Astrology
Astrology is a form of divination used by most civilisations, from the ancient Mayan culture of South America to the Middle East and across Asia to China. Methods vary from one age and place to another, but the basic idea remains surprisingly constant: that the planets, the moon, the sun and the stars have an influence on the affairs of Man and can be used to predict the future. Modern science denies that there is any link between the position of heavenly bodies at the time of a person's birth and that person's fate. But many people around the world, including people in China, persist in the belief that the Heavens can determine, or at least indicate, the course of events on the Earth.
The evidence suggests that Chinese and Western astrology have common roots in the Mesopotamian civilization which stretched back to the 16th century BC or before. The basic ideas spread over the centuries from Mesopotamia (in modern-day Iraq) westwards to Greece and the rest of Europe, and eastwards to China via Iran and India, where astrology first appeared in about in fifth centry BC.
In the early period, there were strong parallels between Chinese and Babylonian astrology, even down to the meanings of certain heavenly phenomena. Joseph Needham, in his work Science and Civilisation in China, juxtaposes predictions from Babylonian texts of the seventh century BC and from Chinese texts of a few centuries later (originally translated from works by the French scholar E. Chavannes) to prove the point: BABYLON: If the Northern Fish (Mercury) comes near the Great Dog (Venus), the king will be mighty and his enemies will be overwhelmed.
CHINA: When Mercury appears with Venus to the east, and when they are both red and shoot forth rays, foreign kingdoms will be vanquished and the soldiers of China will be victorious.
BABYLON: If Mars stands in the house of the Moon (and there is an eclipse), the king will die and the kingdom will become small. CHINA: If the Moon is eclipsed near the Ta-Chiao star this will bring hateful consequences to the Dispenser of Destinies (the ruler).
These quotations and other similar comparisons indicate both Babylonian and ancient Chinese astrologers based their predictions on the moon and its position relative to the planets and stars, on the position of the planets relative to eachother, and on the sun and its movement round the sky.
Of course, the Chinese had different names for the stars and made out different constellations from those recognised in the same night sky in west Asia and Europe.
The theory is that the Chinese inherited many of the basic principles of astrology from the ancient civilsation of Mesopotamia, but gathered specific astronomical information, including the naming of stars, independantly.
In other ways too, Chinese astrology developed differently from its Western cousins. The ancient civilisations of the West were particularly interested in the rising and setting of stars, but in China, the astrologers were more interested in the constellations in the centre of the night sky that are always visible, revolving around the fixed North Pole star. They divided the sky into twenty-eight constellations, then arranged the twenty-eight into four groups of seven. Each of the constellations controlled a different facet of life and each group was represented by an animal, in much the same way as in the Western zodiac. In the Chinese zodiac, the following animals are used to represent the four points of the compass:
East - Green Dragon (Qing Long)
North - Tortoise-Snake Entwined
West - White Tiger
South - Rose Finch (Zhu Que)
The animals representing the four sectors of the sky are found regularly on artefacts found in graves dating from the Han dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD). where they appear as spirits protecting the dead from evil influences. The animals, especially the Green Dragon and the White Tiger, are still used today in Fengshui to indicate directions. A Fengshui expert examining a certain site will refer to the hills to the east and west of a site as being the Green Dragon and White Tiger respectively.
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For a long time, astrology was viewed in China as being more of a political tool than anything else. The ancient Chinese, like the Mesopotamians, saw the heavenly bodies as influencing the fate of states and of rulers, but not of ordinary, puny humans. The Heavenly bodies and celestial events such as comets, meteors and eclipses were believed to reflect the political situation in China, and the affairs of the Emperor and his court. This idea led inevitably to the worship of the heavens, especially by the Emperor and officials who were anxious to remain in Heaven's favour. From this developed the concept of the Mandate of Heaven which had a profound influence on Chinese history. It was only about 2,000 years ago that the Chinese started slowly to link astrology to the fates of ordinary individuals.
For the Chinese, who saw the Heavens as being ordered along the lines of their own Imperial court, the most powerful object was the North Pole Star, the celestial equivalent of the Emperor. It was revered as being the one fixed object in the sky, the point around which all other objects moved.
The position of imperial astrologer, or astronomer (there was usually little distinction to be made between the two), continued to exist right down to the end of the last Chinese Imperial dynasty in 1911.
In the Han dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD), the imperial astrologer concerned himself "with the stars in the heavens, keeping a record of the changes and movements of the planets, the sun and the moon, in order to examine the movements of the terrestrial world, with the object of distinguishing good and bad fortune" (quoted in Needham vol 3 p190).
This court astrologer was assigned to watch for other signs as well:
"From the colours of the five kinds of clouds, he determines the coming of floods and drought, abundance or famine. From the twelve winds he draws conclusions about the state of harmony of heaven and earth, and takes note of the good or bad signs which result from their accord or disaccord. In general, he concerns himself with the five kinds of phenomena, so as to warn the emperor to come to the aid of the government, and to allow for variations in the ceremonies according to the circumstances."
