycle. Too much water weakened the metal by causing the metal to rust and become brittle. If there was excessive metal inside the earth, the earth was deemed to be exhausted or depleted. A huge pile of earth would dampen the fire but may not completely put it out. As the fire burnt up wood, the wood was said to be weakened by the fire.

THE CONTROLLING CYCLE

In the controlling cycle, one element came under the control of another element. Fire was said to control metal because the fire forged the metal so that the metal could become some useful objects. The metal controlled the wood as in the case of an axe chopping down the tree. The wood controlled the earth when its roots gripped the soil. In turn, the earth controlled the water, like when the banks of the river confined the water to flow in certain directions. Finally, the water controlled the fire by putting out the fire.

Broadly speaking, the controlling element denoted the authority or fame star for the day master. For example, in the case of a fire day master, the water element represented his authority or fame.

The principle of Yin and Yang

There was another significant aspect to the five elements. This was the principle of Yin and Yang.

The Yang features could be said to represent the masculine, bright, strong, hardness. The Yin attributes might be represented by the female, darkness or shade, flexibility. This concept was one of the fundamental differences between Chinese astrology and Western astrology.

Each of the five elements had a Yin and Yang aspect to it. For instance, there was Yang wood and Yin wood, Yang fire and Yin fire. This perspective of Yin-Yang increased the five elements by two fold to become the ten Heavenly Stems.

Table 1: The Ten Heavenly Stems

In addition to the ten Heavenly Stems, there were another twelve Earthly Branches. The twelve Earthly Branches corresponded to the twelve months of the Chinese solar or lunar year.

Table 2: The Twelve Earthly Branches

Since they represented the passage of time, they also came to be associated with the four seasons. The four seasons indicated that different types of energy were available during different seasons and in varying degrees of strength or weakness. These details could be seen in the following table.

Table 3: Details of the Hidden Stems in the Twelve Earthly Branches

When the ten Heavenly Stems were combined with the twelve Earthly Branches in the format of a birth chart or luck cycles, then we could read the chart and attempt to decipher the data.

The ten Heavenly Stems and twelve Earthly Branches gave us a total of twenty two Chinese characters. It was this handful of Chinese characters that were really the building blocks of a person’s destiny – as though it was some sort of metaphysical Lego set.

Why did character matter in destiny reading?

Character is destiny

George Eliot,

English novelist,

The Mill on the Floss, 1860

These Chinese characters could be said to be the basic building blocks that hinted at a person’s potential success – or disaster – depending on the decisions he or she made, the timing of these decisions and their reaction to the chain of events that subsequently unfolded from their initial actions. Based on this handful of Chinese characters, the aspiring Ba Zi student should be able to read the character of his client.

Why did character make a difference in the reading of a person’s destiny? It was conceivable there could be thousands of people throughout the world born on the same date and time. Why was it that the outcomes of their lives were different despite sharing the same birth chart?

One of the fundamental reasons was that they had different characters which caused them to make different decisions. Another contributing factor was the different timing when they made decisions.

CHAPTER TWO

HOW TO READ A BA ZI CHART?

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MADE!

Our problem is, in fact, to fit the world into our perceptions, and not our perceptions to the world.

Alfred North Whitehead,

British mathematician and philosopher,

The Organisation of Thought: Educational and Scientific, 1917

I

Based on the valuable feedback given by some of our readers of our previous work, Winds of Change: Myth and Truth in feng shui and Ba Zi, they said that they preferred fewer Ba Zi charts but more detailed analysis. Let us try to fulfil their requests by analysing some of the same charts in Winds of Change as examples in the first portion of this book.

For the benefit of lay readers who were not familiar with the concepts in Ba Zi, we need to commence by explaining how to read a Ba Zi chart.

When we wanted to read any Ba Zi chart, there had to be a starting point or reference point. That starting point was the day master. Everything else in the birth chart was read in relation to this day master.

So what was this all important day master about? It was the Heavenly Stem found in the top of the day pillar column of the chart.

Why bother about one day in the birth chart?

If a person was born on a wood day, his characteristics would be different from another person born on a metal day, even though both of them were born in the same month.

For instance, the dancer Cyd Charisse was born on 8 March 1922 which was a wood day. The writer Antonia Fraser was born on 27 August 1932 which was a metal day.

Due to a host of other factors in their respective charts, both of these females had achievements but in entirely different fields.

II

What happened when the day master was strong?

Let us examine the chart of the versatile actor Harrison Ford.

Harrison Ford 13 July 1942

He was born on a 丁卯 Ding Mao (Fire Rabbit) day. The day master was the 丁 Ding fire, not the 卯 Rabbit Earthly Branch.

But the Heavenly Stem could not stand alone. It had to rest on an Earthly Branch. In this case, the 丁 Ding fire was said to be seated on the 卯 Rabbit Earthly Branch. The entire day pillar comprised of the 丁卯 Ding Mao (Fire Rabbit) pillar.

The first step in reading a Ba Zi chart should be to work out whether the day master was strong or weak.

In this case, the 丁 Ding fire day master was born in the 未 Wei (Goat) month. The 未 Goat month represented the summer season. The fire was at peak strength during summer. Therefore the 丁 Ding fire day master was considered strong due to being born in season.

In Harrison Ford’s case, there was a seasonal combination between his 午 Horse year and 午 Horse hour and the 未 Goat month. These two Earthly Branches represented the summer season. This combination only served to make his 丁 Ding fire day master even stronger.

However, only the month of birth represented the season. He was born in the 未 Goat month which represented the end of the summer season. It was this 未 Goat month which made his fire strong. If he had been born in, say the winter season, his fire would not have been strong despite the presence of the two 午 Horses.

III

Let’s get stronger!

