Feng shui, atbp.
The Metal Year of the Rat is upon us, coming after a tumultuous end for the reign of the Pig, where we saw several calamities, from strong typhoons to strong earthquakes with eerie frequency, to ASF that affected pigs of all creatures, and now the novel coronavirus that continues to plague the world, identified as having started at Wuhan, the capital of Hubei in central China, with initial investigations showing the contagion may have been started by rodents, a.k.a., rats. What a way to introduce the Year of the Rat! * * * The political fate of Donald the Trump is still on tenterhooks. As I write this piece, the US Senate will yet vote on whether to accept new evidence that have sprung like spring in the dead of American winter, evidence that would prove beyond even the most reasonable of doubt that he is unfit to lead the land of the brave and the free, let alone act as constable of the world. If the Republicans vote as a whole and none would cross party lines to ferret out the truth and nothing but, the whole impeachment saga will come to unceremonious end, with the most unfit continuing to reign in the Year of the Rat. Trump, who was born in the Year of the Fire Dog, is supposed to be lucky, or so the feng shui masters say of the dogs in this rodent year. And indeed, as we write, his lawyers are now unveiling sordid details about Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden, who became a member of the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian firm that was investigated for corruption. While this apparent scandal that happened before may be relevant to the November 2020 elections if Joe Biden becomes the Democratic candidate against re-electionist Trump, it is a separate matter that does not absolve the president from the impeachment charges. But an impeachment trial is political, not judicial. Is Trump the Dog indeed quite lucky? We shall know in due time. The rooster Duterte is not as lucky as the dog this year, again if we are to believe these purveyors of geomancy. But then again, the Philippines which he leads was born in the Year of the Dog (1898) and re-born after four decades of colonial rule in 1946, again in the Year of the Dog. My first initiation into the arcane “science” of feng shui was when a kind old master with his temple beside the Tondo church, showed me the map of the Philippines, and described the country as like a canine, with its mouth wide open (the Lingayen Gulf) and head in the Ilocano-speaking regions. Its body and stomach are in the rest of Luzon, where most of the wealth of the country lies. Palawan are its hind legs with Mindanao its butt, and the Visayan islands its ribs. Ferdinand Marcos would consult the old feng shui master, called to the palace beside the stinking river in their prime. Look closely at how the provinces of Apayao and Kalinga in the map were plucked out of the provinces comprising the Cagayan Valley and the former Mountain Province during the time of Marcos. Notice the striking resemblance to the Marcos mane and forehead with the face gazing upon his beloved Ilocos in the resulting re-arrangement of provincial boundaries. Feng shui, or mere vanity? * * * Will the doggedness of the Philippines conquer the many threats to its economy in the Year of the Rat? There is the novel coronavirus, sure to take its toll upon the number of tourists visiting the country in the first half of the year at the very least. Already it has created panic and disturbed the otherwise happy traipsing of the Chinese in the Golden Week of the auspicious Lunar New Year. And as the virus remains uncontrolled, travel will be affected."What interesting times we live in."
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