A Book Review by Kartar Diamond

Clocking in at 140 pages, this book by Master Sang was published in 2004: ten years after his first book, The Principles of Feng Shui. Knowing Master Sang personally, I can vouch for the fact that he was insanely busy running his school during those ten years in between the books.

This little book got a bad review on Amazon and it gave me pause in terms of whether or not I wanted to re-read it and review it for others.  However, I think the reaction that one gets from this book will be very much tied to how much feng shui the reader already knows.  The book is wholly unique from other books on a number of accounts.

We get to hear from a modern-day Chinese Feng Shui master who was part of the first wave of teachers in the West circa the late 1980’s through 1990’s.  We get to read the words of someone born into the culture from where Feng Shui developed and what his personal grievances are within his own “industry.”  We also learn more about Feng Shui through his own stories and experiences.  What it is NOT– is a step-by-step guide on how to conduct a feng shui audit from any one particular school.

I was never in a position to ask Master Sang if my own provocative book, Feng Shui for Skeptics: Real Solutions Without Superstition, inspired him to write his own critique of how Feng Shui has been portrayed in the West. His book includes how Feng Shui has also been practiced, as well as abused, in the East.  In the first two chapters, Sang admits that there have always been fakers and swindlers, clouding the integrity of Feng Shui, even in his own culture.  Chinese scholars and scientists have also scoffed at Feng Shui, because of the charlatans who have added magic, placebos, rituals and other disreputable games to their repertoire.

Sang explains that within the Five Chinese Arts (Medicine, Mountain, Divination, Astrology, and Appraisal by Appearance), that “mountain,” which includes Feng Shui practice, is the most ripe for abuse and fraud. He even states that 85% of the consultants in Hong Kong, and especially the ones interviewed on TV don’t know feng shui on a high level. And of course, he witnessed a lot of baloney when he came to the United States as well.

Whether for the client, or the up-and-coming practitioner, Sang highlights what is required to perform an authentic feng shui reading.

• The land must be surveyed in order to understand the flow and impact of the Qi.
• The practitioner must use a luo pan (compass) to take an accurate reading of the sitting direction. Confidence in determining the sitting side requires training and experience.
• The practitioner must find out the year of the construction as essential.
• The birth year of the occupants is also considered (unless the building will be used by countless unknown people).

Sang mentions that, like the varied martial arts traditions, there are multiple schools of feng shui.  Ba Zhai (Eight Mansion) and Xuan Kong (Flying Star) are the most well-known, and with care they can complement each other. Writes Sang, “fakers are everywhere. They create a total mess by mixing Eastern Culture, customs, and superstitions with burning incense and occult arts, calling this Feng Shui.”  Sang mentioned other systems such as Qi Men Dun Jia and 64 Hexagrams, but says they lack theoretical support.  Keep in mind, this opinion comes from someone who is known to be an expert on the I-Ching.

Sang continues with blunt comments such as “Ba’ gua mirrors, crystal balls, convex or concave mirrors, elephants, etc. have no meaning in Feng Shui practice.”   He then gives examples of how seemingly harmless remedies, applied without knowledge, can cause a lot of damage to the person, as well as to the reputation of Feng Shui as a whole.

Next Sang introduces the 9 stars of Flying Star Feng Shui, using the Pin Yin system in this book. Before employing Flying Star, he says that a Feng Shui expert can also perform a Yi Jing (I-Ching) reading “on the spot” to reveal what type of sickness is affecting the occupants. At this point however, there is no elaborate explanation of the theory behind it. How can something so personal about an individual be pinpointed by a passage from a book?  Not many people really understand how the I-Ching works, but maybe we can call it an ancient form of A.I. “divination download.”

Lest you think that Master Sang considers wind chimes to be silly placebos, that is not the case at all.  Here he clarifies that as a form of moving metal, when placed haphazardly they can make a person’s situation much worse. They do serve definitive purposes in feng shui practice, but one has to study Flying Star in order to when to use them.

Setting the record straight on fish tanks (or any water feature), Sang also remarks on the pros and cons of using water. Timing and direction combined reveal the appropriateness of water or no water.  I don’t know about other cultures, but in American culture there is a popular assumption that “more is better.” We know that cannot be true all the time, however. And in modern science and medicine, we have a knack for extracting what we think are the most potent properties of a substance and macro-dosing on that isolated nutrient.

Only more recently has the pendulum swung back to where many acknowledge the benefit of a more holistic approach.  As an example, a vitamin or mineral might be metabolized better with the synergy of the whole food, as opposed to an isolated supplement form.   So too, with how we approach “dosage” and “duration” for these various feng shui adjustments.

The author comments further about mirrors and how their use by interior decorators has more to do with good feng shui than the superstitious claims by so-called feng shui masters. A mirror which brings light to a dark area and opens the space up visually is a good thing and in line with the goals of Feng Shui.

Sang also admits that he has no idea how or why crystal balls became almost synonymous with Feng Shui in the West. They may look pretty, exotic, and reflect light, but they have nothing to do with Five Element Theory.

In a section on common misconceptions, Sang tells readers essentially that there are exceptions to every rule, but one has to know more feng shui to understand this.  A classic example is the generalization that the house at the end of a T-junction, with the Qi of the street racing toward it in a straight line is highly unfavorable. As he explains in the classroom, if the flying stars at the building’s entrance are very positive, all the Qi rushing toward that structure at the dead-end can actually enhance the house even further.

Sang next tells a story about a client, where he uses both Feng Shui and Zi Wei Dou Shu (astrology), to pinpoint when she would have a problem with her spouse and how it could be resolved with a feng shui adjustment. He explains the hierarchy of Feng Shui, coming in third after other influences like destiny and luck coming first.

This book is filled with “mini” chapters that are just a few pages in length. In Chapter 10, Sang explains that of the Five Chinese Arts, “mountain” includes both Yang House (feng shui) for the living and Yin House (divination of the grave site). Here he emphasizes that the purpose of a good Yin House (grave) is for the benefit of the descendants and not the deceased. His students had the chance back in 2001 to visit several cemeteries and learn the fundamentals of Yin House readings with him.

The course took place just weeks after my own mother passed.  Her wishes were to be cremated and I asked Master Sang then what the ramifications were when there is no body to bury.  This is because the bones of the deceased still work like a transmitter to the descendants.  Master Sang said that when there is cremation and essentially no ability to create a Yin House, that the descendants (up to three generations) will be impatient. I do think of myself as a patient person in general (with others in my life), although I will admit to being impatient with some of my own life lessons.  I call myself a melancholy optimist.

I did not notice anything change in that regard after she passed.  However, there are parts of my son’s personality that went through a big change a few years later which has endured.  His mind churns with anxiety and he struggles with patience.

Sang also tells a story about how a mean-spirited feng shui “master” who intentionally tried to cause harm to a woman and her sons, was overturned by the will of God. This kind of misconduct can also flip back onto the perpetrator. This is a lesson about virtue and how the laws of karma also apply in the realm of Feng Shui. Over the years, I have heard really disappointing stories and have experienced myself, some very dark energy with a few so-called Feng Shui masters. We’re a motley crew: some of the kindest people on the planet mixed with some who latch onto this discipline in order to feed their narcissism. Since feng shui ventures into the spiritual realm and the powers associated with it, some engage with fanaticism and religiosity, wielding undeserved influence over others.

(Not mentioned in this book), Master Sang told his students that when he first came to America, he had alliances and friends who wanted to market him to be a “guru” type.  He rejected that offer and joked that if he was portrayed as a guru that he “would have to stop looking at the pretty girls.”  Meanwhile, I guess he did not know that being a Guru in the West did not stop many East-Indian yoga teachers from acting inappropriately with their female students.

In this book, Master Sang references Yin House a lot.  The divination of grave sites is taken very seriously in Chinese-Feng Shui culture. Chapter 15 recounts something that I was involved in and brought to Master Sang.  It had to do with an actual lawsuit in Los Angeles surrounding a fraudulent real estate transaction at a local cemetery. A Chinese man had his deceased wife buried in a plot and he had also reserved the adjacent plot for himself. No doubt he also used Yin House services to select those two plots.

One day, he visited his wife’s grave site, only to find that someone had been buried in the plot that he had purchased for himself. I don’t recall how this man found me, as he was not already a client. However, I was somewhat well-known through many channels. On the surface, we could say that this was just a horrible mistake made by the mortuary, to have sold the same plot to two different families.  However, this Chinese man also felt that the generational-Yin House damage was monumental.  When he found out that his place to rest right next to his wife had been taken from him, he actually had a heart attack and had to be hospitalized.

In order to impress the judge and jury what a serious violation this was, not just as a real estate blunder, but so much more, he asked that I speak in court about how important Yin House is in Chinese culture.  He would not simply accept a different plot that was offered by the mortuary.  Nor was he willing to have his wife’s body exhumed and moved to another location where they could be together eventually.

On the one hand, I felt like I could be a competent witness and give a decent presentation in court on behalf of the grieving and ailing man.  However, I also felt it would be appropriate to refer this man to Master Sang, whose knowledge and experience was far superior to mine (not even close). After Master Sang was interviewed by the lawyers, he did not need to appear in court. The severity of the situation was made clear and it was settled out of court in favor of the Chinese man who enlisted our help.

Sang gives a few examples of poor Yin House choices made by others and references the Period in which the burial took place as well as the compass reading.  In those unfortunate cases, where family members suffered the consequences, the grave sites were classified as the infamous “Reversed” House types.  This is one of the Four Major House types discussed in Xuan Kong Fei Xing. For the living, this is the house type described as being bad for the occupants’ health and bad for their financial potential.  The same holds true for a Reversed chart in Yin House. It can undermine or ruin the lives of the descendants.

Sang shares a few more stories where he has to do clean up on aisle five after other feng shui masters advised people to their detriment. After studying with Master Sang for many years, I did occasionally find myself on the receiving end of some gossip about him, where a few people insinuated that Master Sang was not in the upper echelon of feng shui masters.  In fact, one overly judgmental personality called him a “one ringer.”  This refers to the various rings on the feng shui compass, called the luo pan.  It is an insult which implies that the “one ringer” only understands or uses the most basic ring on the compass that defines the directions.

Well, I beg to differ as anyone who studied with Master Sang knows that he was very proficient in a number of predictive arts. Those who accompanied him on some of his consults also saw him advise in ways that he did not even share with students.  In Chapter 21, Master Sang lists different schools or feng shui techniques, which most in the field have not heard of or have not studied themselves. This includes variations on some techniques which are known:

• “Ziping Si Zhu (Ziping’s Four Pillars)
• Guo Lao Xing Zong (Guo Lao Star Ancestor)
• Tai Yi Shen Shu (Great Yi Miraculous Calculation)
• Tie Ban Shen Shu (Iron Board Miraculous Calculation)
• Qi Men Dun Jia (Extraordinary Gate To Escape Jia)
• Mei Hua Yi Shu (Plum Flower Yi Jing Calculation)
• Liu Ren Shen Shu (Six Ren Miraculous Calculation).”

When it comes to the Iron Board calculations, Sang’s students heard a number of stories about its astonishing accuracy. He had a whole set of the Iron Board books gracing his desk and people would enter his office for a reading with trepidation and awe.  I was actually too intimidated to get an Iron Board reading because it can supposedly even predict when someone is going to die.  I didn’t want to know that, as most people don’t either.   The predictions from the Iron Board reading would routinely tell the person the Chinese Zodiac signs of their parents and siblings, who is actually part of the family as opposed to a step-child or adopted, the zodiac signs of future spouses, (even their last names in some cases) and what kinds of financial fortunes or misfortunes a person would encounter and when. Obviously, this system challenges whether or not we have any Free Will.

While Master Sang said there are a lot of fake feng shui practitioners, the Iron Board calculations and results cannot be fabricated.  The reputation for Iron Board readings remain so legendary, no one who is not trained in this technique could produce the expected results and accuracy. Iron Board readings typically tell people about their past, present and future.

Master Sang told one story in a chapter titled Divulging Heaven’s Will and it has to do with delicate matters and how much a master should reveal during a reading.  Likewise, if a client withholds information, there may be some inconsistencies in what is communicated.  I remember one time I sat down with a client at her dining table and the husband reluctantly joined us.  I asked him what he did for a living and he said he was a lawyer.  The wife slapped him on the arm and scolded him for lying. He was actually some other profession. But his goal was clear: he wanted to feed me incorrect information as he had no respect for Feng Shui. Feng Shui practitioners know that sometimes we stylize the recommendations based on the occupant’s career, so if we are lied to, they may not get appropriate suggestions.  His motivation for lying was not just speculation on my part, as he continued to say derogatory things about Feng Shui. By that time, I had been a consultant for years and I really had no patience for blatant disrespect.

I didn’t need his money, so I suggested that maybe I should leave. And in fact, it was not just that I was insulted.  I also felt like I was in the home of someone who did not want me there and it was his house, so I should respect that as well! A Golden Rule is that Feng Shui practitioners should not give advice to those who do not want it.   The wife urged me to stay and told her husband to go into another room.  Not long afterwards, she began taking classes at Master Sang’s school.  We exchanged niceties, but I couldn’t’ help but wonder what kind of verbal abuse and condescension she had to endure from the husband, once she decided to study feng shui herself.

Another time I had a client with many feng shui flaws to her home. I tried to be a diplomat and discuss how each flaw could be managed. With each item I needed to inform her about, her spirits did seem to dampen, so I then focused on all the things about her home that were normal and good.

A month or so passed and I was approached by another fellow feng shui practitioner at one of Master Sang’s monthly Question and Answer classes.  This fellow consultant was all-too-happy to say that she came in as a second opinion after me for the client with many flaws to her home. We basically had the same training with Master Sang and came to the same conclusions.  However, this fellow consultant felt compelled to tell me that I “missed telling the client that her home was in a locked phase.”  It was then that I told the fellow consultant that I had not forgotten, which was the truth; I chose to NOT tell the client because I had already told her a half dozen other unfortunate things about her house and I decided to spare her the final blow.  I explained to the fellow consultant, that I didn’t want the client to be even more upset and I knew that I had already given her the recommendation for how to release the lock.

You see, this woman needed water inside and outside her home in several areas and for different reasons.  I knew that the sight and sound of circulating water would ALSO take care of the long termed Locked Phase on her home. I didn’t need to pound her on the head with yet another thing to worry about.  This is just one example of the sensitive information and delivery that is involved in a feng shui audit.  I learned over time that you can’t please all of the people all of the time. And I also learned that a lot of feng shui consultants like to put down other consultants if they think it will boost their own status. Throughout this book, Master Sang reminds us not only what it takes to be a knowledgeable and qualified practitioner, but also how to deal with people.

Sang tells the story behind the naming of another divination art called Plum Flower Yi Jing. As well, he speculates that Mao Zedong  (aka Mao Tse-tung) was a private fan of Feng Shui and all the Chinese divination arts, in spite of denouncing or dismissing it publicly. That attitude is certainly going on today in China’s political world, so it is not at all far-fetched.

He explains that Mao Zedong had a great-grandfather who was a renown Feng Shui practitioner and some of the special dates chosen by Mao Zedong were so auspicious that he must have enlisted the help of experts in feng shui or astrology to figure out the best dates and times, to even include the exact ceremonial founding date of the People’s Republic of China.

In the final chapters, Master Sang describes another technique translated as Word Analysis.  Based on his description, it appears to be a form of Chinese-character-specific handwriting analysis. It also employs skills related to Five Elements, Yi Jing calculation and symbolism inherent in the words and the environment in which the words are written. In closing pages, Master Sang discusses what it means to be a good feng shui practitioner and he says with certainty that once you achieve a certain level of proficiency, it is expected that you will be challenged with more difficult audits and it continues endlessly.

I can say that I had one peculiar experience after another in my own formidable years in practice.  With regularity, I attended  special case study classes and literally the following week I would have a client with that particular issue, whether it was a ghost problem, infidelity, and a long list of situational features which I learned how to handle from Master Sang days before, just in the nick of time.  Out of many students, I was just one of a hand full who were consulting professionally, so I was acutely aware of how my own learning curve and journey was very destined and intertwined with Master Larry Sang.

Of course, we never called Master Sang “Larry” as that was an English name he chose without any backstory revealed to his Western students.  We addressed him as either “Sifu” or Master Sang, out of respect.  One time, I had a session with a psychic medium who contacted my father, Louis Diamond, during the session. My father never knew I picked up the study of Feng Shui and he died just a few years later. Through the medium, my father let me know he was aware that I got “advice” from a man named “Larry.”

Feng Shui Facts and Myths is a charming collection of essays and stories from a man who made an indelible mark and contribution to the resurgence Feng Shui in the East and a traditional introduction of Feng Shui to the West.  It should be a collector’s item for those who are already very familiar with the topic.

Author: Kartar Diamond

Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®

From The Book Review Blog Series

The post Feng Shui Facts and Myths by Larry Sang appeared first on Feng Shui Solutions with Kartar Diamond.

Sometimes I get inspiration for article topics from the most unlikely sources. Today I was studying the instructions for a doggie drinking fountain I purchased from Amazon.  In the description for how to assemble the fountain, the instructions identified each part. The actual fountain pipe was labeled a “water dragon.” (See picture at right).

Ha-ha, inside joke to use a feng shui term?  Chinese slang?  This also reminded me that the vast majority of the items in the average American home were MADE IN CHINA.  For good or for bad, that is how our global economy turns.

Was the practice of Feng Shui really discovered or exclusively developed in China?  Few people have disputed that. The only question is centered around when this canon of environmental mysticism was first documented.  Some people say the practice of feng shui is 3,000 years old; some say 6,000 years old. We all know that something can exist long before it is acknowledged on a large scale or officially documented.

Through ancient travel and trade routes, more than tea, silk and spices were shared. The secrets of Feng Shui may have transferred back and forth by any number of other names, through other societies and spiritual traditions.  Feng Shui had previously been called Kan Yu, before master Guo Po (276-324 AD) coined the phrase “feng shui.”  With feng meaning wind and shui meaning water, this is an abbreviation of his poetic definition regarding Qi being dispersed by the Wind and collected at the boundary of Water.

Some believe the ancient Sumerians (6500-4100 BCE) had their own version of Feng Shui. For just as long, the East Indian and Hindu culture has had their own version of Feng Shui called Vastu Shastra.  And to whatever extent these ancient cultures were influenced by inter-dimensional beings or aliens, we might eventually have to credit non-humans for teaching the principles of Feng Shui to Earthlings.

In more relatively recent times, Freemasonry uses the symbolism of the protractor, with references as well to the compass (representing the boundaries of behavior) and the mystical connotations of building and architecture. Freemasonry incorporates principles of thought and practices from ancient Egypt. A strangely high percentage of U.S. Presidents have direct or indirect genealogy to practicing Freemasons, including George Washington.  Just the architecture alone in Washington D.C. is a lesson in the links and aspirations between ancient societies and their governments with America’s Founding Fathers.

The building blocks of the United States overflow with mysticism and the occult if you know where to look, and yet Feng Shui was not widely known or practiced in the U.S. until the end of the 20th century.  I had a client once tell me that her parents enlisted the services of a feng shui master in the 1970’s.  And yes, he had to fly in from Hong Kong.

With the continual influx of Chinese immigrants into western countries, it was only natural that Westerners would be exposed to Feng Shui. The fact that Westerners embraced Feng Shui so voraciously is still surprising to me, but perhaps it was just riding on the coat tails of all things Eastern and exotic, which began decades before with the hippie counter-culture movement.  Like Chinese medicine, perhaps Feng Shui was intentionally imported to break down certain cultural barriers, in a long game that is still playing out for New World Order dominance.

Be on the look-out for my upcoming review of Dr. Stephen Skinner’s book, Feng Shui History in China & the West (221 BC to 2012 AD), summer 2026.

Author: Kartar Diamond

Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®

From the Philosophical & Metaphysical Musings Blog Series

The post Was Feng Shui MADE IN CHINA? by Kartar Diamond appeared first on Feng Shui Solutions with Kartar Diamond.

Book Review by Kartar Diamond

Founder of the American Feng Shui Institute in 1991, Master Sang self-published The Principles of Feng Shui in 1994 and it is still available on Amazon as of 2026. Much of the information in the book was already part of his Beginner’s Course. Just prior to opening his school in Monterey Park, (a Chinese community in Los Angeles county), Sang taught seminars at USC and Northrop University. He was also invited to speak at Samra University of Oriental medicine.

Photo to right is Master Sang with former Secretary of the State of California (1975-1994), March Fong Eu. Later she became Ambassador to Micronesia under Bill Clinton.

Around that time, I met Master Sang at a workshop he gave through an Adult School program called The Learning Annex. (I taught a few meditation workshops through The Learning Annex and that is how I serendipitously discovered Master Sang). I remember being both impressed and humbled, knowing that I should learn Feng Shui more deeply before trying out the recommendations on myself or friends. I did sign up for more classes at the Institute, conveniently only 30 minutes away.

