Every area of a house can be viewed uniquely according to Feng Shui theory, with some rooms being more important than others just based on the amount of time spent in those locations.







Q. What exactly is Feng Shui ?
Generally known as having something to do with harmonizing your living space to improve your life, Feng Shui became in the last decade a sort of miraculous cure for all our problems. Who hasn’t heard about placing ancient Chinese coins in the wealth sector to benefit of great abundance in its life?

Feng Shui is much more than Chinese symbols, space clearing or specific sectors of our home. According to the dictionary, Feng Shui is defined as “rules in Chinese philosophy that govern spatial arrangement and orientation to patterns of Yin and Yang and the flow of energy (Qi); the favorable or unfavorable effects are taken into consideration in designing and setting buildings and graves and furniture”.

Another common view of Feng Shui is to say that it is synonym of Geomancy. Let’s have a look at the dictionary. It says that Geomancy is a “divination by means of signs connected with the earth (as points taken at random or the arrangement of particles thrown down at random or from the configuration of a region and its relation to another)”. It is clear from this definition that Feng Shui has nothing to do with Geomancy.

But what about the fact that Feng Shui Masters can predict what will happen in the future, using Feng Shui? One of the systems used in Classical Feng Shui is the Flying Stars system. It takes not only the space but also the time into consideration. This allows the prediction of what could happen in the future. It is clear that, knowing in advance possible mishaps gives us the opportunity to make the appropriate changes to avoid them.

According to the definition of Feng Shui, the rules that govern spatial arrangement gave place to various systems or methods, also called schools, of Feng Shui. This is the point where the confusion starts.

Why are there so many different Feng Shui systems and/or schools? Nowadays, there are so many Feng Shui books that it is almost impossible for the novice to make a choice and deciding which book we should buy. We will find books about Classical or Traditional Feng Shui, Flying Stars Feng Shui, Ba Zhai Feng Shui, the Bagua, space and clutter clearing etc.


Q. What is Classical or Traditional Feng Shui ?
Classical or Traditional Feng Shui is the umbrella term for the compass school and the landform/landscape school of Feng Shui. These are the most accurate systems. The Compass school includes the Ba Zhai or 8 Mansions system and the Xuan Kong or Flying Stars system.

Another method that appeared in the last decade is the famous 8 Aspirations system. As so many books have been written about this Feng Shui system, it became rapidly the only method to use. Going further, to easily make Feng Shui understandable and applicable everywhere, some Feng Shui authors use the application of this method without even taking into account the accurate compass directions.

Experience showed me that if you really want to apply Feng Shui seriously to your home or business and take the most advantage of it, you should use the compass school and the landform school. Certainly, you can start clearing your clutter and apply the 8 Aspiration systems to improve your quality of life, but it is only an infinite part of what Feng Shui can bring you.

Q. What are the yearly feng shui updates and why do they matter ?
Ans. The yearly feng shui updates are also known as the yearly movement of feng shui stars. In feng shui, there is a school that calculates the movement of various energies, called stars. You can calculate the movement of energies by the year, month, day and even by the hour. Kind of like astrology, but dealing with the feng shui energies of your house. The confusion usually arises when according to the yearly update you have to introduce a feng shui element that is generally not recommended in a specific Bagua area.

Q. How do you apply the yearly feng shui updates ?
Ans. First, it is always helpful to understand the reason behind any yearly feng shui cure you are about to apply. Second, always choose cures, or decor elements, that work well in your house. Rushing to buy Chinese cures on-line because they are supposed to protect you from a potential catastrophe is just not intelligent. Unless, of course, you know exactly what you are doing and the specific traditional cure - be it a Pi Yao or a Rhinoceros - is what you truly do not mind seeing all year round in your house.

Q. How do you apply the yearly feng shui updates ?
Ans. These transition rooms are like the arteries of the house. They should be relatively bright and not too narrow or cluttered. A chronically dark hallway should have a skylight or artificial light on. Ideally, hallways should not be excessively long, unless there are many rooms off the hallway where the doors can remain open.


