Taiwan Today

Man is different from and superior to the lower animals because he alone thinks of and plans for the future. This unique concern about tomorrow has brought sorrow and disappointment, but it is also a chief motivating force behind human progress.

As a creature of the future, man naturally wants to know what forces control his destiny. Thus astrology and the art of horoscopy have flourished since the very beginning of civilization. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Indians, and Chinese observed the cosmos from different vantage points and with varying cultural backgrounds. Yet all reached the conclusion that cosmic influences control human destiny, and that these can be studied and their effect foretold.

Egyptian and Greek horoscopic practice developed into modern Western astrology. It was used by Adolf Hitler's astrological advisers to plan and time military moves and by British astrologers to predict what he would do.

Chinese horoscopy is still an important factor in Oriental life. Some Asian political leaders consult their trusted astrologers before making important decisions. The late Thai Prime Minister Sarit Thanarat had a Chinese astrologer named Yang as one of his political advisers. When Sarit was a young man, this astrologer predicted he would become prime minister.

In some parts of Asia, such events as princely marriages and state funerals cannot take place without consulting the stars. In Nepal, the 1956 coronation of King Mahendra had to await astrological computation of the day and hour. So, too, with cremations of royalty King Sisavang Vong of Laos died in 1959 but was not cremated until a favorable date in 1961.

Asian astrologers use Chinese horoscopic theories that go back some 7,000 years. At that time the Chinese were just settling down along the Yellow River valley. These ancient people were intimate with nature. By day they worked in the sun, the wind, and the rain. By night they looked at the moon and stars and were awed. They were more deeply affected by natural phenomena than modern man. At the mercy of the elements, they sought for the significance of what they observed and, if possible, for the means of control.

Though lacking in scientific instruments, these olden forefathers had a number of advantages over their latter day descendants. Their senses of sight, hearing, smell, and touch were superior. Some say they also possessed a sixth sense that enabled them to perceive and understand the ultimate cosmic order intuitively and thus to foresee the future, although without understanding the process.

Recognized in West

By the 3000s B.C., the Chinese already had developed a metaphysics. It later was set down in I Ching, or the Book of Changes, written between 2953 and 479 B.C. The language of I Ching is simple, often to the point of ambiguity. I Ching makes more sense to modern man than his predecessors because of widening scientific knowledge and imagination.

The value of I Ching also has been recognized in the West. The German mathematician Leibnitz said the Book of Changes contains advanced mathematical theories. Famous Swiss psychologist C. G. Jung, in the preface to the I Ching, translated into German by Richard Wilhelm and into English by Cary F. Baynes (published in London in 1959), says: "It is by no means easy to feel one's way into such a remote and mysterious mentality as that underlying the I Ching. One cannot easily disregard such great minds as Confucius and Lao-tse, if one is at all able to appreciate the quality of the thoughts they represent; much less can one overlook the fact that the I Ching was their main source of inspiration. I know that previously I would not have dared to express myself so explicitly about so uncertain a matter. I can take this risk because I am now in my eighth decade, and the changing opinions of men scarcely impress me any more; the thoughts of the old masters are of greater value to me than the philosophical prejudices of the Western mind."

According to I Ching, there is "behind the phenomenon of changes the changeless ultimate which begets the powers of femininity and masculinity which, in turn, beget the heaven, the earth, the water and the fire."

The "changeless ultimate", in modern terms, would be "energy", according to Einstein's theory that matter is energy and energy is matter. Thus the ancient Chinese perceived that the universe came from and also could be reduced to a single ultimate form.

In Chinese, femininity stands for receptivity, passivity, and negation—masculinity for aggressiveness, activity, and positiveness. The dualism recognized by the ancient Chinese also has been proved by modern science. The atom, the basic building block of both the animate and inanimate worlds, is formed by electrons carrying a negative charge (femininity) and protons carrying a positive charge (masculinity). This ancient dualistic concept is the first cornerstone of Chinese horoscopy.

Five Elements

The second cornerstone comes from the theory of, the five elements: water, wood, fire, earth, and metal, which are first mentioned in the Book of History, written in the 12th century B.C.

