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Feng Shui is at least 5,000 years old. The Feng Shui masters of Ancient China had the responsibility of finding sites where palaces, farms, and villages could be built with a certain guarantee that people could not only survive, but prosper there. They also were to find burial sites where the memory of ancestors could be honored for generations. At a time when there were no weather reports and history had just started to be recorded, Feng Shui practitioners had to rely on their powers of observation of the natural world. They would take note of things like:
- the abundance and availabilty of drinking water
- the quality and fertility of the soil
- the shapes of mountains, hills, rivers, lakes and valleys
- the condition of vegetable and animal life
- the presence of enough fish and game
- the strength and direction of the winds
- sun exposure
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What are the Celestial Animals?
In the country, a good Feng Shui site needs to be close to a source of fresh water, but a bit elevated from it and recessed from it in case of floods.
Feng Shui originated in China and China is located in the Northern Hemisphere, therefore the sun hits from the South, so facing the house towards the South ensured a warm and sunny entrance.
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In China, the cold winds come from the North, so having a large hill or mountain in the back of the property, towards the North, was desirable.
The Black Turtle of the North represents the protections at the back of the property.
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The Green Dragon of the East, represents a low range of hills offering side protection from the winds.
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The White Tiger of the West represents a low embracing range of hills, offering side protection from the winds. It is slighlty lower than the dragon range of hills.
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The Red Phoenix of the South represents low lands or very low hills on the other side of the water. |
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An ideal Feng Shui site would be a site protected by the Four Celestial Animals.
The site should face water and the Red Phoenix of the South, be protected on the back by the Black Turtle of the North, and on the sides by the Green Dragon of the East and the White Tiger of the West.
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In other words: Traditionally, an ideal Feng Shui site would have:
- the front of the property facing water and the Sun (South in the Northern Hemisphere, North in the Southern Hemisphere);
- a high hill or mountain towards the back (opposite the sun); hill ranges on the two sides of the property, and
- low elevations or low lands on the other side of the water
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Crouching Tiger
Hidden Dragon
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In an urban area a good
Feng Shui site would have:
- a larger building behind the property
- same size or slightly larger
buildings on the sides
- a lower building
across the street
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The main schools of Feng Shui that have become acknowledged in the Western hemisphere are Traditional Form School, Black Hat Sect, Traditional Chinese Compass School, Japanese Nine Ki Compass School, Pyramid School, Intuitive School, and Western School.
All of these schools agree on the importance of an adequate circulation of the Life Force (Chi), the balancing out of the opposites (yin and yang), and the harmonizing of the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water). They do not agree on what areas in a building correspond to which areas of life (also known as the life aspirations). Even though they all use the Ba-gua (literally meaning ‘eight trigrams’) to map the area allocations, some use the Former Heaven Arrangement (or Sequence), while others use the Later Heaven Arrangement. Some argue that the directions are essential and determinant when using the Ba-gua, while others claim that an internalized compass of the heart works more effectively.
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Feng Shui as Seen through the Eyes of an Architect:
What Distinguishes Feng Shui for Us and the Nine Steps to Feng Shui®?
Monica P. Castaneda's system stems from Form School predominantly,
plus the use of a modified Eight Mansions method, which used the compass of the heart first proposed by Master Lin Yun of Black Hat School instead of the magnetic compass directions, to determine the locations of the life areas.
ABOUT FENG SHUI AND MY APPROACH
Feng Shui is a system of Space Arrangement that allows us to align the forces of our live with the forces of nature, with the environment, the neighborhoods we live in, the buildings we call home, and in so doing, to resonate with the Universe in order to get a better yield from any investment of time, work and energy in the nine areas of life. We do this both in the physical, tangible world and in the non-tangible, more ethereal realm.
FENG SHUI AS A SPIRITUAL PATH.- Even though when I started out as a Feng Shui consultant I thought it was a harmonizing decoration technique, pretty soon I realized that it is actually a healing art. The incredible feedback I get from people who opened the doors of their homes and businesses to me for consultations is constantly confirming and reinforcing this belief. This approach to Feng Shui aims at getting the person involved to produce a shift in their energy immediately, therefore starting to turn the gears of the universal providing source at the exact moment that a Feng Shui cure is being applied. You would be surprised by the results, which are usually faster and/or greater than what you expected, though they may not always arrive from the direction you thought they would.
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| How is Form School Applied?
In addition to being at the basis of Feng Shui for Landscaping and Exteriors,
the Four Celestial Animals layout of Form School Feng Shui is applied to:
Entrance Design
Bedroom setups
Office furniture arrangement
Altar Design
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If at any point you would like to plant Seeds of Gratitude by making a donation to support the development and growth of this website and its free FENG SHUI resources, please feel free to do so IF YOU WISH.
DONATE
If you are not ready to make a donation, please
help us by telling a friend about this website.
Next Lesson: Nine Principles of Traditional Chinese Thought
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If at any point you would like to plant Seeds of Gratitude by making a donation to support the development and growth of this website and its free FENG SHUI resources, please feel free to do so IF YOU WISH.
DONATE
If you are not ready to make a donation, please
help us by telling a friend about this website.
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Feng Shui Home and Business Consultations are currently available in the folowing areas: Knoxville, TN and surrounding areas [Oak Ridge, Clinton, Farragut, Lenoir City]; Davenport, Bettendorf, Clinton, Dubuque, Maquoketta, and Bellevue, IA; Rock Island, Moline, East Moline, Milan, Andalusia, and Chicago, IL.
For service in other areas please check out our
Long Distance Consultations.
This site designed and built by Monica P. Castaneda
©2004-2010 Monica P. Castaneda
Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese Art of Placement and has been in use throughout the Orient for thousands of years. The complex wisdom of the Feng Shui aspects gathered in these web pages constitutes the dynamic experience of the author and is not necessarily intended to be the ultimate guide for using these principles. An investigation of these inspired words is meant to lead you to your own understanding of this complex wisdom. Neither the website nor the author make any claim for absolute effectiveness. The adoption and application of the advice or information offered is solely the readers' responsibility. Feng Shui for Us and Mónica P. Castaneda are not responsible or liable in any manner for any loss or damages caused by following the suggestions in our articles, readings and other services.
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