Moon and stars

ASUPER blue moon-blood moon-lunar eclipse, all in one night, last night. What in heaven’s -- ? While the superstitious might attach some celestial meanings to the phenomenon, feng shui expert Princesse Fernandez, holder of a BS in management engineering from the Jesuit university, Ateneo de Manila, is more concerned with the stars and their alignment as the year races toward Feb. 15, eve of the Lunar Chinese New Year of the Earth Dog.

Princesse met lifestyle writers over lunch last Monday at the Grand Kitchen cafe of the newly opened Grand Hyatt Hotel BGC, a fortuitous event mirroring the hopes of mankind that the new year will be better and people will be happier, kinder, find peace and maybe riches, too. The Chinese divide mankind into what I call the 12 “species ” co-existing in a zoo, where men and women are designated by an animal sign in the Chinese zodiac according to the year of their birth (whereas Western astrology divides the 12 according to the month of their birth).

At every press conference given by Princesse that I’ve attended, I can assure the reader that over the years, there has been no change in the interest shown by my colleagues. They are first and last and foremost interested in the answers to these two questions: Will the new year be greater than the last? What can you tell me about my sign and how I will fare in the new year?

Readers and writers are of the same attitude, so Princesse’s introduction, which was also an invitation to join the revelry of lion and dragon dances, fireworks, prosperity dining, and wish-making on Feb. 15, eve of the New Year, at the Grand Hyatt, was a summary of the trends that each of the 12 animal signs may expect. Trends, not predictions; feng shui is not fortune-telling.

Dog, Dragon, Rooster need help to boost their luck.

Tiger and Monkey will find luck, though sparingly.

For Horse, Rat, and Ox, “it will be a good year.”

“Very good luck” awaits Snake, Pig, Rabbit, and Goat.

Whether you believe in feng shui or not, once you’ve been told that you’re going to be lucky or very lucky, why shouldn’t you think so, too?