Walking along a pathway in Desa Park City, I fish out my mobile and jab Sifu Sabrina’s number. “Hello? Sabrina? Where’re you? I’m near the pavilion.”
“I’m with my dogs!” A pause. “Ah! I see you now!”
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I saunter towards her and stop a few feet away. “So, can you give your predictions for the twelve animal signs?”
“Sorry, not this year.” She starts to walk towards Three Little Birds Coffee and I stride along. “I’m giving too many freebies to your blog. For this year, I’ll just predict how the different businesses will fare.”
We sit at a table in the café and order cakes and coffee. Sabrina puts her doggies on the empty chair next to her and, soon, our orders arrive.
I sit upright and cross my legs at the knees. “Can we start with the good?”
“Wood-element industries will perform well. That sector includes publishing, plantations, furniture stores, fabric factories, fashion designers, bookstores, healthcare professionals such as doctors and sinseh, and private colleges.” She lifts her cup of latte and takes a sip. “The metal-element businesses will also be strong. Examples are banks, loan sharks, goldsmiths, mechanical engineering firms, hardware stores and motor repair workshops. The fire-element businesses will be smooth but there will not be big gains. They include electronics, IT, entertainment, lighting stores, oil companies, and restaurants.”
My gaze fuses with hers. “Why you say that?”
“In the Hsia calendar, the year of the dog is symbolized by Yang earth atop a Dog.
So the Earth element is prominent this year.” She arches her eyebrows. “Wood destroys earth, so the earth element symbolizes money to wood-element industries.”
I take a piece of cake from a plate between us and start to eat. “Which kind of businesses will fare badly?”
“Water-element businesses will be in the doldrums.” Sabrina tosses her gaze at her dogs for a moment and strokes their back. “Money to the earth element is symbolized by water which is absent. So, challenging times are faced by ice cream factories, beauty and health spas, casinos, fisheries, cleaning services, bubble tea stores, shipping companies and suppliers of refrigerated products such as fruits and fishes. However, among the five elements, the earth-element business will be the worst. Examples are real estate, property developers, architects, pet stores, and pottery.”
I tear my gaze away from her eyes with great difficulty. “What are some of the important things to take note of for year of the Dog?”
“The lucky hours for Dog year are 3 am – 5 am, known as Tiger hours; 5 am – 7 am, called the Rabbit hours; 11 am – 1 pm, referred to as Horse hours; and 7 pm to 9 pm, regarded as the Dog hours.” Sabrina brushes stray strands of hair from her forehead. “Lucky numbers are 3, 4 and 9. Lucky colours are green, purple and red.” Her expression becomes serious. “There will be earth-related natural disasters like earthquakes and underground mining mishaps. Also, avoid travelling in underground subways. Several foreign cities like Hong Kong have them." She leans back on the chair. ”Finally, I’ve said before that one should be careful of the North direction which will be a trouble spot. So…if your front door faces north, here’s what you can do – hang a wind chime with six metal tubes under the door. Another feng shui object you can display is a five-element pagoda.”
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