Your Hidden Symmetry Read online

  Figure 1: The Yin Yang Symbol

  The classic Chinese model of the universe, the yin yang symbol, is the essential representation of the symmetry of all life. Originally, the black half of the circle represented the shady side of the mountain that the sun hasn’t yet warmed, so it is dark, cold, and wet with dew. And the white half of the circle related to the sunny side of the mountain, where it is bright, hot, and dry. But this is a map that reveals the duality of all things in nature. For example, yin is not only dark, cold, and wet; it also encompasses qualities such as stillness, silence, caution, night, winter, the moon, and feminine energy. Yang is not only bright, hot, and dry; it’s also action, noise, confidence, day, summer, the sun, and masculine energy.

  But nothing is totally yin or yang. Within each half of the circle, you see a dot that is its opposite. On the white half, there is a dot of black; on the black half, there is a dot of white. This represents the truth that within one is the seed of the other, day always turning into night, summer moving toward winter, and back again. The meaning infused in this simple circle is that all life is interconnected and interdependent, that everything is part of a balanced and dynamic system and interacts to form the greater whole.

  This symbol is a deceptively simple design that the ancient Chinese further developed to uncover the intricacies in the symmetrical patterns of nature. These scientists became the first physicians, refining this into a map of how qi (which means “energy” or “life force”) moves through the human body, and what to do when that flow is out of balance. Chinese medicine was the very first holistic medicine, recognizing that human anatomy is a tapestry of interconnected energy meridians and systems, with each part affecting and affected by the others in an invisible harmony.

  This system is also used in feng shui to perceive the ways energy naturally travels through an environment and to understand how to direct it so that it positively affects the people in that place. And this same knowledge is used in Chinese face reading to see your inner design reflected in the patterns of your face and to know how to create a life in alignment with your unique nature.

  As the Chinese studied and further refined this map, they also came to understand how energy moves through time. There are discernible patterns here—just as there are in everything—that deeply affect who you are overall and how you travel through your life. What they discovered over three millennia of “research and development” reveals your own inner makeup and the cycles you’ll experience.

  It’s as if on the day you were born, you were imprinted by the patterns of energy that existed at that time, infusing your essence with their unique qualities to inform your inner spirit, what you came here to learn, and what your ultimate purpose will be.

  At the same time, the map for your entire journey was formed. Like your own personal tide table—the ebbs and flows of your life—each phase of the invisible influence of time was set into motion on the day you were born. Just as with everything in nature, this design of your true self and your life plan have an intentional symmetry that’s beautiful to behold.

  Nine Star Ki

  If you study the night sky over the years, you’ll notice that the stars appear in different patterns according to the seasons. The Chinese observed that they could anticipate the specific cycles of each season by watching the movement of the stars, thus knowing when to prepare to plant, how to tend the fields, and to harvest the crops at just the right time. There were nine specific stars to which they paid particular attention, tracking them for guidance about the phases of time.

  This research led to a system of understanding how time affects people’s lives that’s still based on the symmetry of yin and yang but is further evolved. It’s called Nine Star Ki. The word ki (pronounced “key”) is the Japanese word for the Chinese qi, which you’ll recall means energy or life force. Ki is used instead of qi because in its journey through Asia to the West, this system most recently came from Japan.

  Nine Star Ki is the study of how the patterns of energy move harmoniously through time. Although it has the word star in its name, it isn’t astrology and has nothing to do with the movement of planets or stars affecting us. It’s based on the study of natural cycles such as years; seasons; times of day; and the lives of plants, animals, and humans—every aspect of life on Earth.

  Nine Star Ki is said to be the oldest form of understanding how the phases of time affect people; some say it originated in India 7,000 years ago, then moved through Tibet to China, where it was further developed over centuries. From there it eventually made its way to Japan, where that culture influenced it the way it has many other things—by refining it into a beautifully simple, elegant, and sophisticated system, without the superstition and gender bias of other Asian methods of guidance, such as Chinese astrology.

  Nine Star Ki is barely known in the West, partly because it was an oral tradition, like most knowledge from ancient times in Asia. There was little in writing; instead the information was mostly spoken from master to student over the centuries. It was introduced to the West in the 1960s by Japanese teachers Michio Kushi and Takashi Yoshikawa. The latter gained renown as the advisor to John Lennon and Yoko Ono, using Nine Star Ki to guide them on a regular basis. And with the rise in popularity of feng shui in the 1990s, this system received more attention because it shares the same foundation.

