Pure Feng Shui

Feng Shui Master on Vacation

2012-02-24T00:13:00.001+08:00

Pure Feng Shui is closed from Feb 23 - Mar 13, 2012. Master Chua is taking his twice a year break in New York City with his partner. You can send him an email, but please refrain from sending sms / text messages. You can send a "whatsapp" message or "Viber".

Travelling Master

2012-02-19T19:32:00.000+08:00

2012 has a very strong element of water (5 elements are wood, fire, earth, metal and water) and water means movement. A common interpretation of the element of water will be traveling and changes. Travel is definitely high on my schedule for 2012 as within 15 days from 4 February (solar calendar start of the the new Water Dragon year), I made an unscheduled business trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Chiang Mai is the next biggest city after Bangkok in Thailand, and is located in the northern zone of the country. Compared to Bangkok, it is still far from being the busy metropolis that Bangkok is, but it is full of historical charm, arts and culture.

My hosts paid for my air ticket and hotel accommodation in Chiang Mai, staying at the Holiday Inn Chiang Mai, with its huge lobby and giant crystal chandelier. Life gets better as more generous clients and business partners come my way.

The site was 2 hours drive by car from the main city, and who said the Feng Shui Master's job was an easy speaking job? There I was trekking up and down the hills of Chiang Mai for the Feng Shui work, in my casual loafers (did not bring spare shoes)!

This is a top secret project and in time to come, very soon, the answers will be revealed. It is a career advancement for me as a Feng Shui Master as Feng Shui work in Singapore is limited to homes and offices in apartment buildings, high rise offices or landed property. In this project, land form Feng Shui is involved, and it takes a trained eye to see what others see as just green hills with lots of trees!

Typical transport in Thailand - the passenger van.

Thais are well known for their hospitality and in the evening we had a dinner at a popular dining concept spot that showcased their northern Thai culture and food.

The climate of Chiang Mai is closer to cool temperate and so is perfect for growing Roses. The gracious hosts brought me to the Royal Palace of his majesty, The King of Thailand. We had a tour of the royal gardens and I took photos of these fantastic Roses. Superb.

Great idea for a water feature - don't you think?

鳳飛飛 35周年演唱會 - 流水年華

2012-02-13T21:17:00.000+08:00

年华似水流

转眼又是春风柔

Tribute to Feng Fei Fei, who passed away in Jan 2012 at the age of 60. This is my favorite song by Feng Fei Fei . She cried at her series of comeback concerts in 2009 when she lost here husband to lung cancer. Now we have lost her to lung cancer too. As you may have read from my web site, I lost my father in November 2010 to lung and brain cancer.

It is sad. And a reminder to us all to cherish our health - never mind the other materialistic pursuit of fortune and fame. Have you told your family and your loved ones you love them today? Cherish.

作曲：刘慕之作词：晓燕

朦胧的街灯

静静躺在小雨中

往事又掠过我心头

犹记离别的时候

紧紧握住我的双手

轻轻一句多珍重

眼儿也朦朦

年华似水流

转眼又是春风柔

层层的相思也悠悠

他乡风寒露更浓

劝君早晚要保重

期待他日再相逢共度白首

今宵微寒路上行人匆匆

朦胧的街灯孤立在小雨中

远处传来幽幽的歌声

句句在我心田

"Spring Begins" for the year of Ren Chen 2012 (Yang Water Dragon)

2012-02-04T18:50:00.001+08:00

4 February 2012

酉 (You / Rooster ) hour

Li Chun

立春

Everybody have been celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year that fell on 23 January this year. New Year greetings have been exchanged, but technically it was still the year of the Yin Metal Rabbit - Xin Mao. The actual changeover of from Xin Mao (Yin Metal Rabbit) to Ren Chen (Yang Water Dragon) is today at the 5 - 7 pm hour period.

Why is this so? To answer this, you will need to understand a simple fact - there are 2 calendar systems that the Chinese use:

(1) The Lunar Calendar, and

(2) The Solar Calendar.

The Lunar or Luni-solar calendar is based on the observation of the moon's waning and waxing cycle that completes in 29 or 30 days a month.