This was one feature to Master Sang and his school, which was a departure from his professional contemporaries: he resided in the United States.  Other teachers at the time, such as Master Raymond Lo (Hong Kong), Master Joseph Yu (Toronto, Canada) or Master Yap Cheng Hai (Malaysia), were all traveling the globe to teach while making stops in America as well.  With Master Sang, students flocked to him on his turf in Monterey Park and he had an international following for a couple of decades. To that degree, I felt lucky. I was able to spend my money on classes and not travel expenses.

If I had known over thirty years ago that I would end up critiquing my first and most important teacher’s book, I would have truly been shocked.  The Principles of Feng Shui is very straight-forward, organized and no frills. He credits Helen Luk and Jason Lam for translation and illustrations.  It inspired later works by other authors, including the framework for his student Val Biktashev’s first edition of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Feng Shui. Sang also inspired another no frills offering from former student, Dr. David Twicken, who went on to write many books, mostly on Chinese medicine.  As well, I based some of the material in my books, on the very things I learned from Master Sang.

For most of the years Master Sang was in the U.S., his premier assistant teacher was Dr. Lorraine Wilcox, who organized and translated many of Master Sang’s classes and often taught the modules on Chinese Astrology.  She has since distinguished herself as an expert on Chinese medical history and more.

Aside from his formal teaching curriculum, every month for nearly two decades, Sang held a Feng Shui “Society” meeting. This monthly meeting vacillated between a spontaneous Question & Answer class at the Institute or an on-site audit of a home or business in Southern California. There was always a waiting list for properties to be visited and evaluated by AFSI.  Some of the Society meetings were so important that they turned into case study lesson plans for future students. One regret I have is that we did not insist Master Sang record and preserve all of those society meetings.  I attended almost every one of them and often arranged for some of my more interesting and challenging jobs to be on the schedule, so others could have the experience and extra input from Master Sang.

In the Forward, Master Sang describes feng shui as “a Chinese mathematical system developed by ancient scholars through observation accumulated over a few thousand years. It is a specialized method of harmonizing man-made environment and the calculation of time and space. Feng Shui is a science incorporating astronomy, geography, the environment, magnetic fields, and physics.”

Without explicitly describing Heaven Luck, Earth Luck, and Man Luck, Sang states “based on the interaction among the movements of orbiting planets of the solar system (heaven), living environment (Earth), and one’s birth date (individual), Feng Shui is a unique system which mathematically devises one’s most favorable direction for his or her living quarters and work place.”

Sang quickly covers some basics such as the literal meaning of Feng Shui and its previous term, “Kan Yu.” He shares some history, such as when manuals and literature were discovered going back to 25 AD during the East Han dynasty. Feng Shui knowledge was passed down through families and as far back as the records go, there were four most prominent families from the Tang and Sun dynasties: Yang, Sang, Liu, and Lai.  Master Sang claimed to be from the same Sang family.

In a brief section on the Tai Chi (Yin-Yang symbol), he covers aspects to the yin and yang polarities, their natural ebb and flow and features which affect us most in relation to feng shui. I mention this because the Tai Chi (aka Tai Ji) symbol is so deep that it permeates all of Chinese metaphysics. Each Chinese Art has its own yin-yang interpretations. Not all are relevant to Feng Shui specifically, such as with the unique applications to Chinese Astrology or Chinese medicine.

Sang then tells a simple story about a client he had when he was younger and living in Hong Kong.  He was able to cure a woman’s constant headaches, by adjusting a very simple flaw in her apartment which was too “yang,” and by addressing the non-obvious Flying Star energy in her bedroom.

Master Sang’s book also contains translations of passages which may have come directly from the I-Ching, though he does not state their origin, such as in the Zen-ish “In a similarity, there is variation; and in a variation, Similarity is found.”  His audience was both Chinese and English-speaking; no doubt, some meaning is lost in translation, so he prints the direct quotes in Chinese as well.

Before discussing the Five Elements, Sang points out other groupings of five, including:

• Directions: East, South, West, North and Center
• Emotions: Bliss, Anger, Sorrow, Joy, Fear
• Language-The vowels: A.E.I.O.U

The Five Elements are explained briefly, showing the Productive and Destructive cycles. Sang states that many books do not even discuss the Reductive cycle, in spite of this being a significant cycle, as a means to correct imbalances. He gives several examples. The chapter includes lists, charts, and photographs of the elements, with their associated directions, colors, and seasons.

In the chapter on the Eight Trigrams (BA GUA), the author explains how to read the three-lined symbols, from the bottom line, next middle, top line last. Each line represents Earth, Man, and Heaven. We cannot separate the I-Ching, the origin of the trigrams and hexagrams, from Feng Shui.  Each trigram is associated with one of the five elements, a family member, a direction, a color, body areas and illness, a natural phenomenon, and codified with a number, such as the 2 “star” representing the Kun trigram.

Master Sang then implores the reader to commit all the attributes of the Eight Trigrams to memory, as their significance builds further into your feng shui studies.  He then tells a dramatic story, illustrating a concept called “Fire Burns Heaven’s Gate.”  If you memorize the Chien (Qian) trigram as symbolic of Heaven, you also know it is related to the direction of Northwest.  If you know that Northwest is symbolic of the metal element (and the owner or father figure) and you have memorized Five Element Theory, then you will instantly know that the fire element has a harsh impact in the Northwest direction. Fire melts metal.  From this, Master Sang recounts a forewarning he gave a restaurant owner who had a series of stoves in the Northwest sector of the restaurant’s floor plan.  Master Sang’s warning was not heeded and the owner died in a fire accident.

Master Sang told us many stories to illustrate a point. Like all people, everywhere, we learn a lot of life lessons through stories and parables. He was always smiling, telling jokes, slapping his thighs, and there were times when the cultural divide would disappear through shared humor or his unique take on things. For example, it never occurred to me, before Master Sang mentioned it, that Superman wears his underwear on the OUTSIDE.

Some of the funniest episodes with Master Sang were not intentional, such as the time students couldn’t help but chuckle when we had a society meeting at a manufacturing plant.  We gathered in one area of the warehouse where Master Sang stood with a backdrop of heavy machinery behind him.  He paced back and forth, speaking with a microphone, unaware that he kept stepping on and off an industrial scale which was flush with the concrete floor.  As he spoke, his weight (of 112 pounds) kept flashing on a digital sign above his head. Classmates finally had let him know what was so funny.

Chapter Five introduces the “East-West” system or school.  Master Sang used to refer to the Eight Mansion (Ba Zhai) school this way. In this system, there is a “personal” trigram and a “house trigram.”  This is a much lengthier chapter than the preceding four chapters, which were more foundational for what is to come.  Not having read the book in over thirty years, I found an unfortunate error on page 50 when it says that the official day of the “Chinese lunar calendar year” is February 4^th or 5^th.  It’s actually a solar calendar, not a lunar calendar, where February 4^th or 5^th is the 6-week mid-way point between the December Solstice and the March equinox, marking the Feng Shui New Year.   In fact, in the following paragraph, it states “The first day of Month One of the Chinese Lunar Calendar is most frequently and widely mistaken as the official day of the beginning of the Chinese new year.”   This sentence should have been followed with an explanation that a SOLAR calendar is used, not only for Feng Shui, but also for the more popular of the two forms of Chinese Astrology, Ba Zi (Four Pillars).

Next comes the calculations for determining the female and male trigram for any year of birth. Like so many other feng shui teachers, he taught the conventional Ba Zhai system. I don’t know whether Master Sang was aware of the historical objections and denouncement of the “female” gua as an intentionally misleading addition, created by monk Yi Xing.

I do know that AFSI did not focus solely on the Eight Mansion School system.  Very quickly, students moved on to the Flying Star School.  I stopped adhering to the conventional Ba Zhai/ female gua practice around 2012.  This was just one of several reasons why I stopped volunteering to answer questions on the school’s on-line discussion forum.  I was doing things differently than what I learned at AFSI and out of respect to Master Sang, I kept quiet.

Determining the House Trigram should be distinguished from the “House Trigram Number” as Master Sang teaches both applications in his book.  Initially, the House trigram can also be called the “House Type.”  This is based on orientation, where the sitting direction characterizes the house. In this chapter, Sang introduces the concept of Sitting and Facing. It is the sitting side which labels the House type or House trigram.  If a house faces East, then it sits (back) west.  If the sitting is West, then it is regarded as a West House.  Between the two camps, Easterly or Westerly, the West House is also in the West Group.

West Group houses are those which sit West, Southwest, Northeast or Northwest. East Group Houses sit East, Southeast, North and South.

On pages 54-55, there is a Table Chart showing your Personal Trigram, covering the 20^th century.  For anyone born after 1999, you can subtract in multiples of 9 to find the last entry on the chart.  For example, someone born in 2006 can subtract 9 in order to get to 1997. Looking up the chart for someone born in 1997 (after February 3^rd) will give you the information you need to proceed.  To be clear: the personal trigram is determined based on year of birth, while the House trigram is determined by the Sitting (back side) orientation.

Master Sang gives some clues on what is the true facing or sitting side, since the facing side is not always on the same side as the main entrance.  He uses a classic example, where a house on the beach with the ocean behind it likely faces the ocean view and not the street side. Architecturally, it would be a crime to design a home on the beach that was NOT facing the views!

What follows is an introduction to the “lo’ pan,” which is also written as luo pan.  For this book, Master Sang uses the older Wade Giles transliteration system.  The Chinese Feng Shui compass has information on it that is pertinent to the feng shui practice, but there are different types of Luo pan, with as many as 36 or more rings around the central housing of the compass arrow.  Master Sang produced his own simplified luo pan, which he sold for more than 20 years. He then describes how to use his own Sang’s Luo pan.

Page 69 has an illustration of a woman standing with her back to a door, taking a compass reading.  To this day, I cannot understand why anyone would turn their back to the very wall they need to align the edge of the compass (luo pan) with, in order to get an accurate reading.  Certainly, at the beginner’s level, you don’t have to be that precise, when each of the eight basic directions has a 45-degree span.  But why not learn how to be precise right from the beginning?

What comes next are eight pages, each devoted to a Table Chart break down for the Eight Personal Trigrams, and what appears to be a definition of a signature trait associated with each of the Eight House Types.  For example, with the Ken trigram person: they can see that in a Li House (sits South), for them this house type could attract arguments or potential lawsuits.  For ANY house that a Ken (Gen) person lives in, the South sector of that house will be for them, an energy field primed for arguments or legal problems.

Next, Master Sang presents the material in a different way, using two different words to describe each direction and what kind of impact that “star” can have on a person. What he calls the “A” direction is described as Sheng Chi, and astrologically it is the T’an Lang star.  This is one of the stars from the Big Dipper, with each one related to these very directions. T’an Lang is the major wealth star.  This “A” wealth star is located in different directions based on the House type, and also for the person.  For instance, the “A” T’an Lang direction for a house that sits West (Tui), is in the Northwest sector.  For a person who is the Chen personal trigram, their major Wealth direction (T’an Lang) is always South.

One could consolidate these two principles into one chart. Instead, he provides eight charts for each trigram, where the reader can look at those charts for either the person or the place.  In other words, if you look at the K’an Chart, the “C” direction is south and that can garner trust and good relationships. The South sector of a Kan house has that identity in this Ba Zhai (Pa Chai) school.  Likewise, a Kan person (based on their birth year) will also find that south (in any house) is their personal “C” direction.

Is it necessary (or statistically probable) for a person to live in a house type that matches their own trigram? Answer: No.  This notion would also be endlessly frustrating for family members who are a mixture of East Group and West Group people, all having different good and bad directions.  Not mentioned in the book, it should be assumed that any house can have more than one influence on a person.

With an example: Let us say you are a Sun person. You look at the Sun chart and see that  for you, the direction of northeast is the “H” direction, the worst for you and associated with accidents and other failures.  So, “H” is bad for you personally.  But what if you live in a  Chien (NW sitting) house where your primary bedroom is in the Northeast?  For the house type, it is the “B” direction: good wealth and helpful friendship.  Does the positive cancel out the negative?  It may, or both traits could manifest.  You may have some misfortune, but what a sigh of relief, that you will have wealth and friends to help overcome the adversity.

If you wonder why there is a certain order to these directions A through H (best to worst), unique to each trigram, Sang shows how each trigram can morph into a different trigram, when changing the yin (broken) lines to yang (solid) lines and vice versa.  This is literally a formula you could memorize.

Through explanation and diagrams, Master Sang shows how all is not lost if you are in the opposite Group as your house type.  Each house has four good directions and four bad directions.  If you are not compatible with the house type as a whole, perhaps you can spend more of your time in your personal favorite directions. You could also use an alternative entrance which suits you better. He notes that you can fair well in a good part of the house, in addition to your own personal best directions.

He forewarns readers to not be rigid about entrances since some of the literature out there claims that a door left of center means one thing and a door that is to the right of center means another. Even the simplified East-West School has more variation than that.  For those who learn the Flying Star School first, the East-West School may not be all that captivating. However, this branch of Feng Shui is actually more popular than Flying Star in some parts of the world.

Additionally, you can get a whole other perspective on the Eight Mansion School by reading the Eight Mansion series by Dr. Stephen Skinner.

Sang gives examples of how the personal trigrams partially define us, such as with an incompatible pairing for a couple.  With a Chien (Metal) person and a Chen (Wood) person, not only are they opposites in the East-West division, but Metal can destroy Wood, so that might be one of the worst combinations. Don’t despair however, if you find that you are quite opposite your spouse, as there are still more layers to reveal true compatibility.  Sang encourages compromise whenever possible, such as a West type person being able to sleep head to a westerly direction, even if they live in an East Group House or a bedroom in one of the easterly directions.

He recommends seeking out the “A” or T’an Lang direction for entrances and includes asides about the ideal entrance not being too tall, big, small, or narrow. This affects chi flow.  He recommends that bedrooms be in the “D” or Fu Bi direction as it is the most restful part of the house.  This one has always bothered me because the most common floor plan arrangements place bedrooms in a back corner and not smack in the back middle area. At the very least, bedrooms should land in the top four best directions for the house type.

Master Sang continues to dispense advice about the environment of the bedroom and says “Mirrors do not belong to any of the Five Elements in Feng Shui and should not be considered as a remedy for bad chi.”  This stands out in contrast to the Black Hat School, popularizing a notion that “mirrors are the aspirin” of Feng Shui, implying they can cure many problems.  Mirrors can be especially disruptive in a sleeping room.

I was surprised to read the following section, not having remembered it all from thirty years ago, nor was it spoken about at all in the classroom. Sang has a Table Chart on Page 124, noting the ideal color to paint your bedroom, based on the element associated with your personal trigram. The goal here is to use a color that is productive to your own element or at least match your own element. To test this out, I will use myself as an example.  I am a “Wood” element person, so the advice is for me to paint my bedroom blue since blue resonates the water element and water nurtures wood.

In my current bedroom, if I were to place blue color for water, it could stir up legal problems or misunderstandings in one part and in the other part of the room (and bed) it could exacerbate bone or muscle problems.   Not appropriate for my current situation.  What color do I have for this bedroom?  Well, I could say that the color was chosen for me by the previous owner, but that would not be the whole story. As I walked through the home for the first time, interested in buying it, all the walls in the house were white, except the primary bedroom.

The bedroom walls are periwinkle and I laughed when I saw the room.  My previous bedroom had lavender walls, which I chose and loved for 17 years.  I said to my realtor, “That’s a sign. This is my home.”   For the same reason I had lavender walls at my previous home, I kept the darker shade of lavender in the new home. Lavender, and similar shades of purple, are not red enough to be fire and not blue enough to be water.  It’s an in-between color and therefore safe, as it does not resonate strongly as one of the Five Elements.

Photo to the right is Kartar’s bedroom with lavendar walls.

Master Sang then moves into the kitchen, explaining that a stove has a front and a back. The direction in which stove door opens up, that is the facing side. Ironically, the best place (location) for a stove is in one of the four “negative” directions for that House type. (Burn off the bad chi).  Then, the direction the stove faces should be in a positive direction for the owner. This is an example of the difference between location and direction.  It is similar to the notion of placing yourself in a positive direction for sleep if the location happens to not be ideal.

In another example of turning something bad into something good, Master Sang defines how with proper timing, factoring in annual influences, one can position or re-position a stove to face an ideal direction for the owner, even within the “G” (Five Ghosts) location of the house. A financial windfall will result within a couple of weeks.

Next, the author introduces the “Shyuan K’ung” system, which is also written as “Xuan Kong.” This is the flying star school and there are various branches or applications from just this one school.  Sang sets the table for the “Tze-Pai Ku” formula. It is translated as “the Nine Palace Floating Stars.”  The first number (star) to chart out is based on the sitting direction of the house.  But it is not the same as the Ba Zhai (Pa Chai) system where he assigns a letter from the English alphabet, expressing good and bad locations for easterly and westerly houses.  With the Tze-Pai formula, you take the number associated with sitting trigram and plot that through in an ascending order through all the directions.

For example, a Li House (sitting south) will begin with the number 9 in the center “palace.” From there you ascend to 1 in the NW, 2 in the West, 3 in the NE, etc.  A house which sits West (Tui House) will start with a 7 in the center because Tui is associated with that number.  On paper, this might appear to look like a flying star “mountain dragon” if you place it over to the left of the other number.  But this is not a mountain dragon.  It is the House Trigram Number.

After you have floated the House Trigram number, then you float the annual number (star) starting from center and proceeding in that same pattern of NW, W, NE, S, N, SW, E, SE.

On page 159, you find the Annual Number Chart for quick reference. Sang gives a short list on page 161 for the meaning of each individual number (star).  However, the definitions are not meant for all time. That is beyond the scope of his book, but relevant to Periods 7, 8 and even mostly for Period 9.  What you see at this point is a pairing of the House Trigram Number with the Annual Number and this style may be worthwhile to use, even after you have studied Flying Star Feng Shui (Xuan Kong Fei Xing).

Let us say there is a situation where it is impossible to know when a structure was built. This might be an appropriate time to use this modified  House Trigram Number system.  In fact, what is not expressed in this book, but which was examined regularly in Master Sang’s Yearly Guides, is the subtle influence of the trigram in which the annual star visits.

In Master Sang’s Yearly Feng Shui Guide, he would compare the annual star with the position it was in.  For instance, if there is an annual 9 star (fire energy) in the West (metal) sector one year, that alone creates a tension of Fire Destroying Metal.  If the annual 9 fire star is in the Southwest (earth trigram) sector, that would be productive and nurturing since fire creates earth.  We can then say that some stars will have an added layer, for good or for bad, depending on what trigram direction they occupy.  Not all annual stars manifest equally in different years because of this.

The pairing of the stars are then defined for their combined meaning or influence. You get nine House Trigram numbers  (there are actually only 8 trigrams) combined with nine Annual stars, for a list of 81 entries. This alone may be worth the price of the book, as the meanings he gives are nearly identical to the meanings given to the pairings of mountain dragon and water dragon stars in the more advanced and traditional flying star charts. The advanced flying star chart factors in when the structure was built, in conjunction with orientation down to a 15-degree increment. There are 216 different flying star charts; some have similar flying star combinations and some are quite different.

Master Sang’s list of star meanings is good, but there could still be more nuance and additional definitions added to them. With a book that contains exhaustive examples of the  East-West principles, it’s odd that he didn’t also dole out the element remedies for each of these 81 combinations. This is something I did include in my third book, The Feng Shui Continuum, although practitioners do that with some level of risk. This is because we have to trust that the reader has understood the material completely and has set up the correct chart to begin with.   Context matters as well, but that level is reserved for advanced students.

For instance, many of the definitions sound scary. The 3-5 combination is noted as “unfavorable for young male adults. Easy to have liver and leg-related diseases. Easy to fall sick.”  The metal element can be placed here to cancel out this negative chi, but he does not mention elemental remedies, which would be derived from the Reductive Element or Domination Cycle that he presents earlier in the book.

There is one error in this book which didn’t even register until just now. Page 169 lists the pairing of House trigram Number 5 with  each annual star.  This is impossible as no house “sits” in the center, for which the 5 star is symbolic of in this instance.  “Center” is not a direction and there is no 5 trigram. Careless typo?  I wouldn’t want a newbie to think they had missed something.  Does this mean there is never a pairing of two 5 stars?  Actually, there can be a pairing of 5 stars, but it has to be a 5 star generated from when the structure was built, combined with an annual or monthly 5 star.

