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Divination
in the
Southern Hemisphere

Turning things around!

Many things are affected by living in the Southern Hemisphere.
For a start:
  • north means hot and south means cold
  • the sun's path in the sky is anti-clockwise from East to West
  • wind direction is affected as high pressure weather systems rotate anti-clockwise and low pressure systems clockwise
  • the moon waxes from left to right

    Phases of the Moon as seen in the Southern Hemisphere Phases of the Moon as seen in the Southern Hemisphere Phases of the Moon as seen in the Southern Hemisphere Phases of the Moon as seen in the Southern Hemisphere Phases of the Moon as seen in the Southern Hemisphere

  • the Winter Solstice is in June and the Summer Solstice is in December
  • Autumn is March, April, May and Spring is September, October, November.
For us Southerners this is all perfectly natural and as it should be. The Northern Hemisphere seems positively unnatural and often unnerving (although of course, the Northern Hemisphere phenomena are well-known and familiar in theory as reference books are almost all written in the North.)

Of course, for those who live on the equator, all this is irrevelant, as both North and South lead to colder climates and the water doesn't mess about; it just goes straight down that drainhole. Forget four seasons and drawn out periods of dusk and dawn, these concepts don't exist in equatorial nature.

Many forms of divination are affected by this. Even though the majority of people import Northern Hemisphere divination systems without change, there are others who have found good results after adapting their particular system to Southern Hemisphere use.

Astrology has always had to be adjusted for Southern Hemisphere births. For example, for southern latitudes, you need to:

  • calculate the local sidereal time of birth as for northern latitudes,
  • add 12 hours,
  • if the result is over 24 hours then subtract 24 hours,
  • look up the Table of Houses for the equivalent northern latitude (ie. for 56º south look up 56º north),
  • look up the ascendant and midheaven,
  • reverse the signs: Pisces becomes Virgo, Taurus becomes Scorpio.

NorthernSouthern
1. Rat7. Horse
2. Ox8. Sheep
3. Tiger9. Monkey
4. Rabbit10. Rooster
5. Dragon11. Dog
6. Snake12. Pig
7. Horse1. Rat
8. Sheep2. Ox
9. Monkey3. Tiger
10. Rooster4. Rabbit
11. Dog5. Dragon
12. Pig6. Snake

Feng Shui is also adjusted for Southern Hemisphere directions and vortices. For example, the ba gua is usually read in a clockwise direction (see below). However, in the Southern Hemisphere it is read naturally in an anti-clockwise direction.

Authors Sherrill and Chu first proposed the concept of changing the principles of Feng Shui for use in the Southern Hemisphere in the seventies. Since then authors Roger Green and Hermann von Essen have further elaborated on the reasons why and how to adapt to Southern hemisphere living according to the principles of Feng Shui.

According to Roger Green,

  • The Nine Star Ki year starts on the 6th or 7th August.
  • The cycle of 60 Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches differs (see table).
  • The animals proceed anti-clockwise over the Chinese compass.
According to "Feng Shui in the Southern Hemisphere" by Hermann von Essen (2000, Axiom Publishing),
  • Feng Shui attributes associated with climatic north and south directions swap positions.
  • Feng Shui attributes associated with natural vortices reverse rotational direction.
  • Feng Shui attributes associated with east and west directions remian the same.
  • Feng Shui attributes associated with planetary and cosmic influences remain the same.
For example, instead of dwellings being positioned so that they are open to the cold winds from the south and closed to the warmth of the sun in the north, as according to traditional Feng Shui, the red phoenix (yang/fire) is positioned in the hot north and black tortoise (yin/water) in the cold south.

Vaastu Shastra is a complicated issue. For example, staircases should wind up in a clockwise direction presumably because this is a natural vortex in the northern hemisphere, however in the southern hemisphere this is unnatural.

I have also read that because the vastu concepts are based on cosmological diagrams rather than terrestrial ones, they are usually left unchanged by the change in hemispheres. However, if vastu associates heat with south then this is logically wrong in Australia. ie. Agneya corner is southeast for heat but in Australia this is usually a cold damp position.

As the popularity of vastu shastra spreads into countries of the southern hemisphere, more studies by vastu professionals should definitively clear up these issues.

The eight major Wiccan celebrations occur on these dates in the Southern Hemisphere:

  • Litha (Summer Solstice) December 20-23
  • Lammas February 2
  • Mabon (Autumn Equinox) March 20-23
  • Samhain (Halloween) May 1
  • Yule (Winter Solstice) June 20-23
  • Imbolc August 1
  • Ostara (Spring Equinox) September 20-23
  • Beltane October 31
Some Wiccans also change the directions and vortices as well. The direction for creating becomes anti-clockwise (widdershin) and the direction for banishing becomes clockwise (deosil). North is Fire and South is Earth.

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