The Solar calendar is based on the gnomon stick that captures the length of the sun's shadow, and is divided into 24 solar markers or Jie Qi to name the months, with a total number of days in a year matching close to the Gregorian calendar's 365 days.

For Feng Shui and for Ba Zi purposes, we all use the Solar Calendar for the changeover date.

Since Li Chun falls after Chinese Lunar New Year, there is a saying that it is not a "blind year"; meaning that it is a good year to start new projects, work and launch careers.

There is a change on the Pure Feng Shui Academy side of things, as Master Chua will be formally launching Ba Zi courses taught personally by him in the year of Ren Chen, Water Dragon 2012! Prices starts from $1500.

Master At Work - High Rise Apartment Living in Singapore

2012-02-03T00:30:00.000+08:00

The island of Singapore is heavily built up with concrete buildings, low rise and high rise apartments covering the landscape. To the common person, it is hard to spot hills in the landscape. This Feng Shui Master was in the southern zone of the island this week to help a friend's son look at the Feng Shui of his new built-to-order government built apartment that had just been completed and handed over to buyers.

Have a look at these photos below - can you see the external landforms in the surroundings?

And in the photo above is a T-junction formed by the roads. What impact does it have on the Feng Shui of a high rise apartment?

Based on this floor plan - can you identify what the facing directions of the individual units are? Or do they all share a common facing direction? This is an important factor in Flying Stars Feng Shui as any change in the taking of directions will result in very different Flying Star charts. And when we talk about sitting and facing directions, are we talking about the building's design and facade itself or we talking about "setting the direction" for each apartment unit?

Just perfect for Feng Shui - an empty kitchen to work on - a blank canvas for the Feng Shui Master artisan to orientate everything from scratch.

On this San Yuan Luo Pan designed by my sifu from Malacca, you can see many rings of information and secrets put into it. From this Luo Pan, the Feng Shui Master can work on the Xuan Kong Flying Stars chart, Xuan Kong Da Gua Feng Shui, and Xuan Kong Da Gua Date Selection. The 60 Jia Zi are on the Luo Pan too, along with the Fu Mu San Pan Gua, Xuan Kong Wu Xing and Gua Yun. They are all numbers (written in Chinese characters), Tian Gan (Heavenly Stems), Di Zi (Earthly branches), trigrams and hexagrams - but only a Feng Shui Master can string them together and make sense of them. Can you?

Feng Shui in the news - Singapore

2012-01-30T12:22:00.002+08:00

According to the media censorship guidelines in Singapore, especially in the English language newspapers, articles on Feng Shui can be written around the Chinese festive period, namely the Chinese Lunar New Year. Feng Shui is still regarded as a kind of "superstition", which is partially true given that many Feng Shui consumers tend to be "luck punters". And hence you see such a newspaper article written in a "positive light" appearing around this time.

This article appeared in The Sunday Times with the title "Big companies are big on fengshui".

Funny how they have put the two words Feng Shui together as one word. There is a huge photo of a San He Luo Pan - bet the reporter did not know the difference between San He and San Yuan or Zhong He Luo Pans. And there is the ubiquitous Dragon symbol decoration (auspicious object) embedded in between the columns. There is still a lot to be written about Feng Shui.

The Feng Shui community is highly fragmented with many different schools of thought and methods practiced by different masters and consultants. If the associations and governmental agencies are going to regulate this industry, they need to come up with a really ingenious plan to cater to the vast differences.

In the newspaper article, the main company features was Standard Chartered Bank, whose employees in different departments follow Feng Shui Masters' recommendation to enter through specific doors. It is nice for a change, to have the newspapers write an article about Feng Shui without the usual mention of "superstition".

Chinese "Ren Ri" People Day - 7th Day of First Lunar Month

2012-01-29T21:33:00.003+08:00

Just like the 12 days of Christmas in western culture, the Chinese Lunar New Year festivities have their own version - 15 days of celebration traditionally. The 7th day is called "People Day", Ren Ri, and it is described as all human beings' birthday.

In the south of China, and practiced by Chinese originating from the south of China, the traditional dish of this day is Raw Fish Salad. As salads have to be tossed, everybody at the table stands up and using their chopsticks, tosses the salad mix together while shouting out auspicious Chinese words and well wishes. The most popular now will be "huat ah!" (to prosper). The higher the salad is tossed, the greater height one will scale up their career ladder.

