Looking for good qi?
The 8 houses school and the flying star school both talk about qi. Qi as a subject will take pages but for this time, let’s look at how the qi are looked at by these two schools. More importantly let us see how we can get feng shui to work.
In the “Critical Guide for Yang Houses” there are 5 rules. The first is:
“The first rule is to ascertain the vibrancy of the house. The activity area should be clear and the solid area quiet. The clear area draws the qi and the solid side receives. It is natural that vibrancy comes from the incoming qi.”
In the original Chinese, this is in beautiful prose but I apologize for making this sound rather stiff in English. But anyhow it is the meaning that is important.
I have some criticisms about current popular feng shui methods.
The 8 houses method seems to miss this point. The method divides the house into eight sectors. (There is no agreement yet as to whether it should be in sectors radiating like a pie graph or in eight squares. The flying star works on good and bad qi by defining the house into nine sectors. There are also varying ways of configuring these squares.
Essentially both these methods determine qi base either on the door or some opening. If so, both miss the meaning of the first rule of buildings. This rule simply states that the vibrancy is derived from the interplay of space and solid areas. In feng shui parlance? Yin and Yang.
Consider this. The photo you see shows the bright sunlight glaring in via the door. If that is the entrance then there is an influx of light and air. The door obviously is the activity or moving area as required by this rule. Somewhere there has to be a wall. This will be the solid area. Here we have the yin and yang at work.
This is the real qi. Not some qi determine from plotting an 8 square chart or a complex set of stars. We now need to balance this qi. Balancing this qi requires a balance of lighting so that the space it fills is in balance. Not too harsh on one end not too dark at the other. Too much sunlight coming in would be harsh and that disrupts the vibrancy. Or, depending on where in the world you are, it may mean too much heat or too much cold.
The solution is very simple. Either the doorway is closed slightly to make it smaller or curtains can be drawn. The design in terms of width and depth plays a part too but that falls under the second rule which we can examine on another occasion.
So much for light. There is also the issue of air too. Fresh air enters and along with it the oxygen we need. If there is bad or foul air wafting in through the door, it cannot be good. Good air means good vibrancy. Bad air bad vibrancy.
The idea to achieving good vibrancy then is to allow in a good amount of fresh air and non-intrusive natural light.
Noise too penetrates into the interior space through opening. This is vibrancy. If it opens into a railway yard or a mass transit train track, imagine what the effect will be. However, it will not be the vibrancy that we want.
Noise acts on us in subtle ways and good vibrancy requires that it be blocked off or softened. Plants have often been recommended in urban areas for blocking out this bad ‘sha’ but the effectiveness is limited.
In modern cities, high rise living is the norm. With ever increasing densities, light and other easements are issues which feng shui have to deal with. Simply taking out the luopan compass, taking a measurement and then plotting out some form of chart is not going to provide a good solution. Acting on this alone would have missed the first rule.
From my experience, the modern homes contain much new stuff that impinges on good feng shui. From reinforced concrete structures, lift shafts and motors, power cables down to the ubiquitous microwave oven all affect vibrancy. They all cannot be ignored.
On another write, we can check out the second rule.
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