I recently responded to an email sent me. I figured if one person could be so mistaken, perhaps others less vocal are as well.  A teachable moment. See below:

Greetings C.M.,

Given that your email communication made erroneous assumptions, I will attempt to clarify. Please see my responses below in italics after each of your statements.

Dear KD,

I love receiving your monthly emails. BUT   Do you ever ask yourself what is Five Star Ki? What are its origins? What is (Classical) Feng Shui? 

*** I am puzzled as to why you have initiated contact with me using condescending, rhetorical questions. As a subscriber to my newsletter, you have probably visited my website. I’ve been a classically trained consultant for nearly 35 years. My website is packed with content in the blog section, over 500 articles, not to mention over 2,000 pages from books, e-books, and case studies combined. I’ve written at length about classical Feng Shui, as well as Nine Star Ki, a separate, but complementary metaphysical practice.

Nine Star Ki was referred to originally as Five Star Astrology—more so “physiology” (Jiu Xing Qi Xue), with its origins deep in Chinese metaphysics and more likely a predecessor and a seed to the evolution of classical Feng Shui.  Chinese culture is much older than Japanese culture and they share some things in common. For example, one popular form of Japanese astrology is essentially Chinese astrology.

In the last few centuries, Japanese masters have taken Nine Star Ki to a whole other level. Luminaries such as Kikaku Matsura wrote about Nine Star Ki in 1837, followed by Dr. Makoto Jiro Sonoda (1876-1961), who wrote 73 books on Nine Star Ki. The Japanese calendar, referred to as Kanagi Guruma, is an 81 sector Luo Shu, with some stars aligned to the 12 Chinese zodiac signs.  This system is very elaborate and likely archives many astronomical secrets of the universe.

Within the umbrella of “classical” feng shui, there are many different systems, some of which contradict each other.  And yet, there are practitioners who advise in Xuan Kong Fei Xing (the Flying Star School) along with Ba Zi (a form of Chinese Astrology using a solar calendar), Zi Wei Dou Shu (a form of Chinese astrology using a lunar calendar), Qi Men Dun Jia and Xuan Kong Da Gua (other schools of feng shui). They offer a full menu.

Nine Star Ki is quite complementary to Feng Shui and draws from the same fundamentals of Eight Trigram Theory, Yin Yang Theory, and Five Element Theory. Of course, there are major differences which I regularly point out in my articles and reports.  In my blog section, I have Nine Star Ki posts and book reviews which elaborate on this topic.  My own book on “classical” Nine Star Ki will probably be forthcoming years from now.

It is unfortunate that there are few books in English which discuss Nine Star Ki on a high level, so I am grateful beyond words that I have mentored with Heluo, one of the best teachers in the world. And it is true that some well-known personalities have erroneously superimposed Feng Shui practices onto Nine Star Ki, which can yield very inaccurate  interpretation—much like the way the Black Hat folks have compromised traditional Feng Shui.

They are two very different subjects and modalities. It is like Interior Design and your Local Farmers Market: both help you live a good life, but are different subjects. 

*** I have used similar analogies, such as when you need a nutritionist, a surgeon is inappropriate and vice versa. However, you seem intolerant of those who practice more than one modality.  How does that square with those in our field who practice Feng Shui side by side with one or both forms of Chinese Astrology?  Would you be irritated with a Feng Shui consultant who also offers I-Ching Divination readings?

 It seems like you don’t have confidence in feng shui practitioners to keep domains separate, never mind that they can be very complementary. What about the overt contradictions between Ba Zhai (Eight Mansion School) and the Flying Star School?

Five Star Ki originates from Japan. Classical Feng Shui originates from China. 

Flying Star System of Classical Feng Shui is only One of many systems and Five Star Ki is not  mentioned in any of the Classical of Feng Shui.

*** You keep calling it “Five Star Ki.”  What I practice is Nine Star Ki, one of the original predictive arts in Chinese metaphysics.  Like the Five Chinese Arts, it is in the same arena with Chinese Face reading, Chinese Palm reading, “geomancy” (Dowsing) and other esoteric disciplines, all emanating from the same source.  The Japanese further developed Nine Star Ki, calling it Kyu Sei Ki Gaku, but this does not mean Chinese people or practitioners have abandoned it.

Some might think of themselves as “purists,” claiming that Nine Star Ki is not mentioned in classical Feng Shui texts.  Well, in that regard, San Yuan Jiu Yun doctrine (one branch of classical Feng Shui) also says nothing about Feng Shui annual stars, according to Feng Shui & Nine Ki expert Heluo Hill. 

Flying Star Feng Shui borrowed the concept of annual, monthly and daily stars from Nine Star Ki.  If you calculate Feng Shui annual, monthly and daily stars— then you are practicing something which originated with Nine Star Ki. 

 The big difference, however, is that Nine Ki stars have a massively expanded palette of definitions, and do not have untimely phases as found in Xuan Kong Fei Xing (Flying Star School). As Heluo likes to say, 9 stars under different “operating” systems.

Period 9? Maybe it is time to shed light on the facts.

 ***While Period 9 is not directly related to the topic you initiated, Period 9 is a Feng Shui division of time from Xuan Kong Fei Xing, one of nine Periods lasting 20 years each. Other feng shui practices track different cycles which are not in sync with the nine Feng Shui Periods. The length of some cycles is based on the Trigram they are associated with.

 In the practice of Nine Star Ki, Epochs lasts 81 years. When it comes to annual and monthly stars, the Flying Star School and Nine Ki are in sync and follow the same pattern of movement. However, they are interpreted uniquely and in a different context.  Feng Shui relates to physical space and Nine Star Ki relates to the person (as well as a separate branch used in global divination). 

 The world of Classical Feng Shui is confused enough without adding to it.

***I happen to be one of a few western authors and teachers who has written extensively about classical feng shui, explaining the various hybrid versions of it being practiced today. In fact, I have been very vocal about the Black Hat School and its juvenile “one-size-fits-all” approach.  I don’t think that practicing Feng Shui and Nine Star Ki adds to the confusion, as you claim. It’s only your lack of education in Nine Star Ki which brought you to that hasty assumption.

I also give my clients credit for being intelligent enough to know they are separate systems.  When a client receives a Nine Star Ki reading from me, they know that it is not their Feng Shui consult, any more than the result of a blood test. There are no “remedies” or adjustments to be made to any physical environment.  Nine Ki has more to do with receiving foreknowledge of personal cycles, aptitude, relations with others and tendencies at any moment in time.

To sum up: you are incorrect about the origins of Nine Star Ki.  Additionally, the origins of Feng Shui may go beyond China, with speculations going back to Sumerian times. You are also misinformed about how complementary and enhancing Nine Star Ki is to Feng Shui.

 Historically, Feng Shui was practiced in a holistic trilogy with Chinese Astrology and Chinese medicine. Does this violate your classical Feng Shui parameters?   Similarly, Vastu Shastra was practiced with Vedic astrology and Ayurvedic medicine.

Now, over the years, I have been annoyed, when a person was practicing something else entirely, but marketing it as a feng shui consultation. We’ve seen those who do space clearing, organizing, or color psychology interior decorating, labeling it as “feng shui.” The consumer does not realize they haven’t been offered anything resembling authentic feng shui.  Rest assured, my clients and students are not in that category and are not confused if they happen to receive both Feng Shui and Nine Star Ki services from the same consultant.

 Kartar Diamond

Feng Shui Solutions (R)

from the Nine Star Ki Blog Series