Simplicity & Feng Shui

As scholars have discovered, understanding age old traditions, customs, documents, and dogmas can be a daunting task. Some people have spent their entire life in a quest to uncover and analyze the more intricate aspects of certain subjects. This can certainly be said of feng shui and there are huge volumes of information available on the intricacies and nuance of this ageless discipline.  However, the sheer volume of information, and interpretation thereof, can sometimes be a bit overwhelming and we find ourselves wishing for something a bit simpler and more direct. After all, if we wanted to spend our entire life in research and the scholarly pursuits we’d never have left academia. So, at the risk of being a bit superficial here are a couple of simple, yet incredibly effective feng shui tools that we can use to improve our lives.

The first thing you can do is hang a wind chime outside your home or apartment. If chosen and hung properly this will concentrate sheng chi in and around your immediate environment. Choose wind chimes made of metal and consisting of five or six hollow rods. The six rod wind chimes are much more powerful, and therefore more useful, than the five rod models. Do not hang wind chimes made of wood or ceramic as they are thought to be totally ineffective except to possibly deflect other negative forces at work in the area.  Many people make the mistake of hanging wind chimes in either the wrong location or in a position that doesn’t take full advantage of the powerful feng shui tool. The metal wind chime should be hung in the West or Northwest area in or around the dwelling and never in a workspace. They should also never be hung over a bed or any other place where the chime is over a person or their head. The best place to hang a wind chime is about three feet off the ground in, or near, a corner. The choice metal and the proper placement will entice and focus sheng chi (good energy) to, and through, the residence.

There is another feng shui tool that has been use for generations to entice good energy into the dwelling and focus the positive while deflecting shar chi, or negative energy. In point of fact, the dragon has been thought of as the most important feng shui symbol and can be utilized to benefit both work locations and residences.  In traditional Chinese folklore there are thought to be nine dragon manifestations that, in turn, sit to influence a different aspect of human existence. This icon is so ingrained into the lore that the dragon’s breath is, for feng shui practitioners, the very sheng chi positive energy that we try so very hard to capture, and funnel, into our lives.  A very powerful symbol, indeed and it’s almost ubiquitous use can be found virtually everywhere in Chinese culture. But, as you might imagine with a symbol this powerful, there are a few things you should remember when employing the dragon.  The dragon is traditionally associated with the direction of East on the compass. It is therefore more usefully seen, and implemented, on the East side of a dwelling. Placing a dragon or its symbolic rendering in an Eastside garden is also a very positive, and powerful, tool to gather and funnel sheng chi.  When we remember that the very definition of sheng chi is to grow exponentially or that which entails expanding energy it would make sense to insert some type of dragon into our garden which, presumably, could benefit from an additional growth impetus. (Celestial Miracle-Grow, if you will).  Because the symbol is so powerful it is not a good idea to put a dragon anywhere near one’s sleeping quarters.

So if the dragon is the penultimate feng shui symbol, and there are at least nine discreetly different manifestations of the dragon, one would think that there must be a singular, overpowering dragon symbol to which we can appeal. And, there is.  The green dragon is felt to be a primary force to channel sheng chi into the home or business and is quite often depicted on paintings and porcelain works of art. Since the green dragon symbol is so powerful and the ebb and flow inherent in the transfer of energy would seem to be central to maximizing sheng chi there is a train of thought that suggests the very best place to situate your green dragon is in a water feature outside your home, preferably on the East side. And, as is the case with many other feng shui symbols, renditions and artistic renderings are felt to be as effective as more realistic facsimiles.

So, if we can do just two small things to entice positive energy into our lives allow it to flow throughout our homes and in and around our friends and loved ones what would we do?

First, we could find a green dragon, or facsimile thereof, and place it in a water feature on the East side of our house in a small garden. The other thing we can do is find a six rod metal wind chime and put it about three feet above the ground, in a corner, on the West or Northwest side of our homes.

One can imagine the wind chime calling to the ancients and their muse. Once inside the property the green dragon will increase the flow and help channel sheng shui while increasing the overall amount of positive energy and helping to deflect negative spiritual energy.