The Chinese refer to two different calendars, the Solar and
the Lunar. The start of the lunar calendar is derived from the moon cycle which
brings a new start date every year. The lunar calendar is used for festivities
and marks the beginning with Chinese New Year Celebrations. The Solar calendar
begins on the 4th of February each year and is used for crops and agriculture
as it is based on the seasonal changes. (some years have a slight variance and
must be looked up in the 10,000-year calendar for more accuracy.) It is the
Solar Calendar that is used for Feng Shui calculations.
The Chinese divide the years into 20-year blocks called Periods, each period is
given a number to represent it. This number coincides with a “Star
number” or type of Qi. It is this number that shows what type of Qi can
give the best benefit. e.g. 2004 – 2024 is period 8, this means that 8 Qi is
the best Qi to tap this period. “8” is then referred to as being
“In Period” or “Timely”. It is currently known as Wang Qi.
There are 9 periods in total and I have listed them below:
I like to think of each Star Number representing an Emperor. So, imagine that every twenty years, one Emperor gets his chance to rule. The others must wait their turn. The ones waiting can be nice about it or they can be angry or mischievous. This is one way of looking at how the qualities of the star numbers change.
When a house is built the energy of the space is captured
inside it. To find out what period your home belongs to, you need to know the
year it was built. For e.g. 1975 we look up the chart to see where 1975 falls
and it is star 6 so the period will be Period 6.
What if your house was built in 1984? You then need to know if it was built
before February 4th or after.
If it was before February 4th the house is period 6, if after February 4th the
house will be period 7.
We use the time that the house was finished rather than started as it is the
marriage between Heaven (the roof), Earth (the floor) and Man (the occupant)
that encapsulates the space and time.