{First Written November 2008}

When looking at any event from a Four Pillars (Chinese Astrology) perspective, we must know which of the 5 Elements are at play. The Elements are - Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood. The interplay between the Elements will tell us who or what will be affected. From this standpoint, the banking sector (and accountancy) is considered to be Metal Qi. The stock market and associated business are considered to be Fire Qi. Property and Real Estate is Wood Qi and the Foreign Exchange market is Water Qi.

To understand what is happening now, we need to go back to 2004. The annual Qi was Jia-Shen, or Yang Wood over Yang Metal. Now the banking sector is Metal, so it was very strong, Metal controls and cuts Wood and represents Metal's money and property. Wood creates Fire, so the stock market was also doing brisk business. (We'll leave the 2004 Sydney market drop out for now, as this was caused by Feng Shui's Ling Shen and Zhen Shen changing - Sydney lost all its good Period 7 Qi that year). The Na Yin Element for Jia-Shen is "Water of Rain & Springs". The general meaning for this is refreshing energy, bringing hope and joy. This was the year that no deposit home loans really took off and a myriad of home loan lenders seemingly popped up overnight. This is where the trouble starts.

Skip to 2006, we have a Bing-Xu year, or Yang Fire over Yang Earth. These 2 Elements are those of the oil industry. Remember when petrol prices skyrocketed. Banking is still doing ok, because the Earth of Xu is propping them up. Interestingly the Na Yin is "Earth of the Rooftop", meaning 'anything to secure the future is justified'. Oil production slowed to increase prices. Many traders (and banks) have investments in oil, so nothing slowed. Property took a hit, so the markets weakened a bit, but with the backing of the banks, the money made in spot trading and the Forex was reinvested into loans that required no savings on borrowers part. Money was being made in an area that had the annual energy's support, and reinvested into an area that had none, bad business sense, but since the Na Yin energy was at play, anything is justified to make more money.

2007 was Ding-Hai or Yin Fire over Yin Water. Since Fire melts Metal, and Water drains Metal, one would think that this crisis should have happened then, but now we need to look at the Hidden Stems. Hai has 3 Hidden Stems - Wu (Yang Earth), Jia (Yang Wood) and Ren (Yang Water). Without going too deeply into it, each Branch (more commonly known as the Animal Signs, Hai is the Pig) is a 'bank' for the Stems. There are 3 parts -

Qi remaining from the previous Branch,

Qi that is being born for the next Branch, and .

Qi that is purely the Branch we are looking at.

In essence, hidden within Hai were Stems that supported the industries we are looking at.

Now we come to 2008, Wu-Zi or Yang Earth over Yang Water, with a new Na Yin Element of 'Lightning Fire', or a complete and sudden change in direction. Another rule in Four Pillars is that for any time-frame we are looking at, the Stem controls the first half, and the Branch controls the second half. So from the 4th of February 2008 to the 7th of August 2008 Wu Yang Earth was the main energy. As we know, Earth creates and supports Metal, so the banks were doing just fine.

Then came August. The month of August was Geng-Shen or double Yang Metal - really good for banks? But now Zi Yang Water is in control, with only 2 Hidden Stems (Ren Yang Water and Gui Yin Water), because Zi is the Peak of Water (Water at its strongest). Water drains Metal, and in addition to this Shen and Zi form a ½ Water Unity, so Water is now the supreme energy. When Metal comes into contact with such strong Water, it rusts and crumbles, which is exactly what we saw. The stock markets are also suffering because they are Fire; and Water can certainly douse Fire.

Unfortunately, the property markets are also hurting, even though they are Wood. This goes back to 2006 and the fact that property investors now have to pay back all the Qi (and money) that they borrowed. Combine this with Lightning Fire, and all of the unsavoury business practices being used over the past few years have no choice but to change. It might be tough to go through, but it will recover.

The people that have been hardest hit by this are those that have -

Weak Earth Day Masters, need Fire and Earth for strength,

Fire Day Masters, especially weak, need Wood and Fire to combat the Water,

Metal Day Masters, need some Fire along with Earth and Metal,

Strong Water Day Masters, need Wood and Fire to drain excess Qi.

If you don't know your Day Master then go to - http://www.golddragonfengshui.com.au/html/ba_zi_calculator.html

So what about 2009? Well the Annual Qi is Ji-Chou, or double Yin Earth. Earth and Metal people will be in for a good year, as well as some major stabilisation of the economy. Since banking is Metal, the strong Earth will support it greatly. The property markets (Wood) will also see some recovery, because Wood controls Earth, so losses in 2010 will be recovered. The stock market will probably keep getting weaker, because Fire is drained by Earth. Recovery will be slow, and won't really get better until 2010 (Geng-Yin, Yang Metal over Yang Wood). The Na Yin of 2009 is still Lightning Fire, so there will be more shake-ups to come. Hopefully we will all learn from the past.

2010 is 'Wood of Cedar and Pine', where the world's resources are used wisely (for a nice change). There is an article on the Gold Dragon Feng Shui website at http://www.golddragonfengshui.com.au/html/wellbeing_2010.html where you can find out what is in store for you personally.