Excerpt from "Inner Alchemy Astrology"

There are ten types of day masters (your “self” element), one for each of the yin and yang aspects of the five elements--wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. When you read the descriptions of the personalities of the elements later in this chapter you should find much of that character in you, especially if you are a strong day master (someone whose day master element composes a high percentage of their elemental makeup--you can determine this by looking at your chart). By knowing your day master you can see how appropriate your chosen career is, or, if you long for a different life, how much a new career would be suited to you.

There is a yin and a yang version of each element, we could sometimes call the yang version the “big” version of the element and the yin version the “small” one. For example, yang wood can be seen as trees and yin wood can be seen as plants.

However that does not mean that big is better. They are different and are suitable in different situations. Another way to express the difference would be by saying that the yin version is more subtle and the yang version more direct. Imagine them as the following:

- Yang Fire--a big fire, the sun
Yin Fire--a candle, a lamp

- Yang Earth--a mountain, a large quantity of earth, a big dam
Yin Earth--the earth in a potted plant

- Yang Metal--a sword
Yin Metal--jewelry

- Yang Water--a large lake, river
Yin Water--a glass of water, light rain

Although one is larger than the other, they each have their own strengths and different characteristics, while sharing the behavior of their element. Take metal people as an example: Yang metal people are fast to act, acting on their own if necessary; they are often of leader mentality and do not wait to be told what to do. Yin metal people are more subtle and although also decision makers, they can probably wait to read instructions and listen to advice. Yang metal is more cutting, in speech this can come over as brutally blunt. It is the difference between the sword and jewelry.

DOES YOUR CAREER FIT YOUR DAY MASTER ELEMENT?
Each of the five elements have defining characteristics, and most readers will have already found a career in a field that relates to their day master element. Descriptions and compatible careers for the five elements follow; however, it is never as simple as making five titles and giving lists below them of suitable careers. Articles in magazines that divide the world’s population into four or five groups according to the shape of their nose, blood type, or other such criteria can never be anything other than approximate generalizations, whatever the theory behind them.

Taoist astrology describes individuals with almost as much complexity as would their DNA. If two completely identical charts were found, then we could not ignore the person’s environment and circumstances of their life. Heaven, earth, and human luck are always interlinked.

The lists must be interpreted according to the strength of your day master and of other elements in your makeup, the incoming element of the cycles of time, and of course your own earthly environment.

If you do not find yourself in a career defined by your element as below, and you have frustrations around your work, then you might find more harmony by changing to something that fits in with your day master. If you are a weak day master (someone whose day master composes a low percentage of your total elemental makeup) and there is a different element that is obviously dominant in your chart, then you would also be drawn toward something in that element’s compatible career list.

Note that actually using the material of the element could be suitable, but the energy needed to do a certain job is also relevant. For example, for wood people carpentry and wood sculpturing would be obviously suitable, wooden structures would be a good investment, but there is an organized, verbal energy that would be good for lawyers, a competitive streak for sales people, and an empathy with plants that would make working with herbs interesting.

Energy required for some careers within the wood industry might fit in more with other day master elements. The energy of a sales person could involve the skills and love of performing of the fire element, the communication and speaking of the water element, the negotiation and decision-making of the metal element, and, you could even argue, the trust and stability of the earth element. When looking at your career satisfaction you might see where your weak elements indicate certain tasks as outside of your comfort zone.

The following is an example of the traits and career suggestions for wood people.

Wood People: Positive emotions are kindness and generosity; the energy is upward growth and expansion. Strong tempers and frustrations can prevail, as the negative emotions stored in the liver are anger, frustration, envy, jealousy, and stress. They are extroverted, sociable, not often alone, and enjoy seeing a project through to its finish. They can handle pressure and see the greater scheme or future of a plan. They can get irritated by people around them if they are not doing things exactly as prescribed. Although susceptible to stress, they can handle a lot of pressure. Wood is the growing spring energy from the East.

Wood People Careers, Fields, and Materials: Writing, publishing, book-related lines of work, herbs, plants, woodwork, education, accounting, law, planning, teaching.

A student of several Taoist masters, Mantak Chia founded the Healing Tao System in North America in 1979 and developed it worldwide as European Tao Yoga and Universal Healing Tao. He has taught and certified tens of thousands of students and instructors from all over the world and tours the United States annually, giving workshops and lectures. He is the director of the Tao Garden Health Spa and the Universal Healing Tao training center in northern Thailand and is the author of 50 books.

Christine Harkness-Giles is a certified Universal Healing Tao instructor, feng shui consultant, and astrologer. She teaches and consults in feng shui as part of the Feng Shui Research Centre network and leads Inner Alchemy Astrology classes in London, Brussels, Paris, and Hawaii.

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Inner Alchemy Astrology by Mantak Chia and Christine Harkness-Giles © 2013 Destiny Books. Reprinted with permission from the publisher Inner Traditions International. www.InnerTraditions.com