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Feng Shui
From WikiVerde
The ethnoscience which addresses design and layout of cities, villages, buildings and dwellings is called Feng Shui, and has its origin from China.
An introduction to Feng Shui
Literally, Feng and Shui mean Wind and Water. During the 19th century Christian missionaries, visiting China had labeled Feng Shui as geomancy. However, Geomancy differs sharply in its scope, aims and mean. Traditional Feng Shui employs a specialized compass known as Luopan and an array of calculations. Feng Shui is also supported by foundation texts, core theories and methods, an impressive past built on archaeological discoveries and work from archeo-astronomers. Traditional Feng Shui falls in to two broad groups. San He (Three Harmonies) and San Yuan (Three Cycles).San He deals with surrounding landforms and San Yuan lays emphasis on the factor of time. This history however, is not shared by the New Age versions of Feng Shui.
The New age versions like Pyramid Feng Shui, Intuitive and Black Hat Sect employ intuitive methods with concepts from the 19th century, self help techniques and affirmations sprinkled with modern interior design. The Black Hat Sect for example defines Feng Shui as the art of arranging objects within a home to optimize the flow of gi. Traditional Feng Shui on the other hand lays emphasis on the position of a building and its local environment – particularly the microclimates. There is a wide spread belief that practitioners of New Age methods only seek to profit from gullible customers by holding that the New Age versions are “traditional” or “classical” Feng Shui. But, a recent survey in rural China opines that gi flow is not a major concern for traditional Feng Shui.
Proponents of Feng-shui vouch that it is the art and science of understanding the forces of nature to design houses or workplaces that will be in harmony with the environment rather than clash with it. Its objective is to help us promote the flow of positive energy and neutralize or avoid negative or destructive energy for a harmonious co-existence with the world. Just like Chinese medicine Feng Shui too is rich in tradition, has a vast pool of knowledge which will need several years of formal training to master. They aver further that once the tradition is firmly planted in the West, professional standards and training programs will evolve like it has in Asia.
Flying Stars
We have seen that the basic tenet of Feng Shui is energy and optimization of positive energy is the goal of Feng Shui. Energy can take invisible forms too, apart from the visible ones like landforms and buildings. Feng shui works with the invisible energy of a given place at a given time too. In the open space, energy roams free. When a building is erected, the energy of the space is captured by the building. This impounded energy has the following characteristics:
- Two spatial dimensions, determined by the direction which the front and back of the building faces.
- A one time dimension derived from the year in which the building is completed.
The energy that resides in each part of the house will be decided on the above basis. Employing the principles of pa-k’ua and the spatial and temporal dimensions of a building, the San yuan and Hsuan-k’ung schools have evolved a method called Flying Stars System which aids the practitioner to discover and evaluate the invisible energy residing in the building. The Flying Stars System has a 3x3 tic-tac-toe grid called the Nine Palaces. Each square on the grid contains three numbers.
When the grid is superimposed on the floor plan of a house, the numbers reveal the kind of energy flows in each room. Practitioners of Feng Shui can evaluate the energy levels for each portion of the house and modifications needed, if any. To evaluate the flow of invisible energy in a house, Flying star system acts as a powerful tool and if it is used at the planning stage for a house, you can locate the different utilities within the house at optimal energy levels.
Feng Shui Money Tips
The back left corner of any space is associated with prosperity according to the Feng Shui school. Here are some useful Feng Shui money tips:
1. Clear out Clutter: Clutter denotes stagnant energy and clutter in your money power spots can impede your cash flow. By getting rid of the clutter, you can shift the energy of your power spots into top gear.
2. Broken Things: Fix them: Most of us will have things like a clock that has stopped working, a light switch that is broken, a loose doorknob, and an array of such items in almost every place across the house or workplace. These should either be removed or fixed to work properly, so that your power spots are intact.
3. Symbols of Prosperity: Your power spots can be enhanced with symbols of prosperity. A bowl of coins can be ideal. Plenty of Chinese luck symbols are available in the market but it is not essential that you use them unless ofcourse you want to. The picture of that luxury car that you always wanted will be an effective money symbol since it has a personal meaning for you.
4. Colors: Green is the color of growth and vitality and purple is the color of wealth. A bowl of green and purple grapes (can be real or artificial) in the wealth area of your kitchen will symbolize abundance filling your home. Ensure that the bowl is more than half full at all times.
5. Handling Money: Value your money; keep your paper money neatly stored in your wallet or money clip. Do not crumple the notes nor clutter your purse. If you have unwanted bills or tickets in your wallet dispose them off.
6. Respect your money: Put your checkbook in an attractive cover (green, purple, red, blue or black) and keep it in the wealth area of your desk. Remember, if you neglect your money, it will neglect you.
7. Generosity: Money needs to flow through your life, not just into it. Money is a form of energy and hoarding it will work against more inflow. Conversely, by being generous within your means, makes room for abundance. Even if you don’t have enough money to share, share your energy, time, appreciation and compassion.
8. Small things Count: Take a little time off every evening to take stock of all the events during the day and express your gratitude for what you have received. Cultivate the habit of focusing on the positive side of things.
The true yardstick of prosperity is not the quantum of money you have, but how well you notice and enjoy what is already present in your life. Wealth is formally known as “fortunate blessings”.
