Saturday, December 6, 2008

What is Feng Shui?

By Bill Bednick John Cicone Will Ditmore Sheilah Preston Jocelyn Toomer

The ancient Chinese art of energy balancing, feng shui, has enticed the modern Western psyche by its range of applications for life improvement. Even if it could seem basic, feng shui is pretty difficult to define as it involves advanced knowledge of the elements, the surroundings, the energetic structure of the body as well as of the principles governing the functions of the universe. "Feng" means "wind" and "shui" is "water" in Chinese; these two elements, gentle wind and clear water are symbols of fulfillment in terms of health, wealth and fortune. People speak of "good feng shui" and "bad feng shui" depending on the way the energies are respected and put to work for you.

The foundation for feng shui is the formal understanding of nature and the taoist vision, both embracing the concept that everything is full of the life energy or light, called "chi" or "qui" (in Chinese) or "ki" (in Japanese). The basic principles that could influence a feng shui analysis of a setting, individual or situation include the five elements and the yin and yang principle. Feng shui is created on the ancient symbols present in I Ching, the ancient Chinese oracle. These symbols are used in the octagonal alignment, the Ba-Gua, that helps you understand or determine the various relations between the feng shui locations in the home or office and the various parts of your life.

Feng shui is familiar to several different schools, and it involves varied levels of learning and understanding, depending on the complexity of the information you have access to and actually get to internalize. The cures offered by feng shui for life improvement vary from the use of fountains, aquariums and crystals to the energy improvement by means of clocks, colors and mirrors. Light and colors make an important combination by the aura they can bring to a certain location. Most places characterized by "bad feng shui" suffer from lack of light and color.

The interaction of the common elements is another key aspect of feng shui; wood, fire, water, earth and metal can create productive or destructive circles depending on the preponderance they have in one's zone of affect.

Each of the elements has a corresponding color; it is basic feng shui understanding to know how to complement colors and balance an environment. The placement of the elements in a area is not randomly done as it has to be determined by the octagonal grid, the Ba-Gua. - 14130

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