Friday, August 28. 2009
We are pleased to introduce our newest product, the Tianren Tong (天人通) Fortune Compass. Tianren Tong means "Device that Connects Heaven and Humanity", a wonderful name that was given by Master Wang.
The 天人通 Fortune Compass is a personal Feng Shui astrologer and interpreter device that fits in your pocket. The Fortune Compass is based on the traditional Eastern science of assessing personal characteristics, containing a database of individual interpretations with over 17,200 entries. It displays calculator screens for Minggua, Bazhai, Xuankong Feixing, and Bazi plus an accurate internal electronic compass to show you exactly where the Qi is coming from. The database synthesizes a wealth of personal information from different systems of knowledge for the first time. It was created exclusively for the Fortune Compass by a team of renowned Feng Shui masters in Southwest China.
The Bazi charts displayed on this device show more than raw data. They provide interpretations as well as advice about:
• Personal strengths and weaknesses
• Health challenges
• Optimum careers
• Personal characteristics
• Character matches for work
• Character matches for love relationships
• Elements to tonify
• Plus 14 other categories
What makes the Fortune Compass unique is that calculating and interpreting your personal Bazi data does not require hiring a professional. The solution is always right in your pocket.
Interpretations are displayed in three ways:
• Text, in Chinese
• Circular compass having one or more pointers indicating directions to face the desk or bed
• Square compass screen that refers to geographic areas relative to where your Father was born
The new Tianren Tong Fortune Compass is shipping in September, priced at US$299.00
Saturday, August 15. 2009
Many people have asked questions about whether Daylight Savings Time (DST) should be accounted for when setting a person's birth hour. So I asked an expert to answer. Dr. Heiner Fruehauf wrote
I most definitely recommend offsetting for daylight savings time (as it is a "political" time that has nothing to do with the real cycles of the universe).
That explaination makes perfect sense to me. The Universe isn't subject to "political whims" when considering cyclical time over thousands of years. Heck, DST has only been around since invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, a mere 235 years ago. In fact most countries and states only adopted DST after 1970.
So, thank you Dr. Fruehauf for answering this important question. YES! Remove the "DST" adjustment if born in the summer time to get the correct time of birth!
Monday, August 10. 2009
Had a fun extended family breakfast last weekend, with about nine people ranging from 6 years old to, oh, much older! We got talking about personalities and so I pulled out my Fortune Compass Professional and put everybody's birthdate in. Looking at the Ba Zi (Four Pillars) you can tell lots of things about someone's personality. And sharing that around the breakfast table was lots of fun!
For example, the Earth Branch Year shows the celestial animal and element (such as Yang Fire Horse), while the Heaven Stem Day revels the essence of your inherent nature (such as Yin Wood).
There many sites that give simple explanations of the twelve Chinese animals that make for fun sharing with a group. My daughter had her iPhone with her, so she looked up the interpretation for each of us as we ate.
Its a great conversation starter, and the family's laughter and follow on comments evidenced they found it downright insightful too.
Ba Zi is a deep and complex science with detailed interpretations best done by skilled professionals.... but you can have a lot of fun with friends by sharing their Year Animal and Day Element. Who knows.... everybody might learn something new about themselves as well as each other!
Friday, July 24. 2009
I've been traveling quite a bit recently, both for business and pleasure. The common denominator is hotel rooms instead of home-sweet-home. Since I always carry my Fortune Compass with me, I thought I'd pass along some tips that help make my travels a bit more comfortable and easy. Perhaps they can be of use to you too?
(1) Getting better sleep - so what can you do when the hotel bed is in a challenging direction? Move the bed? Well, perhaps not. But how about move yourself? WHAT? Yes, I often will sleep diagonally in the bed to get better Chi while sleeping. Once in a while the only good option is to move the pillows to the foot of the bed and sleep backwards. Works great, especially you have a king bed and are all by your self... otherwise your partner may have an opinion!
(2) Set up your computer - here I often get more bold about rearranging the furniture if needed. Often I will move the hotel-supplied desk away from a wall and/or move the chair around to a different side. Hey.... its all about the trip bringing business success or new relationships, right? Usually I remember to put things back before checkout. If not, perhaps the next guest will have the same Gua number and like what I did!
(3) Meetings and Dinners - oh yeah, just a quick click of the Fortune button to the 8-direction compass shows where I should sit to activate the Chi for my intended goals.
Always pack your Fortune Compass, and keep it close to hand while traveling. It really makes travel easier. And for some reason, people like me a lot more when I've had a good night's sleep!
Happy Summer and Blessings, -steve-
Thursday, July 2. 2009
One of life's greatest treasures is to spend time in the presence of a master.
