A Book Review by Kartar Diamond
Right in the opening Forward by Sandifer’s friend and fellow feng shui author William Spear, we are presented with theoretical scenarios in which a person may have every good intention to succeed, but chooses to not do their due diligence, with great misfortune to follow. One such analogy given is the pilot who sets out to fly on a beautiful day, but ignores directives from the air traffic controller. The subtext for the reader, is that Nine Star Ki provides so much insight and relevance in our lives, why wouldn’t everyone avail themselves of this ancient system of wisdom, especially before making important life decisions?
The late author, Jon Sandifer, chose an interesting title for this book, as it both informs and confuses at the same time. Feng Shui and Nine Star Ki are separate predictive arts, but they are complementary. Both Feng Shui and Nine Star Ki have astrological components to them, but it can get murky when students or practitioners try to blend them or interpret the stars as if they had an identical influence within each system, when they do not. Likewise, those with a background in macrobiotics or Chinese medicine will have their own distinct interpretations or relationship with Five Element Theory and notions about Yin and Yang attributes.
Published in 1997, this book now has new cover art and is available in Kindle on Amazon. I’m glad someone is keeping the works of Jon Sandifer alive. He has authored numerous books on other topics as well.
Sandifer begins with thoughtful descriptions regarding Yin-Yang theory and attributes of the Five “Transformations,” aka the Elements. What is true with most introductions to Nine Star Ki, is that initially it appears to rest on the same metaphysical foundation as Feng Shui, including character traits of people born in certain years. Then we have a departure from Feng Shui, where the sections of learning focus on personal yearly and monthly cycles of the individual.
Based on year (Principle Star) and month (Character Star) of birth, each person has their own strengths and weaknesses and each person has unique experiences when their own Star resides (metaphorically) in one of the Eight Houses (directions), as well as the “center.”
In Nine Star Ki, the Houses and “directions” are not literal, as they are in Feng Shui. For that, Sandifer delivers an easy-to-grasp organization of imagery and associations. In Feng Shui, we look at how the annual star influences a physical location. In Nine Star Ki, we track the annual star for how it affects the person, irrespective of their physical environment.
Feng Shui and Nine Star Ki share many points of commonality when it comes to interpersonal relationships, such as with compatibility. This aligns mostly with Five Element Theory, which pervades Chinese metaphysics. Sandifer goes on to explain the significance of the month of birth and shares his insights into the influences of birth month star on the person as well as in their relationships or communication style with others. All too often, in Feng Shui realms, people are deemed incompatible with each other based on too little information. I’m glad to see Sandifer include commentary about how an “antagonistic” relationship, such as a Fire person dominating a Metal person, is not necessarily bad.
On page 84, the author generously refers to the Black Hat School as an “intuitive” form of Feng Shui, but he also explains how the Black Hat ba’gua loosely identifies with the Luo Shu square. Sandifer repeats the fabled story about the image of the Luo Shu coming from the back of a turtle that emerged from the River Lo. This does not bother me as much as his depiction of the Tai Chi symbol upside down twice in the book and on the cover. It doesn’t jive with his elaborate descriptions of the progressive changing seasons or how the Luo Shu also follows a certain clock-wise path for a 24-hour day, which should have made it more logical to show the Yin-Yang symbol correctly. Readers be aware also that on page 91, locating your Month star may not be conclusive with this chart.
Using myself as an example, I’m born “on the cusp” day from one month to the next. Were I to assume the Chart has to be accurate, my month star would be wrong. So, if you find your own birth date to be on the border between two monthly cycles, you may need to find another calendar or software program to confirm and compare. It boils down to the fact that in certain years the month star begins one day later or earlier. As an example, for someone born April 5th, some years that is part of the March month and other years it begins the April monthly cycle.
Consulting with a fellow Nine Ki practitioner, he has given his vote of confidence in the Nine Star Ki software program offered by Dan Van den Berghe at www.FourPillars.net The Nine Star Ki program is actually part of a suite of other software programs, including Ba Zi astrology, Feng Shui and I-Ching calculations.
Sandifer continues with the formulas for determining your Month Star (Character Star) and your “Tendency” or “Energetic” star. He compares the Energetic star to a person’s Rising sign in Western Astrology. It is the star in your Nine Ki chart which reveals how others see you. This detail is worth the price of the book in a way because we can all benefit from more self-awareness and that includes how others perceive our motives and personality.
