As the Lunar World Turns
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
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| [a] Preview RF |
Day Personality
(Section Five—Characters Six and Seven)
Today's "constellation personality" is the very worst-of-the-worst, Beak of the Turtle (觜).This is sooooooo bad, people, that you should wish that, as it was 1500 years ago, this constellation was passed through in minutes...rather than twenty-four hours (as we do render it today). Calendrical interpretations stress that it is a day of punishment and exile. In Lunar World, it is a harsh warning that the world can be a eviscerating place. Be fearful. Very fearful.
And then, don't worry: be happy.
The jianchu "personality" is Open (開), and it is wonderfully good. Lunar World shows recovery from illness, sending and receiving letters, undertaking business matters, and going on at least brief journeys. It's sooooo great, people, that you should wish it would last forever, or at least days-and-days. Be happy. Very happy.
Lucky Stars
(Section Two)
There are four of 'em, people, and they're all good (by definition). Timely Yang (時陽), Engendered Vapor (生氣), Heavenly Kindness (天恩), and Not General (不將) dot the day. Good stuff.
Auspicious Times
(Section Three)
There are four inauspicious (凶) times today, three in-between (中) times, and five auspicious (吉) times.
Things to Avoid
(Section Four)
It's a bad day for Planting and Cultivating (栽種), Exorcising Spirits (除靈), Completing Clothing (成服), and Mourning Visits (行喪). Think about these. They run the gamut from inside the home to farm and field. Think about them...and then don't do them (in Lunar World).
Just Plain Counting
(Section Four—Characters 1-4)
It is the eighteenth (十八) day of the second lunar month. It is also the second day in the cycle of sixty, #2: yihai (乙丑). Did you make your sixty-day plan? It's not too late. It's a six-times-a-year reboot opportunity. Take it.
Elemental (and Phased)
(Section Five—Character 5)
Today's slice of the "Five Phases" (sometimes called the "Five Elements") is Metal (金). Ordinarily, the Five Phases weave their way, two-by-two, through the calendar. Yesterday was Metal. Today is Metal, and tomorrow is Fire.
Appropriate Things
(Section Six)
It's a solid day for sixteen things (so many that you really need to click the link). Among them are Studying (), Meeting Friends (), Moving Residences (), and Livestock Payments (). Yes, it's time to pay off those cattle from your brother's wedding three years ago (the in-laws are getting agitated).
(Section Five—Characters Six and Seven)
Today's "constellation personality" is the very worst-of-the-worst, Beak of the Turtle (觜).This is sooooooo bad, people, that you should wish that, as it was 1500 years ago, this constellation was passed through in minutes...rather than twenty-four hours (as we do render it today). Calendrical interpretations stress that it is a day of punishment and exile. In Lunar World, it is a harsh warning that the world can be a eviscerating place. Be fearful. Very fearful.
And then, don't worry: be happy.
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| [b] Four-Wide (soon) RF |
The jianchu "personality" is Open (開), and it is wonderfully good. Lunar World shows recovery from illness, sending and receiving letters, undertaking business matters, and going on at least brief journeys. It's sooooo great, people, that you should wish it would last forever, or at least days-and-days. Be happy. Very happy.
Lucky Stars
(Section Two)
There are four of 'em, people, and they're all good (by definition). Timely Yang (時陽), Engendered Vapor (生氣), Heavenly Kindness (天恩), and Not General (不將) dot the day. Good stuff.
Auspicious Times
(Section Three)
There are four inauspicious (凶) times today, three in-between (中) times, and five auspicious (吉) times.
(Section Four)
It's a bad day for Planting and Cultivating (栽種), Exorcising Spirits (除靈), Completing Clothing (成服), and Mourning Visits (行喪). Think about these. They run the gamut from inside the home to farm and field. Think about them...and then don't do them (in Lunar World).
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| [c] Completed Clothing RF |
Just Plain Counting
(Section Four—Characters 1-4)
It is the eighteenth (十八) day of the second lunar month. It is also the second day in the cycle of sixty, #2: yihai (乙丑). Did you make your sixty-day plan? It's not too late. It's a six-times-a-year reboot opportunity. Take it.
Elemental (and Phased)
(Section Five—Character 5)
Today's slice of the "Five Phases" (sometimes called the "Five Elements") is Metal (金). Ordinarily, the Five Phases weave their way, two-by-two, through the calendar. Yesterday was Metal. Today is Metal, and tomorrow is Fire.
Appropriate Things
(Section Six)
It's a solid day for sixteen things (so many that you really need to click the link). Among them are Studying (), Meeting Friends (), Moving Residences (), and Livestock Payments (). Yes, it's time to pay off those cattle from your brother's wedding three years ago (the in-laws are getting agitated).
Fear Your Unlucky Stars
(Bottom of Section Six)
The baleful asterisms (the bottom of section six) are both common and really strange. Among them are Repeated Days (復日) and Nine Vacancies (九空). One of the rarest of them appears today, too: Heavenly Abandonment-Pause (天廢休).
Miscellaneous Omens and Activities
(Sections Seven and Eight)
The omens are White (白) and Copse (林). And don't even get me going about the translation I want to do of a Chinese novel entitled (so far) Outlaws of the Marsh (水滸傳). I want to give the idea of Thieves in the Thicket (look up the word "copse"). I want to entitle it: Copse and Robbers.
The miscellaneous activities today are Toilet (厠), Mortar (磨), and Pestle (碓). As I say every day, based on my ethnographic research, nobody knows what they mean. That's why I will be working on an entire ethnography of the calendar in the coming years.
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| [e] Yup, toilet RF |
So...Beak of the Turtle meets Open. You will have to decide whether the glass is half-full or half-empty. It it's the latter...the Turtle drank it. If it's the former, the spigot was open. You decide, and I'll meet you back here (same time, same place) tomorrow night for a Wednesday preview. And, in remembrance of Steven Bochco, Let's be careful out there.
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