From Round to Square (and back)

For The Emperor's Teacher, scroll down (↓) to "Topics." It's the management book that will rock the world (and break the vase, as you will see). Click or paste the following link for a recent profile of the project: http://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240813&issue_id=240610

A new post appears every day at 12:05* (CDT). There's more, though. Take a look at the right-hand side of the page for over four years of material (2,000 posts and growing) from Seinfeld and country music to every single day of the Chinese lunar calendar...translated. Look here ↓ and explore a little. It will take you all the way down the page...from round to square (and back again).
*Occasionally I will leave a long post up for thirty-six hours, and post a shorter entry at noon the next day.

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Lunar World Preview 2018 03-25

As the Lunar World Turns
Sunday, March 25, 2018
[a] Inquiring Calendrical Look RF
It's what we call, at first-glance, a "50-50" day in Lunar World on Sunday. A quick peek should give us a deeper sense of how the day is going to "work," though. Let's take a look.

Day Personality
Today's "constellation personality" is "Void" (虛). It's black-ink "negative," but let's observe it more closely.
[b] Discard (But Please Do It Responsibly) RF

“Void" is pretty darned bad. Calendrical interpretations stress that it is a gloomy "personality," and it signals quarrels among family members and friends. That sounds pretty awful, so I'll leave it at that (but be nice to your friends and family)...or you'll regret it.


The jianchu "personality" is "Discard" () which is so overwhelmingly great that it is one of the very best red-ink "personality" days of all. But (I hear you cry), what could be so overwhelmingly great about discarding stuff. Whoo-hoo (I hear you cry): I get to throw away junk! Well, while it might be fun to get things (shopping, freebies, and so forth...we have a "personality" for this, too, called "Receive"), but nothing compares with cleansing your ways, ridding yourself of superfluous material.

Think about the rhythms of your life, and now get ready for the second of twelve straight jianchu "personality" days. How could the first of twelve not be Establish, and how could the second of twelve not be Discard? It is wonderfully good, and it is a kind of personal hygiene (from actual washing and brushing to cleaning up your kitchen...or your office) that Lunar World thrusts upon you (every twelve days).
[c] Nope RF

Discard. Just eschew it.


Dos and Don'ts
It's a bad day for working around the stove (作灶) and paying mourning visits (行喪). Think about these. The first ("stove work") is part of the larger idea of "Discard," of course. But mourning visits? Why not do those? The idea, which goes against the emotions that surround loss, is a strange one, and distinctive to Lunar World. 

It is a concept that I still find baffling, even after reading luni-solar calendars for more than three decades. It seems most likely to me, however, that emotions must be channeled (at least in Lunar World), and that there are ritually appropriate times to mourn with others...and times to refrain from doing so. 

Timing is everything in Lunar World.
[d] Unloading RF

It's a solid day for just two things, but they are big, bold characters, at least. They are  "Unhitching and Unloading" (拆卸) and Sweeping Rooms (掃社). While you are supposed to stay away from the kitchen, you could take a turn there with the broom (get the rest of the house while you are at it, too).

Fear Your Unlucky Stars
The baleful asterisms (the bottom of section six) are among the most common, if you are a regular follower of Lunar World updates. Among them are Upper Amputee (上兀), Three Mournings (三喪), and Yang General (陽將). 

But the biggest of the big is the very painful and prominent Generational Destruction (月破). That is so ominously bad that it could cause serious concern (at least in Lunar World). On the other hand, it is buried in the bottom of section six, and its calendrical ferocity is muted by its small-character association with all of the other (bad) stuff.
[e] Into the Void RF
See You Tomorrow
So, approach your Sunday with energy. Watch out for generational destruction lurking in the background (and avoid cooking in the kitchen, in any case...maybe a trip to Culver's is in order). But, above all, get rid of stuff. Load the trunk with stuff for Goodwill, and eschew on it from morning until evening.

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