The earliest theory held that water came first. Water nurtured wood (vegetation), wood caught fire, fire hardened earth, earth produced metal, and metal became water (liquid) again, thus completing the cycle. Elements also can act against each other. Water extinguishes fire, fire melts metal, metal pierces wood, wood ravages earth, and earth absorbs water.

Ancient men studied this and other theories about the origin of the universe. At the time of Confucius (6th century B.C.), it was theorized that all the complicated, cosmic and natural influences affecting human destiny could be reduced to water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. This is, of course, oversimplification. For the five substances there should be substituted such algebraic expressions as a, b, c, d, e. The substances were selected, obviously, to express friendly interaction: water to wood, wood to fire, fire to earth, earth to metal, and metal to water. Similarly, there is an inimical cycle of water to fire, fire to metal, metal to wood, wood to earth, and earth to water.

Theory Systemized

During the five centuries after Confucius, many scholars put the elemental influence theory to the test and sought to check it against natural and cosmic phenomena. It gradually came to be accepted that human destiny was determined by the interplay of these five influences.

During the period from the first to the ninth century A.D., scholarly efforts were concentrated on determining the pattern of the interplay of the five elemental influences in relation to time and effect on human destiny. Many theories were advanced, but it was not until the 9th century that they were hammered into a coherent whole by Li Hsu-chung, who also devised a technique of application.

Briefly stated, Li's horoscopic theory is as follows: influences of femininity and masculinity and of the five elements that a person receives at birth condition his physique, personality, life, and destiny. In fact, these influences constitute the assets and liabilities with which the individual begins life. Health, wealth, happiness, and life span depend on the distribution, conjunction, and conflict of these influences within a person.

The idea that a child is most susceptible to cosmic influences at the very moment when he is ushered into the world naked, and that such influences will affect his life more powerfully than heredity and environment, had occurred to others before Li. But it was Li who developed a method to determine what elemental influences would be dominant in what hour of the day, what day of the month, and what month of the year.

Li's theory was based on the Chinese system of reckoning time. For chronological purposes, the Chinese used a cycle of 60 to reckon days and years. The sexagenary cycle was first adapted by Huangti, or the Yellow Emperor (2696-2596 B.C.) to reckon days. In about the 4th century B.C., the system was adopted in reckoning years. The cycle is formed by two subordinate cycles or two series of ideograms. One represents the ten "celestial stems" and the other the twelve "terrestrial branches".

The celestial stem ideograms are: 甲 I , 乙 II, 丙 III, 丁 IV, 戊 V, 己 VI 庚 VII, 辛 VIII, 壬 IX, 癸 X.

The terrestrial branch ideograms are: 子 1, 丑 2, 寅 3, 卯 4, 辰 5, 巳 6, 午 7,未 8, 申 9, 酉 10, 戌 11, 亥 12.

The first day or year of any cycle is known by the ideograms for the first celestial stem and the first terrestrial branch, and so on. After the tenth day or year, the celestial list being exhausted, the cycle returns to the first celestial stem as a mate for the eleventh terrestrial branch; in the thirteenth day or year, the third celestial stem is linked with the first terrestrial branch. In this way, the "stems" and "branches" provide 60 combinations. When the first ideograms of the two lists are reunited after the 60th day or year, the cycle begins again.

Time Reckoning

This is a time-reckoning system independent of calendar dating. The cycles for day and for year have been continuous since the 4th century B. C. According to this system, January 1, 1964, was the day of the 己 VI, 酉 10, of the 11th moon of the year 癸 X, 卯 4.

If this system were in effect in the United States, history books would record that Presidents William Henry Harrison, McKinley, and Kennedy were all elected in the year of 庚 VII, 子 1, (Harrison in 1840, McKinley for a second term in 1900, and Kennedy in 1960.)

This sexagenary cycle was not an accidental or haphazard arrangement. It was based on ancient Chinese belief that it would take the cosmic influences 60 years to complete a cycle of interplay, and the assumption that history would repeat itself every 60 years.

Today we still divide the hour into 60 minutes and the minute into 60 seconds, following the ancient Sumerian way. Both the Sumerians and the ancient Chinese apparently saw something magical in the sexagenary cycle. As for history repeating itself every sixty years, it can be pointed out that Presidents Harrison, McKinley, and Kennedy, all elected in the same year according to the Chinese calendar, did not complete their terms.