The origins of Ren Ri or People Day is mainly mythological. The legend is associated with Nu Wa - (pronounced as Nwee Wah), the Chinese equivalent of Mother Earth. Nu Wa's top half of her torso takes the human form, while the lower half is that of a serpent or dragon.

Nu Wa is a legendary figure that represents the creation of life, the female fertility symbol versus the male symbol of Fu Xi. In an ancient depiction, the 2 characters are featured as inter-twined, just like Yin and Yang.

A well-known story about Nu Wa is the one about her mending the sky:

In Shen Zhen there is a giant sculpture of Nu Wa carrying the 5 color stone to mend the sky.

Nu Wa is attributed as the creator of mankind - and there was a sequence of the days that she created life on earth:

Day 1 - Chicken

Day 2 - Dog

Day 3 - Pig

Day 4 - Goat

Day 5 - Ox

Day 6 - Horse

and finally Day 7 - Humans or Ren (Chinese Pin Yin).

This is the legend associated with the 7th day of the Chinese New Year - Man's birthday. In different parts of China, this day is celebrated in different ways. In Guangzhou (old Canton), the practice is to climb hills and recite poetry. In Singapore and Malaysia, food gourmet feasts on raw fish salad. In other parts of China, another practice is to make decorative gold foil pieces that are pinned on the hair or on as decorations on Chinese wall dividers.

Feng Shui 2012 - Changeover of Annual Qi

2012-01-27T13:32:00.002+08:00

While the Chinese community all over the world celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year on January 23rd, it is technically still the year of the Metal Rabbit before 4 February 2012. There are 2 calendars that are used in the Chinese calendar systems - the Solar calendar and the Lunar calendar.

The Lunar calendar is based on the movements of the moon around the earth, and hence is calculated based on the earth's shadow on the moon. The Sun's light is involved and it should be called the Luni-Solar calendar. Each lunar month is about 29-30 days and so the resulting shortfall when compared to the western Gregorian calendar of 365 days, creates first day of the Chinese Lunar year falling on different dates through the years. In some years, the shortfall is compensated by having double months in a year. In 2012, the “闰” month is the 4th lunar month, and so we have double 4th lunar months.

The Solar calendar is based on the movements of the earth around the sun, and hence it is calculated based on the sun's shadow on earth. This has been mapped in ancient China using the Gnomon stick. Based on the method of measuring the sun shadow, the ancient Chinese were able to accurately capture the seasonal changes in the country, and has mapped out 24 divisions of a year - called the 24 solar terms (节气). Jie marks the beginning of the month while Qi marks the middle of the month.

The Solar calendar matches closer to the western Gregorian calendar's 365 days and so the first day of the Solar year is always in February around 4th, 5th or 6th.

You might like to know that the actual Ba Zi system and the Flying Stars Feng Shui are all based on the Solar Calendar. The Zi Wei Dou Shu method is based on the Lunar calendar.

As such, the monthly changeover of Jie Qi follows the Solar Calendar. The first day of the Solar Calendar is Li Chun (Spring Begins) and it is on 4th of February, 2012. This the day when the year pillar changes from Xin Mao (Yin Metal Rabbit) to Ren Chen (Yang Water Dragon).

4 Feb 2011

4 Feb 2012

Besides the changeover of the Tian Gan Di Zi (Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches) of the year, the Xuan Kong System of Feng Shui (Flying Stars) also has a changeover of the annual visiting stars.

In 2011 - the annual chart was :

In 2012 - the annual chart will be :

As you can see from the above charts, the calamity star number 5 will be residing in the South East / Shun for the whole of 2012, beginning on 4th of February 2012. That is why you will have read from many web sites, newspapers and magazine articles that the South East sector is an afflicted sector for 2012 - warning of dangers, etc. Many are quick to point out that the last time 5 was in the South East, it correlated to the outbreak of SARS in South East Asia, including Hong Kong, resulting in economic turmoil in the region as travelers refrained from visiting.