  I often tell people I’m one of the more skeptical individuals they’ll ever meet, and that’s even true when it comes to the various methods of understanding the human spirit. I have a hard time accepting most systems created to evaluate personality types, because they’re usually far too analytical and judgmental, all from the head and nothing from the heart, focused on creating new boxes to put people in so that we can feel more comfortable in our own little boxes. And a system devised by one person is very likely to be so heavily colored by their own personality and belief systems that I don’t trust it to give a clear understanding of anyone aside from the inner workings of that individual’s mind.

  This is why I have such respect for the gifts Nine Star Ki has to offer us. This knowledge was developed over thousands of years, through many different researchers’ study of nature. These observations were repeated over and over for centuries, honing and deepening the understanding of these universal principles, bequeathing to us an astonishingly elegant map of the human experience. And what could be more reliable than to trust nature, the system the Divine created?

  In my work with Chinese face reading, which is based on the same understanding, I always give equal consideration to what I’m reading on someone’s face and in their birth date, using Nine Star Ki. In order to fully understand anyone’s true nature, I find it imperative to evaluate the meaning of both the timing of their birth and the design of the face they were born into. (You can learn to read your face with my other books: The Wisdom of Your Face and The Wisdom of Your Child’s Face.)

  In some cases, the information I see on someone’s face and in their Nine Star Ki is similar, but often what I discover in their Nine Star Ki gives me strikingly different insights that open up new ways to understand that person on a very deep level and to know how to guide them to fully live their purpose and find happiness.

  Of course your individual energetic “signature” is formed by many influences, including how you were raised by your parents and the unique experiences you’ve had. But as Chinese medicine teaches, everything is interconnected, and the imprint from the timing of your birth is swirling, mingling, and interacting with all these other influences. Who you are will affect how you perceive your parents’ behavior toward you, and your reactions to all your life experiences will be influenced by your inherent personal patterns.

  This system gives you an incredibly rich understanding of your hidden symmetry—the intricate design that makes you who you are and influences how your life unfolds. You can use this wisdom to discover how to tap into your core strengths, to find genuine intimacy in love, and to do your best work in the world. Th
is knowledge reveals the harmonious theme running through all of your life challenges, as well as shows you what your true calling is meant to be and how to achieve it.

  You can also use the system to discover the rhythm you’re dancing to, the choreography of cycles you’ll predictably move through all your life. With this understanding, you’ll see why this particular year is bringing you the experiences you’re having and how to make the best progress by aligning with that theme. You can anticipate what’s coming next and prepare appropriately rather than be surprised by what shows up. You can even look back at the phases of time to discover the true meaning of a certain year’s experience and why it happened the way it did.

  Nine Star Ki empowers you to make major decisions and time important changes, to know how to go with the flow of any stage so that life can happen as effortlessly as possible. It’s never too late to start to move through time in alignment with your own true nature; and when you do, what comes to you is what you need in every moment. Then you can finally be in the right place at the right time.

  So let’s get started now, and discover the meanings and messages in the patterns of your own birth date!

  CHAPTER 2

  THIS IS NOT

  ABOUT NUMBERS

  For decades, I’ve studied Chinese medicine and philosophy and what they teach us about the human spirit. But I’ve always been fascinated by what makes people tick and studied many other methods of understanding people, too, as well as energy and healing modalities that can help bring balance back to their lives. What I’ve found is that the more complicated a system is, the less mature it is. The more deeply developed and evolved teachings always seem to be elegantly and deceptively simple. Nine Star Ki is that kind of system. The first impression you may have is that it’s so simple, you don’t see how it could tell you very much. But that idea will soon disappear!

  Nine Star Ki provides a kind of shorthand to let you easily and immediately grasp your inherent patterns of personality and the plan for your journey through life. This shorthand is expressed in numbers—you receive a set of three numbers that defines your true nature. But let me hasten to add something important: This is not numerology. Neither is this a method where you have to do calculations (so if you’re math-phobic, you can now breathe again!).

  Instead, the numbers are just streamlined terms to describe qualities of energy, symbols that reveal important aspects of your personal universe. Your first number represents your overall personality, who you showed up to be in this life. Your second number signifies your emotional self, and the feelings and behavior you revert to under stress. Your third number indicates how you do your work in the world, but also represents two other important things: the theme of the challenges you continually bump up against throughout life, and your ultimate purpose, the true calling that you achieve only by working through these challenges.

  In these seemingly simple three numbers, you can discover how to align yourself with your unique inner plan, learn to fully love and accept yourself, attract healthy relationships, and achieve your fullest potential. And if you’ve ever wondered why your life is going the way it is, in these pages you’ll discover the true rhythm of your personal journey and how to navigate on course from here.

