Believe it or not, your fate is written on your face. Appearance versus reality? Here, if anywhere, we find a happy coincidence. The fact is that for 3,000 years, Chinese masters of face reading have relied on the facial structures, shapes and features of their clients to accurately predict the fortune of the latter in terms of wealth, relations, career, health, family, travel, and whatnot.
Indeed, there is much more to be read in one's face than meets an outsider's eyes. Your face is not just the appearance; it is a significant indicator of what you have been, you are and you will be. It is legitimate to regard beauty as skin-deep, but it will be decidedly, if not fatally, wrong to adopt the same attitude towards one's facial structure. There is a whole world of precious information written on it. Of course, it is written in a special language, and it takes special training to decode it. Until now, only a few can claim mastery of that language, albeit it was developed 3,000 years ago in China, because it has been kept a secret ever since.
As a third generation practitioner of the art of face reading in my family, I often surprise my clients with my ability to tell exactly what had happened in their past private lives. The typical response from them is, "Man, you hit everything on the nose." The thing is that I am an outsider of psychology, and there is no psychological reasoning whatsoever involved in my reading. Call it the sixth sense or the third eye, if you want, the fact is that face reading, or physiognomy, is a full-fledged art deeply rooted in the rich soil of Chinese civilization. Its framework is made up of the following principles.
First, the Principle of Yin and Yang. This is a basic Chinese way of thinking, which regards everything, including the universe, as of two poles -- yin and yang. Thus, the earth is yin while the heaven is yang; the night is yin while the day is yang. Such a list of opposites can run virtually as long as an encyclopedia. In face reading, for instance, a strict demarcation is drawn between the male and female, which speaks nothing of gender superiority or inferiority, but everything of the fate one is born with.
Second, the Principle of the Five Elements. The ancient Chinese believed that the universe and all the products in it are composed of the five basic elements: wood, fire, water, metal and earth. Interestingly, they also thought that man's fate is a combination of these elements, too. The relations between the five elements are at once mutually productive and mutually destructive. In terms of mutual production, we see water begetting wood, wood begetting fire, fire begetting earth, earth begetting metal, and metal begetting water, thus completing the cycle of mutual production. On the other hand, water quenches fire, fire melts metal, metal cuts wood, wood conquers earth, and earth stops water, thus completing the cycle of mutual destruction. It is this dual relationship among the five basic elements that keeps the universe functioning and in balance.
From a physiognomic viewpoint, the five elements stand for five major facial features, complexions, and shapes. Thus, earth stands for nose, water for the mouth, fire the forehead, metal the eyes, and wood the ears. Again, a square face belongs to metal, a round one to water, a long one to wood, so on so forth. Each face must be individually evaluated on the basis of the five elements before accurate conclusions can be drawn.
Third, the Principle of Theriology. An interesting and important feature of the Chinese art of face reading lies in the analogy between animals and human beings. That is to say, to the extent that people have a resemblance to one kind of animal, they assume certain characteristics of that animal. Here, the animal is used as a point of reference in the judgment of human affairs.
Fourth, the Principle of Harmony. The Confucian principle of harmony is heavily utilized in face reading. Masters of face divination hold that facial features in harmony with or complementary to each other are a sign of prosperity. In light of this principle, some features are not favorable when taken alone but can be considered favorable because of their harmony with other features. Take length, for example. A long nose is normally considered a favorable feature, but if it is set in a short face, it becomes unfavorable because it is out of harmony with the entire structure.
Fifth, the Principle of Implicitness. Strange to say, the art of Chinese face reading goes beyond pure facial or obvious features. A professional master of face-reading will definitely look at many other implicit features, facial or non-facial, before he arrived at his comprehensive conclusion. These implicit features are often neglected by neophytes due to their ignorance of the significance of such features or to the very implictness of these features. But they cannot escape the sharp eyes and ears of a master reader. For instance, it is my professional habit to not only examine the facial structures and features of my clients, but also carefully watch the way they sit, walk, and laugh; how much they weigh, how tall they are, so on so forth. Moreover, I make big use of my ears in the reading of others' fortunes. I listen carefully to how they talk and laugh. Probably to your surprise, the art of Chinese face reading holds that the sound one makes in speech and laugh bears heavily on his or her fortune. Thus you can see that the approach a master reader takes in arriving at conclusions is really a holistic one.
Sixth, the Principle of Location. Not only male and female should be distinguished in the practice of physiognomy, but also the location where one is born should be taken into account. Chinese physiognomy holds that people from a certain area take with them, or are supposed to take with them, certain geographic features characteristic of that area. For one thing, different parts of the face have different geographic orientations. Thus, the forehead stands for the south, the chin for the north, the nose for the central area, so on so forth. This implies the significance of the harmony between one's facial features and one's geographic background.
In addition to these broad principles, there are numerous rules regarding each facial feature in terms of good or bad, lucky or unlucky. For instance, the Chinese art of face reading classifies noses into 24 different types, each carrying with it special meaning and interpretation. It is no easy task just to learn all these rules, not to mention applying them in combination with the above-mentioned principles. Granted that experience is important in any field of human endeavor, it is all the more so in face reading. It is this profound understanding and combination of numerous factors, rules and exceptions that makes the Chinese face reading a difficult art in the true sense of the word.
In a time of increasing uncertainty and a world of rapid change, this ancient Chinese art will prove its great value to both individuals and organizations in their decision making process, if that individual happens to be the CEO of a company or a president of a country.
Henry Lin is one of the best known Chinese experts in face/birthday reading as well as feng shui design. For 20 years, he has been providing quality services to people from different countries. His reading is highly accurate, and his feng shui design is very effective. Henry can be reached at (206) 634-1816.
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