I have moments of deep grief about where our world is heading. But when I feel overwhelmed, I turn to deeper time for context, to ground myself in ancient rhythm and cosmic perspective. I wanted to share one ancient framework of Feng Shui that I draw on for love, courage, knowledge, and imagination.
Wayfinding Patterns Through the Eras is a reflective Solstice piece by Dr. Demeter that draws on ancient cosmologies, particularly Chinese Feng Shui to make sense of our current global moment. Exploring two full 180-year cycles, she reveals how the final fire phase we are now in (Period 9) offers not only cultural reckoning but the opportunity to compost 360 years of modernity. With love, courage, and cosmic guidance, this article invites us to dream forward a new Period 1 rooted in life systems remembered from ancient, land-connected cultures across the globe.
By Dr. Demeter
Founder, Magical Farm Tasmania & Regen Era Design
Winter Solstice Almanac Entry, Year Two of Period 9
Throughout this Almanac, I draw upon ancient her-stories and philosophies to orient us toward a future rooted in pattern recognition and planetary rhythm. While much of my regenerative work is inspired by Anthroposophical philosophy, particularly Rudolf Steiner’s great epochs of human and cosmic evolution, here I lean into another lineage of wisdom: Chinese Feng Shui, an art deeply rooted in astronomical and cosmological cycles.
As with many ancient cultures, the Chinese didn’t separate architecture, ethics, and astronomy; they saw them as one flowing mandala. Feng Shui was not just about interior design; it was a practice of attunement to heavenly bodies, earthly forms, and temporal rhythms.
Now, at the turning point of Period 9, we use this system not for fortune-telling, but for wayfinding for remembering that time itself is patterned, not linear. That our current crisis is also an opportunity to compost 360 years of civilisation-building and prepare for the spiritual return of water, community, and care.
Having these cosmic guidelines gives us hope that we are on the right track. We are meant to be letting go of what no longer serves us and dreaming forward a new Period 1 one rooted not in extraction, but in life systems that have long existed in pre-modern cultures across the globe. From Andean ayllus to First Nations kinship laws, from Taoist landscape harmony to the matriarchal rhythms of early Europe these blueprints have not disappeared. They are waiting.
Period 9 helps us see them again. Fire clears the way for memory to return. not for fortune-telling, but for wayfinding, for remembering that time itself is patterned, not linear. That our current crisis is also an opportunity to compost 360 years of civilisation-building and prepare for the spiritual return of water, community, and care.
Two Feng Shui Cycles: A Compass for Civilisation
In Classical Flying Star Feng Shui, time is woven into 9 periods of 20 years each, forming a grand 180-year cycle. We are now living through the final chapter of one of these cycles: Period 9 (2024–2044). But to understand the magnitude of this moment, we must look back two full cycles, 360 years of human transformation.
Cycle One (1864–2044): The Industrial Epoch
Period 1 (1864–1884): Water ⛅️ — flow, birth — Dawn of modernity, mechanisation, steam.
Period 2 (1884–1904): Earth ⛰️ — grounding, resource — Colonial expansion, land enclosure, railways.
Period 3 (1904–1924): Thunder ⚡️ — uprising, youth — War, nationalism, cities surge.
Period 4 (1924–1944): Wind 🌬️ — change, movement — Economic depression, fascism, mass propaganda.
Period 5 (1944–1964): Earth ⛰️ — centre, planning — Post-war order, suburbia, welfare states.
Period 6 (1964–1984): Heaven ☁️ — structure, vision — Cold War, fossil fuels, industrial peak.
Period 7 (1984–2004): Lake 🌊 — reflection, pleasure — Neoliberalism, digitisation, global markets.
Period 8 (2004–2024): Mountain ⛰ — stillness, retreat — Data capitalism, ecological warnings, burnout.
Period 9 (2024–2044): Fire 🔥 — truth, purification — Cultural reckoning, illumination, spiritual fire.
Summary: This is the end of a civilisation forged by extraction, empire, and speed. We are now in the Fire Era, a time to burn what no longer serves and tend the sacred hearth of culture.
Another Begins (2044–2224): The Return to the Waters
Period 1 (2044–2064): Water ⛅️ — spiritual depth — Return of wisdom, land-based healing.
Period 2 (2064–2084): Earth ⛰️ — collective design — Bioregional systems, reciprocity, rooted life.
Period 3 (2084–2104): Thunder ⚡️ — activation, youth — Decentralised tech, cultural renewal from below.
Period 4 (2104–2124): Wind 🌬️ — storytelling, movement — Regenerative education, memory work, kin-making.
Periods 5–9 (2124–2224): To be composted and dreamt. The unknown futures seeded now. To be composted and dreamt | The unknown futures seeded now
Summary: This next cycle will not be built on concrete and code alone. It must be designed from the compost of care, memory, and place.
Regen Era Design: Tending the Fire of Period 9
We are one year into Period 9, the final 20-year chapter before the cycle turns. This is not just a turning of time, but a turning of civilisation.
Regen Era Design (Magical farm’s design studio) lives here:
In the fire of cultural renewal.
In the compost of old systems.
In the preparation of vessels for the waters to come.
We are not trend-makers. We are future-weavers.
Let us design for 2044 with love, courage, knowledge, imagination and vision. It is the portal.