Dominant Influences

According to the formula of Li Hsu-chung, on the day and in the year represented by the celestial stem ideogram of 甲 I, the masculine and wood influences are dominant. On those represented by the celestial stem ideogram of 乙 II, the feminine and wood influences are dominant, on those represented by the stem of 丙 III the masculine and fire influences are dominant, and so on. This can be illustrated in the table on the right. 

Similarly, on the day and in the year represented by the terrestrial branch ideogram 子 1, the masculine and water influences are dominant, and so on, as illustrated on the table at the right.

As every year and every day are represented by the combination of one stem and one branch, on the day of 甲 I, 子 1 and in the year of 甲 I , 子 1, the masculine and wood influences are dominant, and on the day of 庚 VII, 子 2 in the year of 甲 I, 午 7, the masculine and feminine influences, and also those of wood, fire, metal, and water would be in the ascendant.

Li Hsu-chung also succeeded in representing the month and the hour with the stems and branches which first were used for the year and day. In olden times, the year was divided into 12 months and the day into twelve units, each lasting two hours. Even before Li Hsu-chung, it was suggested that spring was dominated by the influence of wood, summer by the fire influence, autumn by the metal influence, and winter by the water influence. The last periods of spring, summer, autumn, and winter were dominated by the earth influence, marking a transition from one season to the next. It was also suggested that from 3 to 7 a.m. (local time), the influence of wood was dominant, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. the fire influence, from 3 to 7 p.m. the metal influence, and from 9 p.m. to 1 am, the water influence. The in-between hours were dominated by the earth influence, again marking a transition. One remarkable feature was that the Chinese day began at 11 p.m. Thus a birth between 11 p.m. and midnight was recorded as in the first hour of the next day.

Horoscope Characters

Li Hsu-chung took into consideration the dominant influences of the month and hour and harmonized the significance of the celestial stems and terrestrial branches in terms of masculine and feminine and five elemental influences both for the year and day and for month and hour. He probably used a complicated mathematical technique to arrive at his formula. However, the formula was rendered into a number of limericks for easy retention in the minds of astrologers.

By Li Hsu-chung's formula, any two-hour period in history can be represented by eight characters of occult significance-in four pairs each to indicate the hour, day, month, and year. These eight characters, identifying birth date and time, are used to cast a horoscope. The pairs are usually referred to as the "horoscopic pillars".

Although the Gregorian calendar became official in 1912 with the founding of the Chinese Republic, the old calendar is still widely used in China and overseas Chinese communities. It is not at all difficult to transcribe the Gregorian date into the lunar calendar and then into the eight characters for horoscopic use.

Three Examples

According to the old Chinese calendar, Franklin D. Roosevelt, born at 8 p.m. (local time) January 31, 1882, entered the world in the 11th "hour-period" on the 12th day in the 12th lunar month of the year of 辛 VIII, 巳 6. Thus his horoscopic pillars are (* is horoscopic self, M. is masculine, and F. is feminine): As shown on the right.

George C. Marshall was born at 4 a.m. December 31, 1880. This would have been the third "hour-period" of the first day of the 12th lunar month in the year of 辰 5, 庚 VII, His horoscopic pillars are shown on the right.

Adolf Hitler was born at 6: 30 p.m. on April 20, 1889, or in the 10th "hour-period" of the 21st day of the third lunar month in the year of 己 VI, 丑 2. His horoscopic pillars are shown on the right.

Before Li Hsu-chung, it was believed that people born in the same year would have similar character and destiny. The idea originated in this way: About the 4th century B.C., Chinese astronomers classified the stars in 28 constellations, seven each in the north, east, west, and south. They bisected the heavenly sphere along the celestial equator into 12 divisions corresponding to the 12 "terrestrial branches". To each was assigned an animal as a zodiacal symbol. This began a twelve-year cycle to reckon the years, used side by side with the sexagenary system. The presiding fauna: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, cock, dog, and pig. It was supposed that events of a year and the people born in the period would acquire characteristics of the presiding animal. Thus women born in the Year of the Tiger were supposed to dominate their husbands, and men born in the Year of the Rat were supposed to be shrewd businessmen.

