what is feng shui ?

Feng Shui means "Wind and Water" and has been used for thousands of years in China and the Far East as a method for determining the most appropriate locations for a harmonious life. These locations can help you select the most appropriate and auspicious (lucky) site for a building, the floor-plan of a house or just the layout of a room.

what can feng shui do for me ?

Feng Shui affects every aspect of our life and the way it is applied can be both beneficial and detrimental to the way you live and the surrounding environment.

In the West, Feng Shui is not a science, as its principles cannot yet be proven by scientific method. It is not a religion, although some of its advocates may consider it part of their religious practice. It is not necessary to follow ant religion to understand or practice Feng Shui. It is not just a philosophy as it also encompasses many practical tools and techniques. It is not a belief system: asking someone if they believe Feng Shui is like asking them if they believe in the weather. It is not a question of faith, but a fact of life.

The underlying principle of Feng Shui is to live in harmony with your environment so that the energy surrounding you works for you rather than against you. After all, why swim against the tide ?

schools of feng shui

Feng Shui has been around for thousands of years, and over many centuries different schools of Feng Shui have developed. Each school has a slightly different approach to the subject, although the basic principles are the same. The following sections outline the three main schools of Feng Shui:

form school

This school focuses on the landscape contours, along with the shapes of hills and watercourses. It is concerned with the auspicious positioning of buildings and burial sites, which require the hills to provide protection from the wind (Feng), and for the provision of a good water (Shui) supply without flooding. It can also be considered the ancient Chinese version of surveying.
The main concerns within the Form School are to find auspicious landforms, called the Tiger and the Dragon. These are found by looking at the contours of the hills surrounding a site, and determing whether their layout will bring good or bad luck.

compass school

This style of Feng Shui uses the Eight Trigrams of the I Ching and relates them to the eight points of the Compass. These are laid out to form the eight-sided Pa Kua which is used to interpret the Auspicious and Inauspicious locations for Buildings, House Floor Plans and Room Layouts.

black hat sect school

This is a modern version of Feng Shui developed in the USA as a hybrid of Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism and traditional Feng Shui. In this school a Pa Kua (often called the Ba Gua) is used, but it is based on the direction of the Front Door, rather than the Compass directions. The House or Room is divided into eight sectors, each one having a bearing on an aspect of life that might need enhancing.