Beijing 2008 – the number 8

Exactly 8 days left until the 8/8/08. Why are the Olympics starting exactly on that day? The number 8 is considered as very fortunate in Chinese tradition, as it represents prosperity, and is one of the most fortunate numbers.

Coming back to Feng Shui, we are actually in period 8. The Flying Star 8 White – Zuo Fu, element earth, is associated to the North-East. Actually a timely star, it is mainly a very favorable star governing financial aspects. The attributes of the 8 White Star are primarily prosperity, wealth and fame.

So, it is surely not a question of coincidence that the Olympics held this year in Beijing will start on 8/8/08, which should be one more step to help ensure success.

Feng Shui and mirrors

One of the frequently asked questions about Feng Shui is the use of mirrors. Is it a problem to have mirrors in the bedroom? Can a mirror face another mirror? May I have a mirror in the entry? are just a few samples of these doubts.

Mirrors are a reflecting tool. This is the most important thing to take into consideration about mirrors. So, whatever is reflected in a mirror is what counts. When placing a mirror at home, we must think about what it will reflect, what image we will see in them.

If you place a mirror that reflects beautiful plants, it will be good energy. If, on the contrary, the mirror reflects part of a room that is not organized, well, this won’t be very good. It’s all a matter of what is reflected. Think, for example, of a mirror that reflects a highway. Then, think of looking at this highway all the day. How would you feel?

Besides using mirrors in the bathroom for an obvious reason, mirrors are used as an architectural element that can enlarge small rooms or hide pillars. Nevertheless, we should always be sure of what they reflect before placing them.

We’ll have a look at the different options to place mirrors and the effect they have.

What about a mirror in your entry? It was said that this would reflect energies. More than reflecting the incoming energy, good or bad, it firstly reflects the door and while the door is open, it will reflect what is outside and interfere in the energies of the house. As it is a very sensitive issue, it is normally recommended to avoid a mirror in the entry reflecting the main door.

What about a mirror in the bedroom? It is recommended to avoid mirrors in the bedroom if they reflect your bed. The main reason is that this will disturb your sleep, as it reflects you. But you may have a mirror in your bedroom if it doesn’t reflect it.

What about mirrors placed one in front of another? Once again, it depends on what is reflected. The main purpose is to enlarge the room. But if you look in one mirror it will reflect the other one that reflects the first etc. This could be a strange feeling to look at it. If many items of the room are reflected, it would be better, but I personally do not recommend it, unless both mirrors are not directly facing.

What about mirrors in front of a window? The same applies for windows as for doors.

There is no standard response for mirrors, as all depends on where they are placed, what they reflect and which are the effects this has. You should always analyze the room when thinking about placing a mirror. If you are not sure about what to do, just try for a week. A week is pretty much to know if it makes you feel comfortable or not.

The placement of mirrors must always be analyzed with the surroundings. You have to see the room where the mirror is or should go, to be able to analyze it correctly taking all factors into account. 

Beijing 2008 – Olympics and 5 elements

15 days left to the 2008 Olympic Games to be held in Beijing. You’ll be wondering what this has to do with the 5 elements and Feng Shui. If we look a little bit closer, we will find a lot of Feng Shui influence in this year games. The Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (Fuwa) are representing, inter alia, the five elements (Wu Xing) used in Feng Shui to harmonize the energies.

“Fuwa also embody both the landscape and the dreams and aspirations of people from every part of the vast country of China. In their origins and their headpieces, you can see the five elements of nature — the sea, forest, fire, earth and sky — all stylistically rendered in ways that represent the deep traditional influences of Chinese folk art and ornamentation.”

Known as the Chinese five elements (or five phases = Wu Xing), water, wood, fire, earth and metal are represented by each of the figures forming the Fuwa. As explained in the official Web site, “fish and water designs are symbols of prosperity and harvest”. Among Fuwa, Beibei represents the sea and the water element. The lotus designs of Jingjing symbolize the lush forest and the harmonious relationship between man and nature. It is clearly the wood element. Huanhuan is a child of fire, and its element is obviously the fire element. Like an antelope, Yingying races across the earth, remembering us that the next one is the earth element. Finally, Nini symbolize the infinite sky with her golden wings. Here, we need to have a look at the 8 trigrams: Qian – Heaven – belongs to the metal element.

As you can see, they are placed in order of the creative cycle (Sheng Qi), as water nourishes wood, wood nourishes fire, fire produces the earth, the earth produces metal and metal produces water.

Feng Shui is not only used for living spaces. It can be used from a minimum surface like a room to a maximum surface like a continent.

Ming Gua – your personal number

To accurately apply Feng Shui to your home, one of the first things you should know and take into account is your personal number or Ming Gua. The Ming Gua (also called Kua number) is calculated from your birth year. The calculation also depends on the gender.

