Feng Shui for Modern Living : Four Pillars

Introduction

Four Pillars is the ancient Chinese version of Astrology, based on the year, month, day and hour of your birth. It uses the 12 Earthly Branches (popularly known as "Animals") and 10 Heavenly Stems, which are based on the 5 Elements (5 Yin elements and 5 Yang elements making 10).

A pair (or one Branch and one Stem) is calculated for the Year, Month, Day and Hour of your birth, giving a total of 8 symbols or four pairs - hence the "Four Pillars". The calculations are based on the complex Chinese Lunar Calendar and require lots of different tables for each symbol.

The popular Animal sign is just one of these symbols, actually being the Earthly Branch of the Year of your birth.

Four Pillars Astrology provides readings for each symbol, divided into various categories:

Year - readings relating to your Family background, your inherited genes, your health and your ancestry.
Month - readings relating to your upbringing, including your Parents, your brothers and sisters and your schooling.
Day - readings relating to your Self, your ambitions, life style, your interests and your dreams and desires.
Hour - readings relating to your Life, your career and your future success.

Each symbol (Branch and Stem) is related to an Element (Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, Metal) and is also either Yin or Yang. The Four Pillars also determines the Balance of Elements and the Balance of Yin and Yang. It can tell you whether you have too much (or too little) of an element, or Yin or Yang, and you can then use Feng Shui to determine how best to improve the balance.

For example, you may find that many of the Stems and Branches of your Four Pillars reading are the Fire element. You can then use Feng Shui to tell you that using Water will help to reduce the Fire aspects and so improve your element balance.

The Four Pillars program from Feng Shui for Modern Living does all the calculations for your and displays readings for each aspect of this ancient Chinese Astrology.

Using the program

Once you have downloaded and installed the program, select the Four Pillars program from the FSML start program group. The program will the open a window on your screen with four large buttons across the top of the window.

Four Pillars - click on this button to check the main four pillars readings. You can enter a birth date (day, month, year and hour) using the pick lists just below the main buttons. As you enter the birth date, the symbols in the Four Pillars boxes will change to show the appropriate values for the selected date and time.

There are four boxes - one for Year, one for Month, one for Day and one for Hour. Each box shows the Chinese character for the Stem and Branch as well as the Chinese name (in italics), the English translation and the Yin or Yang Element.

If you hold the Mouse over any of the Chinese symbols you will see a reading of the basic aspects of the symbol which you can relate to the characteristics of the Pillar - e.g. The Year Pillar relates to your upbringing.

The popular Animal is the lower symbol in the first (Year) box.

Pillars Aspect - Clicking on this button lets you get more detail on each of the Four Pillars aspects, using the pick list at the top right of the window - selecting "Year, Month, Day or Hour".

This window includes the "Dominant" Element of the Four Pillars reading, which is the one which appears most in the Stems and Branches, and is the Element used by traditional Feng Shui masters to check your compatibility with buildings and other locations.

Each symbol comes with a reading relating the Stem, Branch or Element to the characteristics of the Pillar, and you should use your intuition and experience to interpret the readings. Once you have checked the readings you will want to look at the Element Balance (see below) to see how to cure the readings you are not happy with, or to enhance the readings that you think are good.

Element Balance - this button displays the balance of elements, using stacks of Yang symbols - the more symbols shown, the more of the selected element you have in your Four Pillars reading. If you hold the Mouse over any of the Element symbols, appropriate readings are shown in the labels below. You can click on the "Enhance" or "Reduce" buttons below each element for advice on using Feng Shui to improve or cure elements in your readings.

The program also suggests some enhancements or reductions of elements in a column on the right hand side - clicking on the [+] or [-] buttons displays a 'pop up' window with lots of ideas for changing your clothes, your colours, your rooms or your possessions.

Partner Aspect - this button is probably the most interesting option within Four Pillars astrology as it allows you to check your compatibility with other people. This window has TWO sets of birth date entry pick lists - one for your and the other for the person whose compatibility you are checking.

As with the main Four Pillars, you can compare yourself using each of the Four Pillars aspects - Year for upbringing, Month for Family, Day for Self and Hour for Life. Select the aspect from the pick list just below the birth date entry. Each reading shows your compatibility based on the Stem and Branch of the Pillar - and you get a "Score" at the bottom of the screen (100% = totally compatible!)