Feng Shui Introduction

| Feng Shui Resources | Eight Characters - Ba Zi |

Last Updated: January 23, 2008

I've been avoiding placing a section about Feng Shui, Ba Zi, and the like on my website for a long time. I avoided it because I know so many people (of all races and cultures) believe that Feng Shui is pure superstition nonsense and/or that Feng Shui is a ridiculous religion. If I talk to my cousins, aunts, uncles, or plain strangers in Asia about Feng Shui, they'll simply tell me that I have way too much time on my hands.

Either way I see their points and I am NOT here to support nor debunk anyone for their personal beliefs or lifestyle. Just like many brides like to carry something new, blue, old, and borrowed on their wedding day hoping to bring marriage luck. I would never tell a bride that carrying such items is superstitous nonsense. Just like I will never ruin someone's Thanksgiving dinner by telling them that making a wish on a wishbone is a waste of time. If someone believes certain items can bring them good luck, let it be.

The reason I'm finally placing a Feng Shui section on Gemele.com is that many of my people have come up to me asking what Feng Shui is about. Since I have invested a lot of my personal time and money into the subject, I finally decided to create this Feng Shui section on January 4, 2008 to share my 7+ years of experience in learning and studying the art of Feng Shui.

This is the traditional chinese character for "wind". In Mandarin, it's pronounced as "Feng".

This is the traditional chinese character for "water". In Mandarin, it's pronounced as "Shui".

The combination of these two characters makes up the concept of "Feng Shui" meaning "Wind Water". Anyone that understands the concept of Wind and Water can see where this is leading. The flow of Wind and the flow of Water basically brings life and changes to the world. If we live in a world where Water and Wind does not flow or move, the world is dead. So a large part of understanding Feng Shui is understanding nature itself. As long as there is constant flow of wind and water there is life. And where there is life, there will be change.

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If you would rather read from other authors about Feng Shui, here's a few recommendations:

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History of Feng Shui by Gemelle

Feng Shui developed from the bases of I-Ching, or better known as the "Book of Changes". The "Book of Changes" is one of the OLDEST Chinese Classical Texts. The Chinese Classical Texts dates back to 221 BC, or what is known as pre-Qin era. How far back these books really dates back, no one really knows.

The Qin era is really important because that's when China became a unified nation. Pre-Qin means China was in its feudal era. Just like the days in Italy when Sparta, Athens, Thespa, Rome, etc were all separate city-states. China was also NOT unified. But after the very bloody and violent military compaigns of the the man who later became the 1st Qin Emperor, China was unified under the rule of ONE emperor.

Sidenote: In 2002, the Chinese movie "Hero" starring Jet Li somewhat depicts the plight of Emperor Qin Shi. In 2008, The Mummy 3 Movie also starring Jet Li, has the 1st Qin Emperor being the "bad guy" in the movie. Although the 3rd Mummy movie completely distorts history and is completely inaccurate, it does show how famous and well-known Emperor Qin Shi really is. Please take note that I easily mentioned 2 big blockbuster films that reached International audience about Emperor Qin Shi, now imagine the number of CHINESE films, sitcoms, video games, etc that has been produced but never reached the West about this famous yet ruthless emperor. That just goes to show how important Emperor Qin Shi and his dynasty impacted Chinese history.

So how does this all affect Feng Shui? Well during the beginning of the Qin Dynasty, there was a "burning of intellectual books and Confucian burying". It was a crazy time and no one knows how many valuable Classical Texts were lost. But the I-Ching, The Book of Changes, survived those turbulent times to reach us today in the 21st century. Talk about a lucky book!

I-Ching, The Book of Changes is not Feng Shui. The I-Ching, The Book of Changes just gives some of the bases for the ideas in Feng Shui. Such as the trigrams.

The trigrams can be formed into something that many people have seen, the bagua.

In Feng Shui, hanging a bagua mirror is one of the most powerful tool of deflecting bad/negative energy.

I can also say that the bagua mirror can deflect bad/negative "qi".

This is the traditional chinese character for "energy". In Mandarin, it's pronounced as "chi" or "qi".

The concept of the flow of qi varies widely. Here are a few excerpts from Wiki.

"Meng Ke (also known as Meng Zi, Master Meng, or Mencius) described a kind of qi that might be characterized as an individual's vital energies."

"Not only human beings and animals were believed to have "qi". Zhuang Zhou (also known as Zhuang Zi or Master Zhuang) indicated that wind is the "qi" of the earth. Moreover, cosmic Yin and Yang "are the greatest of 'qi'."

"Zhuang Zi gave us one of the most productive of insights into the nature of "qi". He said "Human beings are born [because of] the accumulation of 'qi'. When it accumulates there is life. When it dissipates there is death.... There is one 'qi' that connects and pervades everything in the world.""

