Feng shui is an ancient practice of planning in order to achieve harmony with the natural environment. In ancient China, traditional feng shui covered the overall layout of towns, villages, homes and farm buildings. Two main currents of feng shui shape the modern version of this art. The main current is authentic Chinese feng shui, based on the achievements of the traditional Compass School.
It is an ancient practice of planning to create harmony with the natural environment. In ancient China it shaped the overall layout of towns, villages and buildings. It was called geomancy, because it also covered protecting buildings from evil spirits.
The principle of yin and yang is the first principle of feng shui. Yin is regarded as feminine, passive and weak, and yang as masculine, active and strong. This model is used to explain the structure and order of the universe and the changes that take place within it.
There is a cycle of five elements.
The areas of life are career, knowledge, family, wealth, fame, marriage, children and helpful people. Each area is assigned special symbols that strengthen that sphere of life.
Feng shui is most often applied in everyday life at home. We arrange furniture and mirrors in the right positions so as not to disturb the proper rhythm.
Colours also matter in feng shui. One of the simplest ways to bring energy into a room is to use the right colour. Each colour corresponds to one of the five elements. Depending on the kind of energy a room needs, we should choose the right colour for the walls, furniture and so on.
Feng shui is also the art of attracting love. The compass zones, which are linked to particular feng shui elements, are very important here.
In the south-west part of your house or flat, place crystals, a lamp or a chandelier, as well as candles, which kindle relationships. Pink bedding brings a subtle yang energy that strengthens love. Hanging pictures or photographs of a couple in the room is another good use of feng shui.
Water – in a container or in a vase of flowers – placed in the south-west zone of a room can be a great help in matters of passion.
Feng shui has become quite a fashionable field. At first glance it seems fairly easy to understand, but in reality it is not. To make full use of its knowledge, you need to read a great deal. Over time you will notice that there are many inconsistencies in the thinking of the various feng shui schools.
In feng shui there are a few important mistakes that almost everyone makes.
Don’t leave dirty things, old newspapers or objects tossed into a corner around you – they cause your energy to scatter.
Don’t keep exercise equipment in the bedroom, as it does not create an atmosphere for romance. Pale, bare walls are also bad: such unused space lowers your capacity for creative thinking.
The toilet should always be closed – meaning the toilet lid. When it is open, energy drains out of the house along with your money.
Cleaning your windows is also very important.
The kitchen is there to be cooked in, not to gleam unused.
If a tap is dripping in your home, fix it as soon as possible: according to feng shui, it is a sign that your energy and that of your household is ebbing away.
This current originated in China around 3,000 years ago. The second current, the so-called BHS – the Black Hat Sect – draws on Tantric Buddhism. This movement arose in the United States just a few decades ago, with no respect for tradition, which led to feng shui principles being watered down.
When tackling a feng shui problem, we often face a dilemma: take it seriously and make changes that are often costly, or just hang up a few crystals and ribbons? Personally, I stand by the tradition of original feng shui. Today’s distortions achieve nothing, because they disturb the true identity of feng shui. I will try to present the main current of feng shui from China. At the heart of this philosophy lies the belief that everything is energy, which is constantly changing. In the first phase of the division of this energetic unity of the world, we speak of two energies: yin and yang. A person can lead a happy life only when these two energies are in harmony.
The concept of yin and yang describes two opposing yet mutually complementary forces that can be found throughout the universe.
Yin (literally “the shady place, the northern slope (of a hill), the southern bank (of a river), cloudiness, darkness”) is represented by black and the Moon. It stands for passivity, submissiveness, sadness, cold and winter, and symbolises the feminine aspect of nature, introversion and even numbers; it corresponds to night and to the po soul. Yin is symbolised by water or earth.
The feminine side, dark and passive
Yang (literally “the sunny place, the southern slope (of a hill), the northern bank (of a river), sunlight”) is represented by white and the Sun. It stands for strength, activity, joy, warmth and summer, and symbolises the masculine aspect of nature, extroversion and odd numbers; it corresponds to day, the sky and the hun soul. Yang is symbolised by fire or wind.
