Applications of the Sexagenary Cycle: #1

Other than just recording time, there are numbers of applications in Chinese metaphysics in which the adoption of the Sexagenary Cycle into “Luo-shu” plays an important role. I will be talking a few of these applications in the coming blogs.

Application #1: Finding the dominating Flying Star of the Year

As shown in the diagram of my last blog, the first Jia-zi (甲子) starts in grid #1 of the magic square, so the dominating Flying Star is obviously 1. Applying the sequential order, we will have the Flying Star Chart for the Year Jia-zi as shown. As we move on to the second year, Yi-chou (乙丑) is located in grid #9 of the magic square, so the dominating Flying Star will then be 9. Again, applying the sequential order, we will have the Flying Star Chart for the Year Yi-zhou.

As seen in the diagrams, the dominating Flying Star 1 of the first year of Jia-zi is placed in the centre grid. As we move on to the next year, the Flying Star 1 will then be moved to grid #6, during which the centre grid is replaced by the Flying Star 9. Since the year follows Jia-zi is the year of Yi-chou, therefore Yi-chou is in grid #9 when Jia-zi is in grid #1. That’s why in my last blog, the diagram demonstrates how the Sexagenary Cycle works with “Luo-shu” in reverse order.

It looks pretty simple and easy, right?

Let’s imagine that we are about to finish the first Sexagenary Cycle, which will be ending with the year of Gui-hai (癸亥). The question now is: Where does the year of Jia-zi (甲子) of the next Sexagenary Cycle start? Which also leads to the next question: Where does the year of Jia-zi (甲子) of the Sexagenary Cycle which follow, and so forth, start?

And above all, the most important question is: Which cycle we are in today? What is the dominating Flying Stars for this year and the next?