Feng Shui

Argument for the Southern Hemisphere Model of Feng Shui

In brief response to "Ray"

Magnetism

Keypoint

*A magnet's effects have no correlation with Earth's magnetic effects. Science has proved that there is a profound difference between the effects of the ordinary magnet and the Earth's own magnetic force. There have been experiments with magnets to suggest that the North Pole is not life enhancing, while the South Pole is. Baron Von Reichenbach found a red glow at the south pole of a magnet and a blue glow at the north pole.

Dr. Albert Davis and Walter Rawls found worms left by the south pole of a magnet thrived, while ones left at the other end died. From this it could be supposed that feng shui should not be changed for the southern hemisphere, as the earth's South Pole was a source of vitality, while the earth's North Pole was draining.

It is a fallacy to think that the earth's own magnetic forces have an effect on life exactly corresponding to a magnet. Numerous scientists have disproved the link.(1) A.P. Dubrov, (2) working in the U.S.S.R, made 1228 experiments based on the effects of magnetic forces people, animals, birds, insects and plants. He found wheat seeds thrived if planted without obstructions. Their roots would go south. However, when the experiment was duplicated in an artificial magnetic south direction, they would bear stunted plants. Many other plants have roots gravitating north, while some, such as rye, prefer an east-west growth. Flies and eels have an east/west orientation.

In the northern hemisphere, where the research was done, it was found many birds use the north pole for orientation, but Dubrov thought further research was necessary for conditions at the equator, where earth's magnetic field dropped to half. This demonstrates that living things do not all seek out south.

Cosmic

Keypoint

*The effects on Earth from outer space influences are very strong. They have an opposite pattern in the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere.

Research from space explorations (first was the MAGSAT mission in September 1980 made by NASA) confirmed that earth receives magnetic influences from both the sun and the galaxy. These electromagnetic forces are called cosmic rays. The Nobel Prize was awarded to the scientist, Victor F. Hess, who first found cosmic rays were extraterrestrial in origin in 1912. Before, it was widely believed these forces came exclusively from the sun. Hess observed supernova shocks were the dominant source, as well as stellar or galactic wind. Intensity increased with altitude.
Today, scientists know that it doesn't matter where the rays come from or where they hit the earth. Once here they are caught in earth's own surprisingly strong magnetic field of 0.6G, which is a million times that of a typical galaxy. From there, they act with equal but opposite force over the north and south poles, going in clockwise (northern hemisphere) or anti-clockwise loops over the southern hemisphere. {E.g. Patel, VL Solar- Terrestrial Physics from Bruzek and Durrant (eds.) Illustrated Glossary for Solar and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 1977, D. Reidel Publishing Co., Dordrecht, Holland }.

Cosmic Effects

Among his many other findings, Dubrov saw a link between cosmic ray bombardment from solar flaring activity, which had a direct correlation with heart attacks, industrial injuries, road accidents, and acute schizophrenia episodes. Dubrov concluded that even so-called non-organic matter was affected by cosmic rays. People and other living things are affected even to the extent that our DNA structure changes. Dubrov concludes that geomagnetic forces are even important as an evolutionary
factor.

Feng shui must truly reflect what is happening on earth. Just as north and south experience opposite seasons, so do they have equal cosmic influences that move in opposite spirals. There can be little doubt that geomagnetic forces have a pivotal influence on the earth and its inhabitants, and that these forces occur equally but in an opposite direction in the southern hemisphere. For feng shui to continue to serve us as a profound means of detecting geomagnetic forces, working with them and with the earth itself, we must adapt to the conditions as we find them.

Archetypes

Keypoint

*Archetypes have value because of their validity. The bagua simply does not represent conditions in the southern hemisphere unless it is changed. Any symbol based on observation and widely accepted as such must be able to stand on its own merits universally. Archetypes are special because they demonstrate truth. The bagua symbolizes conditions valid only in the north. People must have the receptiveness to modify when and where conditions vary. The bagua shows the progression of the seasons and the directions. Integral are the energetic level observations contained within the trigrams. Taoist philosophy predicates that where there is a front, there is an equal back. The validity of the traditional bagua is in no way lessened if its southern hemisphere counterpart is used.

By common acceptance, the bagua trigrams reflect both direction and season, and show the ancient observations of these progressions, linked with the five elements belonging to the trigrams, directions, and seasons. Fire (heat) is south, for summer. It is energy at its most extreme. Earth (centre) is late summer. This is stabilizing energy. Autumn has metal, condensing energy, in the west. Winter (cold) has water energy, ready to re-form. It belongs traditionally in the north. Spring has wood, upward energy, and is found in the east. The trigrams traditionally reflect the progression of the seasons, with Li (Summer) through Sun to Tui (Autumn) to Ken to K'an (Winter) through to Chien then Chen (Spring). Late spring/early summer finishes with K'un. To chart this, you find a perfect clockwise movement.

