Posted on 02/07/2013 7:02:52 AM PST by listenhillary
AFP - A stock market slide, escalated conflict between Japan and China and more Gangnam-styled success for South Korean singer Psy will shape the incoming Year of the Snake, say Asian soothsayers.
Those who make predictions according to the study of feng shui -- or literally "wind-water" -- are influential in many parts of Asia, where people adjust their lives or renovate houses and offices based on the advice.
As they bid farewell to the Year of the Dragon, the fortune tellers warn that the "black water snake" that emerges to replace it on February 10 -- the first day of the Lunar New Year -- could be a venomous one that brings disaster.
Previous Snake years have been marked by the September 11, 2001 terror strikes that killed nearly 3,000 people, the crushing of the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
The 1929 stock market plunge that heralded the Great Depression also occurred in a snake year.
Hong Kong's celebrity feng shui master Mak Ling-ling predicts the stock markets will enjoy a smooth first-half before becoming turbulent in the second half of the year, which she links to the characteristics of the reptile.
"It's just like the movement of snakes -- fast, aggressive and sharp, but cunning and tricky at the same time," she tells AFP.
Mak warned that despite early market optimism there would be no full recovery in the crisis-hit eurozone, while the economy of the United States would not gather a strong pace until 2014.
She added that President Barack Obama needed to "be less conservative" in his attempts to revive the economy.
Astrologers say this year's snake is identified with the element of water -- symbolising fear -- that sits on top of the fire element, representing joy and optimism. They say conflict between the two will bring turbulence in May.
"This is a disaster year... a lot of things will not go smoothly," said Singapore's "Grand Master" Tan Khoon Yong of geomancy consultancy Way OnNet Group.
"The European Union may split, the euro may be in trouble," the 59-year-old said, adding that the bloc would be threatened by division in May.
Hong Kong astrologer Chow Hon-ming said a disharmonious May would see an ongoing dispute between Japan and China possibly escalate into a "brief" war, as two "snakes" are going to clash according to his reading of the Chinese almanac.
"May is known as the 'snake month' and it's the Year of the Snake so between May 5 and June 6, these two snakes will meet.
"This is why things will be very intense between Japan and China. Tensions will rise to a peak and they will possibly go to war."
Chinese fortune telling is based on ancient philosophy and belief dating back thousands of years that events are dictated by the different balances in the five elements that make up the universe: metal, wood, water, fire and earth.
A person's fortune can be calculated by using the exact time and date of his birth, with the relationship of each of the elements.
The lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon and associates each of the 12 years forming a rotating cycle with an animal -- with the snake assuming the sixth position out of the 12 animal signs.
China's new leader Xi Jinping and "Gangnam Style" singer Psy, two of the most famous people born in the Year of the Snake, will see success despite entering a year matching their Chinese zodiac, usually considered to be a bad thing.
But China's Xi, born in 1953, and 36-year-old South Korean pop sensation 'Psy' Park Jae-Sang will be spared, due to their favourable birth dates and elements.
While the 60-year-old Chinese leader is set to see a smooth leadership transition in March from predecessor President Hu Jintao, there may however be the odd bump in the road.
"He needs to watch out for his health. He might suffer a fall in November if he travels," Chow said, recommending Xi avoids "Europe or Russia" that month.
CLSA, one of Asia's leading brokerages, creates its own tongue-in-cheek annual "feng shui index". This year it states that while stock markets will be volatile in the second-half, the presence of the market-driving "fire" element gave reason for optimism.
"We've got the fire element so we're pretty hopeful," CLSA analyst Mariana Kou said, predicting this year markets will have a "decent finish" this year.
Past Snake years give little encouragement, with the three most recent ones seeing Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index finish down, falling 33.5 percent in 2001.
"As befits "skin-shedders", Snake years are marked by major transformation and change -- and sometimes great upheaval," CLSA said.
Is that a DVD you can buy at a bookstore, download from the internet, or what?
I’ve got a Barnes & Noble gift card that I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with, and I think I’m going to get Kevin Freeman’s “Secret Weapon”.
He cannot however know nor see any event that doesn't happen. This is not an arbitrary limit on God: this is simply logic; omniscience properly understood.