Over the past several years, Tisha and I have traveled to China several times and have had the great fortune to meet and spend time in the presence of Professor Wang Qingyu. He is recognized by the Chinese government as one of the outstanding masters of Daoist medicine, and holds a lifetime appoint for research in the field of martial arts and the ancient science of nourishing life at the Sichuan Academy of Cultural Sciences. Last month, Shifu was kind enough to record a 20-minute video lecture on Fengshui as Organized Science and also to talk about the Fortune Compass.
He notes: "Overall we can therefore say that Fengshui is a discipline that has displayed an incredible survival force during the past millennia. China’s ancient science of the stars in the heaven, and the geographical features on earth, and the correlating physiology of the human body are the three main pillars of the science that I call Fengshui."
In this wonderful video he touches on many subjects related to Yijing science, traditional medicine and Daoism. Regarding the Fortune Compass, he says: "this is an excellent project, and it is a personal wish of mine to see it succeed. It expresses the vital longevity and staying power that the knowledge expressed by the ancient Chinese sciences has. I want to bless the Vollums, and from the bottom of my heart wish this project the success it so greatly deserves"
With great respect and love, we are please to share his video with you. It is in Chinese, but with full English subtitles. We hope you enjoy spending time with this great man.
Blessings, -steve- and -tisha-
Thursday, June 25. 2009
Quantum physics brings science and spirituality closer with almost every amazing discovery revealed by research. The "limitations" of science, previously allowed to be exceeded only by science fiction, now seem to encompass anything that can be imagined!
For example, consider the way that birds navigate unerringly across our planet. A recent article in Wired Science describes how the earth's magnetic field lines may actually be visible to the avian eye! You can read the article if you are interested, but my perspective on this is: imagine what this would do to Feng Shui if we humans could see magnetic fields, and perhaps chi (energy) herself!
What a change that would make in how we interact with each other. Of course, there would be no need to carry your Fortune Compass around, but I would happily give that up to have a more enlightened world!
In the meantime, until we evolve (or synthesize?) the necessary "superoxide" oxygen molecule that may combine with light-sensitive proteins to form an in-eye compass, we have the Fortune Compass.
Wishing you brilliant vision and the Blessings of Abundant Chi, -steve-
Thursday, June 11. 2009
PC World Magazine just published (online now, and in print soon) their " Stars of SkyMall" reviews of what they described as the most interesting items in the catalog. Of course the Fortune Compass was picked at one of the ten.... and received a nice review and even a "starring role" in their video as the first item shown!
Mark Sullivan, Senior Associated Editor of PC World says " there are some really interesting devices in the catalog, and one of the first ones that I noticed was this device - the Fortune Compass".
You can see his video here or read a preview of the article here.
Its always amusing when somebody reviews the Fortune Compass and discovers that their desk is facing "frustration". He gives viewers a very good explanation of how it works (talking about the Chinese solar calendar, favorable or unfavorable directions, and a compass that shows them for you) but then doesn't make the connection that to change your luck you need to actually change your environment! Come on.... move that monitor! Rearrange your bed... Try it... you'll like it!
So - its a good reminder to all of us that to improve our fortune and activate favorable chi we need to do our part by taking action in our environment!
Wishing you sparkling chi and great fortune! -steve-
Wednesday, May 13. 2009
Professor Fruehauf is deeply involved in Classical Chinese & Natural Medicines and can be contacted through this link:
Classical Chinese Medicine
"As many of you know, I have been working on a whole variety of projects
during my sabbatical this year--many involving ways that can effect the
application of our medicine in a very practical, hands-on way. One of the
projects that I served as an academic consultant has now been completed.
Steve and Tisha Vollum, heirs to the pioneering engineer who founded
Tektronix (the world's largest company for electronic measuring devices),
have taken a personal interest in ancient Chinese medical science and spent
the last 2 years developing the Fortune Compass.
The Fortune Compass is a small handheld fengshui tool and life cycle computer.
It can do many things,including what is most important for every practitioner of
classical Chinese medicine: the instant calculation of a person's five element information
based on date and time of birth (bazi and hidden stems). In the fall of last
year, I traveled with the Vollums to meet with several fengshui and bazi
masters in China, including our program mentor Dr. Wang Qingyu.
If you haven't seen Dr. Wang for a while and miss him, please know that the
Vollums will bring a 20 minute videotaped interview with Dr. Wang on fengshui and
the Compass to their booth this weekend. The Vollums are very kind people
who have been extremely supportive to our program. It would make me happy to
know that you consider visiting with them this Saturday to celebrate the
creation of this unique tool, which has been developed with your specific
needs in mind.
