Hong Kong is a gateway where the East goes out and the West comes in. The development of Astrology is no exception. Parents go to Feng Shui master for the best name and domestic environment for their children. Young girls go to Tarot masters for relationship advices. Businessmen and investors go to both for better office layouts and investment decisions. How is Chinese and Western astrology shaping the citizens' life and how is the city transforming the astrology industry?
Situation in Hong Kong
As we are approaching the end of the year, the magazine shelves in 7-11 and the "recommended" shelves in book stores are all taken by Chinese fortune books of different star feng shui masters. Western astrology, on the other hand, takes up space on pages of newspaper and magazines. “When my tarot reading shop just opened in 1999, it was packed with people everyday.” said Gladys Phan, who opened the first Tarot reading shop in Hong Kong. She has been in the tarot business for more than 10 years. Over the years, her pricing has raised significantly due to excess customers and increasing rent, but that does not stop her from gaining new customers and retaining old customers. “There are more and more new tarot readers opening a physical store nowadays.” she added.
The Spread of Feng Shui to the West
As communication and cultural exchange flourishes between the East and West, feng shui has become more popular in the West. “For Trump's respected clients, a building lacking in feng shui could be a dealbreaker.” said Pun Yin, the feng shui master who revamped the Trump Tower since 1995. The start of Feng Shui industry might simply be a business deal, but the industry was undeniably growing.
The Wall Street Journal reported that feng shui masters from China and Hong Kong are comprehensively involved into US investment, finance, business opening etc. During the economic downturn in 2008, the sales volume of feng shui related books increased by 20%. Chinese fortune year books in recent years are also published in English, reflecting the demand of Chinese astrology from the west.
The Spread of Western Astrology to Hong Kong
Western astrology spreads into Hong Kong since Tang dynasty (about 1000 years ago), and was later developed into purple star astrology. Tarot did not walk the same path as astrology. Thirty years ago, there were very few tarot readers in Hong Kong. They were mostly those who studied in foreign countries. In the 1980s, Phan started to grow interests in tarot when she was still a child. “There were almost no tarot related articles, books or discussions that time. I could only find one related book,” Phan said. Over time, more tarot books were sold in the market, but Phan thought that those information was not reliable enough. After she graduated from university, she had her first job working for a astrology-related magazine. Unfortunately, the business was terminated after two publications.
When Phan opened her Tarot reading shop in 1999, she was the pioneer in the city. The demand for tarot reading was large at that time. It was not until the 2000s that Tarot related books started to flourish.
What is Chinese Astrology?
“One fate, two luck, three feng shui, four accumulate good virtues, five study.” Kevin Lau, who has been a feng shui master for about 10 years, said, “so fate affects your life more than luck does, and luck affects your life more than feng shui does.” he continued.
When it comes to astrology and fortune telling, a lot of people would think they are simply making things up. Lau explained, “Bazi is a mathematical calculation. We are capturing the astrological picture of one’s birth, and calculate accordingly to the picture.” He said the astrology pictures could be divided according to 10 heavenly stems (天干) and 12 earthly branches (地支). The calculation analyses the chemical reaction among the 12 stems and branches in order to predict one’s fate.
Moreover, Lau described feng shui an arrangement of natural elements. He said, the world could be divided into 5 elements. Every element has its own number, and every question has its formula for calculation. “So by using the relationship between five elements, we can see what kind of problem will happen,” Lau said. For example, elements like metal and wood will result in a bad situation if they are put together. “Metal can cut tree, so the two elements are contradictory,” he added. Thus he can predict that someone may be injured by metal, or be involved in car accident when the two elements clash.
"Feng shui is also results from experiment.” - Kevin Lau
“Feng shui is also results from experiment.” Lau said, "Experiments can prove the principle behind feng shui." For example, he had tried putting a music box right next to a healthy plant. After three to four weeks, the water plant became yellow or withered. Lau explained that it was because music box contains metal element, while plant contains water element. As metal suppressed water, the plant eventually died. “The experiment proved the contradictions between the elements.” Lau said.
What is Western Astrology?
“Why would you choose this card but not the other? It's because the ‘energy’ of the card is closest to yours." - Gladys Phan
The principle behind western astrology is quite similar to Chinese Bazi. It determined one’s fate according to the astrological signal during a person’s birth. It is common to include an astrology column in newspaper nowadays, predicting the fate of people represented by each zodiac signs. However, the column is just for general situation. The more birth details one provides, the more accurate it could be.
The accuracy of Tarot fortune telling is often doubted. “How could one’s faith be told by a set of playing cards?” Phan explained that Tarot cards are far more than a set of playing cards. She has more than one set of Tarot cards which serve as props and can be touched by anybody, but she also has another set of Tarot cards that no one can touch except during the fortune telling process. “The one who first swaps the set of Tarot cards will be its owner.” she said.