Master Sang refers to more techniques which are beyond the scope of his first book, and tells readers that “Book III, The Shyuan K’ung System of Feng Shui” is forthcoming.  To date, he has not published a third book (at least not in English), but his class materials ultimately included more than 26 case study lesson plans, above and beyond the Intermediate and Advanced Feng Shui modules. Like other teachers, he taught Chinese Astrology, Face and Palm Reading, as well as an Introduction to Yin House.  It was a struggle for Sang to get all those case studies organized for the internet and only part of his school’s curriculum can be found on-line.  Without formally closing his school, Master Sang began to travel more and returned to Beijing, Guam and other Asian countries for long stretches of time.

With children and grandchildren who grew up in Southern California, he makes visits to family, but he no longer teaches in America.  The American Feng Shui Institute’s website is unrecognizable from what it was before 2012, with almost all the original teachers scrubbed from the site. For example, my books used to be available on his website and there was an active on-line discussion forum for years. One of his senior students has been overseeing the site and teaches a handful of the classes either in-person or over Zoom.

Photo to right is Master Sang and wife Salina, with some of his instructors. Yours truly is right behind Master Sang.

Master Sang was one of those teachers who did not easily embrace western marketing business plans, even though a number of devoted students encouraged him and offered to help him create a franchise that could continue even after he retired. He did say for many years that America was “booming,” meaning that the country’s chi was ascending.  However, he must have read the tea leaves (or the I-Ching) to know when America would actually go into decline, as he quietly slipped away and returned to China.

In the final chapter, he discusses classic chi flow problems or situations which are often categorized as Form School feng shui.  It includes mostly shapes of houses and plots, road alignments and other examples of “sha” chi.  In some cases, the condition of the land will have an over-riding effect, regardless of the orientation of the house or the occupant’s personal compatibility. He sights the most troubling land to build on as former burial grounds, former slaughterhouses, execution sites, or landfills.

As someone who experienced Master Sang’s classes in person, and even taught some of the classes, my memories are fond and I consider The Principles of Feng Shui to be like a manual for his beginner’s module.  But what do others think?  I looked on-line to see reviews on Amazon and there was a mixture of responses.  Some recognized that Sang’s teachings are authentic and clear, while others thought the material was not substantial enough. If someone is serious about understanding the material, all the examples and charts given are quite helpful and not redundant.

Sometimes Master Sang had communication bloopers due to the language barrier and often an American assistant teacher would join him at the head of the classroom to clarify what Master Sang had said. Once when we were discussing how the Period of a house changes, we discovered that Master Sang was using the word “floor” differently than what we had assumed. Initially we thought he meant “the first floor” when he said that the ceiling has to be opened up and let the rays of the sun shine down to the bottom floor. But what he meant was the “ground.”  Or at least the foundation, if not the dirt below.  Under the house’s flooring. He felt the flooring had to be removed as well as the ceiling.   Some of us do not hold such a strict view, but at least we finally understood what he meant.

In contrast, one time Master Sang and I both had a spontaneous and identical understanding of something which felt almost telepathic. We had a guest visitor from another country who asked to speak in front of students at the Institute. He was a disciple of Professor Lin Yun, whose students called him Master Lin Yun: The founder of the Black Hat Sect School of Feng Shui. This gentleman talked about how Feng Shui changed his life and he heaped praise on Master Sang for all the work he had done to educate the world about Feng Shui.  But this gentleman saved most of his praise for his own teacher, Lin Yun.

Master Sang and I were standing in the back of a filled classroom, near the exit door as this guest spoke with unbridled adoration for his teacher who really did help popularize Feng Shui in America. The guest speaker called Lin Yun “the Christopher Columbus of Feng Shui.”  I immediately bolted from the back door into the school’s lobby and Master Sang was right behind me.  We both doubled over like school children, trying to silence our explosive laughter.

At that moment, I realized that Master Sang was familiar enough with American history to know that Columbus was not searching for America. He was heading for the East Indies, but misread his compass and got lost. The comparison was unintentionally ironic, and hilarious, to say the least!  Sometimes Master Sang would call me his “feng shui daughter” and this was one of those moments, with both of our eyes wet from laughter, that I did feel that special connection with him.

Author: Kartar Diamond

Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®

From the Book Review Blog Series

The post The Principles of Feng Shui by Master Larry Sang appeared first on Feng Shui Solutions with Kartar Diamond.

(A completely unbiased book review by the author herself).

After re-reading and reviewing more than thirty feng shui books, some by very famous authors, I wondered if I could give an impartial review of my own books. They really do have some unique material in them. I thought it might also be a good exercise in spiritual development if I tried to disassociate myself as the author while reviewing my own work.

Before getting into the actual review, I thought I’d share with you some backstory surrounding Feng Shui for Skeptics: Real Solutions Without Superstition. I always wanted to create a very unique contribution to the field and my first effort was titled Diary of a Feng Shui Master.  It was filled with wild stories of some of my more memorable consults. The first draft included the time I was greeted at the door by the half-undressed publisher of a well-known tabloid magazine. Simultaneously, in the background his wife could be heard screaming, “Stan, put your pants on!”

In the beginning, the vast majority of my clients were in Los Angeles and so it goes with the territory that entertainment industry people ended up being a part of my demographic. This included auditing a castle in the Hollywood Hills that Johnny Depp had just purchased. In the same neighborhood, I evaluated the home of rap music producer Rick Rubin.  It also included a crazy encounter with a delusional prostitute in Sherman Oaks who was convinced that Brad Pitt was going to marry her. I visited predictable commercial places, such as a cosmetic surgeon’s office, recording studios, upscale restaurants, offices at Fox, Disney, CBS, and Warner Brothers studios. I taught private feng shui classes to actor-director Forest Whitaker.  I thought I could use experiences like these as a launching pad for teaching certain feng shui concepts, while entertaining the reader and satisfying the frustrated comedy writer inside of me.

I even had a book writing coach very excited about the angle and she helped me put together an impressive proposal. Linda Sivertsen had a reputation for helping writers secure big publishing deals, so I was optimistic.  And yet, one morning I got a call back from a New York literary agent. Instead of just ignoring me and putting the proposal in the “slush file,” she felt compelled to give me some re-direction.

She told me that she would have a hard time shopping my book around because “Every publisher has already done a feng shui book and they’ve all lost money.” (Except Lillian Too, of course).  This is one of the cruel realities, especially for new or not-already famous authors.  She told me the average new author sells only 500 copies. The rest end up in the remainders bin or in the author’s garage. Feng Shui for Skeptics sold over 3,000 copies in the first year, so I was very happy to do another printing and even more renditions emerged in other languages.

This honest literary agent also told me that no one searches for a feng shui book that will make them laugh.  Rather, they are seeking information, to learn something applicable. In fact, the Indonesian translation of my book changed the title to Easy Feng Shui! I appreciated her candor and stopped sending out proposals and sample chapters.  The literary agent also had a discussion with me about whether or not to self-publish.

There are pros and cons to self-publishing.  Back then, in the late 1990’s, there was no Google and not even a majority of people on the internet. There certainly were not any on-line self-publishing digital formats, like the eventual I-Universe or Amazon.  In fact, back in the day, if an author self-published, they were called “vanity” books. The implication was that someone unqualified to get published the traditional way would just print up their own books at a copy store.  These would not be titles that any bookstore would buy, as they all work with distributors and not directly with authors.

So, I took a minute, regrouped, and wrote Feng Shui for Skeptics: Real Solutions Without Superstition. I worked with a book development company and became my own publisher.  I’m still in print and two more trade paperbacks followed it, including more foreign rights translations.    Even though the book did get reviews by professional reviewers, most were just a few paragraphs long and some of the laziest reviewers borrowed heavily from the press releases they were sent.

I even wrote one of my own press releases, which promised the book would be “relished by feng shui junkies.”  Three reviewers stole that line for their own pieces and ruined my ability to use those reviews in their entirety. If you have read any of the reviews I’ve done for other books, you know they are lengthy and quite detailed.  I will now proceed with the review of Feng Shui for Skeptics in the “third person,” and we’ll see if I can be fair and objective. It was written over 20 years ago!

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As if the title was not clear enough, in the opening Introduction and first chapter, Diamond sets the tone for her book’s inspiration, writing “The main urge for me to write this book is twofold: 1) to dispel the nonsense being passed off as feng shui and 2) to actually deliver advanced but practical information without expecting the reader to abandon his or her occupation in order to study feng shui full time.”

Indeed, Diamond’s chosen topics include feng shui principles and techniques which were not largely written about in the first wave of commercial books by Western authors. She may have also been the first Western author to critique what she refers to as the New Age version of Feng Shui, a One-Size-Fits-All approach which gained quite a bit of popularity in the 1990’s and which dominated the field for some time thereafter.

To be a “whistleblower” and call out one school of Feng Shui as “fake,” may have seemed heretical at the time, but after her book came out, other traditional practitioners felt more comfortable speaking their minds as well.  Her own teacher, Master Larry Sang, soon came out with his second book, Feng Shui Facts and Myths, shortly after.  The subtitle promises “real solutions without superstition,” but Diamond excuses herself early on in that she has cannot claim feng shui is a “science” in the Western sense.  She asks the reader to accept it as a “near science.”

We know even scientists make predictions, based on data collected, reserving the right to re-calibrate their findings when needed.  Science can say that if you maintain a diet of highly processed food, you may have a 57% higher chance of developing diabetes or heart disease. Diamond thinks Feng Shui is no different, in that a majority of people will respond similarly to the same or replicated environment. And this is one reason she feels there is no need for ritualistic or cultural placebos.

She presents us with opinions to ponder, including the differences between the Eastern and Western mindsets, as other authors do as well to warm the reader up to these foreign practices. The Chinese may easily believe that an inanimate object can affect their health, well-being, and finances. Equally, they believe that deities and ancestors who have passed can also influence just about everything in our lives. For the Westerner with no religious affiliation, “seeing is believing,” and more likely to be skeptical regarding metaphysical doctrines. Diamond just wants to acknowledge that right off the bat.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of feng shui, Diamond lists the most important areas of your house, what to pay attention to, as every area of your house does not hold equal weight. That would be the mistake of a novice. She rejects the New Age (Black Hat School) premise that the back left-hand corner of every house is a Wealth Area and intrigues us with a counter that we all have several areas within a house which can encourage monetary success.  They are not arbitrary, however. We will have to learn a step-by-step process to identify those unique zones in each house.

The author also indicates that false feng shui schools are not just an invention of modern-day charlatans peddling instant gratification. Apparently, the deception goes back many hundreds of years, or longer, when advanced feng shui knowledge and practices were kept secret from the masses. Only the Chinese emperor and the wealthiest in society had access to a feng shui master, with few exceptions.  In fact, in the Addendum that Diamond wrote for all her books years later, we find out that a whole false school was created by monk Yi Xing under mandate by the emperor during the T’ang Dynasty. That adulterated school is still in practice today, with many current day practitioners unaware of its true origin.

Next, Diamond lists the four major components that go into an evaluation: Time, Orientation, Environment, and People.  She further describes how each of these four features bring uniqueness to the property.  Her subsection on the different schools of Feng Shui does not really cover all the now well-known classical schools, which other authors like Dr. Stephen Skinner have written about in great detail.  Instead, Diamond categorizes different principles which are foundational to most traditional schools. This includes Form School and Qi Flow, Yin-Yang Theory, the Eight Trigrams and Five Element Theory.

With these foundational principles, she points out some of the ways in which the New Age Schools misuse the information.  For example, the novice or poorly trained may assume an elusive type of equilibrium, often referred to as “harmony,” is achieved by representing all the elements together in one room (Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal). When one understands the cycles of the Elements and their relationships with each other, placing them all together is easily recognized as absurd. Diamond remarks, “this makes about as much sense as swallowing everything in your medicine cabinet when you don’t know why you are ill.”

In this same beginning chapter, the author mentions briefly the Flying Star School, as the only traditional school which factors in aspects of timing, such as when the structure was built. Later on, she will dispense information about annual energy.  She briefly mentions the popular Eight Mansion School, also known as Pa Chai (Ba Zhai). From there, Diamond does a short, critical expose on the founder of the Black Hat School and his creation of the New Age Ba’gua Map. The Map is a fixed template that goes over every floor plan, identifying different Life Stations supposedly present in every living space.

Chapter Two gives us examples of how life force energy, (aka chi), affects us and how, such as through architectural designs flaws which create “poison arrows.” Shen chi can encourage health and success, while sha chi can undermine us.  The shen chi list includes good lighting and ventilation, while the sha chi list mentions spaces that feel oppressive or dirty.   Much of this is common sense, but Diamond also likes to point out the non-obvious features as well.

She lists different shapes as stable or unstable, comparing square and rectangular shapes with triangular, pyramid, oval or columnar shapes. Unusual shapes can have predictably bad influences, such as U-shaped houses, L-shaped, and a zig-zag shape she calls the Lightning Bolt House. Throughout, Diamond tells us stories from her actual audits, as well as how certain shaped buildings can enhance different types of businesses, such as the square shape (symbolic of earth) being good for real estate companies.

In this chapter, she also forewarns that not all irregular shapes are to be feared if they are on a small scale. Diamond gives a comparative example of the “poison arrow,” which could be formidable when created by the corner of a large building, but almost insignificant when the corner edge is a piece of furniture.  The author also notes how the shapes of adjacent buildings, representative of certain elements, may undermine or enhance each other. According to Diamond, this should be a layer to consider when it comes to city planning.

While other feng shui teachers conclude that an L-shaped building is, by definition, missing several directional zones, Diamond demonstrates how the truly L-shaped structure may in fact be two charts that happen to be connected under one roof. This is an example of how to separate the Yin versus Yang rooms in a house. Diamond points out that the corner of the L-shaped house, which connects the two wings, is like an elbow to the arm: a stress point.

Much of what she discusses regarding the shapes of structures can be applied to the shape of land parcels too. The author dispenses a few landscaping techniques to square out uneven parcel shapes.  When a floor plan or a section of a parcel is missing a directional sector, it can indicate a deficiency for the occupants. The example given is that East is associated with the eldest son in the family.  With a missing east sector of a house or parcel, the eldest son in the family will be weak or non-existent. What Diamond doesn’t mention here is that with a feng shui-observant Chinese couple, they would avoid purchasing a house just based on that feature alone. Historically, having at least one son has been very important in this culture.

In order to stay true to her book’s premise, Diamond asserts that arcane language and overly-simplified translations have also contributed to feng shui’s reputation for being a superstitious practice. This includes terms like the “poison arrow,” or referring to negative energy as “evil spirits.” And without context, many feng shui design flaws get blown out of proportion, causing unnecessary panic for adherents or dismissed entirely by skeptics.

In a sub-chapter section called Examples of Flawed Floor Plans, Diamond showcases some of the more common feng shui design flaws, including:

• Direct window to door alignment
• Entrance to stove alignment
• Entrance to toilet alignment
• Entrance to narrow hallway alignment
• Entrance aligned with bottom of staircase
• Congestive entrance
• Bathroom or kitchen in the center of a house
• Bed aligned with door, window or toilet
• Bed under exposed beam, under a low ceiling or against a window

Diamond explains why these designs are bad and how to fix them, if possible. The author also concedes that some situations should just be avoided.

Chapter Three is about directions and begins with instructions on how to take a compass reading, which she refers to as “the tool of the trade.” The Chinese Feng Shui compass is called a Luo pan. Diamond includes an illustration of a compass, showing the 24 different sectors, identifying what directions the 12 Chinese zodiac signs are aligned with and an alphabet coding system which was unique to Master Sang and his school, the American Feng Shui Institute. Other teachers have shown compass illustrations with the Chinese character for the direction, along with the more universal abbreviations for the directions, such as W1 (west-1), W2 (west-2), etc.

The instructions for how to take an in-person compass reading can certainly still be used today, but when the book was written, no one had cell phones which can launch a rocket into space.  In current times, anyone can download a Compass App. However, Diamond has forewarned readers in follow-up publications that compass apps are not always accurate and why that may be so.  Likewise, there are other on-line tools for taking remote compass readings which had not yet been created for the public back in 2004.  Diamond forewarns readers to make sure they are not standing too close to metal objects, as that cant throw a compass reading off.

Once the compass reading has been determined and you know what is the “sitting” and “facing” of the building or house, Diamond instructs on how to divide the floor plan into what is often called the Nine Palace Grid method. It is one of the two most common ways to determine the boundaries of the eight directional zones. Specific to that style, the author notes how to determine if an irregular shaped structure has a missing direction or an extension to a direction. It is even possible to have both occurring within the same floor plan.

In 2012, Diamond published an Addendum, applicable to all her books, where she updates a few key areas of her practice which changed over time. She abandoned the Nine Palace Grid method in favor of the “pie shape” sector method, as being more accurate. What is still relevant to any style of floor plan division, is the priority given to the sitting side of a structure over the facing side.

It is the sitting side (compass reading) which determines the orientation and Diamond gives an illustrative example on page 45, Figure 3-8. The door to the structure is angled, and the front wall is not parallel to the back wall in Fig. 3-8.  It is the back wall which determines the chart type. In other words, if a back wall is to the north and the front wall is angled to the southeast, you go with the back wall as the anchor to the house, the spine and its real nature.  The north sitting house is known as the Kan House type.

Diamond also gives an example where you may have two grids for one house, if a large enough portion of the house is an addition. The next section gives more meaning to these directions, defining them as trigrams, and she includes the English spelling of the trigrams using both the Wades Giles and the Pin Yin spelling.  This would have been an appropriate section for Diamond to illustrate the three-lined symbol for each trigram. Other authors have introduced the trigrams initially, developing first from a singular yin (broken line) and singular yang (solid line), transforming into binary code (bigrams) and then the three-lined trigrams.   From there, other authors introduce the Hexagrams from the I-Ching.

Diamond’s book focuses more on practical application than on Chinese metaphysics as a whole. Simply put, if a reader at this point figures out that they are missing the west sector of their home, they can look at the list to see that this missing west sector might affect the youngest daughter in the house or any of the occupants in the area of the teeth, mouth, jaw or breasts. The rich symbolism of the trigrams is not critical at this beginner’s level.

Pertinent to directions, Diamond introduces the concept of “environmental sha.” This is anything that could have a negative influence on someone who has a view of that objectionable situation and/or proximity to it. Knowing what direction is involved (relative to the center of the house) brings more information with it.  Using the example of south being associated with the eyes and heart, an occupant could have heart or eye problems if they have a bad view through a window aligned to the south sector of their home or if there is a dying tree to the south (with or without a view of it).

In reference to directional zones, Diamond uses the word “quadrant,” which was the imperfect word adopted by her teacher Master Sang when translating his courses from Chinese into English.  Students of his referred to the eight directions as quadrants, such as “the southeast quadrant,” when a quadrant is actually a geometric term that defines a square shape. It is not the ideal word to describe a direction which is one of eight basic sections of a floor plan, just because “quadrant” implies a section of a square.

The author also mentions that you can micro-manage a single room, superimposing the same directional gridding for the larger structure, just reduced to a smaller scale. For example, if the northeast sector of a house is related to the bones or muscles, the northeast sector of each room in the house is also related to the bones and muscles.

After mentioning ways to remedy a missing area, the author defines “construction sha” as harmful energies generated directly from a demolition or construction site. Being near a construction can be unpleasant in a variety of mundane ways, such as noise and debris. However, there are also unseen energies which get stirred up as well. Here the author describes the annual 5 star as one type of untimely energy to contend with.

This is her first mention of the 9 annual stars.  The 5 star is related to pain, accidents and arguments. Diamond illustrates how the annual 5 star, aligned with an actual construction project could affect the occupant. This annual cycle repeats every nine years. Next, there is a 12-year repeating cycle to factor in, based on the 12 yearly Chinese zodiac signs. Diamond mentions this is based on the Chinese “lunar” calendar; however, the annual signs can be superimposed over the Chinese solar calendar just the same.

In any given year, the zodiac sign associated with that year is called the Tai Sui. Some people refer to it as the Grand Duke. Not to be confused with David Bowie’s Thin White Duke. This zodiac sign (representing time) also represents a direction. For example, the Rabbit sign is related to East. Rabbit years include 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999 and continuing in multiples of 12. Whatever direction and zodiac sign is opposite the yearly sign can be equally problematic.  This is called the Sui Po direction. Unfortunately, the book has a typo for the chart on page 56, transposing Sui Po as “Po Sui.”   If it is a Monkey Year (Tai Sui), the opposing Tiger sign will be the Sui Po for the year.  From this, we can extrapolate other influences on people and with houses.  For instance, if the direction of the Dragon is the Sui Po direction in a Dog year, a similar clash or oppositional energy could exist between two people who are Dragon and Dog.

When a construction is taking place aligned with the annual 5, the yearly Ta Sui direction or the yearly Sui Po direction, Diamond says you can place a metal wind chime outside aligned with that construction sha. It has the power to deflect or absorb the negative vibrations coming from those directions.  As an alternative, you can post a metal rod or garden stake in the ground to also ward off the construction sha. The ideal is to do this before the demolition begins, if you have any advance warning at all.