With best spring wishes, Heiner"
Sunday, May 10. 2009
As many smart phones have an internal GPS receiver, but not a compass, the question often comes up "why is a GPS not good enough for Feng Shui?" There are three key differences that make the case that an accurate compass is required.
(1) GPS tells your location, not your orientation. The only way a GPS unit can determine orientation (e.g. what direction you are facing) is by watching you move from one place to another. Given enough readings the GPS can compute your your course, and thus conculde what direction your are traveling in. But if you stand still and turn in place, the GPS has no clue since your location remains exactly the same.
(2) GPS accuracy is superb when locating a place on the planet, or even a house within a city. But it is not sufficient to differentiate your front door vs dining room as the distances involved (say 10-20 feet apart) are about the same as the GPS average position error. Also GPS does not work well indoors where there is not a clear view of the sky. GPS depends on satellite reception and cannot receive these signals if blocked by metal or buildings. If only some satellite signals are received the position accuracy is even further reduced.
(3) GPS derived 'course' is related to true north not magnetic north. True north is what you want for navigation, when using a map to determine which heading to follow to reach a chosen point. But Feng Shui holds that Qi is channeled and directed by the earth's magnetic field which means only magnetic north gives correct readings. To convert true to magnetic requires calculating the local magnetic variation and subtracting that from the GPS course. Magnetic variation changes from year to year as well. In Portland, Oregon for example the variation was about -22.5 degrees in 1920, and in 2009 is about -18 degrees.
All in all, one is much better off with an accurate, tilt-corrected electronic compass like the Fortune Compass for Feng Shui.
Blessings, -steve-
Monday, April 27. 2009
Over the past weekend we exhibited at the New Living Expo in San Francisco. Tisha and I also were speakers on the topic "Feng Shui - How can we Use It?" It was great to talk with so many new and returning customers.
Want the summation of our talk in two words? The primary message of our talk was "do something"! Let me expand...
There is a gap between "wishing" and "achieving". As the old saying goes "if wishes were horses then beggars would ride". For most people the million dollar question is how do I bridge this gap and actually achieve my dreams?
We know that the Fortune Compass is a tool that can help you achieve your goals and change your life. It can provide the missing steps and close this "gap". Here's the connection: there are four tasks you should accomplish with your compass that will activate your intention and allow the desired result to manifest in the physical universe:
(1) state your intention clearly. Do this by choosing what you want to find with your compass ("Success" for example).
(2) become involved kinetically. Rotate your body while holding the compass until you are facing your focus direction.
(3) translate this into what should change in your environment. Consider how your desk is or bed is oriented for example.
(4) make those changes. Move your bed to that other wall. Rotate your computer screen so its facing Success, etc.
Above all, do something!
If you perform these "missing" steps we believe you will experience the outcome you desire.
Blessings, -steve-
Monday, March 30. 2009
As many of you know, we have been selling the Fortune Compass in the Skymall catalog for the past six months. When a Skymall customer orders a compass we transact business using secure web sites to exchange order and shipping confirmations. So we keep our 'magic laptop' close at hand so we can process orders several time per day.
Last night we were returning from a business trip in California and were flying home on an Alaska Airlines 737. This just happened to be the first "WiFi plane" the flight attendant announced as we were boarding. That means it has in-the-sky internet connectivity! The in-flight internet is still being tested (so they told us) and that we were welcome to try it out.... free of charge.
So, of course I had to give it a try! Web surfing was fast and easy, several new emails appeared in my inbox, and (electronic) life was good.
Just for fun, I decided to try our e-commerce connection to Skymall. Worked perfectly, and there was even a new order to process! Now that is amazing... not only can customers BUY our products in-flight, but we can SHIP them products while we are flying!
Ah, the connected life.... Best wishes, -steve-
Wednesday, March 25. 2009
Last November I posted about the Gua 5 controversy. After talking with several Feng Shui masters and hearing from our customers I've decided the clearest results come from not displaying "5M" or "5F", but rather 8 (for female) and 2 (for male) in all screens.
As I pointed out at in the previous post, this does not change any of our calculations, only the way the Gua number is displayed.
The latest revision of software (v3.24) implements this change. It also adds cool icons for the elements and even more Four Pillars calculations for the Professional version. As always, go to our support page to read about the new features and to update your compass.
Best Wishes! -steve-
Friday, March 6. 2009
Dear Ones,
We have had a lot of requests to explain the “Element” feature displayed on the Fortune Compass. Your “Element” is calculated along with your Gua number and is significant because it helps you decide how to rate the importance of which direction you might want to focus on first. Your personal “element” is related to your body and includes your internal organs. The information below can help you discover the physical health areas that you may want to work on to really get tuned up.
