I Want to Believe

In a Metal Snake month in a Metal Rat year, conspiracy theories abound. As Stewart Brand is credited with saying in 1984 (a Wood Rat year): Information wants to be free. This phrase in itself supports ideas about conspiracy, and since then people have used it to leverage various causes. For example, a librarian might… Read More

Monkey Month: Water Tests Mettle

You will always find an answer in the sound of water. Zhuangzi In times that test fortitude and persistence, there are urgent choices to be made. The balance between our public and private selves seems to seesaw with every exchange. Thank goodness there’s everyday life to distract us. We need to have dinner. The kids… Read More

Of Calculators, Cusps, and the Uncommon Sense of Ba Zi

A calculator can’t deal with a cusp but a human can. This thought has been hanging around since I had a series of conversations first with my son Joe, and then with my husband Peter, about the time it takes to draft a ba zi. It takes me hours to draft a full ba zi.… Read More

A (Re)Productive Cycle

The Pig Month, which covers most of November, marks lap dung in the Chinese almanac. This is the beginning of winter. The winter season also includes the Rat (December) and the Ox (January). In terms of 5 elements, winter is the season of water. Think ice, snow, cold, rain, sleet, hail, flooding, slipperiness, clouds, downward… Read More

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Conor McGregor

My son Joe asked me to make a prediction for the upcoming fight between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Conor McGregor. I’m not one to follow boxing or UFC but I thought it would be a challenge and add some flexibility to my readings. I decided not to do any research on either fighter before writing… Read More