That was 9 years ago, and as the intelligent reader will notice, that by having 9 numbers, we can see that every 9 years the same Flying Star number re-visits each sector! Does that mean that every 9 years - a major disaster will strike the same region? Does the reality of occurrences correlate to such a 9 year cycle?

As you can tell from this simple logic, many Feng Shui masters use the annual rotating Flying Star charts to provide Feng Shui entertainment predictions around this time - Chinese Lunar New Year to either create publicity for themselves or for earning that extra dollar by charging for Feng Shui talks.

You may notice that at such talks and articles, the more experienced and older Feng Shui masters always encouraged listeners and readers to take it as a guide only, and not as an absolute.

In reality, the annual Flying Star chart is used in Feng Shui to predict what kinds of Qi combination is triggered off by the annual visiting stars - and it is all specific to each house type and their accompanying Flying Star charts. Only then can a Feng Shui master accurately predict and pre-empt what kinds of influences of Feng Shui are on each particular premises.

Happy Reading!

Auspicious Numbers 2012

2012-01-26T23:33:00.001+08:00

Auspicious Numbers

The origins of numbers date back to India, and they are referred to as Hindu numerals, Arabic numerals, Hindu-Arabic numerals, etc. The original symbols used for numbers were different from what we used to do, have a look at this picture:

Numerals are symbols - they are glyphs or special characters used to denote quantity in counting. In the highly symbolic Chinese culture, numbers take on more meanings than just for counting. For example, from the Yi Jing (or I Ching), 2 numbers are used to refer to the emperor:

九五至尊

"the 9,5 ultimate"

One explanation is that 9 is ultimate and biggest single digit while 5 is the middle number representing central control, and hence the emperor. The other explanation is based on the Yi Jing hexagram (6 lines), namely the first one, Qian hexagram made up of 6 unbroken lines. 9-5 refer to the 5th yao (5th line from bottom up) and is the "best" yao as the dragon is in the sky - reaching the summit.

While the above has more literal meaning, the use of numbers to denote auspiciousness has more to do with "sound-alike" or homonyms.

Here are some popular numbers and their auspicious meanings:

The biggest single digit and hence often used to refer to the Emperor. In Chinese, 9 is pronounced as "Jiu" which is a homonym to “久", meaning long as in time. So when this number is used with other auspicious numbers, it adds on to the auspiciousness by suggesting "everlasting". When combined with the next popular auspicious number 8, for example as 998 - it sounds like "to prosper for a long time".

8 is a popular number in Chinese mythology and as well in religion. The 8 Chinese Immortals and their 8 auspicious Taoist tools, in Buddhism there are 8 auspicious symbols and the 8 fold path. As a homonym, 8 sounds a lot like "發" or prosper. So 8 is a very popular Chinese number. For example, in car plate numbers, the 8, 88, 888 and 8888 are highly bid numbers that cost into the thousands! We are now also in the Feng Shui period of 8 and that makes 8 even more auspicious.

6 is used again in the Yi Jing (or I Ching) to refer to the broken lines - yin yao. There are 6 lines in a hexagram, and when there are 6 broken lines - the resulting hexagram is Kun. Kun hexagram refers to difficulties that can be overcome, and so the following Chinese phrase is used to describe a well-wish for smooth times:

六六大顺

In the Cantonese dialect, spoken in Guang Zhou, China and in Hong Kong, 6 also sounds like the word for "prosperity"(as in "loke"). So when combined with the number 8, 68 doubles the auspicious prosperity! In Flying Stars, 1,6 and 8 are the 3 white colored stars that are auspicious. In Chinese, when placed together as 168, it sounds like yi lu fa - or prosper all the way on the road.

3 sounds close to "生" in Chinese and it means growth. When combined with 8, it means to grow and to prosper. And so, this Feng Shui Master decided to get an auspicious number plate for his new Mercedes Benz:

3 and 8 is also an auspicious He Tu (河图) combination that represents the element wood - which again means growth potential.

