CHINA ARTS COUNCIL

History of Chinese Oracle

Chinese Oracle dates back to the Prehistoric time of the legendary Emperor, Fu Hsi, who is credited for the creation of a oracle based on a series of lines, one stacked on top of the other in threes. The lines could be either broken or solid. The first concept of Duality (Yin & Yang) sprung from this creation. In stacking the lines in combinations of Three, he created a tension; forcing action. He believed that all things within Heaven and Earth were in constant change, without cessation. All combinations of three broken and solid lines came to Eight. The Eight Trigrams became the most smallest common denominator for all things within Heaven and Earth, and the basis of his treatise: I Ching, the Classic of Change. The I Ching uses the Trigrams by stacking them together in pairs. This yields eighty four Hexagrams, which is used to represent the environment or context of any query. Originally, yarrow sticks were used to determine the lines. Today coins are commonly used in combination of three with "heads" representing Yang and "tails" representing Yin. The Eight Trigrams of the I Ching were later used to create a Numerology in which the Trigrams were arranged in an eight-sided figure and numerical values were assigned to each place, with the center being nine. This "Magic Square" of numbers derived from the Eight Trigrams are used in "Feng Shui" the "Art of Placement" which is very popular today. During the Shang and Yin Dynasties (1766- 1150BCE). The Emperor retained Masters (Sifu) of Oracle to inscribe words on the hip or shoulder bones of Oxen, or the Carpaces of Turtles. The bones were then heated in fire until they cracked from the rapid drying in the flames. Where there were cracks, those words were considered true.

Later, Chinese Astrology was created by dividing the sky into "Ten Heavenly Branches" and the Earth into "Twelve Terrestrial Stems". Each two-hour interval in a twenty four hour day was assigned a "Terrestrial Stem" which was matched to a "Heavenly Branch". Since there are only Ten Heavenly Branches to be matched to Twelve Terrestrial Stems, after the tenth match the first Heavenly Branch is used again for the eleventh Terrestrial Stem and the second Heavenly Branch is used for the twelfth Terrestrial Stem. This yields five cycles of matches to exhaust all possible combinations of matches. The five cycles are assigned the five elements: fire, water, earth, metal, and wood. Five times twelve is sixty. Therefore the sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, twenty four hours in a day, thirty days in a month, and twelve months in a year all have unique combinations of Heavenly Branches and Terrestrial Stems. Each Heavenly Branch has a meaning and each Terrestrial Stem has a meaning. In addition, each combination of Heavenly Branch and Terrestrial Stem has a meaning. The twelve-year cycle was assigned animals. The legendary story is The first Emperor, Huang Ti, called all the animals to Court, the first to arrive was the Rat, then came the ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and boar, in that order. Therefore depending on which part of the sixty-year cycle you are born, you would have a unique combination of animal and element, such as water dragon. Since sixty years is the common live expectancy in ancient times, the cycle was considered complete, that is, you lived a full life by the age of sixty, completely experiences all of the cosmic changes that exist in the complete cycle. However, if you live past age sixty, as many people do nowadays, you would begin the cycle again and experience your childhood years in terms of destiny and relive childhood with your adult experience and skills. This could become your "second childhood" or an opportunity to do things better the second time around. It is a tradition to celebrate and honor individuals who have reached their sixthieth birthday and beyond as truly wise individuals who have seen the waxing and waning of all of the dynamics of change. It is the stem and branch combinations in the five cycles that are assigned one of each of the five elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Metal, Wood) that determine one’s fate and destiny. Fate is the direction things are going and destiny is the behavior or actions within that direction. There are tendencies both in Fate and Destiny. The knowledge of those tendencies can help to give us informed choices to guide our own lives.

Face Reading is an art that developed through observation of the shape and formation of the characteristics of the facial features. The eyes, express the life force, "Chi" of the individual, the nose, courage, fortitude, the eyebrows, refinement, aesthetics, the ears, longevity, sensuousness, the cheekbones, position, assertiveness, the mouth, personality, generosity, the chin, position, luck, assertiveness, the forehead, intellect, restrictions, and the head shape, position, and artistic proclivity. Skin color and markings denote events that may take place effecting one’s quality of life, health and happiness.

Palmistry uses the lines that are formed in the hands at birth and through age to determine personality, destiny, important life events longevity and relationships. Three major lines: Life - determine difficult or easy, long or short, healthy or sickly life. Heart - determine the emotional nature, stressful or easygoing, romantic or cool, stable or fickle. Head - Determine intellectual capacity, education, and tendency to use too much or too little analysis. The minor lines of Fate determine how much we are subject to destiny and our success or failure in life. The line of health, shows us our state of health and any health problems that we might encounter. The line of fortune tells us how well we might do materially and how respected and recognized we might become. The fingers show us our compassion, sense of self, creativity, ability to work with our hands, and our karma. The shape of our hands determine our interaction with others, our compassion and our position in society.

Master Eng Seurn Gwoo, has studied with Ling Shan Sien Si form the Tien Jook Temple in China and is a Face Reader, Palmist, Astrology, Numerology, and Feng Shui Master, practicing for over sixty years.