What is Feng Shui?

Feng Shui is an ancient art that has developed over 5000 years to improve every aspect of your life by enhancing your environment and increasing harmony and flow.

Feng Shui has been growing and developing in the East for millennia and has improved the lives of countless people.

It has been used in homes, in shops, in businesses and in industry. People like Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, and Stephen Speilberg have used it, as have businesses across the world, from giant corporations to tiny one-person businesses.

What does Feng Shui mean?

The word Feng (pronounced Fuhng) means Wind, and Shui (pronounced Shway) means Water.

Wind (air) and water are powerful forces without which, nothing we have would exist. They, along with the other Feng Shui Elements - Earth, Wood, Fire and Metal are the foundations of life, and together they create the energy within our environment.

But isn’t Feng Shui moving furniture into bizarre positions in your house and making sure the elephant ornament you bought on holiday is facing the right direction I hear you cry?

Nope! Feng Shui works with the energies in your home to provide support to its family (and yes, your home does consider you part of its family!) The walls, floors, and ceilings have eyes and ears, and it sees and hears everything!

Types of Feng Shui

Another question we hear is ‘I’ve been practicing Feng Shui for years and it hasn’t worked. Why is that?’

It’s because while there are many different schools of Feng Shui, they can basically be broken down into two main types - Western Feng Shui and Eastern Feng Shui.

Western Feng Shui gained popularity in the 1980s and is a watered-down version of Eastern Feng Shui using elements of Eastern Feng Shui but without acknowledging the nuances or interactions of the energies which are swirling around our homes. If you’ve ever put Feng Shui into a search engine, chances are this is the type of Feng Shui you will have come across. It goes by many names but the most common are Black Hat Tantric Buddism (BTB) Feng Shui, Intuitive Feng Shui, and Intentional Feng Shui.

From the mapping of the areas of your home to the implementation of the remedies, Western Feng Shui has laid an all encompassing blanket of simplification across Feng Shui which at best will have no effect on your home and at worst , can severely disrupt the energies causing all sorts of negative ripples and waves. It is generally this that makes people feel that Feng Shui doesn't work.

What is different about Eastern Feng Shui?

On the other hand, Eastern Feng Shui, also know as Classic Flying Stars (doesn’t that name conjure up beautiful images? I always imagine stars floating and whirling around my house) or Traditional Feng Shui, is based on 5000 years of research, and implementation is calculated using compass readings to determine the specific energies of your home and balancing them out.

It is a complicated and nuanced art that uses complicated calculations to ensure your home has the right support to support you!

The Bagua Map

All schools of Feng Shui split a house into nine equal sections called the Bagua Map, with each section individually referred to as a Gua. Each Gua represents a specific area of one’s life. There are several different iterations of this map however the one that is most accurate and therefore most effective is shaped like a noughts and crosses board laid over a floor plan. The directions on this map are then the physical compass directions within the house, rather than using the front door as North and working your way around from there as in Western Feng Shui.

North - Career and Life’s Journey

North East - Knowledge and Self Cultivation

East - Family & Community

South East - Wealth and Abundance

South - Fame & Reputation

South-West - Love & Marriage

West - Children & New Beginnings

North West - Travel & Helpful People.

The ninth Gua is the Centre gua which represents both the inhabitant’s Health and Wellbeing and the house itself!