With historical roots in animistic shamanism, Chinese Astrology developed over millennia as a way of understanding the ongoing, interconnected cycle of all that arises and resolves in Nature. Every thing and every being that “appears” in Nature does so for a period of time. That period of time is imbued or imprinted with a particular kind of qi quality. Every being/thing that is “born” during that period of time shares in the qi quality of that period of time. We might call it the qi character of the Ba Zi, the four pillars (hour, day, month and year of birth) or we might call it the natal chart of Zi Wei Dou Shu, Polestar Astrology.
What characterizes that being or period of time with a certain qi quality, is not anything inherently abiding in of itself, but the fact that it follows after the arising and disappearance of another being/period of time. Nothing much is actually revealed from their own appearance as such but rather in how they move from one to another throughout the cycle of time. It is only in this movement from one to another that they come into being/appearance and thus become meaningful.
The way things move from the view of Chinese Astrology is not linear, with things just getting better and better. There’s no peak we’re trying to get to, no goal we’re trying to accomplish, no origin and no end. The only completion is seeing the whole picture. The wisdom is in understanding the big picture, the pattern, the cycle. This cycle is generating our nature.
Each one of us experiences this cycle, every hour, every day, every month, every year. As we experience the movement of these qualities, the measure of our conduct and character is how we calibrate to these patterns. We are not isolated entities moving through these patterns as separate from ourselves. These patterns are also how we ourselves come into appearance every hour, every day, every month, every year. They reciprocally mirror how we ourselves are a rhythm that is transforming and shifting and adapting continually.
If we can tap into that understanding, then we can see we always have this connection to this natural wisdom (gan ying – resonance/reciprocity). It is part and parcel of what we are. What we are is this rhythm, this pattern. Our ability to do this process of transformation and adaptation is part of what it means to be human and inherent within our humanity is the possibility of discovering the wisdom in our natural condition.
Zi Wei Dou Shu, Polestar Astrology, is an ancient system of fate calculation continuously developed over three millennia and highly refined during the Song Dynasty into the system generally practiced today. It is also a system which was originally practiced alongside Chinese Medicine to give greater breadth and depth to everything from ancestral inheritance to the constitution and prognosis of a patient.
Polestar Astrology offers us the opportunity of understanding the dynamic play, interdependence, and transformation of fate, freedom, and destiny as we walk through the twelve houses or palaces of your chart (which each represent a different aspect or dimension of a person’s life). It references Five Element theory, the Ten Heavenly Stems and Twelve Earthly Branches/Zodiac Animals. Particular emphasis will be given to understanding one’s “Qi character” - the year and hour stem and branch/zodiac pillars of your birth.
Consultations are one-and-a-half hours long and require a person's exact time, date, and location of birth. Tamara usually recommends that clients bring a recording device of some kind with them. It is often quite helpful to have access to these recordings weeks, months, even years after these sessions. She has found these consultations to be of great benefit to her patients for their own self-reflection and process of healing. Appointments generally book anywhere from 2 to 8 months in advance.