算命 DIVINATION

On 2 March 2009, went to partake a session of divination at a place recommended by a colleague who had gone there just last Friday. More curiosity than anything else, I went for the appointment, nearly an hour late because it needed my time of birth and I was scrambling all over the flat looking for a piece of yellowish paper called the birth certificate which I had not glanced at for many many many years!

I must admit that I went there with a lot of apprehension and in truth not expecting much in return. I even started on the wrong footing when the "master" asked me to pick a card from the stack he had just shuffled - I took 2 cards instead of one! Luckily my fingers were holding on to one card only, so the other card that was "revealed" was cast aside. The "master" then placed my chosen card at the centre and formed the Eight Trigrams for divination with sequential cards drawn from the stack. He was shaking his head most of the time, which means things are not looking up! I was there to hear what he could foretell about my past and my current state of things without me saying anything, not so much about my immediate and near distant future. I have been at rock bottom for many years so I could take anything he was about to toss at me.

(1) There is no saviour or saviours (贵人) in sight for me.
(2) This year is not a good year for my chinese zodiac sign and my year of birth.
(3) Luck? Very little.
(4) Problems/Disputes? Many.
(5) True Love? Bitter, then sweet (先苦后甜). - This one is way off-track man! I had absolutely nothing in sight, having just lost the big one in 2008.
(6) Work/Job/Career/Human Relationship? Career-wise, refer to (1) & (2)...in a word, near hopeless! I was told it is no good to wear my heart on my sleeves, that I was too "straight", too "direct", too "one-way street" that people tend to take advantage of this fact and "use and then forget" about me.

As you can see, things are, in a word - HOPELESS!

OK, I went along with whatever "remedies" to sort of improve the situation that he "prescribed"...........including being told to pray to the Chinese God of War, Guan Yu (關羽) to improve my lot. I then recalled that I WAS actually at the site of the former Kingdom of Wu - Chengdu, Szechuan and also visited the Temple of Marquis Wu and paid my respects to two Heroes of the Three Kindgom period - Kong Ming (a.k.a. Zhugeliang) and the honourable Guan Yu (Guan Yunchang)! So in a way, I had actually "Pay It Forward", so to speak. (Does it mean I would be OK for the year then???)

Hope for the Best, Expect the Worse................under the current economic woes, this may be the wisest approach, really.