The author elaborates on the principle of sitting and facing, noting that it is critical to know the difference when applying the Eight Mansion School or the Flying Star School. She provides lists of yin or yang qualities which help define the sitting (back) from the facing (front), stating that the location of the main door is incidental and not the exclusive indicator of the facing side. An apartment with windows on only one side is a common example of a home not facing the direction of an entrance when it is on the opposite side of the windowed wall.

Diamond moves from examples of yearly influences to discussing how the year a house was built can determine good or bad feng shui (long term presumably, and not just during the construction phase). Additionally, if a house goes through “radical” remodeling, this might also change the original chi or energy blueprint of the house.

Diamond does not yet mention the nine 20-Year-Periods in which a house could be built, but dives into a brief section on how only a radical remodel can potentially change the original Period of the house. She gives examples of what constitutes a “radical” remodel and underscores how changing a roof does not change the Period of a house. Only when the sun shines down into the house will a new energy field be created and that requires removing the ceiling as well as the roof.

She briefly mentions the controversial Date of Occupancy theory, where some practitioners create a flying star chart for a house based on when occupants move in and not when it was built.  Some well-known Malaysian practitioners have taught this method, with their students sprinkled around the globe, so many people have heard of this style.

Diamond writes that the annual stars are most active in rooms or areas that are used the most. Readers should therefore not fret about a negative annual influence in a bathroom or closet. She discloses also that the definitions she gives for the annual energies are accurate up until 2024.  Turns out, some of the definitions for the annual stars are similar if not the same for Period 9.  Only a few of the stars have changed in significant ways since the beginning of Period 9 (2024-2043). Her third book, The Feng Shui Continuum, covers the Flying Star School more completely than Skeptics, with more information about the these 20 year cycles called Periods.

Diamond also mentions the unwarranted bad reputation suffered by the 4 star, just because the Chinese word for “4” sounds similar to their word for “death.” She also mentions that a singular annual star will manifest differently, depending on which direction it lands in. One example is how the fire energy of the annual 9 star will be under more pressure (to create a negative outcome) in the north sector. This is because north is water energy and water can destroy fire. Diamond gives a quick run down of how to remedy these annual stars, while providing the disclaimer that permanent flying stars need to also be factored in for a full understanding of the space.

Next comes a section on defining the “locked phase” which every house goes through at some time or another. This is one of the more unique parts of the book. Other authors do not cover this topic, even though this is a very common cycle which can have a big impact on a home or business. Diamond manages to discuss the most important points in a few pages and explains a similar way to determine annual locked phases.

In Chapter Five, she cherry picks some vivid case studies to showcase the correlation between the non-obvious feng shui flying stars and real life, modern scenarios. Case Studies include what she titles the Divorce House, the Creative House, the Crime House, the Crazy House, the Romance House and the Wealth House.  Here we see the flying stars in action, based not only on the charts themselves, but how they become activated with certain floor plans.

Diamond concedes that readers are not expected to understand the flying star charts.  They come right after simpler instructions in how to experiment with the annual stars. Readers get less than 20 different flying star charts as examples in specific case studies, while there are technically 216 flying star charts in total. She saves her complete flying star chart instruction for her third book, The Feng Shui Continuum. That being said, many readers will recognize their own house in the examples given, such as the very common South facing house built between 1924-1943.   Structures are built within nine different 20-Year Periods, with 24 different possible directions a house can face. This is made clear with her compass illustration on page 40.

Since the publication of Feng Shui for Skeptics, a few authors, like Dr. Stephen Skinner, have covered the Flying Stars in a comprehensive way, to include all the “regular” charts for easy access.  However, even The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Feng Shui only mentions the charts for borderline compass readings in passing, stating they are beyond the scope of their book.

Diamond gives an example of the borderline compass reading in The Crazy House example.   It is also referred to as “out of trigram.” She addresses other complexities, such as how The Romance House could also be the Infidelity House, depending on who lives there.  She delves into how a couple may have fertility problems due to stars which can instigate a miscarriage versus flying stars which simply make it harder to get pregnant in the first place.

In the section on the Romance House, she recommends placing water in the “4” star areas of the floor plan, to further activate the sexual attraction energy. However, that example shows a chart with one of the 4 stars in the center cell. It should be noted that you cannot remedy center stars. They are not literally locked into the center; rather they permeate the whole house.  In that example on page 88 Fig. 5-15, it is only in the southwest sector that an available 4 star can be activated further with water.

Diamond details two notorious homes she evaluated to conclude Chapter Five.  The former O.J. Simpson’s home in Brentwood, California had some of the markings of a home where an occupant could be irritated, prone to arguments, accidents, and arthritis (which was one of O.J.’s alibis for not being able to commit violent double murders.)  She asks the philosophical question: whether or not bad (or undeserving) people can benefit from good feng shui and this could have been expanded further. How much does Feng Shui affect anyone?  According to the Taoist theories embedded in Feng Shui, our immediate physical environment influences us by about 20% and it only comes after personal destiny and luck (as in 10 year Luck phases revealed in Four Pillars Chinese Astrology).

Anticipating that her review of the Erik and Lyle Menendez home would be recognized by readers who live in that same house type, Diamond cautions that personal fate had more to do with their family tragedy than the feng shui alone.  As a sting to the Black Hat School and its generic Ba’gua Map, Diamond notes that the location where the murders took place had the infamous 2 and 5 stars with their potential for accidents, bleeding and disaster, in spite of the Black Hat folks assuming that area is the “Wealth Corner.”

The author gives a detailed description of the Four Major House types, how they influence occupants and how to enhance or correct them on the outside. Diamond does not mention that these Four Major House types relinquish their titles when they surpass their original Construction Period. She is not alone, as many other practitioners believe that these house types remain as part of the house’s personality in perpetuity.

However, in Diamond’s more recent publications and teaching materials, she remarks that what initially defines these Four Major House types is no longer relevant in succeeding Periods.  This may be on par with how structures go in and out of being in a Locked Phase and what defines a locked phase is not relevant in the other Periods.

Chapter Six is devoted to more personal and subjective aspects to a feng shui audit.  Your personal response to any place is conditioned by a number of factors. Diamond describes geographical location, age, gender, occupation and lifestyle as key features not to ignore.

She then highlights the “East-West” school, which is a beginner’s version of Ba Zhai (Eight Mansion School). Each person has good and bad personal directions based on their year of birth and the more you can cater to those personal good directions, the better. This includes ideal positions for sleep or different areas of the house you can spend more time in.  Diamond uses the conventional system which gives females born in the same year as males a different trigram (aka gua). Since this publication, Diamond has supplemented her teaching materials with information about how this branch of feng shui may be a false school.

Each personal trigram is related to a list of body areas and functions.  When the individual is prone to certain health issues and they live in a house which can trigger the same health issues, this increases the odds that the health problems will manifest.  For Diamond, predictions can be more accurate when there are compounding influences.

She also mentions how Chinese astrology can be used as another way to personalize a space and how artwork is also in the subjective column. When Feng Shui became ultra-trendy in the West around the turn of the last century, it even influenced major design and décor companies, such as the mass availability of indoor Zen-like water fountains. Back then, you could practically get your feng shui fountain at your local supermarket or office supply store. And yet, not everyone wanted to be surrounded by Asian décor. It’s obvious that Diamond enjoyed telling clients they did not need Chinese knick-knacks in order to have good energy in their home or workspace.

In Chapter Seven, Diamond comes in for the home stretch in her appeal to skeptics and those who recoil from superstitions.  She lists legitimate practices which just shouldn’t get confused for being feng shui, such as interior decorating or professional organizing.  She then lists popular Feng Shui myths and superstitions, all of which have been perpetuated by big name consultants in the feng shui field. The list includes a lot of Asian décor items, placebos, and Taoist symbols right along with New Age interpretations of the toilet, dried flowers and skylights, to name a few.

To further underscore the potentially dramatic differences between practitioners and schools, Diamond takes one floor plan and interprets it in three ways: first the Black Hat method, and then what she calls the New Age Compass School method. This school asserts that the proper way to use the Five Elements is to place an element in each directional zone which corresponds to the element symbolically aligned with that direction. If West and Northwest are both symbolic of metal, then the New Age Compass school recommends metal objects in those areas of the house.  If the South is symbolic of fire, that would be the area to place red objects.  Even beginners who have learned about annual stars through Diamond’s primer, will rightly conclude that the New Age Compass School is haphazard and not complete. To top it off, some practitioners combine more than one false school.  Diamond quotes her teacher Master Sang, who refers to this as “feng shui chop suey.”

The third interpretation of the same floor plan uses a classical flying star chart. This is the only school which factors in timing. With the glaring differences in these three approaches, it becomes obvious to the reader that if you really want to understand your own home or workspace on a deep level, why settle for a beginner’s style when more advanced calculations can be learned relatively easily?  With her example using the flying star method, the author also slips in coverage of a special House Type called String of Pearls house. Special House types are usually reserved for the classroom, but she included another one earlier in the book, regarding the Wealth House.  Her chart example was the supposedly lucky “Sum of Ten” house.

The author shows us another controversy, in the way floor plans get divided up spatially. The Nine Palace Grid method is one way and the pie-shape sector method is another way, where discrepancies become obvious for any floor plan other than a perfect square. She shows us how one method may place an entrance in the south sector, while another interpretation of the same floor plan considers the entrance in the southeast.  Just this detail alone could be a tie-breaker.  Some people will not buy a house based on what they perceive as negative energy just at the front door.

Diamond shares with the readers that she spoke with Master Sang about these two methods and he satisfied her curiosity by stating that the pie-shape sector method is reserved for Yin House readings (divination of grave sites).  She admits to thinking this was a reasonable argument, given that some very famous practitioners were teaching Yin House feng shui (for graves) with formulas meant for Yang House (residences).  And yet, Diamond drops some hints about her duality on this one, suggesting that readers do comparisons of the two methods and come to your own conclusions. If you glance at the author’s blog post articles, you will only see examples of the pie-shape sector method used for “yang house” floor plans.

She writes at length about this switch over (after her third book was written) in one of her case study lessons called Feng Shui Controversies, Part 1.  If I am keeping track, there are three things which Diamond would likely change in this book if she did another printing: Expose the suspect female gua origin, add to the Four Major House Type section some commentary about what happens to older structures, and use the pie-shape sector method instead of the Nine Palace grid method, also called “the Luo Shu square” method. Diamond felt compelled to write about these changes to her practice through her school’s curriculum. For the general public, she adds a notification sticker on each book sold through Amazon, inviting readers to get a free copy of her Addendum.

In a chapter helping readers decipher between real feng shui and fake feng shui, she includes consumer tips for what constitutes a qualified practitioner with four major points. Diplomacy and compassion are two of the qualities which speak more to the personal exchange between client and practitioner.  The other two necessities, training and experience, may be equally subjective, but she shares her sincere thoughts. Later on, Diamond created an expanded Feng Shui Consumer Tip Guide, for people around the world who contact here with questions and reservations about local practitioners or masters they find on-line.

Chapter Eight, Commercial Uses for Feng Shui, is a varied collection of choices, but appears to be drawn from her actual audits. It also lets readers know that feng shui is not just being sought out by a narrow, stereotypical demographic. Diamond inserts good feng shui business protocols, like where the president of the company should have their office or how we should treat extremely different businesses.

Feng Shui also has a sense of humor in turning lemons into lemonade, such as how a space which attracts legal problems can be good for a law firm or how “lonely” energy at a bar can draw in those who will drink more.  The location of inventory can also help move product, above and beyond the obvious impulse buy locations near the check-out station.  Outdoor spaces have their own feng shui as well, from golf courses and amusement parks to cemeteries.  Diamond asserts that many retail businesses do their own type of “subliminal feng shui,” when it comes to atmosphere and intentional design.  Techniques are used which encourage people to linger and ultimately spend more money.

Like any other feng shui book, this one will not convince hard-core skeptics that Feng Shui is real.  Rather, Diamond wrote this book for those who are genuinely curious about Feng Shui for the metaphysical practice that it is, but minus the more superstitious demonstrations which require an active form of faith when applied.

Clocking in at only 140 pages, Feng Shui for Skeptics still packs in a lot of foundational information, as well as principles and techniques usually only found through paid instruction. When Diamond created her on-line private mentoring program in 2014, Feng Shui for Skeptics, along with her second book, The Feng Shui Matrix, became part of the Beginner’s Course materials.

Diamond signs off by stating, “Please consider this book an invitation to any reader who needs clarification on something discussed in its chapters or who wants to ask further questions.  If you want either local or long distance feng shui advice, I am here to help and will probably never retire.”    In contrast to those who cashed in during the trendy years, and then moved on to something else, Diamond continues to consult and teach feng shui, as promised.

Author: Kartar Diamond

Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®

From the Book Review Blog Series

The post Feng Shui for Skeptics by Kartar Diamond appeared first on Feng Shui Solutions with Kartar Diamond.

A Book Review by Kartar Diamond

Lighting the Eye of the Dragon: Inner Secrets of Taoist Feng Shui was published in 2000, with a different premise than other books on feng shui.  Dr. Baolin Wu’s credentials include doctor of Chinese medicine and Qi Gong healer.  Dr. Wu reveals in the first chapter his upbringing, raised within The White Cloud Monastery in Beijing, supervised and taught an array of esoteric practices by Ancestral Master of the Dragon Gate Sect, Du Xinlin.

With this exotic background and formal medical training, he eventually settles in Southern California, where he still appears to have an acupuncture practice today, according to a website search. Sought out for international consulting, one of his more noteworthy feng shui projects long ago included the Bank of China, designed by famed architect I.M. Pei.   He also suggested a south entrance for the Nixon Memorial Library in Yorba Linda, California.

The particulars, and the controversy regarding the Bank of China’s shape, is set against a backdrop of how vital the impact of an important piece of architecture can be. Likewise, immense natural features to an environment can also speak to a nation. Like the fertile land of China, America too has its own “dragon” positioned from the northeastern tip of the country and stretched all the way to the southwestern location of downtown Los Angeles, according to Wu.  When I first read this book 20 years ago, I was drawn in by his commentary about areas I was very familiar with. However, for a long time now, downtown L.A. has festered some seriously bad feng shui.

While “feng” translates as “wind,” it is also one manifestation of Qi (life force energy) and “shui” is translated as water- referring sometimes to money. He states that “a place’s Feng Shui is a nutrient that nourishes the people who live there.”  Readers can anticipate a lot of health-related analogies, since the book’s author is a doctor.  And this is true, for the most part, with each feng shui practitioner.  They will share feng shui through their own lens, their world view, their training and their own personal and professional experiences.

What sets this book and its author apart from some of the more popular and commercial books written around the same time, is the distinctly Taoist version of Feng Shui. Wu also says that it is imperative to devote oneself to Qi Gong and to understanding the I-Ching, Book of Changes, “like a cookbook, blending just the right proportions of Yin and Yang to achieve the desired effect.”

Covering Feng Shui’s historical origins, Wu notes that “ancient masters of Feng Shui studied the terrain and the movements of the heavens to determine the nation’s fate.” He even states that Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and its military strategies were based on Feng Shui principles. Whether the struggle is on the battlefield, the home, or the office, the same strategies may apply. As a General, a CEO, or father: Get your troops in order!

The author sets out to reveal the Mi Zong techniques of Taoist Feng Shui, only after his teacher was close to passing, instructing Dr. Wu that it was time to reveal the information to the public.  Prior, there were too many ethical issues and other concerns for releasing such powerful teachings beyond the closely guarded and sanctioned teacher-student relationship. The co-author (perhaps translator) Jessica Eckstein is the mouthpiece for Dr. Wu; she relays stories about Dr. Wu and anecdotes he shares through her narrative. Likely, she has been a formal student of his or worked with him in some assistant capacity. As I write in this review, quotes or instructions from Dr. Wu are filtered through Eckstein, but there is some confusion in just a few instances, not critical, about whose personal story is being told.

From the first few pages, some very high expectations are set for what we will learn, with magical, meditative imagery and the promise of a special journey led by a Qi Gong master. I was skeptical when I read his book for the first time. Back then, I was a recent survivor of a yoga cult. A wave of yogis and gurus came to the United States in the 1960’s and 70’s, not to be confronted about their misrepresentations and transgressions for decades, or ever.

Similarly, there was a wave of Feng Shui masters, some genuine and some fake, who dazzled their Western students with Eastern philosophy and spiritual practices, while collecting a devotional following. Equally, we had Westerners fabricate their feng shui credentials and lineage, to include one memorable Ad from an interior designer who was very new to Feng Shui. She touted her “combined” experience with design and feng shui as more than 20 years! My own experiences with betrayal has forever clouded me with suspicion when it comes to spiritual teachers.

The book dives right into what truly must be its own school (Taoist Feng Shui), because many of the observations, assumptions, and recommendations cannot be tied to other classical schools that I am aware of.  I have lost my objectivity in how to read a feng shui book as a beginner, so I do wonder how a person digests this information without other points of reference.  For example, one of the first suggestions is to consider what season you were born in: winter, spring, summer or fall.  Next, we are introduced to the direction associated with each season and told we should move to that direction (in relation to our birth location) in order to be successful in life.

Using myself as an example, I was born in the spring, so therefore I should have moved east of where I was born. That would mean towards the northeastern part of the U.S.  Instead, I moved as a child and have remained in the Southwest portion of the U.S.  How much weight should we place on this?  Considering how I have supported myself rather well doing Feng Shui professionally since 1992, moving in the “wrong” direction didn’t seem to ruin me in the slightest, yet it’s all relative isn’t it?

He also recommends having a front door location which matches the season of your birth. This premise could have some validity, but so far we have read nothing about personal trigrams, house types, and certainly not the flying stars ranking higher in priority. And those fundamentals are never discussed in this book.

Admitting early on that these computations are talismanic, he recommends finding a house or an apartment where the numbers in the address match the numbers in your birth date.  People often assume that Feng Shui has a numerology component to it, but this is the only author I’ve read who relies on this information for making big decisions.   Eckstein writes, “If none of the numbers match, he tells them it won’t be worth it to pay him to come over and take a look.” From what Eckstein writes, it does seem that Dr. Wu’s primary occupation is acupuncturist and that feng shui audits are an adjunct, when a patient requests it or if their health issues cannot be resolved through Chinese medicine.

From there, he further extrapolates that you should wear colors which match the season of your birth. Of course, there are Eight Mansion people who recommend colors based on your year of birth, and Ba Zi practitioners who recommend colors, or to surround yourself with certain elements which your chart may be deficient in, but Dr. Wu has a whole new twist on personal compatibility with your space.

I have to be careful with this book review, as practically every page can be challenged and I have to remember that this is “Taoist” Feng Shui. On the one hand, he recommends that people looking for love should have pink and red colors around the house, but when shown another practitioner’s pink-themed Feng Shui logo on a business card, he dismissed the competitor as having little understanding of the I-Ching.  Why so harsh?  Maybe the practitioner just wanted to generate a little love from clients.

Dr. Wu also recommends surrounding yourself with yellow if finances are stuck and that white walls are good for classrooms, banks and clinics.  Regarding the classroom: studies long ago showed that children who have window views to the outside (greenery and sky) actually perform better in school than those confined to a more sterile setting.

Still within Chapter Two, Eckstein explains Dr. Wu’s very unique process for using the trigrams of the I-Ching to locate the best building. With a city map to study, he interprets streets as trigram lines (short and broken or long and solid).  Again, using Taoist talismanic magic, he conveys a secretive technique for narrowing in on the ideal location. Problem is, what if that ideal building is not for sale or lease?

The authors claim that this technique was created by a famous general and Taoist named Liu Bowen, used for some of the most important structures in Beijing.  It’s called the Qian Kun Gua method. If we can imagine the city streets to be like a computer circuit board, he must be tracing lines of Qi and locating, like an acupuncture point, the pooling of the best Qi, relative to the range and distance from some arbitrary center.

I assume Dr. Wu used this technique to locate his acupuncture clinic in Santa Monica, California, as he notes that the downtown area has 23 streets.  He says they run in a north-south direction, which is not accurate as those streets actually align Northwest-Southeast. Perhaps literal directions do not matter for this particular formula. Since I’ve done hundreds of readings in Santa Monica, I barely need to pull out my luopan, so familiar with many of the streets.

Other statements made are “all over the map,” pun intended.  For instance, they write “When looking for an office, it’s often best to find one that lies below street level so that the water can flow in and fill it up.” This contradicts a general, but universal Form School principle about not building below street level, for real or virtual water/ flooding concerns. He also states that certain types of clouds in the sky can indicate mineral and oil deposits underground. Natural phenomena like that I can totally relate to.  In fact, in Robert Temple’s book, The Genius of China, he mentions that a whole field called Botanical Prospecting was developed long ago by the Chinese, whereby they could locate certain minerals based on what type of plant grows above ground.