She explained that every symbol has its own aura, so do graphics on the tarot cards. "Everyone has his own energy that reflects his or her fate," she said, “why would you choose this card but not the other? It's because the ‘energy’ of the card is closest to yours."
From the video, we can see the unique environment during tarot fortune telling: the black tablecloth, the music and the environment in a purple tent. “Music is used to make people relaxed. The process would be smoother under a relaxed environment.” Phan explained. She would sometimes use aromatherapy to create a comfortable environment as well. The purple tent was used to protect privacy of customers. “People came here to tell me what they think or what they want to know deep down. Privacy is important.”
Regarding the black tablecloth, Phan said it was related to the Tarot tradition. “Witchcraft was popular during the old days. Thus, black tablecloth was used to deter witches from affecting tarot fortune telling.” said Phan. However, as witchcraft is no longer common nowadays, the effect of black tablecloth may not be as significant.
Stories of Hongkongers
With Hong Kong being a metropolitan area, Hongkongers are urged to draw their life plans from the moment they are born to the city. Decision making becomes the basic and essential life skill to survive. How does Western and Chinese astrology play a role in these people’s life? Phan and Lau share some of their most impressive stories of Hongkongers.
Escape from Domestic Violence
One day, a married female accountant came to Witchy Land for a round of tarot. With obvious scars and bruises on her skin, she asked Phan if she should divorce with her husband. The results of the tarot shows pessimistic future of their marriage and Phan advised the lady to give up, but the lady appeared hesitate and returned for another round. “The rule of tarot is that you cannot ask the same question for twice,” said Phan. Phan refused but tried to understand the reason behind the lady’s hesitation. The lady started sobbing, telling Phan that her husband threatened to report to the police about her fraud in the accounting company few years ago when she tried to repay her husband’s debts. If he does, the custody of her four-year-old daughter will likely to go with her husband too. “We have a lot of tissues ready here,” Phan reveals boxes of tissues hiding behind the curtains as she recalled the whole incident. Phan then advised the lady to ask tarot for enlightenment on the next step to take. The results suggested the lady to confess to her boss and bear the responsibility. Phan suggested her to pick one more card to predict the reaction of her boss. The card appeared to be a positive one. The lady went on asking if her husband will continuing hurting her after divorce. The answer was he wanted to but he did not, and he would hurt himself instead. After some time, the lady decided to confess to her boss. Her boss was empathetic about her situation and had written approval letter to cover up her fraud. The lady then brought her daughter and ran away from her husband. It was a sharp cut and left no chance for her husband to track them down. After a few years, her husband committed suicide.
“This is really an impressive one as I am involved in a lot this family’s crossroads and decisions.” - Gladys Phan
The lady later returned to Witchy Land every year to ask about the coming year’s fortune. Phan was glad to see the lady living a better life with her daughter. From a four-year-old little girl to a university student today, her daughter came to Phan alone to ask about her university subject choice last year. “Her life wasn’t easy. Her daughter has been her spiritual support for many years,” said Phan. Eventually, the daughter decided to study abroad in Australia. “Now that her daughter has to leave her, it’s like I am witnessing another stage of her life,” Phan said, “this is really an impressive one as I am involved in a lot this family’s crossroads and decisions.”
Making a Regretful Decision
“This is fate. It’s all set the moment you are born.” - Kevin Lau.
A lady wrote down her birthday and asked Lau to analyse her life. Lau could see from the analysis that she would always be involved in a relationship with a husband who has affair. The lady admitted that her current marriage was in tatters due to another woman. She wanted to divorce but Lau insisted that she should not. “I could see from her life that she will regret about some important mistakes made in her relationship, so I tell her not to divorce no matter what happens.” Eventually, the lady decided to divorce. After some time, she started relationship with few other men, but all of them ended up having affair with another woman. Later, she gave up looking for relationship and decided to live on her own. At some point of her life, she finally felt regret of divorcing at the first place. She was free on being alone, but she also felt lonely. “This is fate. It’s all set the moment you are born,” said Lau.
Finding the Mr and Mrs Right
A male friend of Phan went up to WitchyLand, asking her if things will go right if he asks a particular girl out. He wrote down the name of the girl on a paper and turned it over. They started swapping and picking the tarot cards. A love card appears and Phan gladly encouraged him to go for it . He turned over the paper and the name ‘Gladys” was written on it. The man is Phan’s husband today.