But Li Hsu-chung could find no proof for such a theory. Instead, he maintained that people born on the day represented by the same celestial stem were much alike. He established the theory, still followed today, that the horoscopic pillar for the day is the "self-pillar" and the celestial stem is the self. A man's success or failure, health or illness, happiness or sorrow depend on whether the horoscopic pillars for the month, hour, and year are congenial with the horoscopic self.

In the case of Franklin Roosevelt, his horoscopic self was 庚 VII, or masculine and metal influences. In that of George Marshall, it was masculine and wood influence, and in that of Adolf Hitler, it was masculine and fire influences.

Li said people whose horoscopic self was metal had a square face, deep-set eyes, and a high nose bridge, spoke in a clear voice, and were courageous, determined, and generous in character. Those whose self was wood had long, thin faces, protruding heads, and big cheekbones, and were thin and straight in stature and benevolent and proud in character. Individuals whose self was fire had a yellow skin, angular features, upturned nostrils, and sometimes a deep vertical wrinkle between the eyebrows; they spoke rapidly and were energetic, hot-tempered, impatient, and ambitious. The people whose self was water had fair skin, loose flesh, big eyes and heavy brows, were intelligent, artful, and jovial in character, but sometimes timid, irresponsible, and sensual. The people whose self was earth had a heavy build with big noses and mouths; they were honest, patient, and religious.

Combination Formula

Li also claimed that a wood-dominated man influenced by metal in his other horoscopic pillars would be weak in the liver, a fire-man undermined by water would have a weak heart, an earth-man modified by wood must have a sensitive stomach, a metal-man harassed by fire would lack lung capacity, and a water-man limited by earth influences would be weak in the kidneys.

Even the uninitiated can readily realize that Roosevelt, Hitler, and Marshall all had masculine influence in the "selves," which is a requirement for anyone achieving political or military success. In Marshall's horoscopic pillars, there is no feminine influence; his all-masculine pillars definitely herald a military career.

But it is not easy to account for results of the combination of elemental influences in the horoscopic pillars. In the case of Marshall, the pillars show all the five elemental influences: wood (his horoscopic self), water (friendly to his self), metal (harmful to his self), fire (neutral to his self), and earth (which his self is harmful to).

Hsu Tze-ping, 10th century A.D., gave a formula to detect the significance of combinations of the five elemental influences.

According to Hsu, one whose horoscopic self is metal, for instance, needs fire for warmth, earth for support and metal for strength (but fears water and wood if born in spring); metal for strength, water for soothing, and earth for support (but fears fire and wood if born in summer); fire for warmth, water for soothing, and wood for neutralization (but fears metal and earth if born in autumn); and earth for support, fire for warmth, and metal for strength (but fears water and wood if born in winter). In the case of Franklin Roosevelt, his horoscopic self was metal and he was born in winter. He had, in his horoscopic pillars, metal in the month and the year to strengthen his self, earth in the month, day (the terrestial branch of the self-pillar), and the hour to support his self, and fire in the hour and the year to warm his self. He had no harmful influences of water and wood. Thus he was marked for a successful life.

The "successful life" must be interpreted in the vulgar sense, namely, a life of ease, comfort, health and social esteem, free from suffering, strife, hard work, and worries. In this sense, great men such as Socrates, Confucius, Martin Luther, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Michelangelo, and Lincoln did not have good lives.

Millions of Studies

A common Chinese joke may illustrate the ideal life. A man who was to be reincarnated complained to Pluto, the King of Hell, that life was full of pain, hard work and worries, and refused to go back to earth. He said: "I will go only on the condition that I am born the prime minister's eldest son, marry a princess and have a son who wins the first prize in the royal examination when he is 20. This way I shall enjoy affluence and influence all my life without having to earn them." Pluto laughed and said: "If there were such a good life on earth, I would give up my job and go there myself."

Since the 10th century, astrologers have studied the horoscopic pillars of millions of people and have discovered special significance in hundreds of combinations of celestial stems and terrestial branches.