How strong could the strong day master be? Could there be extremely strong or very weak day masters? Would it be favourable if the day master became too strong or too weak?

Let us examine a more specific example. In the following chart, this lady was a very strong day master.

Pamela Anderson 1 July 1967

This 丙 Bing fire female was born in the 午 Horse month. The 午 Horse month also represented summer.

But unlike the 未 Goat month in Harrison Ford’s chart, the 午 Horse month represented the peak of summer

Although both the 未 Goat month and the 午 Horse month represented summer, the fire was stronger in the 午 Horse month. The reason was that the 午 Horse month represented the peak of summer whereas the 未 Goat month indicated the end of summer.

Therefore the 丙 Bing fire day master was stronger compared to the previous 丁 Ding fire day master - even though both persons were fire day masters were born in the same season.

There was also a combination between her 寅 Tiger day and hour, her 午 Horse month and her 未 Goat year. The 寅 Tiger day and hour formed a Three Harmony combination of fire with her 午 Horse month. At the same time, her 午 Horse month also had a seasonal combination with her 未 Goat year to get fire.

The end result of all these combinations meant that her already strong 丙 Bing fire day master had become extremely strong. To make matters worse, there was not a single drop of water in her birth chart to rectify the situation and control the fire.

This configuration indicated that the person would have to encounter problems in her life. However, the bright side was that when the water arrived in her luck cycles, it would rectify the imbalance and make the chart good.

IV

Follow the Leader! Aye, aye, sir! Which leader?

At the other end of the scale was the extremely weak chart. The day master was so weak that it could not even possibly survive on its own. It had to follow the pattern of one of the strongest elements.

These types of very weak charts were known as Follow the Leader charts. There were three types of Follow the Leader charts, listed as follows:-

1. Follow the wealth

2. Follow the power

3. Follow the son or Follow the Output.

Generally speaking, it was quite rare to find Follow the Leader charts among people who were more successful than others in society.

Follow the Leader 23-2-1987

This 癸 Gui water day master was born in the 寅 Tiger month which represented the spring season. The strong wood element was further strengthened by the presence of the 卯 Rabbit day and the 卯 Rabbit year. There was also wood in the 未 Goat hour.

The 癸 Gui water day master had no roots in any of the Earthly Branches. While there was some support from the 壬 Ren water Heavenly Stem in the month pillar, this 壬 Ren water combined with the 丁 Ding fire in the year Heavenly Stem to get wood. Therefore, it could be said that the support had been removed by the combination.

In the weakening cycle, wood weakened water because the plants absorbed water from the soil. This situation became worse if the wood element in the chart had grown stronger. The 癸 Gui water day master was not born in the season of winter and had no metal to produce the water. The presence of strong wood weakened the water even further.

In order to survive, the 癸 Gui water day master had to follow the strongest element, in this case the wood element. Since water produced wood, this chart was considered as Follow the Son or Follow the Output.

If the wood element had been the wealth element, then it would have been a Follow the Wealth chart. Likewise, if the wood element represented authority, this chart would be considered as a Follow the Power chart.

V

What happened if we changed the day master?

What difference could one day have made? Suppose we asked our readers to go back to this chart of weak 癸 Gui water day master and change the day master to the wood element. Then instead of a weak chart, it would have become a strong chart.

What might have happened if we were to carry out the exercise further and changed the day master of Harrison Ford from 丁 Ding fire to 癸 Gui water?

His chart would have been transformed from a strong fire day master born in summer into a weak water day master born in summer.

These examples showed what material difference one day could make to the birth chart.

CHAPTER THREE

WHAT’S IN IT (THE BIRTH CHART) FOR ME?

It’s quite true what Philosophy says: that Life must be understood backwards. But that makes one forget the other saying: that it must be lived – forwards.

Soren Kierkegaard,

Danish philosopher,

‘Either/Or: A Fragment of Life", 1843

What did the four pillars in the birth chart represent? When these pillars were read from right to left, they were the year, month, day and hour pillars respectively.

Each pillar consisted of the Heavenly Stem and the Earthly Branch. The Heavenly Stem was the Chinese character shown at the top of each pillar.

I

How to read the Stems and Branches in the birth chart?

Let us try to read the pillars in the chart for the late Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs 24 February 1955

The Heavenly Stems for this chart could be read as the 乙 Yi wood year, the 戊 Wu earth month, the 丙 Bing fire day and the 戊 Wu earth hour.

The Earthly Branches were written below the Heavenly Stems. In this chart, they comprised of the 未 Goat year, the 寅 Tiger month, the 辰 Dragon day and the 戌 Dog hour.

There was another layer of Qi or energy underneath each of these four Earthly Branches. The lowest row was also known as the hidden stems because they were hidden inside the Branches.

II

How to interpret the time factor and family members in the chart?

Why did we read the chart from the right to the left and not the other way round? The reason was due to the Time factor.

The year pillar represented early childhood; the month pillar represented late teens and early adulthood. The day pillar was the most significant because it represented the self. In terms of age, it represented late adulthood until middle age. The hour pillar represented old age. Therefore, Time moved from right to left or from birth until old age

However, the four pillars could also represent other aspects of life. The year pillar represented the grandparents, the month pillar represented the parents, the day pillar represented the self and the hour pillar represented children.

In short, these pillars represented from right to left, the person’s ancestors (grandparents and parents), the self and the next generation (the children). This sequence reinforced the notion of Time moving from right to left. Therefore, it was logical that the luck cycles should also be written from right to left.

CHAPTER FOUR

HEY! DON’T CLASH MY SUCCESS AWAY!

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.

Francis Bacon,

British essayist and philosopher,

The Advancement of Learning, 1605

The vocabulary of Ba Zi seemed to be replete with scary sounding words