It is quite common to see the combinations of 8 and other numbers on car number plates in Singapore, for example:

9988 (prosper long time)

6888 (prosperity)

1888 (keep prospering)

168 (prosper on the road)

3388 (grow and prosper)

2888 (easy to prosper)

If you buy 4D lottery, you may have noticed that last week, 1888 came out as one of the consolation prizes. I was told by my car dealer that 3388 is always sold out early. I bought the 3888 number more for marketing impact than anything else, as it stays on the mind of my clients and potential clients. Something for people to talk about. In any case, it makes me smile each time I walk to the car, and that makes me happy, which is all that matters!

Dear readers, please also take note that auspicious numbers as mentioned in this article is more of Chinese social customs than actual Feng Shui. There are numbers also in Feng Shui, but they take on a symbolic meaning - for naming purposes to represent different things like Flying Stars and trigrams - in a qualitative use than quantitative use.

The "lucky numbers" are as lucky as you think they are! Enjoy reading!

Making time for family this Chinese New Year

2012-01-25T12:53:00.002+08:00

Thanks to my elder sister (she is born in the year of the Dragon), I re-connected back with my family in mid 2011. So I have been spending the past 2 days of the Chinese New Year at my mum's place. And we visited our late daddy at the Bright Hill Temple crematorium too.

Here are the photos of our day out yesterday at the Chinese New Year Riverside event at the Marina Bay Floating Platform and Resorts World Sentosa. The evening time light made for some dramatic photo shots using my iPhone. The photos were all taken by me, don't have the technical expertise of a photographer - just an eye for angles!

At the Resorts World Sentosa - be careful the bad flooring around the dragon exhibit there, my mum tripped on the uneven floor.

Mummy Chua

Happy Chinese New Year!

2012-01-20T14:07:00.003+08:00

Wishing all clients and future clients a very happy and prosperous Chinese Lunar New Year 2012!

(Huat = 發 in Hokkien, meaning to prosper!)

Spring Festival 2012 - Flowers Blooming

2012-01-16T18:18:00.001+08:00

Next week Monday will be the Chinese Lunar New Year - year of the Yang Water Dragon or Ren Chen in Chinese. This calendar is based on the lunar positions and so the first day of the year tends to vary against the western Gregorian calendar. This is because the lunar month has 29 or 30 days, a total of 360 in a year versus the 365 of the western Gregorian calendar. That will be a question many people will like to ask every time when Chinese New Year comes around!

As it marks the arrival of Spring, it is also known as the Spring Festival in Chinese. And so, one of the social and cultural customs of this festival is display of flowers and fruiting plants around the house as part of the decorations for this holiday.

Amazingly, the cactus plant at my parents' garden had been blooming since last August. This is the 6th round of blooming for the cactus plant. Guess my tender loving care helps! I am in the garden a lot when I visit my mum twice a week, as she is recovering from having breast tumors removed. Even the phalaenopsis Orchid plant is blooming!

Some say it is a good omen. I'm just happy to see my tender loving care is bringing results to the plants, they show their gratitude with their flowers!

In the newspapers today - Correlation between skyscrapers and economic busts?

2012-01-14T00:22:00.004+08:00

You can read more about it here:

http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/12/skyscraper-index-china-india-barclays/

So what do you think? Is there a correlation or is it just coincidence?

Chinese New Year Flower Market in Hong Kong and Streets of Hong Kong

2012-01-11T23:34:00.004+08:00

Flower Market in Hong Kong bristling with people shopping for flowers for the coming Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations.

The atmosphere of Chinese Lunar New Year is in the air.

The busy shopping streets in the Mongkok area. The roads are closed off for pedestrians. People people everywhere!

Beautiful calligraphy drawn by mouth. He said "thank you" in Chinese so I guess he could be from mainland China, dropped a little donation into the donation pail.

A visit to Wong Tai Sin Temple in Hong Kong

2012-01-10T23:58:00.001+08:00

Photos of my visit to Hong Kong over the weekend to do a Feng Shui job in Kowloon. After the project was completed, I met up with an old friend who brought me to the famous Wong Tai Sin Temple.

Year of the Dragon 2012 holding the Dragon pearl in the hand.

The people in the photo above are using the numbered bamboo sticks method to ask for answers to their questions that they have. When a numbered stick drops out of the can, they match the number to a 100 printed advice slips. The advice is usually in the form of scene of a Chinese classic story or via ancient historical Chinese characters.