Q. What is Beneficial Annual Feng Shui Star ?
Ans. The star # 4 - so called star of Romance and Education - is a beneficial star of Wood element. When this star visits any Bagua area, you want to support its element by bringing a Water element cureas Water feeds the Wood in the five element productive cycle. For example, in 2009 the star # 4 was located in the South area, this is why colors blue and black (Water elementcolors) were recommended. It was also recommended to limit a strong Fire element, as you do not want to burn the lucky star (Fire burns the Wood.)

However, knowing that South area is a Fire element area, did that mean that you had to completely re-decorate it for good feng shui in 2009? No, of course not. What you had to do was be sure that the Fire element was not the strongest, or the predominant element of the South area in 2009. So, if you had a coral red or rich orange feature wall, you could bring beautiful aqua blue accessories and actually create a stunning, Martha Stewart-like color combination for the South bagua area. Or, you could have had a mirror there in 2009, or artwork with clear water.

Q. What is Challenging Annual Feng Shui Star ?
Ans. The 5 yellow star is a challenging star of Earth feng shui element. In 2009 this star was visiting the North area of your Bagua. As this is a potentially troublesome star, you had to focus on weakening it, so your cures were Metal element cures, as Metal weakens Earth in the destructive cycle of the five feng shui elements. You brought the desired Metal element in the North in 2009 with many round metal frames, round being the shape of the feng shui Metal element. A beautiful sculpture made from numerous metal rings worked, too. Or maybe the wallpaper you had on the feature wall in the North had a stunning movement of various size circles, all in silver and white colors (Metal element colors.) You get the idea. In conclusion, let me illustrate the yearly feng shui movement of energies (stars) with the following example. Let's imagine that your house has 9 rooms, each room representing a specific area of the Bagua. You like to use the rooms in a certain way (i.e. have specific elements in specific areas.)


Q. Are the two elements identical ?
Ans. Sometimes yes and sometimes no. The element of our Ming Gua is not identical to the element of our animal in Chinese astrology. But it can happen that both are equal.

2008 is the year of the water rat and children born this year will have the water element. But in Feng Shui, the calculation of Ming Gua makes the difference between men and women. Thus, boys born in 2008 will have the water element and girls born in 2008 will have the earth element. As we can see, the Ming Gua is the same for boys but different for girls.

Another example is that of persons born in 1982: the element of the Chinese animal is water, but the Ming Gua for men is the fire element and for women is the metal element. Thus, we can have three different elements for the same year.
It is clear that the element of the animal in Chinese astrology is not synonymous to the element of our Ming Gua.


Q. Should we give great importance to photo frames ?
Ans. How important are photo frames depends on several factors. The first thing to take into consideration is the frame itself. The frame represents an element depending on its color, shape or element itself. Thus, a wooden frame obviously represents the wood element. Thus, we must take into account the element of the frame for a given sector.

Another aspect is the photo. This is rather important in the 8 Aspirations system. In the relationship area, for example, it is appropriate to put photos of couples. And in the family area are more appropriate family photos. Beyond the 8 Aspirations system, we must bear in mind the Flying Stars and put photos of couples, families or children in appropriate sectors depending on the Stars of the sector. Once again, we must first analyze our house to see which the appropriate elements for each sector are and depending on them we use the elements in decoration, including the photo frames.

Q. An expensive Feng Shui consultation will be better than a cheap Feng Shui consultation ?
Ans. The price may be an indication to use when comparing, but is not necessarily synonymous with quality. Here, too, it is a criterion set by the Feng Shui consultant. Each consultant has to assess what is an appropriate price when it comes to fix it.

A Feng Shui consultation will improve your life quality, if implemented correctly. The influence of Feng Shui in our lives is only one third, thus we should not expect miracles. What we can expect as a result is a favorable change in our life, whether personal or professional, which allows us to live better. This includes improvements in health, improvement in our relations, improvements in our work and economic improvements.

Q. Do I need a special compass to do feng shui ?
A. You do not need any kind of compass to practice contemporary Western feng shui or to apply the principles taught in "Fast Feng Shui" to your home. This is one of the great advantages of this style of feng shui.

The compass school method of feng shui does use a compass, and special feng shui compasses are available for those who wish to use them although a standard compass from your local sporting goods store will work as well.

Analyzing the lucky and unlucky sectors of your home according to the Eight Directions method requires knowing with some degree of accuracy which direction your home faces, but a few degrees of variation one way or the other will not matter quite as much as it does for the compass method.