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Different Schools/Practices of Feng Shui

I-Ching, The Book of Changes is only ONE of the many texts that form the bases of Feng Shui. In the Jin Dynasty, a man named Guo Pu (276 - 324 AD) wrote "The Book of Burial" which is also considered an early source of the Feng Shui doctrine we have today. (the picture on the right is a re-creation of an I-Ching coin. It's not historically accurate. Just something cute I saw online.)

The list of Feng Shui doctrines that's been created through the 2000+ years of Chinese history can take a lifetime to learn. So many doctrines have been created with so many different interpretations and beliefs that different schools of Feng Shui have been developed. Here are a few:

Form School - Using landscapes to determine good and bad Feng Shui

Compass School - Uses the compass and the trigrams from I-Ching to determine auspicious and inauspicious directions in Feng Shui. Many furnitures have been re-arranged using the thoughts and ideas of Compass School Feng Shui.

Flying Star Feng Shui - Inside the Flying Star Feng Shui are more divisions due to different practices. Flying Star uses the concept of time to calculate auspicious and inauspicious locations, places, and buildings in Feng Shui. The calculations can become quite complex.

Black Hat Sect - New-Age Feng Shui developed in the USA that uses a combination of "geomancy, form school, Taoism, Yin-Yang philosophy, exoteric Buddhism, Eclecticism, Metaphysics, I-Ching, architecture, psychology, physiology, modern techniques of measuring electro-magnetic fields, holistic healing, divination, Chinese folklore, Confucianism, Five Element Theory, geology, geography and plain old common sense." from article at Wofs.com.

The four listed above are only a few. There are more schools of Feng Shui if you just do a little Googleing.

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How I use Feng Shui

After giving my friends the historical background of Feng Shui, most just ask, "What should I do to change my bad luck around?"

Well if there was ONE answer to that question, I'd be richer than Bill Gates!

Alas, life is filled with ups and downs, so the most I can do is give resources to help those in a period of unlucky times.

To me, Feng Shui is a way of thought (not a religion) that uses symbolism to change ones train of thought. To avoid unwanted self-fulfilling prophecies, carrying items that represent good luck can give hope and confidence to its carrier.

At least to me, that's the most powerful use of Feng Shui. I like to wear charms and carry amulets that gives me self-confidence. Of course some people will tell me that I should already have self-confidence. But that's easier said than done. I've had a lot of bad luck in my life where people close to me will purposely hurt or destroy my self-confidence for their own personal gain. So for me, self-confidence is where I need the most work. By carrying these pretty amulets and beautiful charms, these objects cheer me up. So on a psychological level, I feel more confident.

Think of it as Dumbo with his black magical feather. He doesn't really need it to fly, but carrying it with him brings Dumbo hope and confidence which enables him to fly!

I also like to use Feng Shui in decorating my home. Sometimes I place furniture in a convenient location, not thinking about how the "chi" or "qi" in the room may be affected. Then after a few weeks, I noticed the mood of the people in the home has changed. Or that my dog is bumping into furniture late at night. Well that's a sign that I should be re-arranging the furniture around. But before I re-arrange, I like to check my Feng Shui resources and references for tips and advice. It doesn't mean I'll follow those tips, but it gives me some options.

The bottom line of how I use Feng Shui is I notice the positive and negative affects of the changes I've made. If I notice that all is well after I've made a change to my living arrangement, then I know I've done something right. But if I move something and then suddenly I enter into a period of bad luck, then I will undo the change and start over.

After practicing this trial and error technique several times, I begin to see the pattern of what Feng Shui works best for me. It has also made me much more aware of my surroundings.

Click here for Resource Information

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Eight Characters - Ba Zi

Generally people turn to things like Feng Shui because they have entered into a period of bad luck. So they are willing to believe anything to turn their luck around.

Feng Shui amulets could be used as a quick band-aid to alleviate a period of bad luck but such a use of Feng Shui should be avoided. The reason I recommend avoiding it is because it is so easy to get scammed in Feng Shui. Getting scammed can turn a bad situation worse!

I recommend everyone to keep an eye on the cause and effect as they enter into the bad luck period. If the bad luck is happening because one has entered into a bad luck period as stated in Eight Characters - Ba Zi, this can easily be remedied using Feng Shui. If the bad luck is happening because one recently moved into a new place, then some Feng Shui products may help to alleviate the problems (or getting a new home will help too). However if one has done something bad in life and is now feeling the karmic affect, then it should be taken as a lesson learned.

Either way, a bad period is only a brief amount of time. With positive thinking, acts of random kindness, and maybe a little lucky amulet of hope it's easy to enter into a good luck period once again.

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If you have comments/questions about anything you've read, you can always post a comment on my forum!