How to spot the Gold Standard amongst a slew of imitators. If you don’t see the words classical, traditional, form, or compass, you’re probably dealing with a poor substitute for the real thing.
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© Katarina Lang, January 2026, all rights reserved.
I originally published this article in 2022 with its first full re-write done today. Since first publication, I’ve seen it lifted and used with neither permission nor attribution — tweaked just enough to try and avoid charges of plagiarism — in one published book and a variety of videos and other online sources. While I’m flattered that these authors find my writing to be superior to their own, my copyright for this and all my content will be enforced going forward. — Katarina
My Feng Shui journey
In the late 80s I had my first encounter with what I thought was Feng Shui when I was an undergrad researching the origins of Bronze Age ceremonial buildings. My search for reference material led me to a downtown book store with a large New Age section where I saw a sign advertising a class on Feng Shui – something I’d barely heard of. I was intrigued by a system that promised to teach me how to fix “health, wealth, and relationships.” Who doesn’t want to know how to do that?
I didn’t know it then, but what I was about to learn was not real Feng Shui; it was a newly created off-shoot which goes by names like Life Aspirations, Black Hat, Black Sect, Western, and the full monty of Black Hat Sect Tantric Buddhist Feng Shui. A monk and an interior decorator created this method out of whole cloth about 50 years ago. They’d tried teaching classical Feng Shui to western students but didn’t get much traction since it’s a tough subject to learn and requires many years of study and practice to master. This new product, which they tragically named Feng Shui since there was no legal prohibition against doing so, was designed to appeal to westerners completely ignorant of the real thing and wanting fast, cheap, easy fixes. This customer hwould have no interest in the long-form study and commitment required to learn Classical Feng Shui nor would they be willing to make the changes in their homes sometimes required to improve their lives.
In this weekend class we learned how to divide our homes into eight sections, each of which corresponds to an area of life such as the career, wealth, relationships, and so on. Everybody’s home has the same life areas in the same places, with relationships in the southwest and so on. We were told to use objects of certain colors in various places to “activate” the corresponding life sector, or to place decorative objects like a pair of ducks for relationship enhancement. I was told to hang bamboo flutes from my ceiling to mitigate harmful ceiling beams. Extensive use was made of trinkets like frogs with coins in their mouths and statues of various gods. Beds were always to be placed with the headboard positioned in a certain direction, and that direction was the same for everyone. Emphasis was placed on holding your intention for the results you wanted to create as you were placing the objects. Hanging crystals from strings inside windows was another typical fix. The two most common recommendations were mirrors1 and wind chimes2, to be placed prolifically both inside and outside of the house.
Post-class I immediately got to work on my house and the homes of five friends. I followed the recommendations exactly even though I wasn’t crazy about the way most all these cheesy tchotchkes and hanging doo-dads looked. I rationalized that if it works, I can put up with the eyesore. I journaled my intentions and kept them in mind, then I waited and observed, recording a daily entry so as to monitor progress as scientifically as possible. My five friends did the same thing.
Six months later, nothing. I saw no changes at all other than the hit my bank account took buying all the recommended paint, trinkets, chimes, crystals, and mirrors. My friends didn’t get results either, and one of them even got laid off unexpectedly from her job. The experiment over, I took everything down. I’d followed instructions meticulously, monitored carefully, and now I had my proof x 5: this doesn’t work. Wasted time and money notwithstanding, I was glad I’d taken the class because in spite of itself it had taught me two important things: 1) What it taught me was useless and ineffective, either because the system being taught was faulty or the instructor was simply not good or both (remember, there was no internet available at this time to research such matters); and 2) despite my disappointment, I felt in my gut that there was something to this Feng Shui business, and I wanted to know more.
It took several more years and a fortuitous meeting with a professor from Taiwan to enlighten me about real Feng Shui a/k/a Classical or TraditionalFeng Shui. He told me what I’d learned was not Feng Shui at all: “fake,” “nonsense,” and “ripoff” were the words he used, saying that the real thing was a vastly complicated subject the surface of which couldn’t even be scratched in a weekend class. His disdain for westernized Feng Shui was profound. “They made it all up to turn a profit, it does nothing!” he exclaimed, going on to tell me that real Classical Feng Shui could be profoundly transformative when deployed by a skilled practitioner. My instincts confirmed, I began my long journey of many years learning, and working with Classical Feng Shui. “Congratulations on finding your life’s work,” my first mentor said to me after hearing my backstory, adding that “those with the calling always get here no matter what is in the way.” Indeed, Classical Feng Shui is the perfect bridge between my two fields of interest (and master’s degrees), Anthropology and Architecture.
