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Visit Katarina’s free Substack, Jewel Lines, to read her article on classical vs. westernized Feng Shui, “Feng Shui vs. Faux Shui”.
Classical Feng Shui (CFS) is the original version of the art-science. It traces origins back nearly 6,000 years and developed from the same principles and theories that created Chinese medicine, acupuncture, the martial arts, and more. Over time, CFS has been tested and refined into a system that helps us to live in harmony with buildings and the land and natural features around us.
CFS is complicated, uses a lot of math and engineering principles, and is tailored to fit each individual building, home, or business. There is no quick-fix in CFS. This is why, in the 1990s, a practitioner of CFS along with an interior designer created a very simple system of interior decorating and called it Feng Shui, and this is the form that is known in most of the West. This is unfortunate, for this watered-down version has confused people to the point where they think that just changing the color of a wall, hanging a wind chime, introducing new throw pillows, and clearing clutter is all you need to do to enact Feng Shui changes in your life.
If they had just chosen a different name, there’d be no problem, but they co-opted the name “Feng Shui” so as to capitalize on its aura and reputation and as a result, confusion reigns throughout the English-speaking world. This new method of interior design is called by these names: Black Hat Feng Shui; Black Hat Tantric Feng Shui; New Age Feng Shui; Western Feng Shui; Intuitive Feng Shui; Bagua Feng Shui; and others. It is basically a cookie-cutter template that divides each building up into the same, exact eight areas so that your house will be labeled the same as my house. My “relationship corner” will be in the same place and act just like yours does, even though you and I and our homes are in totally different places and you live in a 3-story house and I live in a high rise apartment.
CFS bears no resemblance to this. CFS creates a unique set of specifications for your home or business and how it sits on the land and in relation to roads, trees, water features like streams or the ocean, and even takes into account the affects of nearby electrical poles and lines and cell phone towers. To determine what is happening on the property and how to diminish harmful features and emphasize helpful ones, I have to take a number of compass readings at certain doors and other features. I need specific info on each person living in the house, or for the business owner(s) and manager(s). I need the building’s floor plan and will do some calculations and draft a ‘map’ of how to apply CFS to your home or business for best results.
The passage of time, and timing are also factors in CFS but are not considered at all in New Age Feng Shui. The Flying Stars I calculate for the building will change over time and these changes will determine the best rooms in the home and places surrounding it, in the yard for instance, for certain activities. The Stars tell us what spots in your building to activate for better money, career, relationship or health outcomes and likewise which areas to suppress/avoid that might harm you if activated.
I do an initial audit of your property when we start working together. This is the main CFS map of your property, inside and out. Then, each year I do an annual audit to see how the Flying Stars and other features have changed so you can make a few shifts inside and out to get the best out of the coming year. Unless you make major changes on the building, this is all that needs to be done: the initial audit + your annual update.
I learned New Age Feng Shui when it first came out, and I tried working with it on myself, and with friends. None of us got results from it. It basically did nothing. I tried for a few years to get it to work, taking more classes and hoping to become more proficient. It turned out the issue wasn’t my level of skill, it was the method itself. I really wanted it to work, and it sure was easy to do! But it just didn’t. A few years later I learned CFS got immediate results when it was applied to my home, and those of my friends and clients. For me, the proof in the value of the two methods is in the results that I experienced, observed, and got feedback on from others.
CHEAT SHEET: What classical Feng Shui is not
- Dependent on your beliefs: much like the laws of gravity or thermodynamics, it works whether you choose to believe in it or not
- Derived from any religion or a part of any religion
- “New Age” or superstitious in its approach
- Dependent upon the “setting of an intention” or projecting the outcomes you want to achieve
- Concerned with clearing out clutter (although common sense tells us that a clutter-free home or business is going to feel better than a messy one)
- A form of interior design or decorating, although its principles can positively influence and interact with those practices
- About dividing your home into eight rigid areas such as the “relationship corner”, “fame sector,” etc.
- Cookie-cutter, template, “one size fits all” in the way it is used or applied
- About the display of “lucky objects” or superstitious symbols
You know that you are NOT dealing with CFS when you see these:
- Hanging bamboo flutes1
- Using bagua mirrors2
- Hanging multiple wind chimes indoors3
- Hanging or placing crystals, especially in windows4
- Figures of frogs with coins in their mouths, bundles of tied coins, statues of gods or mythical animals, etc.5
- The practitioner expects to be paid for their services by way of a red envelope6
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1Some CFS practitioners who use bamboo flutes, however, these are not a part of the traditional practice. The most commonly-seen application of bamboo flutes is to correct the destruction caused by indoor ceiling beams. I have tried using bamboo flutes for this purpose and have never had a client get a good result from them.
2Bagua mirrors are used, often prolifically, inside and outside, in westernized Feng Shui. I advise clients to exercise great caution with all mirrors and recommend that they be avoided both inside and outside when possible. They tend to create many serious problems and I’ve yet to see them solve any. Mirrors create an unnecessary risk.
3On occasion I do recommend hanging one large wind chime, made of high-quality metal like bronze, copper or pewter, outside a main door. These are effective in the right circumstances is because of the elemental content of the wind chime combined with the noise and movement it creates; a chiming clock creates the same effect. I never recommend wind chimes to be hung indoors as there is always a better way to fix the problem.
4Rock and crystals can, at times, be used effectively in CFS in places where the element of Earth is needed. Even then, it takes a huge rock or extremely large and heavy collection of smaller rocks to work. Individual, small gemstones are not big enough to have any effect. I never advise hanging them inside windows, that is not a CFS cure.
5These things are either part of traditional culture, folklore, and superstition, or they are considered to be good luck symbols, just as statues of the Virgin Mary or a 4-leaf clover are in the West. You will see such things placed in many traditional households but they are not a part of CFS.
6We accept payment the same way everyone else does, with check, credit cards, electronic payment, or cash: no red envelope necessary.
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The information offered on this website is in accordance with the author’s best knowledge and experiences and makes no claims for absolute effectiveness. It can be beneficial or harmful, depending upon one’s implementation of it and stage of development and is presented here for entertainment purposes only. Readers should use their own discretion. The adoption and application of the material offered on this website remains solely the reader’s own responsibility. The author, Katarina Lang, and Lang, Barisoni & Song are not responsible or liable in any manner for loss or damage of properties or bodily injuries that may occur by following instructions detailed on this website. Anecdotes described on this website are real, although names have been changed to protect the client’s privacy.
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