This same sequence, linking season, element and direction, has differences in the southern hemisphere. There, we have Fire in the north for summer, Metal in the west for autumn (remaining constant), Water in the south for winter (Water's property is 'cold') and Wood in the east for spring. East/Wood is universally linked with sunrise or new, rising energy. West/Metal is universally linked with condensing energy, and this is reflected by sunset. Looking at this in a circle gives a perfect anticlockwise movement. The trigrams are energetic descriptions of natural phenomena. The directions of the trigrams are full of ch'i at their assigned times. In Kao-Kung-chi t'u: Tai Chen it is stated: "in heaven there is time. On earth there is ch'i. There follows a description of the properties of the trigrams, with Li representing the radiance of the sun, according to the Na-chia System. Science does not admit to seasons being the same universally. The trigrams reflect the seasonal progressions, or general sway of the five elements. In the southern hemisphere they go in a different sequence and the bagua must reflect this.

Climate/Weather

The lo p'an is NOT based on weather. It is based on seasonal progressions (among many other things.) Ernest J. Eitel's Feng Shui discusses this.

"Between heaven and earth there is nothing so important, so almighty and omnipresent as this breath of nature. It enters into every stem and fibre, and through it heaven and earth and every creature live and move and have their being. Nature is looked upon by the Chinese observer as a living breathing organism. Six breaths of nature are cold, heat, dryness, moisture, wind and fire. They produce, mingled with the five planets/elements, the 24 seasons - also known as 24 breaths of nature. {Note: cold = water and Mercury, heat = fire and Mars, dryness = metal and Venus, moisture = earth and Saturn, wind = wood and Jupiter, fire = fire and Mars. Remember, feng shui observations are based on the position of the earth relative to the Sun. We are opposite in the southern hemisphere. Also note that the effects from outer space regarding these five planets are based on their seasonal position. Mars is said to rule in Summer. Earth rules late summer and every third month between the other four planets. Venus rules in Autumn. Mercury rules in Winter, with Jupiter ruling in Spring.)

Feng shui theory assigns the twenty-four directions with the Five Forces or Elements. The lo p'an or Chinese compass plots the influence of each season, the 12 animals allied to these seasons, in a progression that firmly shows the progression from the direction of heat (south) with Mars, Fire, and the animals Snake and Horse. Autumn, the next season, continues on, with Venus, Metal, shown by the Monkey and Rooster. These fall in the west. Next season is winter, with the animals ruled by Water or Mercury, the Pig and Rat. These lie in the north. Finally spring or Wood and Jupiter, is shown in the East with the Tiger and Hare. The Ten Heavenly Stems are also assigned to the Five Forces, with numbers 5 and 6 symbolically placed in the centre of the lo p'an to reflect the central 'direction’ of Earth.

This is nonsensical in the southern hemisphere. The summer directions are those of greatest heat, the opposite to the northern hemisphere, just as the time is opposite. This must have the Snake and Horse in the north. Autumn must also lie in the west, with the metal animals of Monkey and Rooster. Winter must be in the direction of greatest cold, or the south. It must also have the Water animals of Pig and Rat. Spring is universally related to the East, or symbol of new beginnings, the apparent direction of the sunrise. It remains with the Wood animals of Tiger and Hare.

The Ch'ing nang ao-chih states that the twenty-four directions in the lo p'an are based on the Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, and the Later Heaven Arrangement of the trigrams. The trigrams were arranged to show the progression of the seasons, which are in opposite times in the southern hemisphere and must be reflected as such.

When the 24 directions of the compass are plotted and compared, they show a complementary progression. The northern hemisphere compass flows clockwise, the compass developed by the author flows anticlockwise. These flows reflect the scientifically validated observations of the complementary effects of the Coriolis effect between the hemispheres, as well as maintaining the integrity of the compass as a tool to reflect the earth's seasonal flows.

1(For example, M. Puma, Richerche sperimentali sui campi magnetici in biologia, Riv. Biol 54(4) 541 [1952])

2 Dubrov, A.P. The Geomagnetic Field and Life Trans. By Frank L. Sinclair, Plenum Press New York 1978

Climate and the Equator

The Compass was developed purely for seasons rather than the climate. With this in mind, arguments about different climatic effects have no foundation on the question of changes to the compass, or its underlying base, the Later Heaven Arrangement of the trigrams.

Nevertheless, it is certainly true that most of the population in the southern hemisphere are protected from extremes in climate as they lie close to the moderating influence of the seacoast. It is also demonstrable that the bulk of the world's population live in the northern hemisphere.