Each Ming Gua belongs to one of the five Chinese elements: water, wood, fire, earth and metal. And each Ming Gua belongs to either the East or the West Group. Water, wood and fire belong to the East Group, while earth and metal belong to the West Group.

The four favorable directions of the East Group (North, East, South-East, and South) are the unfavorable directions of the West Group (North-East, South-West, West, and North-West) and vice-versa.

Use this Feng Shui calculator to know your Ming Gua and your good and bad directions.

Why is our Ming Gua so important?

The Ming Gua determines our favorable and unfavorable directions. That means that if we sleep pointing towards one of our favorable directions or work looking (sitting) towards one of our favorable directions, depending on which one it is, we will benefit from its good energy. On the contrary, sleeping or sitting in a bad direction will have negative, unfavorable effects.

It doesn’t matter in which one of your favorable directions you sleep, unless you want to benefit from a particular energy, but you should absolutely avoid sleeping and working in one of your unfavorable directions. If you really can’t change it, you should at least try to be in the least bad direction, but I highly recommend avoiding any bad direction.

What exactly is Feng Shui?

Generally known as having something to do with harmonizing your living space to improve your life, Feng Shui became in the last decade a sort of miraculous cure for all our problems. Who hasn’t heard about placing ancient Chinese coins in the wealth sector to benefit of great abundance in its life?

Feng Shui is much more than Chinese symbols, space clearing or specific sectors of our home. According to the dictionary, Feng Shui is defined as “rules in Chinese philosophy that govern spatial arrangement and orientation to patterns of Yin and Yang and the flow of energy (Qi); the favorable or unfavorable effects are taken into consideration in designing and setting buildings and graves and furniture”.

Another common view of Feng Shui is to say that it is synonym of Geomancy. Let’s have a look at the dictionary. It says that Geomancy is a “divination by means of signs connected with the earth (as points taken at random or the arrangement of particles thrown down at random or from the configuration of a region and its relation to another)”. It is clear from this definition that Feng Shui has nothing to do with Geomancy.

But what about the fact that Feng Shui Masters can predict what will happen in the future, using Feng Shui? One of the systems used in Classical Feng Shui is the Flying Stars system. It takes not only the space but also the time into consideration. This allows the prediction of what could happen in the future. It is clear that, knowing in advance possible mishaps gives us the opportunity to make the appropriate changes to avoid them.

According to the definition of Feng Shui, the rules that govern spatial arrangement gave place to various systems or methods, also called schools, of Feng Shui. This is the point where the confusion starts.

Why are there so many different Feng Shui systems and/or schools? Nowadays, there are so many Feng Shui books that it is almost impossible for the novice to make a choice and deciding which book we should buy. We will find books about Classical or Traditional Feng Shui, Flying Stars Feng Shui, Ba Zhai Feng Shui, the Bagua, space and clutter clearing etc.

Who is right and who is wrong?

It is obvious that any system that doesn’t take into account the accurate orientations does not have much to do with Feng Shui. Space and clutter clearing, for example, will certainly help the Qi to flow easily and, that way, improve the beneficial energies, but it has nothing to do with Feng Shui.

To explain it, I’ll take Mathematics as an example: you have the basic Mathematics topics that include logic, the set theory, the number theory, geometry, algorithms, algebra etc. Once we know the basic knowledge, we can go on and study advanced Mathematics and further on applied Mathematics.

The same applies to Feng Shui. You have to see Feng Shui as the umbrella term (as Mathematics) for all the systems/methods used. So, Flying Stars Feng Shui is one topic, Ba Zhai or 8 Mansions another topic etc. As Mathematics uses the numbers, Feng Shui uses the five elements, the Yin and Yang, etc. usually known as basic or fundamental principles.

But there is still one point: What is Classical or Traditional Feng Shui?

Classical or Traditional Feng Shui is the umbrella term for the compass school and the landform/landscape school of Feng Shui. These are the most accurate systems. The Compass school includes the Ba Zhai or 8 Mansions system and the Xuan Kong or Flying Stars system.

Another method that appeared in the last decade is the famous 8 Aspirations system. As so many books have been written about this Feng Shui system, it became rapidly the only method to use. Going further, to easily make Feng Shui understandable and applicable everywhere, some Feng Shui authors use the application of this method without even taking into account the accurate compass directions.

Experience showed me that if you really want to apply Feng Shui seriously to your home or business and take the most advantage of it, you should use the compass school and the landform school. Certainly, you can start clearing your clutter and apply the 8 Aspiration systems to improve your quality of life, but it is only an infinite part of what Feng Shui can bring you.

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