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Classical Chinese Medicine & Feng Shui
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"The Stars of Skymall"
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Compass vs. GPS -- Three Key Differences
Summer Sale!
Personal Model.......... $199
Advanced Model........ $299
Professional Model.... $399
Save $200 off retail price during this special promotion.
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Classical Chinese Medicine & Feng Shui
This summer’s newsletter lead article is written by the eminent scholar Heiner Fruehauf, Ph.D., L.Ac., Founding Professor of the School of Classical Chinese Medicine at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon USA.
Precise Constitutional Therapy Is The focal point Of Classical Chinese Medicine
In determining a person's individual constitution, we take into account both pre-natal and post-natal aspects of a his/her life. Due to the modern division of ancient Chinese science into seemingly unrelated branches, we often overlook the one piece of information that is the only objective data we have about a patient: the 50% of the elemental information derived from his/her cosmic parents, time and space, which can be derived from a patient's birth chart via the traditional science of bazi suanming (stem and branch calculation).
One of my recent efforts in teaching the efficacy of Classical Chinese Medicine has been about 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 just 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 two 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),
establishing an objective five element chart before the client even walks in the door.
In the fall of last year, I traveled with the Vollums to meet with several fengshui and bazi masters in China, including Wang Qingyu (professor for Daoist medical science and my long-time mentor), who helped to refine the Fortune Compass for the purpose of becoming an invaluable diagnostic tool for Chinese medicine practitioners.
The Fortune Compass Professional model calculates element information and Ba Zi (Four Pillars) life cycle charts as well as Personal (Ming gua), and Building/House (Ba Zhai and Flying Stars) feng shui.
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"The Stars of SkyMall" -- PC World
PC World Magazine just published "The Stars of SkyMall", a review of what they described as the most interesting items in the catalog. We were honored that the Fortune Compass was picked.... and that it received a nice review with a "starring role" in their video as the first product shown!
Mark Sullivan, Senior Associate 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 watch the PC World video here or read the article here.
Editor's note: Its always amusing when somebody reviews the Fortune Compass and discovers that their desk is facing, for example, "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 displays 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 us all that to improve our fortune and activate favorable chi we need to do our part by taking action in our environment!
Compass vs. GPS -- Three Key Differences
Many of today's smart phones have an internal GPS receiver, but do not have a compass, so the question often comes up "why is a GPS not good enough for Feng Shui?" Here are three key differences that make the case that an accurate compass is required for correct Feng Shui:
- 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 and by traveling some distance in a straight line the GPS can compute your course, and thus estimate which direction you are going. However if you stand still and turn in place, the GPS has no clue you are turning, since your location remains exactly the same.
- GPS accuracy is superb for locating a spot on the planet, or a house within a city. But it is not sufficient to differentiate your front door from the dining room, as the distance involved (say 10-20 feet) is about the same as the GPS system's 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 of the satellite signals are received, accuracy is even further reduced.
- A GPS derived 'course' is related to true north not magnetic north. True north is what you want for navigation, such as 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 also changes from year to year. In Portland, Oregon for example the variation was about -22.5 degrees in 1920, and in 2009 is now -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 to everyone! Summer 2009,
Editor
FortuneCompass.com |
