There are lots of lists out there that itemize the do’s and don’ts of practicing feng shui. Some popular titles might be “The 3 Top Tips”, or “The 10 Best Cures”, or “How to Decorate a Bedroom”. These lists are generated from the How To Books that promote them. You are told that you need to place certain things in certain places to enhance wealth, or fight evil spirits. These books are making general statements without explanations. This in effect is a definition of superstition. When you place something somewhere not because you know exactly why, but because some book or list told you so.
The reality is that these lists and books can be more harmful than helpful. It gives people false hope, and it can even cause tragic results when people “practice” this kind of feng shui. The kind of practice where one blindly follows a list or book without knowing why they are doing it. For example placing red in the bedroom can cause sickness or wealth. Which one will affect you and your space?
Another case about the problems of this kind of practice is about a story recently in the news about a man who placed a Ba Gua mirror on the side of his house to reflect evil energies. His neighbor however felt that the angle was directing the evil energy into his home and he insisted his neighbor remove it. When the neighbor refused, he killed him and other members of the neighbors family. A little knowledge is dangerous. The truth is that the mirror was most likely doing nothing to adversely affect the neighbor.
Even basic principles like yin and yang can contradict one another. When we say that the volcanic mountain is yang while the still pond water is yin this is contradictory to what the books tell you about the mountain being yin and water being yang. Yet it is a very real possibility. Yin and yang are really just two words that are relative based on a situation.
The tai ji symbol gives us a clue. If you notice that on the black side there is a white dot, and on the white side there is a black dot – this symbolizes that there is nothing absolute. There is always a little yang in the yin. In other words the only thing that is absolute is change. So if we had to agree that there was a one true rule in feng shui, it would be that time and space is always changing.
Now here is the tricky part, this change affects each person differently. Each person is unique in their experiences and DNA, even if they have the same birth dates and parents. Therefore each situation is going to affect people differently. This is why lists are no good in feng shui. We can only use guidelines based on the 8 trigrams in relations to time and space. Be careful following lists; Best to just use your own intuition or hire a professional classical practitioner. If you want to learn more contact me.
Wishing you a bountiful of good feng shui
Happy Thanksgiving
Gayle