In Chapter 9, the author covers all 81 combinations for each person’s complete Nine Star Ki chart. Why are there only 81 combinations when there are 9 (Year) x 9 (Month) x 9 (Third star)? The reason is because the Third star is derived from the Month Chart for each person and there are only 9 Month charts. The Third Star is very much tied to the Month Star. And in our 12-month yearly cycle, November, December, and January are a repeat of February, March and April Month charts.
In reading my own Nine Ki description, I would agree with some of what was written, but not everything. We can expect that result in just about any Nine Ki analysis, no fault on the author’s part. But the tendencies are there and the overall character and personality descriptions are fun to read and much food for thought.
Like Feng Shui, Nine Star Ki comes alive with the aspect of timing and changing cycles. Sandifer describes what your natural biorhythms and inclinations lean toward when your “Principle Star” (Year of Birth) is in a certain “House” or position. For example, a person might be more reflective and or seek solitude when residing in the North Palace (associated with winter), and more energized when in the East House (associated with spring). These cycles repeat every nine years through all eight directions, plus the “center.” The cycles occur in an overlapping fashion with the monthly cycles. This could easily explain why in a typically high energy year, you may still have some monthly moments marked by slowing down or in retreat.
The author then moves into a very interesting example of Nine Star Ki theory about our sexual nature when comparing the yin or yang qualities of our Year of Birth with Month of Birth star combined. This highlights many nuanced aspects to our personalities, including why some people find it easier or harder to trust or communicate with the opposite sex.
Like other Nine Star Ki books, Sandifer notes the influences of each directional House, plus the center and how that might affect a person during the year when their own star resides in a particular direction. It’s general but often rings true. He also uses an example of a married couple who are in different Houses for the same year and what kind of relationship dynamic could result. For instance, if one spouse is in the high energy space of the South House and the other spouse is more in the retreat mode of the North House, they might struggle to plan activities together. **Keep in mind, we are not referring to literal Houses or directions here. Such as “when the moon is in the 7th House, and Jupiter aligns with Mars, etc.”
With the directional Houses also symbolic of the seasons, I had a little epiphany regarding growing up in Southern California and still residing there to this day. This is a portion of the country that doesn’t experience a “winter” season even remotely like other parts of the country or world. We miss out on the deep, contemplative, hibernation mode that can come with a truly cold, wet winter, or snowy, season.
On the one hand, I could speculate that this has produced some shallow or overly extroverted people. In contrast to that we could claim that Southern California is Ground Zero for the inception of a lot of spiritual groups and practices, which eventually spreads across the country. Perhaps this is a way for people who don’t experience winter to compensate with their behaviors and intentional activities, meditation and going inward, even in a glorious sunny climate.
Sandifer then gives examples from history, where famous people had dramatic events occur when their own Star was in a particular House. While this is insightful, it is not the whole story. I don’t know if Sandifer practiced a higher level of Nine Star Ki or not, but there is no mention of an additional layer to the charts he provides. Even in a beginner’s book, I might give a “teaser” example of what more can be gleaned from the Year Stars and save that whole other section of learning for another book.
For example, he notes that French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (5 Soil Star) was residing in the 1 Water House (North) when he declined a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964. Did the man suffer from depression? What kept him from accepting such a prestigious honor? In the chart, I can’t help but notice that his 5 Star in the North is polar opposite of the 4 star in the South. When your star is directly opposite a star, this “tension” can keep things at a distance, prevent things from happening, cause a cancellation or have the more negative events take place, even with a problem related to travel. The 4 star is also known for creating indecisiveness.
In another example, he shows that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were both 1 Water Star people and in the year Prince Albert died, Queen Victoria went into retreat from public life. He alludes to this with both of them being in the Southwest House, which is a quiet, background type of energy. However, Queen Victoria may have also withdrawn from the public that year because her 1 Star was opposite a 7 star in the NE House (shadow 8 star). Aside from the 8 star representing a grave, which is where Prince Albert went, the 8 star can also make a person do surprising, uncharacteristic things. And the 7 star for Queen Victoria could have also made her realize she had to abandon and let go of old thoughts, and situations no longer serving her. The 7 star can make people “walk away” from what is no longer useful to them, such as public life and its obligations.
