Metaphysics behind kangkung and Kajang

Everyone should remain calm and should not act rashly in any heated circumstances or situations.

COMMENT

For the practitioners of the Four Pillars (a branch of Chinese metaphysics), the year of the Wood Horse comes in on Feb 4.

This is because we use the solar calendar which has a fixed changeover date of Feb 4 annually compared to the Chinese New Year celebration which uses the lunar calendar.

This year the annual chart is as follows:

Year Pillar: Wood Horse

Month Pillar: Fire Tiger

Day Pillar: Fire Horse

Hour Pillar: Metal Rabbit

Each pillar consists of the Heavenly Stem and the Earthly Branch. For example in the Wood Horse pillar, the Heavenly Stem is the wood element while the Earthly Branch is Horse which has two elements inside it, namely Yin Fire and Yin Earth.

Inside the Tiger, there is Yang Wood, Yang Fire and Yang Earth while the Rabbit is pure Yin Wood. All these elements are called ‘qi’ (pronounced as ‘chi’), meaning energy force.

The Tiger and Horse are two-thirds of the Three Harmony Fire Combination with the Dog completing the combination whereas the Tiger and Rabbit are two-thirds of the Eastern Spring Wood Directional Combination with the Dragon completing this wood formula.

As there is a lot of wood and fire in this year’s chart, people tend to get angry fast as the formula is: wood feeds fire. And fire symbolises anger.

Although Feb 4 is the entry date of the Wood Horse, its energy force had already started seeping in or in this case, galloping in by early January.

So far, two prominent persons have made people very angry via the elements of wood and fire.

The first person is none other than Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak who had quoted the example of kangkung or water spinach to show that not all things have gone up in prices.

But he had spoken too soon. Kangkung is a vegetable and is of the wood element and therefore as wood feeds fire, he has only succeeded in making people angry.

The second person to make people angry is Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim. By causing a by-election in Kajang, people are angry. In addition to that, Kajang is located in the south which is a direction of fire.

Thus the general advice for everyone this year is to think carefully before speaking or doing anything important.

This is of utmost importance because this year’s chart does not have the ‘thinking element’ – Yang Metal which is sword or axe.

Politicians beware

The Metal sitting on the Rabbit is Yin Metal which is scissors that cannot chop the wood because this wood is the pine trees and the oak trees – all these trees are tall, strong and sturdy.

With so much wood around and no axe to chop the wood to make it into furniture, a forest fire can very easily be started. (This year’s chart is also a forest fire chart.)

This means that people’s anger can spread easily and quickly via social media which is also of the fire element.

Of course if a person’s individual chart has got a strong axe or sword, he will be able to do well as fire forges the sword but if his metal is weak, his thinking will also be weak as weak metal is burnt to bits by strong fire.

People also tend to speak or act without thinking this year by simply making stupid or racist statements so for the sake of peace, harmony and stability in the nation, we should cultivate goodwill and friendship instead of animosity.

Therefore those who deal a lot with the public, especially politicians, should be extremely cautious and careful with their words or actions because a slight mistake can easily cause people’s anger to flare up and spread like wildfire.

They should go through their speech at least three or four times before presentation to ensure that they have not insulted any individual or community.

This year is also not for off-the-cuff or random remarks to be made thoughtlessly. Politicians must take note and act accordingly.

However if they purposely have the intention to insult someone or a community, then they have the Self Punishment Star.

This star takes effect if the person has a Horse in his individual chart. As this is the Horse year, a Double Horse Formation produces the formula of Self Punishment.

Let cool heads and rational thinking prevail. Everyone should remain calm and should not act rashly in any heated circumstances or situations. If not, things can deteriorate very quickly.

Selena Tay is a DAP member and a FMT columnist.