Some statements made are both amusing and intriguing, such as the recommendation for an airline company to occupy upper floors of a building and for a mining company to check out the condition of a building’s basement.  These examples serve his “like attracts like” concept. The chapter closes with instructions for how to test the sheng or sha Qi of a doorway, based on the occupant’s birth sign. Testing the quality of the wind is to be performed during the double hour time of day or night associated with their zodiac sign. For example, someone born in the year of the Rooster should check the Qi of their doorway during the Rooster hours between 5 pm to 7 pm.

If the door to the person’s office or business does not open to outside with access to a literal breeze, there is an alternative back-up plan for a door that opens to an internal hallway.  Creating an inconspicuous test and to the point of noticing the subtle movement of a person’s shirt hem, I assume it requires some advanced Qi Gong skills.  In contrast, and requiring no training, he also writes you can tell the gender of a pregnant woman’s baby, by calling out her name as she leaves a room and see which way she turns her head in response. Spoiler alert: turning her head to the left to look back means she’s carrying a boy and if she turns her head to the right, she’s having a girl, according to Dr. Wu.

Chapter 3 is Sensing the Qi.  The authors give many examples of how observing what is right in front of us, and by fine tuning our senses, we can understand essential features to an environment.  Dr. Wu is particularly fond of the feedback he can receive from children and from birds.  Children are not only very innocent, but a boy under seven years of age can be used as a barometer of good or bad feng shui if brought to a house under consideration, according to Dr. Wu.

If the boy can settle down and play in a room, the energy is good.  If he cries and wants to leave, that is a bad omen. Other clues may come from nature, such as Dr. Wu pointing out that it is windy before it rains and animals like dogs and cats can behave strangely before an earthquake. Like birds, all creatures have a certain level of sensitivity to the Earth’s magnetic field. God help us all when we finally comprehend how dangerous and destructive 5G is and how our technologically-driven world is making many of us sick or crazy. Dr. Wu continues to reference Qi Gong and the secrets of the I-Ching to guide many of his decisions, first having to understand the ratio of Yin to Yang in any environment. He tells us that the Yin energy of females makes them better healers and therapists than men.

The occupation a person gravitates towards may be fueled by their innate yin or yang advantage. This passage reminded me of one time when I called the Fire Department because a smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector was sounding off in my home for no apparent reasons and I had no way to reach it without an extra tall ladder. Outside the door I heard the voice of a woman and I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the door. This female firefighter was well over 6 feet tall and the equipment strapped to her body was heavy. In all her statuesque Yang-Qi, I felt confident she could carry anyone out of a burning building.

The Qi of an area can produce people with certain talents and Dr. Wu recounts one province in China where the women are all known their dancing talent.  I’ve also wondered about the statistically large number of legendary musical performers who have come out of England. The Qi of a place may also produce exceptionally good or plentiful types of food, such as France’s grapes, or places known for their potatoes, soybeans, or different herbs and spices. It’s good to point out these aspects of Qi since it is otherwise an elusive concept and not so easy to describe without physical examples.

The way a person looks can reveal their personality and intent. Dr. Wu states that the number one requirement of a Feng Shui master is that they need to be able to read Qi. This may sound like a daunting task, unattainable for the average person. The point being, that a feng shui master is not, by definition, an average Joe.  And while some things may be obvious, other things should not be accepted at “face” value.

Dr. Wu gives the example that you might assume a lush landscape is an indication of good Qi.  But if the plants are growing well just because they are feeding off a buried dead animal as fertilizer, you can’t judge a situation just with your eyes.  To the uninitiated onlooker, a Taoist’s preoccupation with so many signs, including the flight path of birds, could be dismissed as superstitious. Assigning meaning to symbols can be called “semiotics” by some, mental illness by others.

In the olden days, the Feng Shui master may even put some soil in his mouth to test the mineral content. Dr. Wu actually states that a current-day practitioner who does not taste the soil around a property is not competent. While I disagree, I continue to remind myself that his approach to feng shui is based on some very different protocols, cultural and historical practices.  In a current world sprayed up the Yin-Yang with glyphosate, I would advise against tasting the soil and focus on less hazardous methods. Wu teaches various meditation techniques for developing sensitivity to Qi and its mysterious ways. Perhaps this can be a stand-in for tasting dirt.

Whether you practice Qi Gong, Reiki, pranayama yoga, or any other technique to develop your senses and intuition, this can only add to your skill set. Wu says the ideal time to do these self-development practices is during the double hours that match your time of birth.  For example, if you were born in the double hours of the Dragon (between 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.), this is your key time window for Qi Gong.

The book continues with more Taoist meditation practices, mantras and mudras. Were this the first or only introduction a reader has with Feng Shui, they would have a very different impression of feng shui, compared to how it is widely and conventionally practiced.  By using any technique, Taoist or otherwise, to enhance one’s psychic and healing abilities, this can only assist in a correct diagnosis I would hope. And yet, what he calls for is not the meat and potatoes of feng shui.

Dr. Wu instructs in how to turn your body and mind into a human dowsing rod, a satellite dish or a wi-fi connection, using these ancient practices. I must confess that I did not stop and practice the techniques he described.  Now, as we fully immerse ourselves in technological ways to access more brain power, we also return to Square One: that we are beings of Light. Light and Sound will be the cutting-edge healing modalities of the future.  All of his discourse is interesting, including the admission that with the serious practice of Qi Gong or Feng Shui, a person opens themselves up to contact with entities from other planes. At least he trusts that we have nothing to fear from these entities.

So, how should I arrange my bed?  These common questions still have to wait for an answer. Dr. Wu is not yet finished guiding us through more mystical exercises. And after reading variations of “if you are a Feng Shui master” a dozen times, it finally occurs to me in the middle of the book that Dr. Wu is not addressing novices or those who are just a little curious about Feng Shui. This is why he leap-frogs into cerebral discussions about the subtle body, the aura, the projection of the mind, etc. He assumes his audience is really the feng shui practitioner who has already learned the rudiments and mechanics of a feng shui audit. That, or he believes one must absolutely become more attuned to the cosmos through Qi Gong before even considering feng shui as a career path.

In the West, we casually refer to a feng shui practitioner as a “master,” not unlike a person who has earned a master’s degree in Sociology or some other subject. It implies a high level of proficiency.  And yet, among a sea of feng shui practitioners and dabblers, there are very few masters.  I also learned that, historically, one does not become a “Grand Master” in feng shui unless the individual has discovered something new, (worthy of another ring on the luo pan) or if they have passed on.

And yet, the higher one ascends, the more humility is required. I’m reminded of my years in martial arts training. Advanced brown belts would train hard to prepare for their black belt testing, but for the final few months of preparation, all the brown belts would go back to wearing their dirty white belts. (You’re not supposed to wash your belts. In the olden days, when the belt became black, that was a sign of how much training you had.) They call it “beginner’s mind,” and it is a reminder to be humble.  The graduation to first-degree black belt was not meant to be a completion or ending, rather a beginning.

The Qi Gong exercises and visualizations contained in Lighting the Eye of the Dragon are feel like “soup to nuts.”  The insight gained from these practices can help you determine “the fate of a nation or how long a store might stay in business,” according to Wu. You can release and banish spirits and ghosts from a person’s possessed body or residence.  You can pray and meditate for the recovery of an ill person by focusing on the internal organ associated with their zodiac sign, such as the heart represented by the Monkey and the spleen by the Ox.

Chants and mudras are also included in the Qi Gong repertoire.  Then, the author moves into Animal Forces, discussing the elaborate symbolism of fish and birds. You can place a ceramic Rooster facing an electrical pole to deflect its “sha qi.”  All of the symbolism comes from Taoism, where Qi Gong promises the ability to become a living, breathing talisman. Those intrigued by talismanic practices, I can recommend Richard Choo’s Forms of Chinese Talismans and Related Taoist Rituals and The Tao of Craft by Benebell Wen.

Side bar: The word talisman can be used in the singular to describe more than one talisman or it can be written with an “s” as in talismans.  This is similar to either  luo pan or “luo pans” for more than one.

After dispensing many Qi Gong exercises for strengthening and fine-tuning your aura, Wu then turns to Taoist or talismanic protocols more directly related to your physical space.  He has very specific instructions for how to train your dragon in order to attract wealth luck.  The number of dragons, the color, the position, the direction, the acceptable rooms, are all listed here. For example, you can place a porcelain dragon statue near a kitchen sink, but not near or in view of a bathroom.

What may not be known to the reader, is that concepts about “dragons” are quite varied in Feng Shui and not always depicted as a composite of several different animals, such as the Chinese dragon’s snake-like body with a horse-like head.

“Dragon” is also the word used to describe mountain ranges or underground ley lines and streams.  And of course, in Flying Star Feng Shui, we refer to a certain type of magnetic field as a “mountain dragon or water dragon.”

There may be dragon-like deities who rule over certain weather conditions or other natural phenomenon. Like the ancient Greeks, credited with distinguishing between different types of love, the dragon archetype symbolizes numerous things, some seemingly not even related.  Lest we get too superstitious, bordering on idolatry, the image of a dragon may also just serve as a visual reminder, a metaphysical “meme,” in the way that an image of Buddha reminds us to be peaceful.

Continuing, Wu states that turtles symbolize longevity and can dispel sickness. He recommends placing a turtle in a direction that matches its material, such as a brass turtle in the west compared to a wood turtle in the east. He states that turtle shells can get rid of ghosts and their curved shells also act like convex mirrors to deflect away negative energy.

Images of horses are also symbolic of business success, and one of the symbols I mentioned in my own case study called Feng Shui Symbolism.  But Wu takes it a bit further, prescribing the ideal number of horse images to suit the size of the business and the frosting on the cake would be to place the image of the horse(s) in the South (Horse direction) and between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. (Double Horse Hours).  If you think that talismanic magic is like casting a spell with all its ritualistic details, you are correct.

The author has some interesting things to say about cats and dogs and the use of dog or lion statues, not to confuse one for the other, as they serve different functions. One of the most famous lion statue mistakes was at the original entrance to the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. The lion’s mouth as an entrance was eventually changed, in part to quell the negative reactions from Chinese high rollers. Wu goes on to describe how powerful the precise placement of a pair of lions can be at an entrance and claims his own 100% success rate, while resorting to them infrequently and with caution.

This is because their placement will benefit the user at the expense of others, especially the home or establishment directly across from them. He forewarned one furniture store owner that in order to increase his business with lion statues, it would make the Target store across the street close which it did less than two months later. One saving grace is that when lions are placed without the other protocols of perfect direction and exact timing, they may have no influence at all. I’ve never been a fan of “offensive” feng shui, only defensive measures.

Bringing the phrase “tree hugger” to a whole new level, Wu describes how you can commune with plants and trees, appreciate their personalities and healing powers. And yet, there guidelines for trees as well: how many, placed where, front or back. Some people are allergic to the trees on their own property, causing eczema or other health conditions.  We might even call this “Big Picture” feng shui, as it relates to the environment. Having a live tree inside a house (like in an atrium) is apparently not good, according to Dr. Wu.  Upon reflection, this might feel like prison for a tree.

Moving from plants to the mineral kingdom, Wu writes about live and dead stones, including natural crystals. He states that crystals are in a special category, with the ability to collect yin qi and radiate yang qi. As a kind of filter, they can harmonize a home or office.  He includes a crystal cleansing technique I had never heard of before, which is to place it in the freezer overnight.  Note to self: do this next time instead of schlepping all the crystals outside to bask in the full moonlight.

Dr. Wu says that houses which face southeast or southwest are on the “Ghost Line” and very unlucky.  He believes houses should only face one of the cardinal directions. Ironically, I learned early on that a house situated exactly in the middle of any cardinal direction (0 degrees North, 90 degrees East, 180 degrees south or 270 degrees West) was only appropriate for places of worship since that line of Qi can attract spirits.    Without further elaboration from Dr. Wu, the only unflattering thing I can say about a southeast facing house is that immediately after its Construction Period, that house goes into a bad phase for 20 years called a People Lock.

Wu introduces the use of a Ba’gua mirror and/or a 5-rod metal wind chime to deflect or disrupt the “ghost line.”  He also recommends small round mirrors to correct the sha Qi from exposed beams. Aha!  Now I am starting to see how much the Black Hat School has borrowed from Taoist magic.

Dr. Wu is a big fan of crystals and lest you assume that is just a “New Age” version of Feng Shui, he refers to their use as “sympathetic magic” or a talisman to negate the Ghost Line. When you don’t have access to a natural crystal, he swears you can use a pile of nails, sea shells, a mound of rice, or glass marbles as a substitute.  Emphatic that you bury these items outside your home for protection; he even says it is worth it to break up the sidewalk in front of your house to get these cures into the ground.   Another Taoist practice, called Shui Jin Gong (water crystal practice), requires that you place a clear crystal ball in the far-right corner of your work desk as a wealth formula. Wu also recommends that a crystal ball or a floor light be placed in alignment with the front door opening at a 45 degree angle.

In Chapter 7, The Ideal Environment, Dr. Wu gets into more recognizable material in terms of conventional Feng Shui.  Some of his observations and interpretations are nearly universal, with some comments here and there that contradict what he wrote earlier in the book. One example illustrates a house below street level as a problem in terms of Qi flow and that a bumpy road passing a house can siphon off the occupant’s wealth.  In the beginning of the book Wu had described an ideal building location placed lower than surrounding structures so that the Qi would in fact flow into the building.  He also stated  earlier that a gravel road is better than a paved road, which could put a lid on the free circulation of Qi.   Dr. Wu could probably defend those contradictory statements with more details or context.

Where we agree are in his statements about the issues with living on top of a mountain or in the foothills, when common sense around safety should prevail. As well, living in a place that is too windy or no wind at all would be examples of excessively yin or yang environments. He rightfully cautions against living close to very Yin environments, like a church or cemetery, where the Yang nature of the adjacent residential zones would not constitute a “balance” for the yin counterpart.

Wu describes the ideal environment to include not only a Ming Ta (aka Ming Tong), which is the bright, open, airy spaces, but he also mentions the classic Four Celestial Animals.

The Green Dragon (east), White Tiger (west), Black Turtle (north), and the Crimson Bird (south) can be represented a number of ways to provide protection for any given home, but he is not so specific about how far away all of these features can be and rather hard to find in our modern living developments. At the beginning of the book, he presented a very complex way to choose an ideal location based on the streets representing trigrams and hexagrams. Now he couples that technique with the directional cues of the Four Celestial Animals.  But true to Taoist symbolism, if you don’t have a ideal Crimson Bird form to your south, you can just post some feathers at your front door.

This book really keeps me on my toes with every other sentence. For example, I agree when he states that living near a school can be good because the innocence and yang Qi of children can flow over to your home and provide an extra dose of vitality.  I also agree with his premise that a home’s size should be to scale with the number of occupants.  He states that sometimes wealthy people live in larger homes just because they can afford to, but obviously a large mansion with only one or two occupants will become too yin (and lonely).

These solid statements are followed by a passage where Eckstein concedes that she lives in a small bungalow surrounded by tall buildings. She writes that at least the bungalow has a pepper tree behind it, buffering the taller building and then mentions that there are banana trees to help balance the other buildings.  Well, hold on here!  All the emphasis on Ghost Lines and the advice to not live near a cemetery: but the banana tree is well-known for attracting ghosts! 

It’s not just a feng shui edict; it’s also cultural, so I’m surprised Dr. Wu doesn’t forewarn readers (and his co-author) to not live near banana trees.

Without naming the following pages as examples of Form School, the authors describe different shapes of houses as good or bad. They think the square shape is the best and that a rectangular house is not good. Well, I beg to differ.  Once we apply a flying star chart to the rectangular shaped house, there is at least a chance that the best flying stars will land in the largest sectors of the floor plan, taking up the majority of space.  Wu also states that a triangular shaped house can cause fertility problems.  This may very well be true since the triangle shape is known for making occupants more accident-prone.  Certainly, a miscarriage is a regrettable accident.

Wu is back to recommending crystals, this time two amethysts to be buried next to the front door of one of his patients. With fertility problems in a triangular shaped house, the author admits that when the patient got pregnant soon after, this defied logic.  Perhaps here I could interject my own speculation: If the triangular shaped house also represents fire, placing the crystals close to the door as earth elements, we could say from a standpoint of Five Element Theory that the crystal earth “totems” reduced or drained the excessive fire energy of the home, making it more hospitable for conception. (Kartar Logic At Work). This chapter ends with intriguing historical information about Xiong Huang wine,  (yes, the alcoholic beverage), how it is made and how it is used as another cure for getting rid of unwanted spirits or ghosts. A joke about wine and “spirits” writes itself here.

Inside the Space is a chapter that deals mostly with the interiors. In one perplexing example, the authors describe an apartment unit near the center of the building as being superior to another unit that is further away from the center, even claiming that the further a unit is away from the center, the worse it is for you. Without even a few remarks as to why, the same paragraph describes the worst type of building as having an empty courtyard in the center. A flower bed or tree in the middle will make you financially broke, they say. This comes as a surprise, given that a classic Chinese design is a square house with a square internal courtyard. The square symbol being so revered, that the old Chinese coin was designed with the central hole as a square. See photo below of common Chinese design with courtyard.

Wu also states that the master bedroom should be the largest room in the house and if need be, occupants should turn their living room into the master bedroom. This one is going to be highly impractical for most to accommodate, not the least of which is that he says a master bedroom should not have a fireplace. Since many living rooms have a fireplace, this means massive remodeling in order to accommodate this recommendation.

While I agree with his statement that a bedroom should be clean and allow for plenty of fresh air, a very large bedroom is not “cozy” and it can alienate the married couple sleeping there, according to my first teacher Master Sang. And of course, I’ve seen this with my own clientele.   And while he says that there should be nothing stored under a bed, Dr. Wu does allow for a crystal wealth talisman.

He is against mirrors in a bedroom, as many practitioners are, but his solution for mirrors is to install track lights angled at them, as a way to keep ghosts away.  To quote the short-lived late night talk show host Arsenio Hall, “things that make you go hmmm.”

Wu also has a strong opinion about not displaying pictures of spiritual teachers who left the Earthly plane before the age of 60. He sees this as a karmic situation, assuming they “did not live long enough to reach the level of cultivation that only age can confer.”  Wow.  I assume that Jesus might be the exception to this rule?

The section on the kitchen is one of the most strange passages I’ve read about Feng Shui kitchen principles. He states that when a refrigerator and stove must be side by side against each other that you can place aluminum foil on the side of the refrigerator as a cure.  You could also hang tortoise shells or three feathers as a back-up plan (to separate their supposedly conflicting energies). If your stove hookup is not on the south side of the kitchen, he recommends you have a hot plate or an electric wok in its place. Kitchen myths are particularly annoying and I’m reminded of a Chinese client I had years ago who insisted on cooking with a wok IN HER GARAGE, because she thought her kitchen was in the wrong location. No amount of feng shui advice to the contrary from me could convince her otherwise.

In the section on The Bathroom, Wu blames a centrally located bathroom when all family members are sick. He continues with strict rules about what direction the toilet must not face, with a mirror opposite the toilet as a cure. I don’t see how a reflection of yourself on the toilet enhances anything.  Which came first: Black Hat Feng Shui or Taoist Feng Shui?

According to the authors, shower heads and sink faucets should also not face southeast or southwest as they too can create a Ghost Line.  Nowhere in the book does he explain why those directions are considered so “yin” that they become conduits for ghosts. If we consider the trigrams associated with the directions, Southeast is the Xun trigram, a rather lively yang-ascending energy. Even in the Black Hat School, it is associated with travel and trade.  Southwest, as the Kun trigram may also represent “Indian summer” and the life-giving nurturing energy of Motherhood. Black Hat assigns this trigram to the Love and Marriage corner.  If I were to label any direction more “yin” than southeast or southwest, I’d pin that on the North or the West. Then again, he’s working with a different deck of cards.

Dr. Wu, through Eckstein, explains that the energy for a residence should be moving outwardly, in the same way that a person leaves their home to make a living.  In contrast, the ideal movement of energy for a business is inward. From this theory, they explain the best locations for a residential door versus a business entrance, and how one leaves or approaches those distinct spaces, based on the person’s season of birth. I don’t mind this little nuance; at least it is grounded in literal directions and a nod to Five Element Theory.  Unfortunately, for the beginner this is going to come across as a very rigid way to acquire good Feng Shui.

Next, when it comes to these ideal entrance locations, the authors state that for spaces below the fifth floor of a building, the ground floor entrance direction should be the main influence for all the individual units. But above the fifth floor, the window side should be taken as the facing direction.  I only agree with this partially.  I think that the most yang side of an apartment may be the facing side, no matter what floor we are reviewing. A ground floor or any level floor may also face the same side as the main windows, light and views.