In the same way that God is omnipotent but cannot make 1+1=3, so it is with omniscience. He cannot know an event that never happened.
Let us try a reductio ad absurdum thought-experiment which may make this clearer.
Eric fathers a child and is presented with the temptation or opportunity to get rid of that child.
He chooses to kill the child.
God sees Eric's whole life, the choice and the act of murder. Moreover He sees it from outside of Time and Space, certainly before Eric commits the deed.
Pretend for a moment that God can/will roll back His creation of Eric. There is no abortion, no murder.
Or alternatively pretend for a moment that God can/will roll back Eric's fathering of that child. Again: there is no abortion, no murder.
In either case: that act of abortion has never existed. Either the choice never existed, or Eric never existed.
Here's the punchline. How did God see that act of abortion? What act of abortion? It never existed.
We would be left with the absurd picture of God being unable to see/know things that He Himself has seen/known, because He Himself had undone them.
God knows what Eric's choice will be before time, because that moment of choice happens and He knows the result.
But He cannot know what Eric would have chosen if Eric was somehow never presented with that choice.
This sort of discussion is a very necessary part of the 'problem of evil' - or 'Why does God allow evil to exist?'
One part of the answer is because our good and evil choices cannot be known unless they are allowed to occur.
And also because God creates us once: He does not (for instance) maintain parallel Universes containing different versions of us with different choices, like a tired Star Trek trope.
Hope this was helpful. Very stimulating conversation BTW.
He has this plan and it involves the salvation of the WORLD. It’s involved. Job talks about it.
Would it have been better if God did not tell Noah to build the ark or let Eve listen to Satan? This world is good, not the best, which will come when heaven and earth are one and we live with God.
Eve is still listening to Satan and Adam still listens to Eve.
You also might want to read “Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards. Ironically Yale has a center in honor of this saint.
His wrath will come. I call it “The Manasseh Judgment”
ok thanks, I personally do not believe that God is limited to what we see as logical.
Well, if it happens and I’m alive at the time, I guess I’ll experience it.
Rains on the just and the unjust, as does drought. It is the manner in which we live that carries on after we die.
The hope I have is thinking about how great it will be AFTER God is no longer angry. Actually, it is Jesus who is in control and is angry, too. God gave Him all authority.
The prophecies of the Old Testament Messhiah are what we are facing. He is no longer the servant, but the King. When He returns all His enemies are poof! Well, I think they kill each other. THEN there is true peace and oh, righteous capitalism! NO interest loans! Hahahahahaha!
I don’t believe God is angry.
I don’t believe God is angry.
why wouldn’t He be?
Why would He, it’s His universe, His rules, His plan. He knows everything that’s going to happen. Why be angry at something that is true to it’s nature?...besides, people have been saying the same thing you’re saying for a long, long time and probably will for a long, long time.
His plan, but we are created in His image and that image includes emotions. God gave us the Bible to study and know what His rules are. He specifically states things He hates and warns us of His wrath. He has not changed, and neither has man.
...and we are not all Christians. God creates many different individuals. I trust in His reasoning for that.
Ah, I do take the Bible as the written Word and Jesus as the living Word of God. Also, as He said, that He calls people from every nation, and could raise up people from rocks if He wants.
How do you know God?
I can’t honestly say that I know Him because I don’t know what it means to say I know God. I have faith that He exists and for me, it’s self-evident.
I recommend “Knowing God” by J.I. Packer. Good read.
Sorry it took me so long to get back to you.
I don’t know if you can buy the DVD at Barnes & Noble. It is available on Ebay, some for as low as $1.00. But I resisted, fearing poor quality.
I bought two from the people who produced the documentary. Originally, I viewed it the first time on youtube, but the quality and delivery was shaky, so I bought it online. Order online at: themoneymaster.com.
Do you remember back when we were speculating who was manipulating the strings of Obama the Puppet? This DVD answers that question.
Thanks. I just went to http://www.themoneymaster.com and it said the domain is for sale. Is that what you get when you try to go there too?
Never mind. It just needed an s at the end: http://www.themoneymasters.com
Thanks listenhillary.
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