“Chinese and Indian customers often ask if their parents like their partner, but western customers never ask this.” - Gladys Phan
Occasionally, some rich customers will bring a girl’s birthday to ask if those they are only going after their money. Some mothers would also take birthdays of their sons’ girlfriends to see what kind of person they are. “It’s even better than finding private detectives,” Lau joked, “it’s cheaper and you get more information.” This phenomenon does not come without causes. Phan said that when comparing to customers from Western countries, Japan, Taiwan or China, number of Hong Kong girls who came to ask about economic status of their potential partners or targets is relatively higher. “Chinese and Indian customers often ask if their parents like their partner, but western customers never ask this,” said Phan
Regarding the common type of questions, Phan says that Hong Kong customers are also concerned with their career and the city’s stock market.
Chinese or Western Astrology?
Both Phan and Lau started off with Chinese and Western astrology but later streamed down to develop one or two tools.
"The Chinese astrology involves a lot of Maths. I prefer tarot more because it is more graphical and much easier to understand.” - Gladys Phan
Phan had also looked into Chinese Bazi and Yi Jing before she focused on tarot and horoscope. “The Chinese astrology involves a lot of Maths. I prefer tarot more because it is more graphical and much easier to understand,” said Phan, “this is probably the reason why most Chinese astrologists are men while most tarot masters are women.”
Lau, who studied Computer Science in the UK, chose to focus on Chinese Bazi and feng shui because he felt like Chinese astrology is more sophisticated and involves more mathematical logic which he is interested in.
Phan said she has also been trying to publish books that predict macro situations of Hong Kong and terrestrial events of different zodiac signs, but the ones based on Chinese astrology is much more popular.
“Different fortune telling tools serve different purposes,” said Phan. She explained that tarot can reflect more complex emotions but it can only predict events in a monthly interval, whereas Chinese fortune telling tools like Yi Jing can predict the exact date and other tools can also locate lost items by giving cardinal direction and describing environment nearby.
“We need to distinguish Bazi and fengshui from superstition.” - Kevin Lau
Lau said the most important thing of being a Chinese astrologers is to have critical thinking. “I experienced everything on myself and on my friends before I believe,” said Lau. He explained how people often mixed up astrology and religion belief. “We need to distinguish Bazi and fengshui from superstition,” he added.
On the other hand, Phan said the most important quality of tarot master is the sensitivity to graphic and attention to details. “It’s like when you are looking at a painting in the museum, how much you see and feel the stories being reflected in the image,” explained Phan.
Both astrologers also mentioned the importance of possessing a mind to help and care for the others. Phan said that the value of her job came from her satisfaction of helping others to get through some particulars hurdles in life. When Lau sometimes read about some predicaments on the news, he would also volunteer to help improve the victim’s feng shui.
Challenges and Future Development
Lau explained that many Chinese customers remained very superstitious. In Chinese culture, people generally believe that 8 is a luck number that represents rich while 4 is the unlucky number represents death. All these symbolic meaning simply comes from the similar pronunciation of the number and the word without any scientific proof. “Some customers are shocked when I told them 4 is a good number for them,” said Lau.
Lau also pointed out that a lot of Taiwanese would believe in changing fate. He emphasised that there is no such thing as changing fate. “All I can do is to predict your life events with your Bazi and tell you how to minimise the bad and maximise the good through feng shui," he said. For example, if he foresees a person would have a car crash accident from Bazi, he would suggest him not to drive. It did not mean the person would not be hurt in a car accident, but it might turn a major accident into a minor one. "I cannot change anything that is supposed to happen,” he stressed, “if changing fate is that easy, all the masters would have changed their own fate first.” All he could do is to constantly explain to customers the reality. “Some of them came back and thank me for the good predictions. I would tell them there’s no need to thank me, because that is your fate,” he added.
“If changing fate is that easy, all the masters would have changed their own fate first.” - Kevin Lau
He said that there are indeed a lot of scammers out there, making the industry look unreliable. He had a few customers asking him to clean up the mess after being scammed by other fake astrologers. “I separate astrology from religions,” he said, “I would never ask my customers to put those weird ancient figures at home or pray to some non-existing religious figures.”
There is misunderstandings in the industry, but it is often too complicated or inappropriate to explain what is Chinese astrology. Lau explained that the calculation of Bazi involves a lot of formulas which are not allowed to disclose to non-apprentices. The lack of transparency has made it hard to gain credibility.
Despite the limitation, Lau aspires to apply his computer science knowledge to develop an online Bazi calculation system that can allow more people learn about it without sacrificing its confidentiality.
“We have to always keep up with changes in society and advancement in technology,” Lau said, “Just like how kitchen facing toilet used not to be an issue in ancient times but now, and how new tall buildings with area of refuge affects feng shui of the floor above it.”
A civilised society might tend to believe in visible matters and scientifically proven theories, but Hong Kong did not hamper the survival of astrology and fortune telling. Both Chinese and Western astrology are able to survive harmoniously and attract new blood to the industry. With these long-lost myths falling into hands of the educated again, we can foresee a more scientific and less superstitious form of astrology in the near future.