The over generalizations continue with such comments as “East facing windows are the best” and “North facing windows are dangerous.” They also admonish against putting “carpeting on your ceilings or walls.”  Well, I’ve audited many thousands of homes and I can say that I’ve seen some really wild things, but no one to date has put carpeting on their ceilings or walls.

In a section on the office, they emphasize a list of three points:

1. Qi coming through the main door or windows (above fifth floor) must enter through the direction associated with the season of your birth.
2. No faucets in an office. (Drains prosperity)
3. Fish or birds in the office must be the birth color of the woman in the family (who owns the business?)

Anyone who has any familiarity at all with traditional feng shui knows that there are much more important things to be concerned with in an office space than this short, odd list provided.  The most successful businesses often have kitchen break rooms and private bathrooms, with faucets. To pass on an office with faucets is pure nonsense. Lumped into the same section, we find the following sentence: “According to Dr. Wu’s I-Ching calculations, from 1992 to 2003, your child’s desk should face southeast. This will be very good for your kids.” Really?  Wouldn’t southeast be a potential Ghost Line? As you can tell, I would have appreciated more context and more theory behind many of Dr. Wu’s pronouncements.

In the closing chapter regarding the Ethics of a Feng Shui Master, I do agree in principle with much of what was written, to include being a kind, patient, honest person who cares more about helping people than making money. The Feng Shui master should also be working on themselves spiritually, but how many will adhere to removing all meat from their diet three days before a reading and to fast completely on the day of the consultation? I would have died in the late 90’s and 2000’s since I saw clients nearly daily.

Dr. Wu also believes that Feng Shui masters come from two classes of people: those with a “chosen decree from heaven” and those with physical handicaps. He elaborates that those with handicaps will overcompensate, stating that if a person is blind, “the heart is strengthened.”  I understand the sentiment, but if a Feng Shui Master is blind, he certainly won’t be able to physically see the good or bad feng shui during the audit. Maybe this is where Qi Gong mastery comes to the rescue. This also contradicts an earlier statement in the book about how one should be skeptical of a feng shui master’s abilities if they are not healthy and vibrant.  I know a few authentic feng shui masters who were smokers and it didn’t seem to impede their ability to help people.

All told, this was a very entertaining book from beginning to end.  I think when I read it for the first time many years ago, I put it down about half-way through. I thought a lot of it was preposterous, even a spoof, but now I am a little less judgy and I’ve lived a few more decades. I’ve experienced more other worldly and surreal things myself, so everything doesn’t have to have a scientific explanation.  After dispensing another symbolic placebo in the form of the Chinese character for “luck,” Eckstein wrote, “Don’t look down on this concept as a superstitious old wives’ tale. Modern people have only just begun to recognize the power of directed thought.”   I’m on board with that. And with what little I know about Taoist magic, I believe that inter-dimensional beings and other planes co-exist, accounting for some of what happens to us.

Lighting the Eye of the Dragon is not essential reading in a foundational way, for anyone interested in learning traditional feng shui. But it does give readers a glimpse into an alternative practice, in the same way that Chinese medicine works in its own way, so different from western medicine. There is no downside to learning Qi Gong and the I-Ching, two major skill sets Dr. Wu incorporated into his own idiosyncratic Feng Shui style. Dr. Wu is also not the only Feng Shui author who is a Taoist. Taoist Eva Wong also has Feng Shui books featuring a much more traditional Feng Shui approach. Both Wu and Wong have inspired me to read more about Taoism.

Author: Kartar Diamond

Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®

From the Book Review Blog Series

The post Lighting the Eye of the Dragon by Dr. Baolin Wu appeared first on Feng Shui Solutions with Kartar Diamond.

Clients, and even other feng shui practitioners, periodically ask me for a description of the flying stars: their meaning or impact.  In a formal teaching environment, I go into greater detail and the truth is that a flying star does not exist in solitude. Flying stars always work together and create their own combined “definition” which may be distinct from the individual meaning.

For example, the 3 wood star can instigate arguments.  But when it is paired with the 2 star, we look first at their relationship.  Who is doing what?  3 Wood dominates 2 earth. So, in this pairing, we are generally more concerned with the negative traits of the 2 star precisely because it is under pressure from the 3 star.  Because of that, the 2 star can take center stage with this pairing. 3 wood (eldest son) and 2 earth (mother) can also indicate tension with that family dynamic.

When looking at the pairings of the 9 stars (9 x 9= 81 combinations), we are generally referring to the mountain dragon (the number on the left of the dash) and the water dragon (the number on the right of the dash). An example of this is the 2-3 combination or 3-2 combination.  No matter the order, 2 earth is dominated by 3 wood.  The difference between a mountain dragon and a water dragon is that, generally speaking, the mountain dragon influences health and human interactions, while the water dragon mostly influences career and other related events. There are also “shadow” influences from the Period star and the  House trigram star, but that is beyond the scope of this article.

Quite often, there is a pairing of stars where one or both are in a negative (untimely) phase for the current Period. For instance, we live in Period 9 right now (2024-2043). The three stars that are in a good phase right now are 9, 1, and 2. The other stars are currently untimely and they can exert more of a negative impact if left unremedied. In every Period, which lasts 20 years, there will be one supremely positive star and two others that are up and coming, second and third in line.  They may be “Vice President” and “Secretary of State” in relation to the President.

However, there are some stars where we can still extract a positive influence out of them, all depending on who is using the space and the function of the space.  For instance, we differentiate the influence in a home between the sleeping rooms (yin) and other rooms (yang). Understanding the stars on this level takes training.  Many of my Case Study lesson plans go into much greater nuance regarding the effects of the flying stars. I cannot emphasize enough that CONTEXT is extremely important.

We also have annual stars which create questions about priority, as it may be hard to determine whether the annual (yearly visiting) star will interact with the permanent mountain dragon or water dragon.  This is my job, as a consultant, to let the client know in their annual update report how to prioritize this mixture of changing influences.

The following list will only touch the surface of the flying stars, but can serve as a reminder for clients who want to have a Cheat Sheet to refer to. I don’t expect clients to study the flying stars or feel burdened to study feng shui, any more than a doctor expects his patients to study human anatomy and various pathologies.

The point here is just to satisfy the request for a rudimentary understanding of what an individual star may be capable of.  A flying star (an energy imprint in the magnetic field), when it is under pressure from another star, could bring out its negative potential, even if it is in a positive phase for the Period.  This requires training in Five Element Theory, which operates uniquely in Feng Shui and is not identically transferable to Chinese medicine or Chinese Astrology. Likewise, a flying star that is in a negative phase could still attract a positive outcome if handled carefully with elemental adjustments.  This is why we might add fire to the 3 wood star in some cases, but add water to the 3 wood star in other cases.

The following definitions for the 9 stars are just for Period 9 (2024-2043).

1 Water Star

B+ wealth potential.  When under pressure, wealth luck is undermined.  Potential for issues with the kidneys, blood, circulation or ears, glands in general. Strong association with the middle son or a middle-aged man.

2 Earth Star

C+ wealth potential and C+ for health. When under pressure, potential for problems with the abdominal area, digestion, elimination, spleen. Potential for loneliness, sickness, bleeding or miscarriage. Strong association with an elderly woman or a mother.

3 Wood Star

Not in a timely phase right now. Potential for problems with the feet, throat, thyroid, nervous system. Potential for gossip, arguments, legal or contractual disputes. Strong association with the eldest son or someone who is second in command.

4 Wood Star

Not in a timely phase, this highly sexual energy can also be used to stimulate romance and creativity, good communication and still supportive for overall health.  When under pressure, potential for lower back, hip or leg issues. Potential for career to be undermined. Strong association with the eldest daughter or an independent young woman.

5 Earth Star

Not in a timely phase right now. The 5 star only has a narrow window of positivity during a Period 5, which will not return again until the next century. Potential for arguments, accidents, pain, delays, obstacles, things breaking down. Also related to the stomach, pancreas, spleen and the star most connected to cancer. Not associated with any family member, but holds the image of the “emperor” and a personality type who delegates to others.

6 Metal Star

Not in a timely phase, but still some good can be extracted from it. Power and authority, supports a person who takes on a lot of responsibility. When under pressure, it can cause arguments, power struggles, injury from metal objects and issues with the upper body, head, lungs. Strong association with the father or an older man.

7 Metal Star

Not in a timely phase, and only select professions can still benefit from it. When under pressure, it can contribute to arguments, injury, theft or betrayal, as well as bleeding. The 7 star is also related to the mouth, teeth or breasts. Strong association with the youngest daughter or a young woman.

8 Earth Star

Not in a timely phase, but still able to get a positive influence.  B+ wealth luck for a few more decades and can be decent for health for a while longer. When under pressure, it can undermine financial luck or cause problems with the bones, muscles, joints, hands and fingers. Strong association with the youngest son or youth in general.

9 Fire Star

With a reputation for “intensifying” any other star it joins, and causing disasters when untimely, the 9 star is now the major health and wealth star until 2044.  When under pressure, it can still contribute to fire accidents, mental illness or problems with the eyes or heart. Strong association with the middle daughter or a middle-aged woman.

One final point to be made is that often a flying star will remain dormant. For instance, if you have a guest bedroom that you walk into once a week for 5 minutes to vacuum, the resident flying stars will not influence you.   Focus on the areas where you dwell the most.

Author: Kartar Diamond

Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®

From the Feng Shui Theory Blog Series

The post A Little Primer on the Flying Stars by Kartar Diamond appeared first on Feng Shui Solutions with Kartar Diamond.

We have two main branches in the Nine Star Ki system.  One of the branches focuses on the individual, their personal time cycles and the events which may take place in their life. This could include tracking the timing of all kinds of mundane things, such as moving, getting a new job, finding a new partner, getting pregnant, etc.

The other branch of Nine Star Ki, a sister science to Feng Shui, is the divination of world events. Of course, those events can also take place on a national, regional, and local level as well. In fact they do.   An example of that would be something like a mass shooting taking place in a certain directional zone for multiple cities or some natural disaster happening in the same section of more than one town, spread across many locations.

With this article written in May of 2026, I can’t help but reflect on what I was noticing this time last year, when thinking about the “1” water star being the Luo Shu Trend for 2026 and what may happen.  Since the 1 water star relates to all things water-related, I speculated that ships would be in the News for 2026.  And there certainly have been a lot of “watercraft” events: from the U.S. blowing up drug-running boats, to the Strait of Hormuz disaster and the U.S. drowning Iran’s navy.

Another related latest development, of a cruise ship plagued with the Hantavirus, is a double whammy since the 1 star is also symbolic for infections or epidemics.  From a distance, these yearly trends may look fuzzy or far-fetched, but as we get into any given year, the influential nature of the Nine Stars really comes into focus.  Monthly energy changes the flavor of each month, but all years have a “theme.”

Why is UFO/Alien Disclosure coming out in May of 2026?  And if the U.S. is releasing documents, will other countries follow?  Surely, Russia and China and every country has classified documents and testimonies regarding UFO and Alien encounters. Do they keep quiet until or unless the U.S. gives the green light to disclose?

Within the Nine Star Ki system, it is the star 4 which is most closely related to “spacecraft.”  It’s also related to ordinary aircraft, but spacecraft is an extension of that. Just today as I write this, someone jumped a fence at Denver Airport and was struck by a plane.  If I can borrow a phrase from the “Tartaria Vault,” once you see it, you can’t unsee it!

Those actively involved in the UFO community, know that spacecraft is just a part of the Secret Space program. Its entanglement with the military, and the government as a whole, is inseparable.  In other words, it is not just a private corporation which has been lying to the public for decades; it is the governments of the world which have.  This is why we  look at more than one star in the Nine Star Ki system in order to corroborate.

As well, fans of this topic have noticed for a long time that UFOs are more present during times and locations for disasters, especially around nuclear facilities. Some believe the UFOs are responding to these events or potential events if there is going to be any real harm done to the planet.  Nuclear war threats in the Middle-East? Expect to see more UFOs. As an example, people reported many UFO sitings hovering around the Fukushima nuclear reactor accident in March 2011.

In 2026, the 4 star is in the Gen Palace.  Gen is the Image of a still mountain, reflective, meditative, but also the image of a volcano, which appears still on the outside, even if the lava inside is ready to blow.  The symbolism here is that something is brewing just below the surface.  As well, the Gen Palace is the energy of the 8 star, known to cause people to think about life and death issues, be more philosophical, and even make radical changes in their world-view or lifestyle.   One of the long-held beliefs by those in charge, who have wanted to keep UFOs and extra-terrestrial aliens a secret forever, has been the assumption that people can’t handle the truth and will go insane if they find out that aliens exist and walk among us.

In a Nine Star Ki chart and analysis, we always look at the star which positions itself directly opposite the star we are reviewing.  They go together and instigate each other, like pole magnetism.  In 2026, across from the Gen (NE) palace with the 4 star, we have the Kun (SW) palace with the annual 7 star.   The 7 star is symbolic of things coming to an end, chapters closing, and the desire to just walk away from things that are broken or dysfunctional. Whether we discard rigid religions, old relationships, or anything that no longer serves us, this is the nature of the 7 star.  The 7 star is also related to sorcery and metaphysical topics.

Seemingly not related, the 7 star is also symbolic of banking and finances.  Is it possible that an alien disclosure could influence financial markets, whole economies, digital currency, ushering in a whole new financial system?  For May 2026 in particular, the disclosure has started.  It certainly has not finished, as there will be a demand for more information and proof of these claims and images. For veterans of the UFO community, the recent release of documents is all Old News, nothing new, and it smacks of the same gas-lighting as the incomplete release of the Epstein Files.

While it looks like it could be a continuous roll-out of disclosure materials (and propaganda movies this summer), I think that this will all be building toward something much bigger in 2027.  This is just me speculating, but in 2027 the 4 star will be residing in the South (Li) palace.  The Li palace is related to exposure, being in the limelight, secrets revealed (with proof), embarrassing situations, somebody or some issue being the center of attention.  Certainly, real disclosure would dominate the News. That’s where the 4 star will be in 2027.  And just to make things even more intense, the 4 star will be juxtaposed opposite the 5 star in the North (Kan) palace.

Those familiar with the 5 star in Nine Star Ki, and as well in Feng Shui, the 5 star is considered the most wild and unpredictable energy. This is the energy that coincides with really strange happenings, the gravity of very heavy issues. So, whether we have a real or staged alien “invasion,” we can see the dynamic of the stars more primed for that in 2027.  Just as stunning would be the public revelations of how many zillions of tax dollars have been siphoned away for secret exotic, alien technology projects.

Stay tuned!

Author: Kartar Diamond

Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®

From the Nine Star Ki Blog Series

The post Nine Star Ki and UFO Alien Disclosure by Kartar Diamond appeared first on Feng Shui Solutions with Kartar Diamond.

If you have stumbled upon this review of Eva Wong’s book, Feng Shui-The Ancient Wisdom of Harmonious Living in Modern Times without reading Part 1, please start here:

Continuing……

In a section on Choosing An Orientation In A Given Cycle, Wong once again states that when the land is purchased it creates a flying star chart, ranking second to the actual Construction Period chart.  But she fails to tell readers how you establish sitting and facing for an empty piece of land.  It’s also worth mentioning that some of our colleagues would reject the notion that a flying star chart is even possible for open land.  The very criteria which defines Xuan Kong Fei Xing has to fundamentally include time of construction and direction. Wong continues with some bullet points for what kind of changes in a property could justify creating a new geomantic (flying star) chart and which changes would not.

While I agree with her list for what changes will not create a new chart, she has some questionable or vague reasons for when the chart will change. One example is a change in the “room partitions.”  I assume here she means moving the walls.  This example needs a lot of clarification because moving internal walls will not change the Period of a house. She says that “structural changes” to the building will also create a new chart.  Major structural changes, such as doubling the size of the house; yes.   But minor structural changes like adding a kitchen island; no.

The author’s next chapter is a real doozy because most classical practitioners will divide into two major camps: the Nine Palace Grid method or the pie shape sector method.  Wong presents a style that is neither.  In her examples, she lets room size dictate the boundaries of a directional zone in a house and the influence of a set of stars.  Let’s say a room is mostly in the northeast sector and that room also has a closet in the east sector. She is fine with believing that the northeast sector stars will take over the entire room, and then the stars in the east can be stuffed entirely into the closet. An adjacent room that literally spans both the east and southeast will only have access to the southeast sector stars because the closet is constricting the east sector stars in that confining smaller space. From my training and experience, the flying stars are not stopped or contained by walls.

She also shows a floor plan on page 206, where it appears that three sectors are missing, only because she does not use the Nine Palace Grid method nor the pie shape sector method.  If either popular method was used, the floor plan would reveal only partially missing sectors. Since missing sectors can signal something very deficient for the occupants, this is a big deal.  She uses this example to say you should pass on a house with all these missing areas, but that doesn’t help the reader who already lives in that kind of house.

We could argue, from a Taoist perspective, that everything is perfect in its own way, including the house and its uniqueness.  If a missing or marginalized sector was like the human body, should we discriminate against a person whose legs might not be long enough, or is missing an arm? Perhaps that less-than-perfect form has other redeeming features.

Next Wong discusses each room and area of a house and how the flying stars may influence the activities or purpose of these rooms. It’s no surprise that “bad” stars in a home office can affect the productivity of that room, whereas bad stars in a kitchen could make a person more accident-prone or undermine the quality of the food.  I put “bad” in quotes because stars cannot be bad in constitution, just untimely. Each room is similar in that the untimely stars can yield something negative, but you finish that section realizing that the bad stars have to go somewhere and that not all rooms will enjoy the positive timely stars or combinations. While she does not overly prioritize which rooms are most important, she does state that if any of these rooms land in the conditional or unconditional sectors (with the He Tu combinations) explained in an earlier chapter, that they take priority.

Let’s go back to one of those examples: She states on page 195 that a 1-6 combination (earth base and facing star) in the east or southeast can yield successful scholarly pursuits and the children will be intelligent and talented.  If the 1-6 stars are in the south, there will be injuries or accidents to the head of the family.  Why?  At this juncture, it would have been helpful to show readers the nuances of Five Element Theory.  For instance, south is inherently a “fire” direction and 6 (metal) is dominated by fire.  The 6 metal is symbolic of the father, head of the family or literal head region.  This is how we see the conflict of that star in that direction.  Less dire, we may instead just see that the man in the house is bald, since energetically the fire (south) burns off the hair on the head (6).

In the section on flying stars and certain rooms, she writes that the 1-6 combination within a hallway or staircase area can predict great wealth and multi-national enterprises.  This great benefit would be canceled out, according to Wong, if that staircase or hallway was located in the south since it is one of those “conditional” directions.

Students and clients often ask what takes priority with a multitude of converging forces and sometimes everything manifests, the good and the bad together, as opposed to multiple forces nullifying the space into a neutral zone.

Page 211 has a section titled, “Superimposing the Geomantic Chart Onto Each Room.” Without giving more than a couple of examples of the flying star chart over a very  rudimentary floor plan sketch, the author suggests superimposing at the “microcosmic level” a miniaturized chart over a single room. She gives an example on the following page. Without the guidelines of either the Nine Palace Grid method nor the pie shape sector method, readers must assume that the stars are evenly distributed throughout the room, without explicit instruction as to when those distributions are not equal.

I am nitpicking about the not-to-scale floor plans because this book was produced by a major publisher. There should have been a budget for good floor plans for ideal learning purposes.

Readers must also assume that each room will take on the same orientation as the whole house. Oddly, she states that numerical combination references pertain “to the Earth Base and Facing Star with no specific designation of ordering.”  This is rather nonsensical, especially for someone who departs from the conventional priority of mountain dragon and water dragon pairings. Now we are told that interpretation of stars is interchangeable.

Wong points out that the location of the bed itself is the most important part of the bedroom and I agree with this as bedrooms often span more than one directional zone. But she adds that it is important to include “where you get off the bed.”  Without further example, I suppose she means where your feet land when getting out of bed.  This is a level of micro-managing which I cannot personally relate to.  She proceeds to give the same run down about which stars are ideal for the bedroom, why we don’t like mirrors in a bedroom and even states that with a specific combination of the 7, 2, 9 and 5 stars in a fireplace area it will predict death by fire for the occupant.  Yep, I learned about that combination as well, especially if those stars land in the south sector.  But why is the reader kept in so much suspense in how to correct this combination? (There happens to be more than one way to deal with it as well).

The dire predictions for the bed, the bedroom door, and a possible fireplace make it truly challenging to create a floor plan with only good stars in the priority spaces.  What should you do, for example, if the bed lands in a good spot within the house, but not within the room? Which is more important?  Of course, the questions are endless for a serious student or practitioner and best left to discuss in the classroom or one-on-one with your teacher.  So far, she has not suggested that we take the mountain dragon more seriously if it happens to match the personal gua (trigram) of the occupants using the room. But she gets to another version of that much later.