From the Neolithic to the Anthrpocene
Today, we who practice Classical Feng Shui are tediously burdened with constantly explaining how what we do is not the same as the more widely-known (in the West) version that stole its name. Classical Feng Shui is the art-science, or ‘near science’ as some call it, of living in harmony with the space around you, be it home, office, investment property, or any other building; it’s also used on lots, tracts of land, and acreage with great success.
To be clear, there are a couple of ways to pronounce the words but westerners most often say fung schway and the words mean “wind water” in Chinese. Its basic philosophy traces origins to about 6,000 years ago and it developed from the same Taoist principles that produced and defined the martial arts, acupuncture, acupressure, herbology, traditional Chinese medicine and philosophy, the I Ching, and so much more. Classical Feng Shui seeks to put into balance the flow of beneficial energy qi (pronounced “chee” and also spelled chi or ch’i) inside a building or outdoors on a plot of land. If this sounds flaky, then so is modern science which is reaching the same conclusions that the ancient Chinese knew all along: Everything is part of one, interconnected energy. It’s often been said that Classical Feng Shui is acupuncture for buildings, a perfect analogy!
Classical Feng Shui developed through millennia of observation, testing, and refinement. Being a supremely pragmatic culture, the Chinese experimented and kept only what worked. Theories and practices used in Classical Feng Shui today are no fluke, they are not based on intuition, and they are definitely not new. These are time-tested practices that, when applied properly, produce predictable, observable results. In fact, Classical Feng Shui is taught in a growing number of architecture schools worldwide. It’ll eventually be taught as a stand-alone degree at the 2-year, bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD levels, too. It’s employed by many of the world’s biggest and most profitable businesses from Disney to Wells Fargo to Virgin Atlantic and Microsoft and nearly all of the casinos in Las Vegas.
It’s a shame that this superbly effective, ancient art-science with an ancient and honorable lineage has gotten so muddled-up in the West; in the East, only Classical Feng Shui is practiced and they would not recognize the westernized form as being Feng Shui at all. One of my expectations for the new Feng Shui Period 9 (commencing February 4, 2024) is that over the next 20 years Classical Feng Shui will come into its own in the West to be distinguished and revered for what it truly is, and take its rightful place in the fields of design, architecture, and philosophy.
This is one of three luopan compasses that I use when auditing a property. I also use an old school hiking compass and a compass phone app on each property analysis.
What classical Feng Shui is NOT
If you go online and search for any Feng Shui question, dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of results will appear. For English readers, nearly all of these will be westernized Feng Shui. You’ll see a lot of suggestions for clearing clutter and dividing the house into eight sectors and oodles of opportunities to purchase Feng Shui knick-knacks to place in your home alongside the ubiquitous wind chimes and mirrors. To be clear, if you happen to love the look of such things and they work for you, that’s great, keep it up; just know that what you’re doing is decorating and that is not real Feng Shui. As for de-cluttering, that’s just common sense as an orderly, well laid-out home or business always functions better than a messy or haphazard one. One out of every 40 search results might contain actual Classical Feng Shui information but since it’s a deep, difficult, complicate subject, you still won’t know how to use the information since it is going to vary based on 10 – 20 important factors unique to your home’s floor plan, where/how it sits on the land, and who lives in the house. Even worse are the websites, Youtube channels, and books that conflate faux Feng Shui with Classical Feng Shui, adding to the confusion. I can see why many who are interested in using Feng Shui would just throw up their hands and give up in frustration.
Knowing the differences between Classical Feng Shui and fake Feng Shui is crucial. Here are some things that Classical Feng Shui is NOT:
- An Eastern philosophy
- Based on superstition
- A religion, part of any religion, or derived from any religion
- Magic
- A New Age discovery or practice, although it can work very well with these principles at times
- A quick fix for everything that ails you
- About getting “lucky” or winning the lottery
- Reliant upon you holding an intention in your mind to get results
- Interior decorating, although it combines beautifully with good interior design
- Clearing clutter
- Placing crystals, mirrors1, bamboo flutes2, red ribbons, and statues or sculptures of various people, animals, deities, and objects3
- Known by any of the following names:
- Black Hat Feng Shui
- Black Sect Feng Shui
- Black Hat Sect Tantric Buddhist Feng Shui
- Western Feng Shui
- Life Aspirations Feng Shui
- Painting doors or walls a certain color or using color to correct problems
- Placing throw pillows, potted plants, or other decorative objects of a certain shape or color
If you read something on Feng Shui and cannot clearly see which type it is, be skeptical, for chances are it isn’t Classical Feng Shui. Check out the source or provider of the information and verify which type they are practicing very carefully. Classical Feng Shui practitioners will make their affiliation known, stressing it sometimes to a very fine point as I’m doing now.