  The instructions that follow will show you how to discover your three-number pattern. These numbers are your personal Nine Star Ki, and you’ll be using them as you work with the rest of this book. You can use the blank page at the very end of the book to record your numbers as well as the combinations for all the people in your life, past and present. I promise you’ll have some astonishing “Aha!” moments regarding yourself and those who have been important to you, as well as the timing of important events or life experiences!

  Using the Nine Star Ki Chart

  Before you use the chart at the end of this chapter, there is something important you need to know: In this system, the calendar is slightly different. Instead of each year starting on January 1, a year is considered to begin on February 4. So, in other words, the year 2013 didn’t begin on January 1, 2013; it began on February 4, 2013. Any date that falls before February 4 is considered to belong to the previous year instead.

  This time frame has nothing to do with the date of Chinese New Year, which changes from year to year. Instead, the system is based on observation of the cycles of nature. February 4 is the midpoint between the solstice on December 21 and the equinox on March 21, and it was found over the centuries to be the natural starting place for the new year.

  What this means for you is that if your birthday is from January 1 through February 3 of any particular year, in Nine Star Ki you were actually born the previous year. For instance, if you were born January 1, 1979, in this system, you were born January 1, 1978. If you were born January 23, 1954, with this system, you were born January 23, 1953. If you were born on February 3, 1988, you were born on February 3, 1987.

  So when you refer to the chart, you’ll need to keep this in mind. For any birth date that falls on January 1 through February 3, you have to go back one year. The month and day stay the same; only the year changes.

  If you were born February 4 through December 31 of any particular year, you don’t need to change anything. So if you were born February 4, 1967, that date stays the same: February 4, 1967. If you were born June 8, 1980, you were still born June 8, 1980!

  How to Use the Chart

  1. Find your birth year in the columns at the top of the page. (Keep in mind that if you were born January 1–February 3, your birth year is actually the prior year. See instructions in the preceding paragraphs.)

  2. Find where the month and day of your birth fall in the rows at the left of the page.

  3. Trace across the row until you come to the column your birth year is in. The set of three numbers you see there is your set of Nine Star Ki numbers.

  Example: You were born March 13, 1969

  You find that the column with 1969 in it is the 4 column.

  You then see that March 13 falls within the dates March 6–April 5 at the left-hand side of the page.

  You follow that row over till you reach the 4 col umn and discover that your Nine Star Ki numbers are 4.7.2.

  Example: You were born February 1, 1957

  Because that is before February 4, you change your birth date to February 1, 1956.

  Then you look at the columns at the top of the page to discover that 1956 falls in the 8 column.

  You then find that February 1 falls within the dates January 6–February 3 at the left-hand side of the page.

  You follow that row over till you reach the 8 column and discover that your Nine Star Ki numbers are 8.9.4.

  Example: You were born December 31, 1977

  You find the column with 1977 in it is the 5 column.

  You then see that December 31 falls within the dates December 8–January 5 at the left-hand side of the page.

  You follow that row over till you reach the 5 column and discover that your Nine Star Ki numbers are 5.1.9.

  For Dates Not Listed on the Chart

  You can use the chart at the end of the chapter to quickly find the Nine Star Ki numbers for people born in the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, but if you want to research someone born prior to or after that time, here’s an easy way to do it:

  1. Add up the numbers in their birth year until you’re left with a single digit.

  For example, for someone born in 1887, you’d add 1 + 8 + 8 + 7, to get 24. Then you’d add the 2 + 4 to come up with a single digit, so the final number would be 6.

  2. Subtract that single digit from 11.

  When you added 1887, you ended up with 6. If you subtract 6 from 11, you get 5.

  3. The number you end up with is the first of that person’s Nine Star Ki numbers. You’d then locate the column with that number in it on the chart.

  For example, for 1887, your calculation brought you to the number 5. So you’d look in the 5 column in the chart.

  4. Then you
simply find where the month and day of their birth falls in the rows at the left of the chart, as you’ve done with all the other birth dates.

  For example, someone born on June 23, 1887, was a 5.7.3.

  (Keep in mind, however, that anyone born from January 1–February 3 is considered to have been born the previous year. So a birth date of January 9, 1773, would become January 9, 1772.)

  Nine Star Ki Chart

  Before using this chart, please read the instructions that appear earlier in the chapter: “Using the Nine Star Ki Chart.”

  (REMINDER: Any birthday from Jan. 1 through Feb. 3 is considered to be in the previous year.)

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