In a section about the kitchen, Wong predicts horrible outcomes if the 5 star or multiple 5 stars are in this location.  It is true that the 5 star is often the hidden hand with regards to accidents and arguments, but it can’t be “extremely dangerous,” in the kitchen because a) the fire element is not present all the time to further aggravate the 5 star and b) with a ton of metal in the kitchen, much of the influence is nullified.  Given that many people do very little cooking in current times and given a choice between sleeping in the 5 star or cooking in the 5 star, I would prefer the latter.

One of the reasons I titled my case study, The Magnificent 5 Yellow Star, is because there is so much more to this star than its current negative connotations.

Throughout this part of the chapter she refers to “squares,” such as “the location of the desk as well as the square it faces.”  I have to assume she is referring to the Nine Palace grid method, where a “square” indicates a certain directional zone. This is not clarified however and nothing in her book so far demonstrates any adherence to the Nine Palace grid method.  I used to divide up floor plans with that method and it is not just a matter of creating a “tic-tac-toe” grid over every floor plan.  That system has its own rules about when to consider a space as having a missing quadrant (square) or an extension. Without measuring and drawing out these palace boundaries, references to the stars and placement of remedies would be haphazard.

Sprinkled throughout the book, whenever Wong discusses the flying stars, she says the 9 star can contribute to disasters. Now that we are in Period 9 (2024-2043), the 9 star is the major health and wealth star.  It does not mean that nothing negative can arise with the 9 star, but this is the BEST time to utilize the positive aspects of the timely 9 star. Like other authors who published in Period 7, this current Period 9 must have seemed like a distant future not worth writing about.

When one has the great fortune to build from scratch using feng shui principles, I agree with her premise that you should strive for a chart that supports health even more than financial success. And yet Wong throws out one piece of advice that is nearly impossible to accommodate: “select a geomantic (flying star) chart that has no “fatal” combinations in any of the Nine Palaces.” Any?  This is statistically, numerically impossible. A really great feng shui design supports the most important areas: bedrooms, home office, common entrances.

Just when I thought she would implore that all the untimely stars land in the bathrooms or utility room, she states that those areas should also not have “fatal” stars.  It would have been comforting for the reader to have her interject somewhere before chapter 18 that the beauty of feng shui is in the remedies and adjustments we can make to all these unsavory flying stars.

As we get toward the end of Wong’s book, she includes a chapter on Yearly and Monthly stars, as other authors do as well. In my first book,  Feng Shui for Skeptics, I presented the yearly influences even before explaining how to create a flying star chart, which I saved for my third book.  I only did things in that order because the annual star is a single digit and floating that one number throughout the directions (always in an ascending pattern) is just simpler for beginner’s to understand and not make mistakes.

To be clear: the annual star in the center descends from year to year and once established, you ASCEND the numbers throughout the same pattern to NW, ending with SE. That said, in an actual school format, it may be wiser to make sure the student understands the process for the permanent flying star chart first, as the foundation, before getting into smaller cycles of time.

Wong writes some confusing things which I need to comment on. She states that while yearly and monthly stars are important enough to learn and calculate, daily and hourly stars should be reserved for the timing of very special circumstances. I agree. However, she instructs readers to consult with the “Tung Shu,” the Chinese almanac for information about good days and hours, for such things as moving into a house or beginning a construction project.

This can be confusing because there are Chinese Astrology calendars which dispense generic advice for everyone, but then there are specific flying stars (yearly, monthly, daily, hourly) that exist for your home uniquely. These are two different systems. In other words, you cannot look up in the Tung Shu what the daily star will be in your personal bedroom on a certain day. And on the following page, she builds on the confusion by stating that the New Year begins either on the first day of the Lunar New Year or the “coming of Spring,” whichever comes first!

In feng shui practice, we use the Solar calendar, which always begins on February 3^rd, 4^th, or 5^th.  Most of the time it is February 4^th, but it can vary by a few hours which sometimes occurs on February 3^rd or February 5^th.  This is the mid-way point between the December Solstice and the March Equinox.  It is a completely different calendar than the Lunar calendar, which might differ from the Solar calendar by a few weeks.   I recommend using February 4^th as your Feng Shui New Year date, regardless of whether the Lunar New Year comes before or after (and it does vacillate from year to year).

Wong states that the last Lower Yun cycle began in 1984 (with the last Period 7). True.  But a sentence later she writes that the last lower Yun began in 1996.  On the following page there are more mistakes with the Table Chart.  The Table Chart lists which ruling star (placed in the center of the chart as the annual star) is for each year.  This Table Chart is correct except for the easy-to-detect typos where it lists many years in the 23^rd century which should be the 21^st century.  Typo example:  9 Annual Star years are listed as 1991, 2000, 2009, 2018 and then when it should be 2027, it says “2227.”  You will see “2” where there should be a “0” throughout the chart for years in our current century.   Just correct your copy of the book with the annual star each year re-occurring in multiples of 9 years.

Another mistake slipped by Wong or the editors on page 220, with annual charts for 1996 showing the 8 star in the center when it should be a 4 star. The likely reason for this error is that the MONTHLY star in the center palace for February of 1996 was a MONTHLY 8 star, but it’s described as the yearly star.  She proceeds to state that the monthly stars change with the monthly lunar cycles and this is not correct either.

The monthly stars also follow the solar calendar, ranging from a start date of the 4^th of the month to the 8^th of the month when compared to a western calendar. Like the annual stars, the monthly stars descend each month in each direction. For example, if 1990 was a 1 year, then 1991 was a 9 year and 1992 was an 8 year, and 1993 was a 7 year.   If any February is an 8 month (center star), then the center star in March is 7 and 6 in April. Once you establish the year or month star in the center, you do ascend them through each direction in the same order of NW, W, NE, S, N, SW, E, SE and back to center. The order of the star number descends in each direction.

Now, because we have 9 stars, the yearly and monthly stars repeat every 9 years and every 9 months.   If we have a monthly 8 star in the center palace for the month of February, then 9 months later in November, we will see a monthly 8 star again in the center palace.  But in Wong’s book on page 222, she has charts indicating that the monthly stars switch their ascending progression to a descending progression between solstices! Actually, this is only done with DAILY stars, not MONTHLY stars.

In fact, if you go back to her chart on page 219, you see a center column showing the “Ruling star” for the first of the month (February) each year.  Go down the column and you will see a pattern of 8, 5, 2, 8, 5, 2, 8, 5, 2.  That only happens because the numbers (stars) descend perpetually and do not switch with the solstices.    Do the math: We have 12 months in a solar calendar. Notice that the 8-5-2 patterns shows that each year begins with a central monthly star that is three digits less than the previous year.

After following a 12 month succession of Feb (8), March (7), April (6), May (5), June (4), July (3), August (2), September (1), October (9), November (8), December (7), January (6)….we end up with the following year starting with 5 in February, just as her chart shows. This could not happen if you switch the flow of the monthly stars at the solstices. Never mind the fact that the solstices occur during a monthly cycle and not even at the beginning or end.

Aside from teaching the incorrect flow of the monthly stars, she gives no examples of how to integrate that information into the permanent flying star chart. Readers should know that this is the kind of material which teachers may spend quite a bit of time explaining to students, with exhaustive examples, to make sure the principles are understood and applied correctly.

Wong then begins another chapter on personal best directions for the occupants. I thought this might be a fairly straight forward chapter, but once again I was surprised by the inconsistencies and some of the author’s random comments.

Chapter 17 is a very short passage about how to determine your personal “gua” or trigram, which she refers to as your “guardian element.” Her Table Charts include a female gua column which I planned to not comment on, since so many other practitioners who I admire still use the Eight Mansion system, where a female is given a different “guardian element” as a male born in the same year. The exception is males and females who are the 3 star.  It was Shao Yong (aka monk Yi Xing) who devised a system where the flow of the trigrams descends for males and ascends for females.

In this popular Eight Mansion system, if a male ends up being a “5” star, he is relegated to being a 2 (Kun) person and a 5 star female is assigned the 8 (Gen) trigram.  This is done because the 5 star represents “center.”  It is not a trigram and for this particular branch of Feng Shui, each person needs to be associated with a trigram (and a signature direction).

However, in Wong’s Table Chart, she has both males and females listed as a 5 star person in different years of birth. This ends up being a mash-up of two different approaches, without identifying them for what they are.  In the conventional Eight Mansion (Ba Zhai) School, no one, not male or female, is left as a 5 star person. In other systems, like Nine Star Ki, we have 5 star people, but they are not distinguished by being male or female.  The 5 star people, male or female, are born in any year when the central annual star is a 5 star. End of story.

As she classifies the groupings of three earth types (2, 5, and 8 star people), then two wood types (3 and 4) and two metal types (6 and 7), she incorrectly refers to 6 Metal as “soft” and 7 Metal as “hardened.” This is the opposite of how the metal stars are perceived by everyone else. The rest of this hasty chapter gives several examples of how to determine personal compatibility with a room or entrance based on the individual’s personal element in comparison with the Earth Base star for that location. For example, if the Earth Base star in a certain area is 2 Earth, she deems the 1 Water person as incompatible with that area (because earth blocks/destroys water).

Here she almost completely ignores the other influences of the flying star chart, including the facing star (water dragon) that had so much emphasis throughout the book. Later she mentions that other stars can mitigate some of these domination cycles. Yet, she ignores the conventional notions from the Eight Mansion School where people are generally regarded as East Group or West Group. Right in this example, she has fused two semi-incompatible schools. In The Eight Mansion School, an element is not going to mitigate a direction a person is supposedly incompatible with.

In the chapter on Setting Up Countermeasures and Enhancers, she includes recommendations for both exteriors and interiors, but oddly refers to various objects as “artifacts,” including mirrors and other ordinary items not usually considered “artifacts” in any archeological sense. Her inclusion of using shiny objects (and an effigy of a baseball player with a bat!) to deflect away various external “sha” strikes me as border-line Black Hatty.  From her perspective, it might be more in line with talismanic magic.

For the internal environment, she begins by addressing flying stars in an unfavorable location as one type of dilemma. The suggestion is to add on a covered patio or atrium to “stretch” the geomantic chart over the whole, extended floor plan, as if this will force the resident flying stars to shift into another newly added room. While this can happen with a solid room addition, it’s doubtful that it can work with a covered patio.

Additionally, it may be disconcerting for a reader new to feng shui, to learn that remodeling may be the preferred way to manipulate the flying stars. She also states that by “removing some parts of the house,” the malevolent stars will fall “outside the building.”  This defies her own notions about shrinking a sector down to a smaller adjacent room. Wong also suggests that changing an entrance location or internal walls may also change the Period of a house, in hopes of creating a more favorable flying star chart.

Wong has an unwarranted concern over fireplaces, ovens and stoves, for the fire hazard they may pose. She recommends water, real or virtual displays as a counter-measure.  Meanwhile, we learn in Five Element Theory that if water is paired with fire, it creates a Domination cycle, which has its own side effects. Wong then proceeds to give elemental recommendations for certain flying star combinations, such as using a metal chiming clock or metal wind chimes to address the 2-5 combination.  Heavy metal or a chiming clock I would agree with, but the 6-rod metal wind chime in particular, (with the 2-5 combination) can attract a ghost.  This is not theoretical for me; I have experienced it myself, as well as with clients who hung a metal chime near a 2-5 area.

As Wong continues to explain the reasons for using either the Productive, Reductive, or Dominating element, it reminds me that nowhere in the book does she give a concise run down of the current meanings of the individual stars.  Instead, she has given meaning to certain pairs of stars, which can have their own combined alchemy. Without a check list for the individual stars, I wonder how a new student can decide what remedial element to use, when they may not understand which element is the problem.

For example, if we tell readers that a 1-3 combination could cause legal problems, how are they to know which star is the cause?  If you don’t know which star is doing what, then it makes it difficult to know which reductive element to use. From her lists, it is only clear that the 5 star is a major troublemaker, without knowing individually the various influences of the other stars as stand-alone energies.  This information would have been helpful also for how to handle the single annual star in any given location.

Wong writes “to counter the threat of metal, you can use its antagonist, fire.” Earlier, she forewarns readers that if you use the dominating element, you have to be careful as it could backfire if not enough of the element is used. For liability’s sake, I would emphasize the safer Reductive element outside of the classroom, since the casual reader has no idea of proportion, what is too much or too little at this point.

Wong references back to her section on compatibility with a room, based on an occupant’s personal element in relation to the Earth Base star. In cases of incompatibility, she recommends the reductive element to nullify the influence.  She also states you can strengthen the individual by adding an element which nurtures their personal star (trigram).  This all sounds very familiar, as recommended by another author named T. Raphael Simons.

This is where generic advice gets very tricky.  For example: Let’s say a 4 Wood star person concludes that they should add water to their bedroom based on that advice, to support them personally (Water nurtures Wood).  What if that room also hosts a 3 wood star? Adding water could support an individual, but at the risk of enhancing the negative attributes of the 3 star.   The more contradictory information an author dispenses, the more they need to give examples of how to prioritize, along with disclaimers regarding the inevitable contradictions.

In a closing chapter, Wong includes “special objects” as countermeasures, such as the infamous Ba’gua mirror and talismanic door guardian depictions. Nowhere in the book does Eva Wong try to convince the reader that feng shui is a natural science by any Western standard, nor does she rebuff any speculation that feng shui is laden with superstition. So, in her defense, she has a right to present these “special objects,” especially as a practicing Taoist and her own style of “cures.” I just happen to think these are limited examples, compared to other less conspicuous solutions.

She closes with commentary about the good or bad karma of a building and the residual effect it can have on future occupants. She states that the residual karma of a space can increase or lessen the inherent feng shui impact of the house or building. She describes what has been written by others as the Predecessor Law and how it is important to find out who lived in your house before you or what transpired, when possible.

If the past occupants had a difficult time, a tragedy or remnants of spirit activity, you can also “sweep the karma,” or the more popular term “space clear” the area. This can be done by any individual with sincere intent and protocols like sage burning. She also recommends the services of a Taoist or Buddhist priest or shamanic healer from any tradition to assist in the clearing and blessing ceremonies. Catholic priests might call it an “exorcism,” but it doesn’t have to be such a dire situation, to enlist the help of those who deal regularly with the spirit world or non-physical realms.

As the book concludes, Wong finishes with a thoughtful essay, An Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times, which is hard to paraphrase succinctly, except to say that Earth is our home, and not just a random collection of animate and inanimate objects. Rather, Earth has been described by others as “Gaia,” a cosmic sentient Mother ship in her own right. Through feng shui observation and practices, as well as many other universal traditions and beliefs, we can understand ourselves and others more completely, with added harmony and grace. All it takes is the will to do so.

In spite of what I found faulty with this book, there is still an impressive amount of good information; the most special and unique part of it is the delivery of Eva Wong’s own life experiences.

Summary:

Eva Wong’s book is densely packed with information, some of which I soundly agree with. The areas where she diverges from most other practitioners, is in her emphasis in prioritizing and treating the “Earth Base” star with the water dragon, while almost ignoring the mountain dragon.

Theoretically, all the stars should be considered, but there is a hierarchy and Wong stands apart from other consultants who place the emphasis on how the mountain dragon and water dragon influence each other, more so than the Earth Base (Period star). Of course, with Special House Types like Fu Mu San Gua, we have to include the Period Star just to recognize the House type.

Wong also separates her style from others in that she does not appear to use either the Nine Palace Grid method nor the pie-shape sector method to divide up floor plans, as a way to designate the directional zones. Instead, she lets the walls distinguish the areas, which does not follow any other set format, such as where to establish a boundary in one big open space. Co-mingling stars from other sectors is a whole other consideration for another time.

Feng Shui-The Ancient Wisdom of Harmonious Living for Modern Times provides a thorough list of examples when it comes to Form School principles, but it comes with a convoluted introduction to the Flying Stars and unfortunately some consequential typos and errors. The first time I read her book was on an airplane. If I did not already practice Feng Shui, I might have been overwhelmed with her presentation. Reading it again twenty+ years later, I find that I appreciate some parts of it even more, but certain errors I found alarming.

Mystified by the big mistakes, I wonder if her follow-up, A Master’s Course, was an attempt to make those corrections. Eventually I will review that book and see if that is the case. My recommendation for this book is therefore conditional. I think the seasoned practitioner or advanced student who is confident in creating a flying star chart can still get some good Form School information out of this book and not dwell on the mistakes made in the Flying Star sections.

Author: Kartar Diamond

Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®

From the Book Review Blog Series

The post Part 2 of Eva Wong’s Feng Shui, The Ancient Wisdom of Harmonious Living appeared first on Feng Shui Solutions with Kartar Diamond.

Book Review by Kartar Diamond

I first discovered this book, shortly after it was published in 1996. Eva Wong became one of the better-known Feng Shui authors, with several titles including books on Taoism. We find out that Wong had an intense curiosity about Feng Shui as a child, with her grand uncle and his friend as mentors. They both encouraged her feng shui studies and established with her a very serious teacher-student relationship.

As I re-read this book for the second time in two decades, I noticed that I had previously highlighted many parts. One of my original highlights was this following passage, “The study of feng shui should start with its origins. Knowing the history of this discipline of knowledge will help you understand its practice. Feng-Shui has an illustrious history and is one of the oldest practical arts. Its origins can be traced back to the shamans of ancient China, Taoist magicians, diviners, and scholars all contributed to its popularity and its development into a systematic science.”

Wong describes the development of fundamental symbols within Chinese metaphysics and astronomy, matching cycles to certain milestones in Chinese history and the long line of dynasties. Individual feng shui masters stood out, referred to originally as “fang-shih,” which translates as “those who are experts of the esoteric arts.”

Transcending divination, legends like Kuei-ku Tzu also mastered geography, metallurgy, medicine, the art of longevity, and military strategy.  As an adjunct to this book, you might be interested in Robert Temple’s, The Genius of China, where he features numerous inventions and discoveries made by the Chinese, hundreds and even thousands of years before those in other parts of the world.

Wong explains that divination was founded on essential principles such as Yin-Yang theory and Five Elements. Next came the trigrams and hexagrams of the I-Ching, providing the framework for divination, backed up by calendrical computations and compass points. It was during the Han dynasty that feng shui became a professional skill, according to the author, and referred to originally as “Kan Yu.” This phrase translates as “the pattern of the land based on the understanding of the Way of Heaven and the Way of Earth.” Mic drop!

Wong’s book uses Wade Giles transliteration. She mentions the “chi-mun tun chia” practice, which many know by the Pin Yin system as Qi Men Dun Jia, crediting that technique to master Chu kuo Liang. This practice gives the diviner the ability to open and close portals on Earth, originally designed to hide the movement of an army. Can you imagine if today’s generals in war strategy utilized this?

During the T’ang dynasty (618-960 CE), the author notes that the Chinese Feng Shui compass (Luo pan) was incorporated into the practice of “Kan Yu.” She proceeds to tell stories about Yang K’un-sun (known as Yang Who Saves the Poor), one of the first celebrated feng shui masters known to emphasize virtue and compassion, assisting common people and not just the wealthy or politically powerful.  Wong also recounts the life of Chen Hsi-i, founder of “tzu-wei tu-su,” (also written as Zi Wei Dou Shu), one of two major forms of Chinese astrology, used in conjunction with Feng Shui.

The author takes us briskly through the Ming and Ch’ing dynasties, where feng shui had both a rise and fall, forbidden from open practice and then a resurgence which created an abundance of books, to the point where unqualified people claimed to be feng shui masters.

It was also during the Ch’ing period, according to Wong, that feng shui began to handle such requests as the timing for groundbreaking, moving into a house, renovating, and protocols for burial and headstone placement.  Wong states that even though modern-day feng shui has retained many practices from the Ch’ing period, the integral and formal link with Taoism is not as evident or acknowledged. It is just now in reviewing so many feng shui books that I can better appreciate why the Chinese authors include chapters on talisman.

Wong remarks that divination arts are not just about predicting the future. She writes, “In Taoist thinking, divination is the art of reading patterns of the universe, so that the flux and permanence of the Tao can be admired and the interdependency between all things can be intuited.”   Additionally, the Taoist way is not to control or conquer nature, but to observe and make adjustments with our own actions (and thoughts) in response, to be in harmony with all our surroundings.  These choices and interactions take place constantly, on all levels of consciousness.

In a most mundane example, we see some drivers enter the freeway or change lanes like a bat out of Hell, in total disregard for the safety of other drivers. In contrast, the more conscientious driver will not make a move until they are confident they will not disrupt the flow, startle or cause an accident. The Tao of Driving.

Wong’s chapter on Taoist cosmology sets the tone for how we should approach Feng Shui, what we intend to get out of it morally and personally or how we transmit the knowledge to others.