Some go to great lengths in their offerings to the Gods while asking for advice, you can see the suckling pig in the photo above.

Oil lamp holder for lighting the joss sticks

That's my year of birth.

Asking for advice. Answer was it was up to me to work hard and make the necessary sacrifices. Co-relates very well with my latest development, I have just bought a car and I have to work really hard now!

New Fees Structure for 2012 - Pure Feng Shui

2012-01-10T18:54:00.001+08:00

Pure Feng Shui works on a project basis for Feng Shui jobs. This means that clients must be ready to implement changes to their home and office environments should they want to book the Feng Shui services to correct and/or improve their existing premises. Clients should also follow the date selection timing closely.

For new homes and offices, book your Feng Shui Master in advance of your renovations, not after!

The consulting rate of S$2 per sq ft is subject to a minimum of S$2800 per project.

Happy Lunar New Year 2012!

Annual Update

Clients like to know what the new year brings, and Pure Feng Shui provides annual Ba Zi guidance at the fee of $480 for homes and offices, and $350 for personal offices. Included in the price are free of charge updates on Feng Shui, just like "version upgrades" in the computing world. Brandon is constantly upgrading and researching the Feng Shui world, and annual update clients are entitled to free upgrades and updates, if applicable or necessary.

Included in the price are also annual Feng Shui updates on the annual dimensions - San Sha, Tai Sui, Sui Po and various other taboos and things to observe in the coming year.

12th Solar Term of Xin Mao Year (January 2012)

2012-01-10T13:15:00.000+08:00

Lesser Cold / Xiao Han

小寒

The western Gregorian calendar's New Year's Day may have come and went on 1st of January 2012, but for the Chinese Solar calendar, we are still in the last month of the current Xin Mao / Yin Metal Rabbit / 辛卯 year. The first day of this last month is marked by a seasonal marker called a Solar Term, and for this month it is called Xiao Han or Lesser Cold. In January 2012, it fell on the 6th of January. This is the 23rd of the 24 Solar Terms, and the next last Solar Term of the year will be Da Han or Greater Cold.

(click on photo above to read more about this solar term)

For Feng Shui, the monthly Flying Stars chart changes according to the Solar Term month, and so the monthly visiting stars of the Xuan Kong Flying Stars system are as follows:

For entertainment purposes, some Feng Shui businesses like to provide monthly predictions based on this monthly Flying Star chart (and perhaps sell some symbolic objects at the same time). In the San Yuan Xuan Kong System of Feng Shui, we use this chart to find out which good stars and which bad stars are visiting your living and working premises.

If you are my client you would have been briefed on which of the following Flying Stars to watch out for, namely 2, 5 and 7 for your home's or work office's important areas.

The 4 types of Houses

For your easy reference I have classified your type of living and working premises into 4 types based on the 4 axes - North / south axis, North East / South West axis, East/West axis and South East / North West axis. And these are the Flying Stars visiting the front and back of your home.

It looks like for this month of Xiao Han starting from 6th of January - those premises whose Flying Stars charts are aligned to the North West and South East axis, will have the 2 bad stars visiting the sitting and/or entrance areas. Remember to install your remedies that I recommended!

And the Feng Shui taboo of no renovations or ground-breaking work is to be done for those sitting on South East direction.

The annual San Sha Feng Shui taboo has been sitting on the West sector of 90 degrees for the current Xin Mao year, after 4 February 2012, it moves to the South sector of 90 degrees.

The monthly San Sha Feng Shui taboo sits on the East sector of 90 degrees for the month of Xiao Han.

Those who living or working premises have the Flying Star chart that has the East/West axis are reminded to not undergo any renovations, digging, knocking or drilling, major shifting of furniture as these will disturb the bad San Sha Qi and trigger off unhappy events for the occupants.

[Pure Feng Shui wishes all a Happy Chinese Lunar New Year in advance]

Master At Work - In Hong Kong

2012-01-08T00:34:00.000+08:00

In May 2011 I was flown to Hong Kong for a Feng Shui project for an audit job for a lovely young Hong Kong couple living in Kowloon with their 2 children. I identified the situation precisely and gave them some tips on their home Feng Shui. They enjoyed the Ba Zi birth chart analysis I did for them.