The masculine side, bright and active
The union of yin and yang is the cause of the creation and transformation of all things. From them arise the five elements (fire, water, metal, wood and earth), and from these elements everything else arises.
The most important exposition of the doctrine of yin and yang is the Book of Changes, the I Ching. The doctrine of yin and yang is an important part of the cosmological and natural-philosophical speculation of Taoism and Neo-Confucianism.
Everything can be described in terms of both forces, yin and yang.
1. Yin and yang do not exclude each other.
Feng shui is mainly the art of arranging space properly. Its main premise is dividing a house or flat into nine zones: career, knowledge, family, wealth, fame, marriage, creativity, health and helpful people.
How you arrange these zones depends on what you want to achieve, what you want to change and what problem you want to solve.
PLANTS in feng shui
We all have a plant or two at home, so we can check whether feng shui’s recommendations hold true. Plants belong to yin energy, unlike houses, rocks and objects, which are yang. A person can be happy only when yin and yang are in harmony, so things go badly when there are too few of some plants and too many of others. Imbalance leads to a poor distribution of energy. People fall ill more often when they live in the midst of a dense, overgrown jungle – and also when they live in a desert.
There is a second division of the world’s energetic unity: energy divides into five elements – Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.
All plants belong to the Wood element.
Wood creates Fire, Fire creates Earth, Earth creates Metal, Metal creates Water, and Water creates Wood.
The opposite of this is the destructive cycle, in which Fire destroys Wood, Earth destroys Fire, and so on.
The second premise of feng shui says that every space used by people forms a whole that can be divided into nine parts. Three parts belong to the Earth element, two to Metal, and one each to Water and Fire. All the areas and their corresponding elements have been assigned compass directions.
- WATER – north
9. FIRE – south
Plants grow best in the east and south-east, and worst in the north-west and west.
So when it comes to using plants in feng shui, the relationships between the elements are what matter most.
When choosing plants, and especially flowers, you should not combine elements in a conflicting way. So there should be no red-and-white or yellow-and-blue bouquets, because these pairs of elements do not tolerate each other. The same applies to choosing a flowerpot. If you pick a white pot (white represents Metal) and put a plant (Wood) in it, the arrangement is not good, because the two elements will clash. Navy blue pots (Water) or brick-red ones (Fire) are better, because these colours are not in conflict with the plant.
Conifers, on the other hand, are represented by Fire and bring warmth to the home. That is why it is worth bringing a cactus indoors for the winter, or a Christmas tree for the holidays.
In feng shui, mirrors are considered a very important element of interior design. A mirror can bring a great deal of good, but used wrongly it can lead to chaos and trouble.
A very common mistake is hanging a mirror on the right-hand side of the hallway, which can lead to tense situations at home, quarrels and a tendency to repeat the same mistakes.
A mirror hung directly opposite the door in a cramped hallway has a far worse effect, as does a front door placed directly opposite the windows.
When a mirror hangs on the right-hand side of the hallway and reflects the toilet door, the danger is greater still. Where possible, a mirror should be wide enough not to cut off anyone’s shoulders, and hung at least ten centimetres higher than the tallest member of the household.
The influence of shapes and colours
Every stone, every colour and every shape is either yin or yang – either the warm side or the cold side. A space never consists of a single energy, but is always a combination of them.
The colours represented by yin energy are fairly gentle ones, such as green, sky blue, black and brown.
The shapes that belong to this energy are rounded, rectangular and wavy forms, along with natural materials.
Yang energy means active colours, such as red, yellow and orange.
The shapes represented by this energy are square or circular.
Once you know the energetic relationships between shapes and colours, you can create exactly the atmosphere you need at home at any given moment. Bedrooms are often full of strange, stimulating colours. Red is good for stimulation where intimacy is concerned – that much is true – but when it comes to sleep, red keeps us awake. The energies of intense colours that rouse the senses into action cause insomnia or poor sleep. In the kitchen, for example, green is a good colour, because it represents yin energy – it is a gentle colour. In the kitchen it gives us the energy to eat our meals calmly and with enjoyment. When our kitchen is blue, we have less of an appetite.