In chapters which introduce the Chinese calendar and the Geomantic compass, the subtext re-enforces the differences between the Eastern and Western mindset. While the Western mind thinks in a linear fashion, the Eastern mind approaches time in a cyclical way. Can they co-exist together? With smaller cycles, like the perpetually repeating seasons in a year, one can grasp the cyclical nature of life easily, just as day and night follow a predictable, recurring pattern.  But when stretched out over a lifetime, linear notions take hold, unless we refer back to the Chinese calendar or the Feng Shui cycles, reminded of the continuous loop through co-occurring cycles of varying lengths.  We have the saying “history repeats itself” for a reason.

Wong introduces readers to the Nine Palaces, which she refers to as a Magic “Circle.” Chapter 9 is just a tease of what’s to come with a brief explanation of the “geomantic chart.”  Here she makes a comment, which I highlighted the first time I read this book, in regard to Yin House (grave sites).  While mentioning first that residential feng shui factors in the year the house was built, she states that for a burial plot, it is the year the plot was purchased and the front/back orientation of the marker which is used to create a chart for the grave site. Not to say this is incorrect, but just a different style. Master Sang taught that the orientation of the headstone marker, combined with the timing of the marker’s installation creates the flying star chart.  Both Sang and Wong agree that the burial of the casket is not the time factor to use. Consider this: how some religions delay the placement of the headstone and intentionally do not install it at the burial time.

Sang went on to explain further in his Yin House course that the tombstone or marker has a facing side that is not 100% obvious to the untrained observer.  If the marker is flat on the ground, then the facing side (of the Yin House) is the direction of the top of the marker, like the top of a page in a book. If the marker is positioned perpendicular to the ground, then the facing side is the direction of the engraved message on the marker, such as name and dates of birth and death. If using the date in which the site was purchased is a powerful influence, that certainly helps out with planning, as it is impossible to know in advance when a person will pass.

What follows is a very thorough section on land forms, where the author describes the influence of real mountains and bodies of water. She also mentions the Four Celestial Animal Guardians surrounding a property, as a potential since not all structures have the perfect arrangement. She includes detailed sample drawings of dragon veins from a Ch’ing dynasty feng shui manual, with many types of classifications.

Mountains can be placed in categories according to the Five Elements and their recorded impact, such as specific configurations producing prosperity, wealth, strong character, filiality, a warrior, a scholar, a philosopher, a genius, a military figure, or a business person, to name a few. While not stated explicitly, in order to be influenced by a mountain, one must live on the mountain or be extremely close to it.

As well, the land and mountains can be evaluated for whether or not more than the first occupant will be able to generate these lucky aspects, or if the first occupant on the land will drain the good Qi and leave nothing for future residents.

Mountains can also be categorized for their relationship with the Nine Stars from the Big Dipper. Wong states that these stars are the “home of deities” (my translation: inter-dimensional beings or aliens) that control the destiny of humanity. Each star rules a 20 Year Period for a complete cycle of 180 years which repeats. This notion, that our human affairs are so influenced by the deities of the Big Dipper,  it could put to rest the controversy that the 20 year Periods in Flying Star Feng Shui are related to the Saturn-Jupiter Conjunction. This astrologically well-known cycle is imprecise in lasting 19-20 years, throwing off the schedule for when each Period starts, according to those who have questioned this.

Other classifications of mountain land forms: those which resemble animals, people, or natural phenomenon (like a cloud or lightning bolt).  Just in the “animal” category alone, there are three sub-categories of “passive form, the dynamic form, and the magical form.”  The drawings for each land form setting are detailed, but they would be understood much better if there were a real example in a photo to go along with each illustration.

Wong continues with detailed examples of water formations, including temporary (like seasonal streams), virtual water (like roads), and artificial formations like dams, reservoirs, and fountains.  She speculates that the Great Wall of China is one of several ancient structures, built to manipulate Qi as much as for mundane purposes.

The next fifty pages could be a whole day course, as Wong describes the various categories of the external environment, which includes the immediate surroundings on each side of a property and then the more general environment off in the distance or the neighborhood. She states that if the surrounding environment is not suitable, then there is no need to go further with analysis of the internal environment.  She also states that a person’s business luck is very tied to their residential feng shui.  If their feng shui at the business location is below average, then the home feng shui needs to be extraordinarily good to compensate.

She gives examples of how the protective nature of an environment can be evident in both rural and urban settings, but some features to our man-made environment just don’t equate to what a natural setting has to offer.  Readers may be surprised to learn that a dirt or gravel road exudes better Qi (life force energy) than a smoothly paved road, as the pavement suffocates the Qi below.

This portion of the book provides photographs and more self-explanatory illustrations, describing objects in the immediate vicinity, such as shiny objects which reflect on a building or objects which cast a shadow. Wong covers many common-sense recommendations, such as not living on the edge of cliff or under power lines.

Earlier in the book, she mentions circumstances where land Qi can get used up by the first occupants, drained of benefits for future occupants.  Later, she notes some types of environments can affect multiple generations, even those not still living on the land. Wong then covers a list of thirteen different types of “dragon veins,” with such names as The Receding Dragon or The Dragon of Misfortune. To be clear, these are the forms and undulations of a mountain range.

Wong also gives examples of the clash between yin versus yang mountains and water sources, stating that yin and yang are not merely opposites, known for complementing each other. Rather, yin or yang water or mountains carry their own distinct qualities. She warns not to live in a house with rocky slopes on one side and a lake that freezes on the other.

The chapter closes with insight regarding the differences between temples and monasteries used only as spiritual retreats, compared to local churches (as community centers) which might as well have the same feng shui features as a restaurant since locals gather there and fund-raising is a common activity.

Much of what she includes as good external environments will also apply to burial sites. She notes that in Chinese tradition it is usually not advised that ashes be scattered. If need be, she says the best place to scatter them would be in a valley or a lake.

Wong has an excellent chapter on the Internal environment, but questions for me did pop up. Instead of recounting her numerous examples that are universally agreed upon, I noted the more obscure: that she thinks a house with an irregular shape is unbalanced, simply by having rooms that jut out from the main body of the house. While we agree that a square or rectangular shape is balanced and common, larger homes often have extensions, in part to maximize views and natural light (which is a good thing).  Flying star practitioners also know that one could intentionally design an inherently good part of the house to be larger and extend beyond the basic width and length of a boxy shape.

She states that a house can be unbalanced when there is a separate section, only connected to the main house via a covered walkway. This can happen when a detached garage gets converted into living space.  Wong also lists round houses as preferable, but my experience is that only artistic or eccentric people can handle living in a round house because the shape makes the Qi swirl around more and is not as anchored. It was also odd to read her comment about how chimneys should not protrude like thin towers. Honestly, I don’t know how you would correct that or avoid it, since chimneys are, by definition, thin towers compared to the rest of the house.

Likewise, she doesn’t approve of a garage which is part of the house, preferring it to be detached. Next best is a garage which is attached to the side of a house, instead of a garage where there is a bedroom or any living space behind it. Her premise that a garage with rooms behind it is like a car “crashing into the house,” is a bit of an exaggeration.

Another generalized observation stood out, one which I could relate to as of recently: “If the front half of a house is higher than the back, the younger members of the family will have difficulty achieving independence.”  I happen to live in a neighborhood where many of the homes have a high-pitched roof line in the front and a moderately-to-significantly lower roof line in the back where bedrooms form an extension to the floor plan. While not conclusive, one neighbor two doors down from me has an adult son still living at home.  The house across from them also has a 35-year-old son still living at home. Another couple across from me has an adult daughter and her husband living with them, as well as grandchildren. The home I am living in now had a previous owner with an adult daughter also living with her.   Feedback from anyone reading this is welcome!

Wong continues to point out more extrapolations from common Feng Shui notions, such as not having a front door aligned directly with a back door. Here she adds that an exterior door aligned directly with an internal home office door will also drain finances or impede success.

Wong’s instructions on how to take a compass reading are adequate, mentioning that when there is lower land level on one side of the house, this could determine the facing side as much, or more, than the front door location. She hints that if the front door faces a different direction than the bulk body of the house that two compass readings will be needed, although an angled door or a door off to the side of a house does not constitute the facing side.  She instructs readers, as did Man Ho Kwok and other authors, in how to make your own Luo Pan, but this is not necessary.  You can just have a compass illustration handy to show you the exact ranges for each of the 24 different compass readings.  (See photo below).

In Wong’s Chapter 14, Setting Up a Geomantic Chart, the book shows its age with commentary on how to find out when a house was built.  As she suggests, one can still look up the Deed to the house or find out from the County Tax Assessor or local Building Department for residences within the United States. Currently, Year Built information is often on-line and this is most helpful for renters.

What follows are nine Period charts which are too complicated for some beginners to understand.   Without any directives in English, it is not obvious that all nine circles are orientated toward North being at the bottom of the page.  One must immediately memorize that Tzu= North and Wu=South.  I can appreciate providing extra information and Chinese words so that a chart can be referenced for more than one thing, but this slows down the basic goal of creating a flying star chart.  The two concentric circles with black and white dots are also confusing for a beginner.  When other teachers explain how to create a flying star chart, they show first how to locate the Period stars from the sitting and facing sectors, placing them in the center of the chart.

Then, the decision to fly each star forward (ascending 1,2, 3, 4, etc) or backward (descending 9,8,7,6, etc) throughout the directions will be reliant on which sector of the direction is the sitting and facing.   Once the yin (descending) or yang (ascending) nature of the star is determined, then you either ascend or descend the stars based on whether the orientation is in the first sector of any direction –or you do the opposite with the 2^nd and 3^rd sector.  For example, if the Period star from the sitting sector is 4 and it’s the first sector of any direction, you descend the flow to fill out the chart because 4 is inherently yin. This means 3 in NW, 2 in West, 1 in NE, etc.   For this same 4 sitting star, if the orientation was second or third sector, you do the opposite, which would mean ascending the flow: 5 in NW, 6 in West, 7 in NE, etc.

After a few pages of confusing instruction, there is an error on page 189, illustration C, which could cause a meltdown for the beginner. Wong had laid out instructions for how to create a flying star chart for West-2 facing from Period 7. And yet there is a facing arrow aligned with south, as if that were a South-facing chart.

In another section, she gives four examples for the reader to practice, with each one yielding one of the Four Basic House types.  For each of the four, she describes them at the top of page 190, not only in a confusing way, but with incorrect recommendations.  The first house type is more universally called Double Facing (good for money/bad for people).  When I teach about this house type, I emphasize that it needs a mountain (real or virtual) out front to help make it more stable for the people (health and relationships).  Water on its facing side is a bonus for the correctly placed water dragon.  Instead, she just states that this house needs water in front. Given a choice, the mountain in front is the priority.

Likewise, with the Double Sitting house (good for people/bad for money), she writes that it needs a mountain in the back.  yes, I agree that the mountain will support the wang mountain dragon at the sitting, but she fails to mention that this house also needs water behind it for improved money luck, as the priority.

For the third house she describes (her example is a Period 4 SW-1 sitting chart), Wong writes that this is the house type that should have water in front and mountain in back. I was shocked to read that, because this is the famous “Reversed” house type (bad for people/bad for money) which should be corrected in the opposite way, with water in the back and mountain in the front. Big mistake here as her instructions could make things worse.

The fourth house she refers to as “reverse mountain/reverse water.”Wong only describes it as “powerful.”  The sample she gave readers is for a Wang Shan Wang Shui house (good for people/good for money).  her use of the term “reversed” could give students of other teachers a panic attack since the term “reversed” has become associated with the worst of the Four House types.  In other words, it is the “reverse” of the best house type. Wong misleads with the word “reverse,” when “descending mountain and water” would have been less confusing.  I had to read this section more than once and fly the charts she described, to see if I was having a senior moment or not.  With the Wang Shan Wang Shui , she also indicates that no remedies are needed, “regardless of its position relative to mountain and water.”

In actuality, the Wang Shan Wang Shui (strong mountain/strong water) house is not fully realized without mountain in back and water in front to further activate it.  And by logical deduction, if the outside influences of mountain and water placement were the opposite, it could undermine this inherently best house type. Since I love analogies, this might be like a person with a strong genetic constitution who undermines their health by eating junk food and never exercising.  By the way, I am reviewing the first edition of this book.  I do not know if future editions addressed these errors.

Wong then tries to explain what to do with a 5 star that lands in the sitting or facing sector when you begin to fly the Period Star (Earth Base number) throughout the directions.  The point is that the 5 star is neither male nor female in gender and so it takes on the gender of the Period it was built in. One must understand this in order to know whether flying the other stars move in a descending or ascending pattern.

As one example, let us say you have a Period 6 chart, facing Northwest. You fly the Period star as such: 6 in center, 7 in NW, 8 in West, 9 in NE, 1 in South, 2 in North, 3 in SW, 4 in East and 5 in Southeast.   You bring that 5 star from the SE sitting sector into the center palace.   Now, do you ascend or descend the flow in order to create your mountain star in each direction?

Since 5 is neither yin (female=descending) nor yang (male=ascending), you just refer to the Period 6 construction cycle.  The 6 star is yin-female, so you will descend the stars (4 in NW, 3 in West, 2 in NE, etc.)–if the sitting direction is in the first sector of Southeast.  If it is in the second or third sector, you do the opposite and ascend the flow (6 in center, 7 in NW, 8 in NE, 9 in South, etc.)   I just think it is easier to define each number (1 through 9) as yin or yang, with 5 being neither, but taking on the identity of the (Construction)Period . Her description of compass segments being “chi/wu/wu” or “wu/chi/chi” is unnecessary, confusing to the reader who is new to flying stars and who does not understand Chinese.

It should be noted that in this instance, stars are considered yin or yang based on being odd numbers (yang 1, 3, 7, 9) or yin being the even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8). In other words, in this instance we are not relating to the stars as trigrams, with their inherent “family member” noted as male or female.  The 6 star for instance is yin (naturally descending) for the purpose of creating a flying star chart, even though the 6 star is also the Qian trigram (father figure, male).

In a section headlined as “Interaction of the Earth Base and Facing Star,” it should be understood by anyone familiar with the Flying Star School, that Eva Wong is in the minority in how she prioritizes the flying stars.  She feels that the energy between the Earth Base (Construction Period star) is more relevant than the Mountain Star (aka Mountain Dragon).   Readers will find similar or same definitions of these flying star combinations, but they must know that she is not comparing the Mountain Dragon with the Water Dragon.

Wong begins with a highly specific set of flying stars to take note of, without naming them as “He Tu” combinations, which are: 1-6, 2-7, 3-8, and 4-9.  She describes these combinations as “conditional” as they need to be located in certain palaces in order to have either a positive or negative influence. As one example: if the 2-7 combination (Earth Base and water dragon) are in the southwest or northeast sectors, it can indicate financial success, but with some “seedy connections,” attached to it.

In contrast, if the 2-7 combination lands in the northwest or west sectors, it can result in infant death, accident or illness according to Wong. In order for these predictions to potentially manifest, it is not just the flying star combination, but the directional location within the chart, and it is the Period star (the number she places to the left of dash) aligned with the facing star (the number she places on the right side of dash).

What she follows with is a description of “unconditional interactions,” meaning the Earth Base star and facing star combination could exist in any direction in the chart. Her definitions of these combinations also ring true for the more conventional mountain dragon-water dragon pairings.

Eva Wong’s section on Special Charts only includes two, but there are more which are routinely discussed, even in books meant for the novice.  She remarks that the “Three Combinations” chart is a lucky house type because each directional sector hosts one star from each of the Yun Cycles. This gives the house a perpetually “fresh” Qi no matter what cycle we are in.  When Master Sang taught this chart (Fu Mu San Gua), he cautioned that while it can be a lucky house, it can also be a high drama house.

Wong continues with the Combination Ten Special Chart and notes how many times these two Special Charts occur and in which Periods. She states that these two Special Charts are similar, but they do have a noteworthy distinction.  With the Combination Ten or Sum to Ten chart, it can be lucky for finances or for health, but not both, by the criteria set to recognize each type.

Wong also states that the most important palaces (directional sectors) within a floor plan’s chart are the facing palace and the Central palace. The central palace hosts the stars figuratively, which permeate the entire space and represent what I call the Hidden Agenda in my book, The Feng Shui Matrix. While these palaces are important, there is so much more to evaluate and compare that I think a responsible disclaimer should be included.  In Master Gayle Atherton’s book, she gives countless examples of good and bad feng shui environments, but she mentions frequently that if the “unseen energies” (i.e. flying stars) are factored in, everything generalized in Form School theory could change.

Eva Wong’s book presented so much food for thought and traditional concepts that I had to break this review of into two parts.  You can find Part 2 here: This is also where I found the most mistakes.

Author: Kartar Diamond

Company: Feng Shui Solutions (R)

From the Book Review Blog Series

The post Feng Shui, The Ancient Wisdom for Harmonious Living (Part 1) by Eva Wong appeared first on Feng Shui Solutions with Kartar Diamond.

In a branch of Feng Shui called the Flying Star School, factors of time are extremely relevant. We can predict not only what may transpire for occupants in a certain house type, but also when those events or circumstances may occur.

All structures (houses and buildings) are built facing a certain direction, in conjunction with a time Period. We have nine Periods, each lasting 20 years. This creates a complete cycle of 180 years. We also have 9 stars (energy that is noted numerically). Those stars park themselves in eight directional zones of a floor plan at the time a structure is built. These stars go through phases, metaphorically like a human’s journey from infancy through childhood, adolescence, young adult, middle-age, older and elderly until a star’s death begins a cycle all over again.

The stars go through their “aging” process, casting a positive or negative influence on occupants depending on the progression of the star’s cycle. With one example: we live in Period 9 currently (2024-2043) and now the 9 star is known as the major health and wealth star. But if you go back 60+ years, the influence of the 9 star was very negative and included an aspect to it that could trigger mental illness. Upon reflection, we do seem to have an uptick in mental illness on our planet now (Big Picture observation), but within the home on a microcosmic level, the 9 “water dragon” star in your home is a good place to dwell for financial luck.

Just as the individual stars in a structure go through a cycle, so do the Periods. This implies that a house will have another layer of influence on the occupants, just based on what Period it was built in.  With the individual flying stars, the pattern of “Birth, Maturation, Decline and Death” is equally dispersed, as shown in the chart at the top of the article.

With the 180 Year Chart, we can see  the impact of each star in each Period.  Just before a star is in its “wang” phase (extremely positive), there are two periods  (40 year span) before it called the Sheng Cycle.  Once the star completes its Wang Phase, there are two more Periods to follow called the “shuai” cycles which translates as “decay.” This is like old age for a person. Finally, there is a “si” cycle that lasts for three Periods (60 years) and it is called a death phase.

If we take one star as an example: the 6 star begins a positive (sheng) influence in Period 4 and 5 and then it becomes Wang in its own Period 6, followed by a downward trajectory in Periods 7 through the next Period 3.  You can see from the first chart, taken from my book, The Feng Shui Continuum, the phases follow the same pattern for all stars.

What About the Periods?

The  Period in which a structure has been built has a unique cycle that is not evenly distributed like the first chart’s depiction of individual stars. I have not located a source to explain why some Periods fair better than others over these 180 stretches of time.  The following charts shows how different the Construction Periods are from each other.

First, let’s get familiar with a coding system which identifies the positive, negative, very destructive, benign, weakening or neutral phases a house can go through during one complete 180 year cycle.

The next chart shows those 7 phases a house goes through from one Period to the next.

For instance, the influence of a Period 5 house appears to be only really good (A) in during Period 5 (matching its Wang cycle from the other chart).  Then things go downhill rather quickly until the following Period 4, just 20 years before it becomes Wang again. (There are a lot of Period 5 houses in the United States, roughly matching the Baby Boomer Years. The most recent Period 5 houses were built between 1944-1963).  We can compare this to the Period 6 house, which has an enduring quality where it can be very good and pretty good throughout the full 180 year cycle.

Comparing the charts, we can corroborate a nuance between the experience one person may have with a flying star and another person living in a different house. For example, if a Period 6 house never goes through a dead or dormant phase, then perhaps the annual 5 star in that house may not be as serious as an annual 5 star in another house from another Period.  Just speculating.

This is just one other layer to consider in the full analysis of a home and it can help explain why occupants may do better in one house type or another, not just based on the influence of the flying stars in important areas, but for the whole house, what Period it came from and what Period someone lives in it. Keep in mind, these cycles are not the full understanding of a structure’s influence, rather just one layer. Don’t fret about the cycle your house might be in without having a proper and comprehensive evaluation done on it, as there could be many redeeming features to it.

All houses get “refreshed” in their Qi, like being born again, if they survive a return to their original Construction Period.  In the United States, we don’t see that too often, because there are not many structures which are over 180 years old, compared to other countries with much older societies with structures hundreds or thousands of years old which have survived.

Author: Kartar Diamond

Company: Feng Shui Solutions (R)

From the Feng Shui Theory Blog Series

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