The Flying Star School (Xiang Kong Fei Xing) plays an important role in any Feng Shui analysis because it adds a time dimension, a dimension not considered in the Form or Compass School (see the Feng Shui glossary).
This method studies how time and space can impact our lives through the environment of our place of residence. This means that the date of construction of the house or building must be known precisely. And, of course, the cardinal orientation of the house is also used.
These two values make it possible to situate the house in a period of time and to find the corresponding numerical diagram.
Let’s take a look at this in detail!
What is a digital habitat diagram?
The system of flying stars is based on two mathematical models describing the universe through a precise arrangement of numbers from 1 to 9:
- Hetu – The River Diagram
- Luoshu or Loshu Square – Luo River Script
Please refer to my article on the loshu square for more information.
The arrangement of the 9 numbers in the 9 palaces of the Lo Shu symbolises the distribution of energy in time and space. The system of flying stars calculates the Chi pattern of a house by its orientation and date of construction. Then, the arrangement of the stars as they were at the time of the house’s birth is superimposed on its bagua. Thus, to define the numerical diagram of a habitat is to calculate the chi combinations that are born from the meeting between its date of construction (time) and its magnetic orientation (space). Each sector will be provided with 3 numbers representing the water star (front star), the mountain star (base star) and the time star.
For example, here is the diagram of a house built in 1997 (period 7) and whose foundation is in North East 3 (Gen house in reference to the trigrams).
In general, by convention, the diagram is represented by placing the box corresponding to the base in the middle, and the box corresponding to the frontage in the top middle.
The cycles of time
For the Chinese, time is not linear, it is a circular movement which therefore repeats itself.
The largest unit of time, the great cycle, has 180 years. It is divided into 3 cycles of 60 years each (the upper, middle and lower cycles), which are themselves divided into 3 periods of 20 years.
We are currently in a lower cycle containing period 7 (February 4, 1984 to February 3, 2004), period 8 (February 4, 2004 to February 3, 2024) and period 9 (February 4, 2024 to February 3, 2044).
The stars must be considered in relation to the period, rather like real people who are born, prosper, grow old and die.
We will talk about dominant, retired, dead, apprentice, future apprentice stars…
The whole principle of flying stars is to say that the stars move, as in the sky, and that they therefore change square according to the periods. Making the stars fly means moving the numbers in the nine cells of the Lo Shu.
Stars also change annually, monthly and daily. Please refer to my detailed article to know about 2022 Flying Stars.
Flying stars and their characteristics
The stars are therefore represented by numbers from 1 to 9. Each number in the Lo Shu reflects a certain type of chi. Some stars are more favourable than others, but all have negative effects, depending on the period.
1 – Wisdom, wealth, righteousness, knowledge/divorce
2 – Fertility, health / gynaecological problems, misfortune
3 – Misfortune, dispute, lawsuit, theft/wealth
4 – Academic success, romance, creativity/amorality
5 – Power/disasters, lawsuits, illness, obstacles
6 – Authority, respect, past prosperity / lawsuit
7 – Competition, destruction, injury, theft/gain
8 – Current prosperity, happiness, wealth / loneliness
9 – Reinforces the accompanying number
In general, 1, 6 and 8 are considered favourable. 2, 3 and 7 are unfavourable.
4 is neutral.
5 is powerful and hurts others.
We are currently in the 8 period which makes the 8 even more beneficial and which makes the 5 less harmful (same earth element, but the 8 is dominant, a bit like an older brother who would manage the younger).
Water star, mountain star and time star
Chi of a “yin” nature is called the mountain force. It is the chi force that controls health and relationships. It is contained in the mountain star i.e. the sitting star and all the stars in the upper left of the diagram. It enters the house through the walls.
Chi of a yang nature is equivalent to the force of water. It is the force that controls wealth. It is contained in the water star, i.e. the front star and all the stars on the upper right. It enters the house through the doors and windows.
As a small aside, it is sometimes not so easy to define what the front of the house is in terms of feng shui principles: it is not necessarily the wall of the house supporting the front door. It is very important not to make a mistake so as not to distort the whole analysis by using the wrong numerical diagram.
The most favourable diagram is when the dominant mountain and water stars (number equal to the period) are “in their place”, i.e. the front star in the front and the seat star in the back.
This is the case of the following diagram:
This type of house is called “mountain and favourable water”: the probability of prosperity, good health and harmonious relationships is at its highest.
However, the feng shui of the form (the landscape) must go in the same direction: building, hedge, mountain at the back of the house; river, road, fountain at the front.
In February 2024, this house built in period 8 will lose this configuration as the 9 will become dominant and the 9 stars of mountain and seat will no longer be in a specifically favourable place.
There are several special configurations of this type, which I will not detail here, but which the feng shui expert will need to spot.
What about the Time Star? It acts as a support. It cannot, by itself, influence wealth, relationships or health. But it can, depending on its element, support or not the two stars water and mountain.
How do stars interact with each other?
Remember, in my article on the 5 Chinese elements, I gave you their characteristics and in particular the number associated with them! The numbers of the stars have the same properties: 1 is water, 2 is earth, 3 is wood, etc.
We are going to analyse the relationships between the stars based on the 3 famous cycles:
- The production cycle
- The cycle of destruction
- The cycle of weakening
Generally speaking, we seek to strengthen the good qualities emitted by the appropriate stars, and to weaken the inappropriate stars.
There are 2 ways to weaken a star:
- via the cycle of control, by associating with the star the element that controls it
- via the cycle of destruction: by associating with the star the element it destroys because this exhausts it.
One avoids attacking the star with the element that destroys it, so as not to stimulate it, to wake it up.
There are 2 ways to strengthen a star:
- by associating it with its own element
via the birth cycle - by associating it with the element which produces it
This is why we sometimes hear about “remedies” in Feng Shui: we will use the material (metal, wood, water…) to influence the cycles in order, for example, to make the relationship between two stars productive.
To conclude on flying stars
This article is intended to help you understand what is known as “flying stars”, an expression that may be of interest to the uninitiated. The prerequisites for using this school are numerous and precise and should not be underestimated. It is essential to call upon a feng shui expert in order not to make any mistake, either in the determination of the numerical diagram, or in its interpretation. For this, I am at your disposal!