They found a new apartment and flew me back again this time to make sure that the new apartment's Feng Shui was done before the move-in, with date selections.

Just your humble Feng Shui Master, glad to be able to bring some positive changes to another client's life! Have work will travel!

Lovely view outside the balcony windows. Something rare in Hong Kong in city area.

Ground floor lobby door - do we take readings here?

Apartment unit main door - do we take readings here?

Nice parquet floor - wood element?

External environment road - important or not? Is this considered a T-junction?

Can it bring calamitous Qi or can it bring good Qi?

Lush greenery - good or not?

Just a few degrees of difference and the Flying Stars chart changes.

A view of hilly terrain in the near distance - any influence?

Book your appointments with Master Chua today!

Master At Work - Hong Kong

2012-01-05T16:13:00.004+08:00

Chinese Lunar New Year Auspicious Dates - Farmers Almanac

2012-01-04T23:34:00.001+08:00

The Chinese Lunar New Year is on the 23rd of January - 19 days away. This is the time when the older Chinese folks buy their annual Farmer's Almanac. Listed on the first few pages are the lists of good days to start work and for prayers after the first day. It is based on the 12 Jian (construct) Chu (dispose) or popularized as the 12 Officers now in Feng Shui books, and also on the Di Zi (earthly branches) the 12 horoscope animals for the day.

Put simply for the ordinary consumer - the Chinese Farmer's Almanac provides advice in printed version on how to select a good date for events, particularly around the Chinese New Year festive period. At the end of the almanac is a day by day listing for the whole year.

This is a popular request around this time of the year, when Feng Shui clients start asking about when is a good day to start work after the first 2 days of Chinese New Year public holidays.

My usual reply is how many days are their offices shutting down for Chinese New Year - and also how much freedom do they have in really selecting which day to start work?

In the modern working city like Singapore - the 2 designated days of public holidays are the first 2 days of Chinese New Year, can we really afford to shut down for the usual 15 days like in the days passed? This is usually the case though, for the skilled workers who are usually from Malaysia, who stop work a week before and a week after Chinese New Year.

I still offer this advice though to clients as part of the customer service - based on a different method from the usual Feng Shui.

The real Feng Shui in the Chinese Farmers' Almanac comes from the page in the photo above. This page has been used since the ancient times in imperial almanacs. Have a look at the photos below of some collector's ancient imperial almanacs:

This is actually the listing of the 9 Flying Stars for the year - or more popularly known as the annual Flying Stars. Instead of using numbers, the ancient almanac uses the color name to denote the 9 stars - black for number 2, jade for number 3, for example.

On this important page - the 3 main Feng Shui taboos for the year are listed and they are :

(1) The San Sha position

(2) The Tai Sui / Sui Po position

(3) The 5 Yellow position

There are listed in the Chinese almanac for hundreds of years and exist until the present year in 2012. In the Chinese almanac though, they are listed for burial purposes. However, it applies also to house renovations and construction.

And of course, there is the Spring Ox diagram, that with its accompanying verses in Chinese gives a guideline for year in general. The co-relation of these Chinese verses with the actual happenings in the year is not high though, but it serves as a popular entertainment topic to talk about in Chinese New Year talks.

So have you booked your appointment for your Feng Shui annual update yet?

Wishing all a great 2012 to defy gravity!

2012-01-01T18:49:00.001+08:00

Wishing all a great 2012 to defy gravity!

Happy Chinese New Year 2012

2011-12-28T00:44:00.002+08:00

My Chinese New Year Decorations are up on my balcony with Peach Blossoms and LED lights!

开心乐龙龙 - MY Astro 新年万人MV [高清版]

2011-12-27T23:23:00.000+08:00

Amazing 17 minutes of techno-music megamix of Chinese New Year songs filmed across the states of Malaysia with a cast of thousands. Well-shot on film, love it! Makes me want to travel to Malaysia for a holiday now! Did I tell you I love the Chinese New Year festive period? Happy Chinese Lunar New Year 2012!

