Happy New Year, the feng shui way

Let stars shine on your sign

Forty-eight pages of feng shui forecasts, fun, and fortune come with your Manila Bulletin today: A perky package of greetings of Kung Hei Fat Choi, Happy Lunar New Year, and wishes for harmony, prosperity, and luck to our faithful readers and advertisers.

Designed to delight believers as well as nonbelievers, the Chinese New Year supplement features Master Joseph Chau’s predictions for the Year of the Earth Dog for each of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac, plus practical tips and a collection of feng shui lore from different sources. From cleaning and clearing the house to get rid of clutter to gathering the family for a happy meal, from matching the Western astrological signs with the animals of the Chinese horoscope, from choosing a fortunate site for a building to following a candidate for canine glamour to paying heed to the counsel of proverbs, there is charm in the practice of feng shui and beauty in its common sense.

What does Kung Hei Fat Choi mean? Nothing in those four sounds discloses a meaning close to Happy Lunar New Year, for the greeting literally translates to “Congratulations, be prosperous!” – in essence the traditionalist view of expressing the hopes and promise of a good new year: A reason to start anew, or to fortify what is already a solid investment, certainly to grow a family, business, and community in the spirit of humanity living in harmony with nature and its elements.

Enjoy the supplement, and may the stars shine on your sign!