Students new to Xuan Kong Fei Xing (Flying Stars) occasionally find that their star chart does not adequately explain a household's troubles. The shortcoming is most probably not in the chart, but the audit. An audit needs to involve not just the Flying Stars but also an assessment of the Palaces ( Gong ) of, and Forms ( Luan Tou ) surrounding, the property.
We can examine this topic by borrowing from Master Joey his well-known phrase, used in teaching Ba Zi ( Eight Characters), of “in season, in location, in formation”: –
“In season”
This pertains to the timeliness of the nine stars during each of the 20-year periods in the larger 180-year cycle. For those new to Flying Stars: the current period, covering the years 2004-2023, is known as Period 8. Generally speaking, a timely star is positive for the household and untimely star negative. For the current period, stars #8, #9 and #1 are timely. Star #8 is most timely (sometimes called Prosperous or Noble Star), and #9 and #1 Sheng Qi (Growing Qi). The other six stars are regarded as having retreating, killing or dead qi.
Facing stars deal with the aspects of wealth and sitting stars health and relationships. (Master Joey prefers students to call these stars facing or sitting rather than water or mountain stars, so as to avoid confusion with the water or mountain stars referred to in Forms).
Preferably the auspicious facing stars #8, #9 and #1 should be located in active areas, such as the main door or living room, and auspicious sitting stars #8, #9 and #1 in less active places, such as bedrooms. Residents should seek to reduce time spent in rooms having negative stars, such as #5-yellow and #2-black. These basics are covered in the Mastery Academy 's Feng Shui Modules 1 and 2 , and Xuan Kong Home Study Volume 1 . Exceptions to these rules are taught at higher-level courses of the Academy.
“In location”
A proper Flying Stars audit must take into consideration the house's immediate surroundings, and the Palaces. Remember that another name of the Flying Stars method (method, not school) is Jiu Gong Fei Xing (Nine Palace Flying Stars). Palaces are the nine sectors overlaid onto a layout of the house.
Eight of the nine Palaces (centre Palace excluded) correspond to the trigrams of the Later Heaven Ba Gua (Eight Trigrams). It is important to note that the condition of a Palace affects the Feng Shui of a house. Missing Palaces indicate possible problems with objects, events and people associated with that palace. For example, a missing Qian (North-West) Palace may indicate problems for the head of the family.
The Gua element of each Palace and its interaction with the flying stars must be taken into account. For example, the outcome of a prosperous #8 in Li (South) Palace may not be the same as an #8 in Kan (North) Palace.
Positive and negative (Sha) energies from the house's immediate surrounding affect both the stars and the Palaces. For example, a Sha hitting the Northeast sector of a Southwest-1 facing Period 8 house reduces, and in severe cases may reverse, the potency of a prosperous #8 in that Palace.
Palace Guas and external sha and support are discussed in Xuan Kong Modules 1 and 2A . Xuan Kong Module 1 is pitched at a higher level than basic Feng Shui or Flying Stars, so students would be well advised to revise their fundamentals before attending.
“In formation”
The Forms of the wider area in which a house is located is of utmost importance. The study of such Forms comes under Luan Tou (literally mountain top) or Landscape Feng Shui. It is the examination of the mountains, rivers, and wider surrounding environment. Master Joey constantly reminds us that Forms outweigh Flying Stars. Let's repeat that – Forms outweigh Flying Stars.
If the external environment does not direct good qi into a house, the best Flying Stars configuration would only bring limited benefits to the household. Conversely, if the external environment is focusing excellent qi into the house, the negativity of untimely stars may well be mitigated.
Frequent visitors to the Academy's online forum would have noted senior forumers state that the Flying Stars assessment is used to qualify the qi. The term ‘qualify' means to further assess the qi , with the qi having been previously determined using Luan Tou and other methods.
An essential principle of the Forms method is Zheng Shen Ling Shen or Direct-Indirect Spirit. This has nothing to do with spirituality but rather refers to the directions where we should ideally see water or mountain. Water, of course, can be of the virtual type although it would be considered of lesser quality than the real variety. Violation of the Direct-Indirect Spirit principle lowers the grade of the Flying Star chart. Satisfying this principle implies a higher grade of chart.
The study of Water and Mountain is featured in Feng Shui Module 3 , and Luan Tou in Module 4 . Practical identification of different land formations is taught during the Academy's annual China Excursion class, which enables students to walk the mountains (‘riding the dragon' in Feng Shui parlance) with Master Joey.
Higher level courses required?
Does this discussion mean that students should avoid conducting audits until they attend the higher-level courses? No, it does not. Teachings in the early modules have been carefully designed to minimize the risk of a student unwittingly triggering negative events. Experienced students sometimes refer to this body of knowledge as ‘safety' Feng Shui. New students, for example, are cautioned about the infamous #5 and #2 stars in the early modules. At higher levels, they are taught to recognize the positive aspects of these stars.
Zeng Xiao Wen is a pen name. The author is a student of Master Joey Yap and Rina Lee, a Licensed Instructor of Joey Yap's Mastery Academy of Chinese Metaphysics. Rina has kindly reviewed this article, but any error remains the author's. Written in 2005.
