Nine Star Ki is the study of humans, how they interact with each other and their surroundings. This may sound similar to a definition of Feng Shui, but they are separate practices which both happen to employ calculations based on time, though interpreted differently.
Aspects of time can be “timely” or “untimely.” An untimely event can turn out poorly, like an outdoor party when it begins to rain. We could also ascribe notions of good and bad fortune to timely and untimely. Using Feng Shui as an example, if the 9 fire star is in a timely phase (like from 2024-2043), the most positive aspects can come out of that energy, including great wealth and mental brilliance. However, when that same 9 fire star is in an untimely phase (such as most recently 1864-1984), its influence on a person could result in explosive hazards or mental illness.
To sum it up, the “flying stars,” referred to in the Flying Star School of Feng Shui, go through long phases of being timely (having a naturally positive influence) to untimely, (having a less positive or even potentially negative influence). With Nine Star Ki however, we say that the stars are always “timely.” These stars operate under completely different conditions and interpretations. But do we mean that the stars of Nine Star Ki always have a positive impact? Not at all. There are many circumstances when misfortune hits because of various alignments of these “timely” stars.
This is where the term “timely” has its own uniqueness in Nine Star Ki. Firstly, “timely” stars in the practice of Nine Star Ki have an expanded palette of definitions. Sure, there is an overlay between Nine Star Ki and feng shui which we can appreciate. For example, in Feng Shui, the 2 star is the Kun trigram and it can be related to the abdominal region, reproductive and digestive issues. It is also the mother in the Eight Trigram system. And because maternal energy is implied and the abdominal area as a focal point, we understand why the 2 star can (when untimely) also indicates potential for a miscarriage or stomach problems.
The list of 2 star attributes in Feng Shui will include at most a half dozen other associations. When the star is “timely,” the energy is inherently more positive and when untimely, more of the negatives can surface.
In Nine Star Ki, where all the stars are referred to as “timely,” the 2 star can indicate pregnancy, but it does not assume anything positive or negative about it. Related to the Kun trigram for the abdominal area, the 2 star in Nine Star Ki can take something like an image of the womb and extrapolate further into something like the hollow part of a tree or any tight, dark space that is hidden.
With an expanded list of definitions, the 2 star in Nine Star Ki can also point to food, nutrition, farming, a kitchen or a group of people who have something noteworthy in common. In Feng Shui, those associations are not commonly made with the 2 star or the Kun trigram in any cycle, timely or untimely.
We might venture out further into other aspects or practices of Chinese metaphysics, to say that all the stars are timely, such as with the I-Ching, which features trigrams paired up as hexagrams. When we read an oracle passage from the I-Ching, we don’t interpret the hexagrams differently based on what Period we live in. We may only interpret the hexagram to fit its appropriate context. For example, I once received a message from the I-Ching about needing to “go see the great man” in the fall season. In times past, that might have alluded to a king or a priest as “the great man.” What actually happened to me? Well, months later I ended up standing before a judge in Superior Court on October 31, 2000. The case lasted five minutes and I was victorious as a defendant in a child custody battle.
Similarly, the fire element in Chinese medicine is related to the heart. This is neither good nor bad. We could say it is always “timely,” just as an unadulterated image.
If the stars are always “timely” in Nine Star Ki, what makes them sometimes “untimely” in Feng Shui? I began to think in metaphors, as is my inclination, and I sensed that a star is like a soul. In all religions, the soul is considered eternal. The soul never dies, but it transitions into different forms or levels of consciousness. Once a soul is “housed” inside a body, karmic law takes over and the soul is given a huge menu of life lessons and hardships to overcome. Likewise (in my metaphor), when the stars are housed more literally inside a built structure, they become subject to time and space, like an incarnation. These stars are directed along a certain frequency and timeline. When housed, they “age” much like the way a person goes from infancy, to youth and adolescence, to adulthood, maturity and then a decline into old age, deterioration, and death. Even the house itself ages from weather and usage.
The literal house or building captures the Qi in a defined process, much like our physical bodies are inhabited by a soul with a mission to manifest in a destined way. No doubt, the reality of timeliness is influenced by other cosmic factors. But it makes sense to me that the Feng Shui stars operate differently than Nine Star Ki stars because Feng Shui places restrictions on them in an enclosed structure, like a body. In Nine Star Ki, the stars are “free range” and have many more influences.
Author: Kartar Diamond
From Feng Shui Solutions ®
From the Nine Star Ki Blog Series
