Feng Shui philosophy contends: if the home is in harmonious surroundings and arranged in an harmonious manner, the inhabitants of that home will reflect that harmony and live more harmonious lives. Though showing up in the U.S. mainstream only twenty years ago, feng shui (füng sch’way), the Chinese art and science of how to site, construct, and design a home, traces its beginnings back at least 3,000, and some say, as much as 5,000 years ago.
In olden times feng shui knowledge provided such common sense guidelines as: don’t build your grass roof shack on a windy mountain top or too close to a river that may overflow its banks. It was also considered poor feng shui to position your stove opposite the front door, as a gust of wind coming in will flicker the flame and your rice won’t cook properly. From these basics evolved profound principles of how to create a harmonious living environment. Principles that apply to any home built in any era or anywhere on planet earth.
Feng Shui Solutions
As no one can expect to get a home with 100% good feng shui, don’t get too neurotic if you have or find a home with a bunch of feng shui problems. Feng shui is not just about identifying problems, but also about suggesting solutions. Though occasionally a remodeling is needed, most problems can be removed, blocked, or deflected by using interior design arrangements in accordance with feng shui principles.
Apply as many feng shui solutions as possible. If you have enough good Forms to give you 70-75% good feng shui, you are already doing quite well. Then, if you either apply the power of symbolism according to the 3-Door Bagua, especially with the added power of prayer (mantra, mudra, visualization), or if you adjust your world according to such Compass School techniques of Eight Mansion and Flying Star Feng Shui, you should be really doing good.
Whether you are a Black Sect or other non-compass style practitioner, or a Compass School devotee, don’t sweat the small stuff, just make sure you avoid some of the following issues. But remember, these are guidelines and some similar real world situation may “feel” different and be considered fortunate on second consideration.
House Site – Location, Location, Location
Regardless of how expensive a home might be, location can be fortunate or unfortunate. If fortunate, we move up in life; if unfortunate, it’s all downhill. So whichever side of town you live, choose wisely. Things to avoid might be living across from a cemetery wofs astrological weight at birth, with a steep cliff towering above, too close to a noisy roadway, a corner lot that gets lots of traffic turning toward it, at a t-juncture with cars coming directly to it, on the outside bend of a road, or with a generator substation, microwave cell phone tower, nuclear power plant, or toxic dump relatively close.
Even using hedges to block or bagua mirrors to bounce negative energy away, these are difficult situations to resolve satisfactorily. In choosing my current residence a turned down a better deal located on Bunker Street for one located on Lakeridge Court, reasoning that I didn’t want to get stuck or hide out in a bunker. I’ve been in my house 6 years, the house on Bunker has had three different owners.
Bedroom – The Most Important Room to Consider
Sleep needs to be restful to be rejuvenating, and is the first room I consider, reasoning that if I’m not able to get a good night’s sleep, how can I expect to handle the unexpected stresses of work, family, and the rest of life’s sudden challenges. As the bed should be the first thing to bring in, Stand at the bedroom door, and imagine where your bed will be positioned.
Avoid the following situations: placing the headboard of your bed with a refrigerator, toilet, or a strong source of electromagnetic radiation (such as a breaker box) on the other side of the headboard. Avoid windows behind the bed, as a window “could” break, or under a beam or drop ceiling which “could” fall as both of these will make you feel vulnerable. Don’t rationalize that it wouldn’t break, because the unconscious rarely listens to logic. In an argument with “what if,” what if always wins.
Next consider the relationship of the bed to windows and doors. Avoid a home that puts your bed in direct line of the entrance into the bedroom. Thresholds are highly symbolic to the unconscious – people and possibly ‘things’ from other dimensions can come through these portals. Even my great grand mother who came from eastern Europe was recorded as having said, “never sleep with your feet toward the bedroom door, because that’s the way they carry you out.”
An entrance on either side of the bed in direct line of the torso is just as detrimental, as the person sleeping on the side of the bed sleeps metaphorically with one eye open all night in the event someone or something might come through the door. With any of these above situations, the adrenal glands’ ‘fight or flight’ mechanism is activated throughout the night continually undermining the immune system by rerouting the blood flow to the arms and legs in anticipation of taking emergency action.
Bathroom in the Back Left Corner of the Floor plan
Regardless of which system of feng shui you are utilizing, a bathroom in the far left corner of the floor plan is tough on money. I haven’t met anyone with this configuration that has confirmed that their money was going down the toilet.
Their are many other configurations from front door in direct view of a back door or window, to most cases of stairs coming down to the front door that reflect money problems, and almost all are resolvable with proper placement of furniture and decorations. But a bathroom in the far left corner is unlikely to be moved, and though worth trying, is challenging to block or deflect.
For the Sake of the Children
It is amazing and dismaying, how often parents neglect considering the conditions of their child(ren)’s room, treating their kid or kid’s like second class citizens who should be happy to get whatever they can get. All that I listed above should apply equally to all members of the household.
More than once I have come to evaluate the feng shui of a home and found a refrigerator, an air condition unit, or pool pumpon the other side of the wall the kid’s headboard is on. Or a door in direct line of the kid’s bed with the parents wonder why the kid has frequent allergy or flu like symptoms. Be sure to give your children the best feng shui possible.
Feng Shui Creates Harmonious Homes in Many Ways
There are many fine books that teach the principles and concepts of the various approaches of feng shui. However, my book, Choose the Best House for You, The Feng Shui Checklist, is the textbook for all the problems and solutions that have to do with oldest system of feng shui related to siting, construction, and room configuration. And the Checklist format makes it easy for the beginner to use as you just have to go down the list of likely problems, decide on which one applies to you, turn to the page to read the illustrated description, and then apply one of the recommended solutions. With my book in hand, you will have no problem choosing the best house for you.
Elliot Jay Tanzer has provided astrological services since 1973, and has been a featured speaker at many astrology, feng shui conferences, whole life expos, and metaphysical societies.
Elliot’s new easy to use instruction book, ‘Evaluating AstroCartoGraphy Maps: Finding the Best Places to Live & Travel – Your Step-by-Step Guide’, will show you how to prep an AstroCartoGraphy Map, explain the planetary lines, and then show you how to transfer the result onto a world atlas. By following Elliot’s directions you can clearly see all the cities, towns, and areas that will be the best places for you to live or travel. This book is not yet available in bookstores and can be obtained directly from Elliot at the contact numbers below.
Elliot’s other popular book, Choose the Best House for You: The Feng Shui Checklist, is on the subject of the Chinese art and science of feng shui. The Checklist format makes it a text book of feng shui problems and their solutions valued by feng shui students, while easy for anyone to use who just wants to know what applies to their home. Go down the checklist, find the problem, and then turn to the page provided to discover what to do.
For those of you who do not already have a personal astrologer with whom you consult with on a regular basis, Elliot is available for Natal Chart Readings, Relationship Studies, Future Forecasts (Transits and Progressions), and AstroCartoGraphy Map analysis for determining where the best places in the world are for you to live.