Out of the Woods
And Into the Sun
We’re nearly out of the woods! If your year felt like getting lost in a dark forest or walking through a scary woods, never fear and be of good cheer. The Hard Wood element year is almost here.
Last year I wrote a publication called, Into the Woods all about the Soft Wood element and how to celebrate this evergreen energy to the fullest with walks in the woods, tree hugging and forest bathing.
In 2023: A Soft Wood Year, I wrote about the promise of a persistent wind, the prosperity it can bring and the “peach blossom” energy of budding new love blossoming into a romance for a season, a reason or a lifetime.
I also wrote 2023: The Year of the Writer, in which I made recommendations for various kinds of writing you could do to author your life.
And in Soft Wood’s Colors of the Wind, I shared each of The 8 Element’s dominant positive emotions for the year.
2023 was supposed to be a Year of Romance. And even if a whirlwind of a romance was not a desire of your heart, I wrote about Ways to Romanticize Your Life.
After a Yellow Earth year in 2022 of “obstacles and delays”, 2023 had the potential to be a Year of Prosperity for all. A year to flourish, to thrive and to prosper.
But for many of us, 2023 continued to be a struggle in more than a few areas of our lives. So, if you didn't write that book or fall in love, romanticize your life, grow a business or build wealth, leave a legacy or biohack your way to longevity, it’s ok! Every year, every season of the year, provides us with new opportunities to be well, live well and feel well - mind, body and soul.
New Year, New Era
Obviously there are many contributing factors to not flourishing as much as we’d hoped, not the least of which is the ending of an era. And as we move from one 20-year cycle to another, the potency of both the auspicious and inauspicious energies will increase or decrease depending on their proximity to the reigning energy.
For example, now that we are entering Period 9, a Fire cycle, Water will become the new “future prosperity” element. And even though the Mountain Earth element will always be favorable, the power of this abundant wealth energy will be diminished going forward. This is because the money chi 8 has entered its cycle of decay and will begin receding, leading to down trends in Mountain Earth industries like real estate and finance.
A prosperous 4 Green energy like the Soft Wood element has been and will continue to be in a cycle of death until 2064. This may explain why many weren’t able to benefit from this favorable energy this past year.
The good news is that the Mother Earth element, that tends to be inauspicious for health, finances and relationships, especially for women, has entered its life cycle, making this 2 Black more neutral. And the closer we get to the Water 20-year cycle, the more favorable Mother Earth energy will become.
Also, if the last two decades have been challenging for you instead of filled with an abundance of good things, Period 9 may begin to bring more prosperity and many blessings into your life. Thus is especially true for the East Group elements (Water, Fire, Hard Wood and Soft Wood).
Period 9
The energy in feng shui and the Chinese calendar move in cycles - 60-year, 20-year and 9-year cycles. The 180-year super cycle consists of three (upper, middle and lower) major cycles of 60 years each and nine minor cycles of 20 years each.
Period 9, the new 20-year cycle, is the final period of the lower cycle of the full 180-year super cycle that began in 1864 with Period 1.
Feng shui practitioner, Sean Chan believes that Period 9 began on December 21st of 2020 with the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction. Because feng shui and the Chinese lunisolar calendar are based on astronomy, 20-year cycles can vary in length from our Western calendar. Jupiter and Saturn conjunct every 19.859 Julian years, not 20. And the first solar term, Li Chun, does not begin at exactly the same time every year.
So, it makes sense that over a 180 year cycle those minor variations would add up to some significant differences in our out-of-synch time-keeping systems. He says, “The longer the time, the bigger the discrepancy between the two [East and West] systems”. And that by the end of this 180-year super cycle, the imperfect Chinese system will be about four years off. Based on this theory, Period 9 will end and Period 1 will begin when Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury align on September 8th of 2040, not on February 4th of 2044.
The time-honored rule of having a new period begin with a Yang Wood year may not align with what’s actually happening in the cosmos. So, whether we’ve already been living in the early years of Period 9 since December of 2020 or not, the new 20-year cycle is here to stay. 2024 is the Year of the Yang Wood Dragon and will be influenced by Period 9 energy.
Out of the Woods
We may be almost out of the woods, but at the edge of the forest is a clearing. And beyond that, a garden gate leading to your own personal secret garden. A garden to plan, prepare the soil for and plant seeds in the Spring. A garden to tend to with watering and weeding in the Summer. A garden to harvest and cut back in the Fall. A garden that models the rest and energy conservation of wintering over the cold months.
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Even if you don’t have a green thumb, Hard Wood years are a good time to plant a garden. Grow some colorful flowers in pots on your front porch or a few favorite culinary herbs in a kitchen window. Plant a small pizza garden of tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and basil, marjoram or oregano in a raised bed. If you’ve already established a garden, see how much food you can grow this year. Create a flower garden that you can make bouquets from all Summer. Get some fruit trees for the back yard. Or, plant some medicinal herbs you can make ointments and salves, teas and tinctures from. At the very least, get some potted plants for your house to take care of. Include some practical and fragrant plants with healing properties, like aloe vera and lavender.
Down from the Mountain
We’re coming down from two decades of peaks and valleys, with their high highs and low lows. The Mountain Earth era was full of contrasting crescendos of ecstasy and intervals of agony. It was full of great opportunities for wealth and abundance, as well as, finding our balance amidst all the work and busyness.
With the end of an era, many Mountain Earth element aspects will also come to an end. Gone are the days of tribalism. Gone are the days of greed, the accumulation of material possessions and hustle culture. Gone are the days of toxic positivity and pseudo spirituality. Gone are the days of instant gratification and hook up culture. Gone are days of the boring beige, neutral aesthetic. Gone are the days of trying to keep up with other people and the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Gone are the days of the social justice warrior and their misguided attempts at achieving equity with the hyper-focused vigilance on inclusivity, requirements for diversity hire quotas instead of actual qualifications and demands for ensuring the equality of outcome instead of the equality of opportunity. Gone are the days of non-judgmental, anything goes tolerance for the most debased forms of immorality.
Into the Sun
The Mountain Earth cycle provided a new perspective that broadened our world view. But now it’s time to shine light on the evil and the good. The Sun is rising in the East. The Fire element is here to stay for the next twenty years. What will be brought out of the dark and into the sun?
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Dara Eden is The 8 Elements Master and the creator of The 8 Elements: Feng Shui for YOU! series of guides, blogs, classes and forthcoming books. It’s her application of feng shui principles to the personal energy of people, based on their personal feng shui element. With 25 years of experience in classical feng shui and private coaching, she offers her expert and unique perspective on how YOU can honor your personal energy and feng shui yourself!