Look for these hallmarks of faux Feng Shui:
- Dividing a home into eight divisions often called “stations” labeled as career, helpful people, knowledge, children/creativity, family, marriage/relationships, wealth, and fame. These always fall in the same grid no matter where you live.
- Analyzing your home without using a compass at all major doors and important points outside and often inside as well.
- Advising you to put up mirrors1, bamboo flutes2, statues and trinkets3, to paint walls and doors a certain color, to always have your bed facing a certain direction, and to hang numerous wind chimes to fix problems in your life.
- The absence of the words Classical or Traditional (and sometimes others as listed above) before Feng Shui in the name. Some authors and practitioners combine elements of both fake and Classical Feng Shui, which is especially misleading.
What Classical Feng Shui IS
You’ll know you’ve found a practitioner, school, source, or book on Classical Feng Shui when you see these things:
- The practitioner does her/his analysis using a luopan, which is a specialized Chinese compass made for Classical Feng Shui. Real Feng Shui cannot be practiced without one and westernized Feng Shui does not use one at all.
- A part of your home/business’s analysis requires the time, date, and place of birth of the occupant(s) of the home, the owner of a piece of land, or the principal actor(s) at a business location. This is in addition to the research done on the building itself and the land surrounding it. All work is personalized according to these data. Two people could live in the same house or work in the same building and get difference results.
- The year that you moved into the home/building or last had extensive remodeling done is used to create its basic chart.
- The magnetic direction of the house/building’s sitting (often but not always the back side) and facing (often but not always the building’s front side) directions are used to determine the degrees used to calculate the Flying Stars chart and determine positions of the Four Annual Afflictions, neither of which are a part of western Feng Shui.
- A thorough analysis of surrounding land, roads, water, other buildings and features like electrical poles or 5G towers is done to create a qi (energy movement) map. Many luopan readings must be taken on the exterior because what’s outdoors is sometimes just as or more important than what is indoors.
- The practitioner will tour the building and land in person or using remote technology to properly analyze the site. Ideally, the practitioner will “run the dragon” which means physically walking on the land, up and down nearby hills etc. to find dragon veins, entry and exit points for water, roads and qi flow, and more.
Lots of math . . .big compasses written in Chinese . . . years of study and practice . . . vast amounts of data to sort out, combine and alchemize into a comprehensive analysis with recommendations for improvements . . . solutions tailored for each individual family member . . . I suppose it’s no wonder somebody created a watered-down version of Classical Feng Shui for an audience that doesn’t know any better and there’s a lot of profit to be made selling little mirrors and frog statues. Despite all of this, Classical Feng Shui still survives and thrives after thousands of years. It remains relevant because it works.
1I advise clients to take great care with all mirror placement inside the home and I never use mirrors outside a building. Generally, I recommend no mirrors other than what is functionally necessary, like a bathroom vanity mirror because they tend to create problems where none existed before. Mirrors in the bedroom are particularly problematic as they disrupt sleep patterns, increase nervous anxiety, and more.
2 Sometimes I do recommend the hanging of one outdoor wind chime when strong metal influence is needed to balance earth at an important doorway; here, a large wind chime made of high-quality metal like bronze, stainless steel, pewter, or brass can help. I like the ones made by Cosanti in Scottsdale, Arizona. I never recommend indoor cures using wind chimes.
3Some Classical Feng Shui masters do occasionally recommend placement of certain objects, like an animal sculpture or image of a protective god. I’ve gotten better results placing furniture, artwork, and objects chosen because they’re made of a high-quality metal, sometimes combined with their shape and size.
This article is offered for educational and entertainment purposes only. I do not offer medical advice, make financial recommendations, or do psychological counseling and I am not a structural engineer or an interior designer. Please consult professionals in those fields for your related concerns.
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