The Calabash is also known as the Ho Lu. It is a very powerful symbol of good fortune as well as longevity. The Calabash is shaped like a bottle gourd. It symbolizes the union of heaven and earth in miniature. The upper half is the heaven and the lower half is the earth. In fact, wealth vases are also shaped like the Calabash.

You can display the real dried gourd in and around your home, which shows that your house is being blessed. The model of a Ho Lu can also be used but it should be made in brass only. It is mainly a cure for health-related problems caused by Flying Star afflictions. The Ho Lu should be placed near the bed of the sick person. Even the God of Longevity is shown to carry a staff with a bottle gourd containing the elixir of immortality hanging at its one end.

The Ho Lu / Calabash is an excellent way to remove/reduce the effects of the sickness star numeral “2! in Flying Star Feng Shui. It is also used in pairs generally. The Ho Lu should certainly be kept in your bedroom during the years when the Annual Flying Star “2! is in your bedroom location.

The location of the Annual Sickness Star ‘2’a particular year is shown by the following table:

YEAR POSITIONS OF ANNUAL FLYING STAR ‘2′

2001     North East
2002     South
2003     North
2004     South West
2005     East
2006     South East

A practical example demonstrating the use of the above table is as follows :

If your bedroom is, say, in the South Zone of your house, then, in the year 2002 the Annual Flying Star 2, which causes illness, is in your room. Hence, to reduce its effect, you should place a pair of Ho Lu/ Calabash near your bed, all through the year 2002. During the year 2003, the Annual Sickness Star ‘2′ will be in the North room of your house, hence the pair of Ho Lu should be shifted to that room in 2003. Please note that for Flying Star calculations, generally, the Chinese Year period is considered from 5th Feb. of that year to 4th Feb. of the subsequent year. E.g. the year 2002 refers to the period between 5th Feb. 2002 up to 4th Feb. 2003 of the English Calendar.

During the years when the Annual Sickness Star ‘2′ is in a location of your house where there is a toilet or a store room, you need not worry, and the use of the Ho Lu as a cure for the Annual Sickness Star ‘2′, is only required whenever the Annual Sickness Star ‘2′, comes to a sector of your house, where there is a bedroom.