Another important reason for the existence of court astronomers and astrologers was to help determine the succession to the Imperial throne, if there was a choice to be made between several candidates. The position of the stars and planets at the time of a person's conception was deemed to be an important factor, and detailed records had to kept for future reference. An Arab visitor to China in the twelfth century AD reported that "whenever the King of China wants to enter his women's apartments, and to remain alone with the women, the Astrologer goes to the roof of the house where he is, observes the stars in order to choose the time propitious for his intercourse with some of his women." (quoted in Needham vol 4 part 2 page 478)
In early Chinese astrology, the planet Jupiter played a particularly important role. Chinese astrologers discovered Jupiter returned to the same position in the sky every twelve years, and so divided up the sky into twelve "palaces" based on the planet's movements, one for its position at a certain time each year. Each of the twelve slices of sky was also associated with one of the nation-states into which China was then divided. The fate of each state in a given year was said to be determined by the section of the sky, the "palace", that Jupiter was occupying at the time.
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Eventually, Chinese astrologers widened their field of activity beyond the court and affairs of state, and linked the art to the lives and fortunes of ordinary people.
The first known reference to individual astrology in Chinese literature, according to scholar Joseph Needham, comes from the Han dynasty scholar Wang Chung (27-97 AD) who, although a critic of most types of fortune-telling, did believe in astrology of a form identical in principle with that of today:
"If a man receives a heavenly sign implying wealth and honour, he will obtain wealth and honour. If a man receives a heavenly sign implying poverty and misery, he will become poor and miserable ... their position will be higher or lower, and their wealth greater or lesser, according to the positions of the stars concerned."
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At any rate, the ancient Chinese conceived of the Heavens and Man as being intimately linked.
Eclipses of the sun and moon were seen as being particularly inauspicious, an attitude still held by the Chronomancists, fortune-tellers skilled in choosing lucky and unlucky days for various events.
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Some believers of astrology see the stars and the planets as having dictatorial control over events, with Man powerless to fight fate as written in the Heavens. Others see astrology as indicating trends with Man allowed a certain amount of leeway to capitalise on the celestial hints.
The Chinese tend towards the second interpretation. As with their other forms of fortune-telling, the Chinese do not generally see astrology as an infallible guide to what will happen, but more as a form of weather forecasting -- guaging the situation to help people make their decisions from a position of strengh and knowledge about the factors that might influence events. The Chinese horoscope avoids many of the static astrological ideas of the West and approaches the world and events from the idea that to view things in their proper context, it is important to recognise the dynamism of the universe, and that the pattern of change is the fundamental truth.
Chinese astrology also had a great fascination with the number nine (see Numerology. Some of the earliest references to astrology in Chinese written records refer to nine stars or palaces which are astrologically important and which cast their influence on the world for good or evil. Each of the nine stars has its own special qualities and each are interpreted as being either auspicious or inauspicious. The calculation of the influence of the Nine Stars took into account their movements across the Heavens in conjunction with the Five Elements, Yin and Yang etc.
POLE STAR ASTROLOGY (Zi Wei Dou Shu) - This form of astrology has become very popular in recent years, both in Taiwan and Hongkong, although there are a number of schools, and all denounce the others as being impure and inaccurate. The method, considered to be one of the most accurate and practical of all the Chinese astrological techniques, is said to have been devised by a Sung dynasty scholar and Taoist recluse named Chen Bo.
The method is based, like all forms of Chinese astrology on the Eight Characters representing the date and time of a person's birth, and the calculations are worked out on the based within a diagram consisting of twelve small squares surrounding one larger square. Each square, or "Palace", is said to reveal a different facet of a person's past or fate as follows:
1. Fate square, indicating the strengths and weaknesses of a person's personality; 2. Brothers Square, giving details or a person's brothers AND sisters (traditional China usually placed little weight on the fate of members of the female sex); 3. Marriage Square - man and wife relations; 4. Children Square - how many and what they'll be like; 5. Wealth Square - when the money will be coming and going; 6. Illness Square - When and what sort; 7. Travel Square - indications of when is the best/worst time to travel; 8. Servants and Slaves Square - (?); 9. Career Square - what sort of job you are suited for; 10. XX Square (? p64 of Lam Kin-hung booklet), 11. Happiness and Luck Square - when you will and won't have them; 12. Parents - whether their relations will be harmonious.
ODD-NUMBER SORCERY (Ji Men Dun Jia) - This is one of the most mysterious, the most feared and allegedly most effective methods of divining forth information about future political and social events, and was once prized as a valuable guide to military strategy. It was considered to be so dangerous a method of divination that it is said experts in the method passed it on to carefully-chosen students by word of mouth only and never wrote the principles down.
In old China, Odd-Number Sorcery was considered to be only for the use of the Emperor, and very dangerous if used by ordinary citizens. Unlike other methods of Chinese fortune-telling, it was seen as being capable not only of helping a person to improve his own fate, but also of bringing misfortune to others and of being used to commit criminal acts. The publication of books on the subject was a capital offence.
The Odd-Number Sorcery method is similar in some ways to that of Pole-Star Astrology in that it also uses the twelve square diagram, but it is also supposed to be based on certain elements from the I Ching. It claims to be able to predict a person's fate by calculating "magnetic" strengths and the directions of different types of "cosmic breath" (see Basics) at different times. The idea is that you can manipulate another person if he is in a certain position relative to you, and Odd-Number Sorcery claims to provide the means to calculate where you should be, and where the other person should be to give you an advantage. This all has obvious military implications.
There are a number of books on the market which pretend to explain the principles of this method, but all are impenetrably vague and lack the details necessary to work out how to use it. The reason, say some experts, is that the authors of these books do not HAVE the full details -- the secrets of this school of astrology were so closely guarded by those who knew them, they say, that much of the information necessary for accurate calculation has been lost.
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