He gives other examples like this where a certain event appears tied to just the location of someone’s Year Star, but Nine Star Ki does go deeper and readers should know that. To use a modern-day example, currently the most famous person in the world is likely President Donald Trump. It’s easy to track Nine Star Ki influences in his life, which has always been very dramatic, but equally surprising that there is so much going on in the life of someone in their late seventies. If we look at the Luo Shu chart for Trump in 2025, his Year star 9 Fire is in the East House. According to the author, he would be correct to expect the high level of energy at the start of Trump’s second term, hitting the ground running.
The East House is “spring-like” energy which can help anyone start projects. On another layer of analysis, we also see that Trump is polar opposite the annual 4 Star in the West House. Funnily enough, the 4 star is also symbolic of aircraft and it’s no surprise that Saudia Arabia’s gift of an airplane to the United States ended up so controversial.
The 4 star is not only associated with aircraft and travel, but documents and contracts. Executive Orders would also fall in that category, although the 4 star (symbolic of the Wind) can sway back and forth and fuel someone to make rash decisions. He would be wise to have a staff of Constitutional lawyers on hand to triple-check the sheer volume of executive actions being carried out and also the contractual upheaval going on as all the Federal government agencies are audited.
We can look at the Same 2025 Luo Shu Chart with the lens focused on former President Joe Biden, a 4 Star person. His 4 star is in the West House, often associated with “vacationing” or relaxing; however, this review comes on the heels of his terminal cancer diagnosis being made public. From the perspective of him being a 4 Star person, he is polar opposite the 9 star in the East. The 9 star “shines a light” on things, reveals secrets, and the tension created through pole magnetism could result in very embarrassing revelations, which has already begun.
There is a whole other angle on Nine Star Ki where concepts regarding “Guest” and “Host” can reveal who is the instigator or protagonist and when the stars may represent inanimate objects, non-physical circumstances or subtle changes such in a person’s mood or world view. In Chapter 11, where Sandifer scrolls through all Eight Directions, he cautions certain Year Star people about each direction. One example indicates that 3 or 4 Tree (Wood) people may be under extra pressure in the NW House, compared to others. This is a nod to Five Element Theory because NW (Metal) chops/destroys Wood. However, some Nine Star Ki practitioners would recoil at this way of interpreting the stars and insist the “Wu-Xing” found in Ba Zhai Feng Shui be left just there and not co-opted into Nine Ki practices.
I did enjoy Sandifer’s examples in this section of the book because they naturally lend themselves to further exploration. He sites the late infamous athlete/murder suspect O.J. Simpson, whose Year star 8 was in the South House back in 1996. This was after he stood trial for the murder of his ex-wife in 1995 and was acquitted. The following year in 1996 a civil case against him began. Yes, this is a great example of someone being in the South energy, the limelight, exposed. But when glancing at the Year chart, we see that his 8 star is polar opposite the 9 star in the North. This is a double whammy because the tension generated from the other 9 star can magnify the exposure. As well, the 9 Year star in the North House is positioned on its “Reversed Luo Shu Axis.” When the 9 star’s origin is the South, the opposite direction of North indicates that things can more likely resolve unfavorably and the influence of the Reversed Luo Shu Axis had something to do with it.
The author also uses the capture and death of Che Guevara when he (9 star person) was in the NE House. Actually, I would not say this is obvious, except that the 8 Gen NE House is associated with “stillness” which could include incarceration or confinement. But the rest of the story is more evident in that the 3 star was opposite him, creating that extra pole magnetism. The 3 star is related to things that “pierce” and also law enforcement. That correlates with the Bolivian Army shooting him.
Sandifer concludes with a brief chapter on monthly charts and then dispenses Nine Star Ki’s take on travel plans, found in other books, such as one I reviewed by Robert Sachs.
Here Sandifer also admonishes against anyone traveling when the annual star 5 is in the center. This means that ALL the stars are nesting in their home-origin position. He implies that the stars need to recharge that year and travel could be inauspicious for everyone. That would be rather impractical, so it’s not really useful to emphasize it.
As a Beginner’s Nine Star Ki book, Feng Shui Astrology is a very good resource; it lays the foundation for creating your own Nine Ki chart with clear instruction in how to begin interpreting your personal cycles in this system.
Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®
From the Book Review Blog Series
