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Chinese metaphysics guides

Start with clear, careful guides that explain the tradition, the practical use case, and the limits of each method.

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Leap-month births set against the count: every leap month holds exactly one 節, the month pillar therefore turns on day 14, 15 or 16, 48.2 per cent of leap-month days fall before it, and on 7 August 2025 the switch is at 13:52.

BaZi

2026-11-02·BaZi and Four Pillars

Born in a Leap Month: The Month Pillar Splits the Month

A leap month holds no 中氣, so it always swallows exactly one 節 — and the month pillar turns on day 14, 15 or 16. All 74 leap months from 1900 to 2100, counted.

Four gate numbers and what sets each one: clear width, leaf width, riser height, sight-line angle and path width.

Feng Shui

2026-10-27·Garden Feng Shui

Garden Gates and Paths: Four Measurements Before Style

A gate is four measurements: the clear opening the widest load needs, the quarter circle the leaf sweeps, the 180 mm riser ceiling, and the angle the opening frames. Only the last is a design choice.

Nine-cell grid listing the annual flying stars with the practical response each one calls for, from the two that warrant action to the seven that need none.

Feng Shui

2026-01-25·Xuan Kong Feng Shui

Annual Flying Stars in Xuan Kong Feng Shui

Learn how the annual flying-star layer is arranged across the nine palaces and read alongside a building chart. These traditional labels are interpretive references, not evidence of physical effects or guaranteed outcomes.

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Two-column comparison of four pixiu claims with the check that settles each: the rite, the material by weight, the fall energy, and the wealth claim

Feng Shui Cures·2025-10-25·Feng Shui Cures

Pixiu Activation: What the Rite Covers, and What the Piece Weighs

開光 names a consecration rite for images, performed by clergy in a temple, not a label on a box. What the word covers, and a weight test that tells brass from resin.

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Four-step dining room review covering table fit, clearance, circulation and lighting.

Home Feng Shui·2025-09-25·Home Feng Shui

Dining Room Feng Shui Guide

Learn dining room feng shui basics for table placement, lighting, mirrors, colors, and a warmer family eating space.

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Five desk measurements and what fixes each one: seat height, work-surface height, screen distance, screen angle, and the distance to the nearest walkway behind the chair

Office Feng Shui·2025-09-07·Office Feng Shui

Office Desk Feng Shui: Three Measurements Before Any Direction

A desk is three adjustments before it is a direction: seat height, work-surface height, and screen distance. The figures for each, and how to check them in five minutes.

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The fetal-origin pillar set against its own arithmetic: two competing rules, the single instruction behind the two offsets, a bijection that adds no information, and the 74 per cent match against a 266-day conception interval.

BaZi·2026-11-01·BaZi and Four Pillars

Tai Yuan: Two Rules Share One Name

One rule adds a stem and three branches to the month pillar; a Ming compilation counts back three hundred days instead. Both are called the fetal-origin pillar, and they land on different months.

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What the service rate decides about a till queue, against what the till position decides: where the queue stands, what it blocks, and what the staff can see.

Commercial·2026-10-27·Business Feng Shui

Cashier Position: Three Queues, One Sightline Height, One Counter Height

A till is a queueing system before it is a corner. The service rate sets the wait, a 1.4 m shelf hides everyone below 1.2 m, and only 915 mm of counter is fixed by code.

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Four measurements behind a shop entrance: the acuity floor for the sign, glass reflectance, sill against eye height, and door force.

Commercial·2026-10-27·Business Feng Shui

Storefront Entrance Feng Shui: Sign Distance, Glass, and Door Force

A shop entrance is three measurements before it is a direction: the cap height the sign needs at its distance, the brightness at which glass becomes a mirror, and the door force.

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Zodiac·2026-10-26·Chinese Zodiac

Four Animals in One Chart, and What the Count Says

A chart carries four animals, not one. 20,736 four-animal combinations, 42.7% of charts repeating one, and six readable pairs: the arithmetic behind the set.

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Twelve-palace ring in fixed order, with 命宫 as the only position that varies between charts.

Zi Wei Dou Shu·2026-10-26·Zi Wei Dou Shu

The Twelve Palaces: What 命宫 Fixes and What It Cannot

The twelve palaces are one fixed ring and 命宫 only sets where it starts, because its two inputs cancel. The twelve questions, the 4/8/6 offsets, and why 命宫 plus 身宫 still leaves two birth moments.

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Two-column comparison of four quoted bed-direction rules against what to check in the room.

Feng Shui·2026-02-02·Eight Mansions Feng Shui

Bed Placement: The Wall Comes First, the Direction Second

Bed placement in Eight Mansions is two decisions: which wall can take a headboard, then which favourable direction that wall gives. A worked example shows the conflict no table resolves.

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Four rows comparing the ming gua rule with what each convention costs: the modular step that holds in every century, the two-digit shorthand that fails after 1999, the fold at five, and the year boundary at 立春.

Feng Shui·2026-01-29·Eight Mansions Feng Shui

Ming Gua: The Formula, and the Three Places It Breaks

Ming gua in one modular step: 2 minus the year for men, the year plus 4 for women, mod 9. The two-digit shorthand fails in all 100 years after 1999, and the fold at five doubles one gua.

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A comparison of what the forty-cell four-transformations table settles against what it cannot settle.

Zi Wei Dou Shu·2025-12-30·Advanced Zi Wei Dou Shu

Four Transformations in Zi Wei Dou Shu: A 40-Cell Table, Not a Rhyme

The Four Transformations attach labels to stars, not extra stars. Write the ten-stem table out and count it: fifteen stars, eight holding both a Lu and a Ji, and four stems where lines of practice disagree.

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Top-down entrance plan marking the clear walking route, lamp and daylight, a storage zone off the route, and a console interrupting the sightline to a closed bathroom door

Home Feng Shui·2025-11-20·Home Feng Shui

Front Door Feng Shui: Which Rules Can Actually Be Measured

Front door feng shui sorted by what can be measured: the stack pressure behind a straight run, the width a screen really needs, and the threshold that trips people.

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Choose a useful path

Match the guide to the decision you actually need to make

The article library prioritizes durable guides that work well as starting points. Choose by the question you have and the facts you can confirm; you do not need to apply every traditional rule to yourself.

1. Start with the real problem

Use the BaZi guides for calendar assumptions and chart structure; use home or office guides for a space you can inspect. Safety, moisture, structure, electricity, consent, and professional obligations always take priority over a traditional preference.

2. Read method before recommendation

Open the topic overview first, then choose an article that matches the room, information, or decision involved. Before using a checklist or calculator, see what you need to prepare and when the result does not apply.

3. Keep a record and test one change

Write down the starting condition, one low-risk action, and a review date. Retain counterexamples, stop when cost or risk increases, and use observable results rather than a favourable phrase as the reason to keep a change.