For instance, if a person has such celestial stems of day, month, and year as 甲 I, 戊 V, 庚 VII, 壬 IX, 癸 X or 乙 II, 丙 III, 丁 IV; he is quick to learn and usually excels in his occupation. It is interesting that George Marshall's pillars have the combination of 甲 I, 戊 V, 庚 VII. If the day pillar has the stem of 丙 III, and his other pillars have the branch of 酉 10 or 亥 12, a person will achieve political prominence. Adolf Hitler's day pillar had the stem of 丙 III, while the hour pillar had the branch of 酉 10.

Fortune-Transits

There are combinations of celestial stems and terrestial branches in horoscopic pillars that herald untimely death, late marriage, elopement, polygamy, death of parents, childlessness, crime, alcoholism, heart disease, liver disease, and so on.

However, all this is highly generalized, and astrologers who came after Li Hsu-chung continued to experiment. It was Hsu Tze-ping (10th century) who worked out a formula to determine the cosmic influences that would affect a person hour by hour in time and point by point in space on the journey through life. The Chinese horoscope as philosophy and art has remained much the same since Hsu Tze-ping.

Hsu divided one's life-span into fortune-transits, each lasting 10 years. The transits also were represented by the celestial stems and terrestial branches. The influence of stems and branches designating the transits would dominate in turn, each for five years. According to Hsu, good fortune is assured when year and transit are congenial to the person's horoscopic self. Otherwise, bad luck can be expected.

According to the Hsu Tze-ping formula, the first fortune-transit for a man born in a masculine year (a year represented by the celestial stem showing masculine influence) is the next combination of celestial stem and terrestial branch in the sexagenary cycle of his horoscopic pillar for the month. His second fortune-transit is next to his first, the third next to his second, and so on. For a man born in a feminine year, his first fortune-transit is the previous combination in the sexagenary cycle of his horoscopic pillar for the month. His second fortune-transit is the combination previous to his first, the third previous to his second, and so on. For a woman, the procedure is the reverse.

For instance, Hitler's month pillar was 戊 V, 辰 5, and he was born in a feminine year. Thus his first fortune-transit is the combination previous to戊 V, 辰 5 namely 己 VI, 巳 6. His second fortune-transit is the combination previous to 己 VI, 巳 6, namely 庚 VII, 午 7. Likewise, his third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh fortune-transits are 辛 VIII, 未 8,壬 IX,申 9, 癸 X,酉 10, 甲 I, 戌 11, 乙 II, 亥 12 and 丙 III, 子 1.

Man's Potentials

Hsu Tze-ping said different people begin their fortune-transits at different ages. Some may begin as early as one year, some as late as 10. Hsu defined the period from one's birth to the beginning of the first fortune-transit as horoscopic adolescence. The year in which a person begins his fortune-transits is the quotient of the number of days between his birth date and the next in a series of 12 "terminus terms" (splitting the year into nearly equal intervals to delineate the four seasons) divided by the constant 3. In the case of Adolf Hitler, his birth date of April 21 is 16 days from the next "terminus term"—Summer Begins-of the Chinese lunar calendar. The quotient of 16 divided by 3 is 5-1/3. Hitler therefore began his first fortune-transit when he was five years and four months old, his second when he was fifteen years and four months old, his third when he was twenty-five years and four months old, and so on.

It must be noted that the Chinese count age from the beginning of life, unlike Westerners, who begin the calculation when a person is born. A Chinese is considered a year old at birth.

Chinese horoscopic belief differs from that of the ancient Greeks, who maintained that the gods decreed man's fortune and the moment of his death. To the Chinese, man is endowed with certain potentials that he can either enhance or waste away. It is even possible to compensate for lack of potentials.

Chinese consult their astrologers frequently in such matters as marriage, wagering, travel, starting a business, and seeking or taking a job. They also seek help in avoiding accidents, losses, and other examples of bad luck.

Modern facilities are giving headaches to modern horoscopers. Can a person born in January but in a room maintained at 70 degrees and with humidity controlled be considered to have been born in winter? Does atomic fallout have an effect on cosmic influences? And how about space travel?

But these are questions that concern the application of horoscopic theory and do not challenge the theory itself. Those who study Chinese astrology as a serious subject claim that there is something in it. Otherwise, they suggest, it would never have survived through centuries of prognostication for a people who are a good deal more realistic than they are superstitious.