I have done some investigation and study of the Elements as they are defined in Traditional Chinese medicine. However well schooled one is in this arena, it is still not easy to rattle off a simple explanation of the Five Elements that encourages a person to believe that they can make use of the information.
I was utterly delighted when I found a book written in English that I could read and wrap my understanding around. It is probably one of the most simple and concise English explanations of the Five Elements that I have found and was written by Michelle R. Kluck in her book HANDS ON FEET The New System that Makes Reflexology a Snap!
To quote Ms. Kluck,
“In Chinese medicine, it is believed that our bodies are composed of five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Each element corresponds to particular organs, emotions, seasons, colors and other characteristics. Just as every organ is associated with a specific chakra, every organ is also associated with one of the five elements. Every organ also corresponds to a specific energy, either yin (negative) energy or yang (positive) energy. (Editor’s note: one can also understand this as Yin = slow, passive or not very active energy and Yang = very active energy.) The Chinese believe that for good health and longevity, you must be aligned with nature and live harmoniously with all five elements and all living beings. If there is an imbalance of energy and you are not in tune with one of the five elements, disease can manifest in the associated part of the body. By attuning yourself to the five elemental energies, you can learn to balance your energy, heal your body and prevent disease.”
In order to attune your body, you must first know which element is most dominant in your constitution, ergo, the “Element” that is displayed on your Fortune Compass.
There are numerous books on Feng Shui that go deeply into the subject of the Five Elements and how they affect you as well as giving complete instructions on how to implement element changes in your personal environment. They are worth reading when you are ready for that level of involvement or you can contact any one of the Affiliates listed on our website for consultation in the areas of interest to you.
One can also find a fair analysis of the particulars of the Five Elements described in Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_elements_(Chinese_philosophy).
Here you have to expend a few grey cells to figure out what is being discussed but it will help you to know that there is a generating cycle of the Five Elements as well as an overcoming or diminishing cycle. For example: if you have a “water” element in your makeup, and you live at the beach overlooking the ocean and swim everyday, you may develop an overabundance of water in your personal environment that could lead to an imbalance in your physical system. You don’t need to move your residence necessarily but you may need to include other elements to help balance your personal surroundings as well as add in colors and objects that represent a more balanced elemental environment for you.
In a scholarly and succinct response to a Letter To The Editor, Dr. Heiner Fruehof writes clearly about the use of the Five Elements in Feng Shui. In this response, Dr. Fruehof gives evidence that this particular function of Feng Shui is a critical part of the whole of the technology. You can find the article at: www.classicalchinesemedicine.org/ccm/fengshui.htm.
There are times when you want a Classical Chinese Medicine practitioner to help you discover the answers to questions you might have about your personal element, your body and how to really tune it up. You can find that kind of expertise through the site above.
Editor
Fortunecompass.com
Thursday, March 5. 2009
As some of you may know (or found out through experience) any sensitive magnetic compass that has been stored near a strong magnet such as a cell phone, keys, tools, etc. can easily loose accuracy and performance.
We have been developing a solution for our customers over the past year that will protect a Fortune Compass from becoming magnetized as well as keeping it safe from scratches and dings. We are proud to announce the we now have the answer!
Now you can buy our custom designed Magnetically Shielded Case. Made from special MuMetal alloy and lined with felt, your compass will stay protected when you carry it in this case.
How does our magnetic shield work? Think of the special MuMetal we use as a 'conductor' of magnetism. Since the case completely encloses the Fortune Compass, the magnetic field from keys or cell phones passes around the outside of the case without magnetizing the interior. Ordinary metal (steel, aluminum, etc.) does not 'conduct' magnetism in this way and thus cannot shield the contents from magnetic fields.
We are shipping these cases now! They can be purchased in our online store for $49.99
With our best wishes for Good Fortune, -steve-
Tuesday, February 17. 2009
Now there are THREE models of the Fortune Compass available! The Personal model helps people find their best and challenging directions. The Advanced model adds features to select an ideal house or office using the Ba Zhai (8-mansions) and Flying Stars.
The Professional Model adds all of the Advanced feature PLUS "Four Pillars of Destiny" (Ba Zi) chart generation. Professional also adds Chinese, Korean and Japanese language choices, bring the total languages to eight.
Some other differences between the models including varying numbers of Friends & Associates (people) that can be stored in the Fortune Compass.
User Manuals for the new models are available on our support web page, and a feature/pricing chart is here.
With the introduction of these new models we offer even more capability to consultants and professional Feng Shui practitioners.
Wishing you Good Fortune and sending Blessings, -steve-
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