Feng Shui for Flats in Singapore - Master At Work

2011-12-25T19:30:00.001+08:00

In the photo above is a typical "government flat" in Singapore, meaning it was built by the government under the HDB - Housing Development Board and came with a 99 years lease. This client of mine has just bought one for more than S$700 000 - this is the way property prices have inflated over the past few years. A same unit like this when it was built would have cost around S$200 000 - S$300 000 to the applicants who met the HDB purchase criteria. As my client is buying as a single person above the age of 35, the flat has to be purchased under the open market scheme, at a market determined price.

And so, the Feng Shui project starts with my first visit on site to the flat unit. And first, a close inspection of the surroundings of the apartment block.

When you look at this block, you can see that it is made up of 2 tall blocks joined together in the middle with the lift landing area serving each floor. The Feng Shui Master has to be able to determine what is the sitting and facing direction of the particular unit in the block. This is one area that many do-it-yourself enthusiasts will find difficulty in deciding with confidence. From the photo, it looks like the building have a main entrance here doesn't it? The on-site check reveals it is a "void deck" as we call it here in Singapore. No lift lobbies, just straight into the lifts.

Another building feature that many books and web sites write about for facing direction - where there is a lot of Yang energy or activities. Can this drop off point be considered?

The flat unit as it is now, vacated by the previous owner (the seller). One look by an experienced Feng Shui Master and you can tell the previous owner had implemented Feng Shui into the flat's layout. How so?

The answer: the creation of the second "main door" inside the flat layout. All apartments come with "fire" doors - that are treated and approved by the building fire safety regulations. In the past, when the HDB refused to allow any renovations to main fire-doors, the above was the only way to slant the door to the angle that the Feng Shui Master wanted.

Previously this would have been the balcony but it has been covered up with windows and converted into part of the living room area. (The pair of pillars looks horrible in terms of design, ewww!). I am definitely recommending my client to remove them in good taste. It is a crime against good taste!

With the balcony brought into the apartment - does it impact the facing direction of the unit? Big questions again for the amateur Feng Shui practitioner!

A very old style kitchen design. Some Feng Shui Masters that I know go to the extent of tilting and slanting the angle of the stove to meet their Xuan Kong Da Gua criteria. Do you know what is Xuan Kong Da Gua Feng Shui? Is it necessary to tilt the stove?

The Feng Shui Master's San Yuan Xuan Kong Luo Pan with the many rings of information on the compass. What do the numbers mean? A good Feng Shui Master has to be able to understand all the rings on his or her Luo Pan - can your Feng Shui Master understand what is on her or his Luo Pan? And do they know what is the different between a San Yuan and San He Luo Pan? Or a combination type San Yuan San He Luo Pan?

That is the PIE - Pan Island Expressway that leads to and from the Singapore Changi Airport. It is a very busy road, and look there is even a canal going underneath it. Such cross-roads - what impact do they have on the Feng Shui - or is there any at all? What about the noise and wind dynamics generated by such external environmental structures?

That will be for my client to know and for you to find out!

It is a busy December for me and in January I may have to fly up to Hong Kong again for another Feng Shui project. Other than a lovely lunch out today with my loved one, it is back to work on this holiday. Here is another chance for me to help another client create a beautiful Feng Shui home!

Lillian Too's Feng Shui Extravaganza 2012 in Singapore

2011-12-22T18:03:00.000+08:00

Here is the second part of my coverage of Lillian Too and WOFS annual Feng Shui extravaganza event. Took lots of photographs to share on this web site. Look at the massive crowds at the shopping area of the event, wow! Ka-ching!

The audience just cannot get enough of Lillian Too and WOFS products!

Desktop water features

S $155 for a gold-plated Wu Lou (Cantonese) or Hu Lu (Chinese) or calabash.

The 3 Divine Guardians for the annual San Sha - S$220.

A S$1600 crystal-studded green Dragon with globe

Feng Shui product innovation - wall stickers for your horoscope allies! (San He)

Singaporeans like to shop and call it retail therapy. When a seller catches the heart of consumers - ka ching! For your information, Pure Feng Shui do not sell such products so please do not email me to ask about them! I am just including this article for your reading pleasure with the colorful photographs as an event coverage. Personally I do not use such products in my Feng Shui professional practice, but I am not against them too - as long as you pay my consulting fees! Huat ah!