The Chinese found the wind from the north was cold, and feng shui for them largely developed in a relatively small area where their bulk of the population lived. Developed for the latitudes of between 30 and 40 degrees north, they are at their best when applied in this region (Lily Chung, The Path to Good Fortune).

A great deal of work needs to be done to apply these concepts for other areas. Where the world's temperate latitudes have four three- month seasons, spring and autumn are very brief in the Arctic and Antarctic. Between the two tropics (Cancer and Capricorn) there is little variation in the temperature throughout the year, just dry and wet seasons. While seasons change slowly in middle latitudes, where people live far from the sea the change from summer to winter and winter to summer is abrupt, with only brief transitional periods of autumn and spring.

The compass was designed for areas in China where there were few natural features, only flat land. Chinese feng shui practitioners look primarily at landforms, when these are apparent. The lo p'an is used where natural features are lacking. Where the compass would suggest a certain direction as having good feng shui, but there were landforms that were unfavourable in that direction, the practitioner would abide by the conditions of the landforms.

Peoples living outside the temperate latitudes may well get less validity from the application of the compass. In the equatorial regions there are no effects from the Coriolis forces. The magnetic force is halved. It is the Coriolis forces that produce the deflection of currents, as reflected in the compass. As they have neutrality in this regard, it would seem that they should be strictly seen in feng shui terms according to landforms.

Conclusion: only temperate regions have strict conformity with compass use. The shortened spring and autumn of many other places will be reflected in less influence of the wood and metal energetic forces. Feng shui in the southern and northern hemispheres needs to address the variations of season that impact on the application of the five energetic phases.

Feng shui needs also to consider weather patterns from the principles of reducing the effects of savage winds, using solar energy, allowing light but allowing shelter from excessive heat, and in short, keeping to the principles of balance between yin and yang.

Points

1) The southern hemisphere model produced by Lindy Baxter is based on the earth's magnetic currents, cosmic effects as demonstrated by NASA, seasonal flows, and is in keeping with the integrity of the Later Heaven Arrangement of the trigrams. The Former and Later Heaven trigram arrangements are altered. The compass is altered. All forms of Chinese astrology are altered, as these are based on the relative position of the Earth to the Sun. Form school remains the same.

2) There is no logical absurdity in having two complementary systems, with a neutral ground at the Equator, where the Coriolis effect does not operate.

3) Cosmic energy is immensely potent. Numerous tests show it can come to Earth at any point, be caught in Earth's Van Allen belt, then be deflected in opposite but equal directions between the two hemispheres. There are a few areas on the Earth that have an unusually high intensity, but overall the effect is opposite but equal.

4) Authors such as Lily Chung, Diana ffarginton Hook and Chu and Sherril see the need for change in the southern hemisphere. The I Ching is the basis for feng shui practice. Taking the inner hexagrams until the same hexagram is endlessly repeated gives only four hexagrams. These are numbers 1, 2, 63 and 64. They are very important as they underlie the other 60 hexagrams. Number 63 has fire under water (Li below K'an). This Hook argues reflects the heat of the south below the cold of the north, in the northern hemisphere. Number 64 reverses Li and K'an. Hook argues this is the energetic complement where the heat of the north and cold of the south is the mate to hexagram 63 but ruling the southern hemisphere.

5) Having different species between the hemispheres, or different numbers of population, does not mean natural forces can be ignored. Continental drift has been responsible for many accidents of biodiversity. Bearing in mind the fundamental impact of the I Ching and its foundations, we need to consider the need for change to reflect opposite conditions. Wind, water, and seasons all flow in opposite ways between the two hemispheres.

6) The importance of the Big Dipper must not be misconstrued. The Taoists believe it is a sacred constellation, with the Pole Star the home of highly evolved beings. Yet it moves slowly over time, and feng shui is not posited on positions of planets, but on the relative position of Earth and Sun. In the northern hemisphere the Big Dipper appears to point to north, south, east and west as the seasons change. This is not a rationale to dispense with the associations of metal to autumn, wood to spring, fire to summer and water to winter, however. These are intrinsically tied to the Later Heaven Arrangement of the trigrams.

7) Local weather conditions must be considered in the practice of feng shui, as this was not formally undertaken by the Chinese. It was fortuitous that north (the direction of the worst winds) was also the direction of greatest cold generally.

The importance of coherence for the Five Phases cannot be underlined. They form the conceptual framework for feng shui, Traditional Chinese Medicine, meditation, philosophy, astrology, and divination. They are indelibly associated with seasons (and hence directions) and in the southern hemisphere the north and south directions must be reversed to maintain their integrity.