People often find it hard to believe that a BaZi consultant would well, see a astrological consultant. But just like doctor’s don’t operate on themselves, and lawyer’s hire other lawyers when they get into trouble, so a BaZi consultant should well, consult other consultants (not necessarily BaZi ones – one should be…open minded) in order to make sure we’re reading things right, as opposed to biased right (or wrong as it were).

Recently I had the opportunity to have a consult with a BaZi Sifu who is very well-regarded in Metaphysics circles in Hong Kong. It was done out of curiosity rather than anything else and also I hoped that I would learn something from the experience. Ya, we consultants are also curious to know what ‘tricks’ other consultants have.

(tricks here doesn’t mean gimmicks – rather, I’m referring to techniques or methodologies that the consultant may have developed over the years, from their own research. All consultants generally have their own ‘theories’ which are not found in books but are the product of both experience and case study tracking).

It was an interesting experience because the consult was done together with another friend, who had some basic BaZi knowledge and who also had a consult done by a different Consultant, and who was also looking for some verification or alternative perspective.

(note, alternative perspective DOES NOT mean assuming the 1st consultant is wrong. Each consultant brings a different perspective to a consult because they are different people. Generally, two consultants should be able to agree on the fundamental analysis of the chart – they may however have different perspectives on how the person should best utilise the strengths and deal with the weaknesses of the chart.)

For me, it offered an up an interesting exercise in being on the other side of the table as it were. It is a valuable exercise – consultants need the occasional reality check ourselves but it is also good to see things from the client’s perspective, so that we may better our own consulting technique.

In any case, the purpose of this post is NOT to discuss the Consultant’s techniques or consulting style, but to offer up some takeaways to readers who are considering a consultation with a BaZi consultant (or a Feng Shui consultant for that matter).

#1: Control the Consultation

When I went to the consultation, I asked the consultant to split the time as follows: 30 minutes for her to read the chart, and 30 minutes for questions. She immediately told me to skip the read, and go straight to the questions.

By contrast, my friend allowed her to ramble on a bit and was reluctant to interrupt the Consultant, thereby allowing the consultant to eat up time telling her things which whilst they were useful, had overtones of being stock replies.

Many clients come into the consultation passive. They expect to be told what to do. This is a huge mistake. Whilst I’m not suggesting in any way that clients should dictate the consult, I think a lot of clients would do better to control the consult with a little more active participation.

The most basic form in which this manifests itself is coming with questions of both a broad and specific nature, on a specific subject matter. Allow the consultant some leeway to give you their opinion, but be prepared after that to engage them on various points in order to benefit fully from the consultation.

For example, you may have a broad question along the lines of: am I in the right profession. This is a Yes/No answer. So, to ‘help’ the consultant along, you should offer up specific details about what it is that you do and the exact nature of your job. Then depending on the answer, indicate if there are alternatives (specific alternatives) that you are thinking about.

#2: Provide ENOUGH background, but not TOO MUCH.

All consultants deploy a measure of observation and psychology in their work. If you give too many details, sometimes you inadvertently create a situation where the consultant knows TOO MUCH, and thus, you cannot get a true ‘Oracle’ answer because of subject bias/prejudice.

What is an Oracle answer? An Oracle answer is essentially the purest form of answer possible. It is derived without any bias or prejudice in the mind of the person who gives the answer because they don’t know enough to develop a subject bias or prejudice.

This is quite hard to do and it is I admit a challenge to offer up ENOUGH but not TOO MUCH information. The best thing to do here is to try to paint the scenario in broad-ish strokes, and then as the consultant gives you their opinion, add details.

So start with a broad situation – ie: I’m trying to achieve success with this project [broadish general description]. If the consultant says, okay, you can succeed, then start to add details about say challenges you’ve faced on the project, or issues with partners (offer up their DM if you can).

#3 Ask for Specific Steps You Can Take

This will also to some degree give you an idea of how good the consultant is at translating BaZi speak to what I call, Humanese (ie: normal people speak). Some consultants are remarkably skilled at interpreting the technicalities of a chart but have difficulty translating that into the real world. A lot of this is dictated by factors that are unrelated to their technical skill and knowledge, but have to do with their outlook (broad vs narrow) or the worldliness of their mindset (insular or open). It’s very important to PIN DOWN from the consultant what are specific things that you CAN DO (and correspondingly, should avoid) in the immediate short term of the year, and maybe the next 1-5 years. A consultant should be able to offer a fairly specific list of dos and don’ts in a given year, and broad overarching ‘life advice’, based on what elements are useful to you in the chart.