INDULGENCES house and home by joel martens A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO Fung Shui in Your Home
Fung Shui, what a complex subject when you educate yourself through the study of its principles.
The ideology is vast, every action has meaning. The position of your home in relation to compass direc- tions is significant, where each room is within that structure matters. The colors you choose, the place- ment of furniture and accessories all reflect specific signatures and affect how energy is articulated in your life. The basic principle stems from “chi.” Chi is essentially all energy; it flows throughout your life, your body, and your house, apartment or condominium. The goal is to increase the expression of good chi which is called Sheng Chi (also known as “dragon’s cosmic breath”) which should result in an increase of good fortune in your life. The other goal is to decrease the bad chi (known as Shar Chi) which blocks good energy flow and causes interruptions or creates roadblocks in various areas in your life.
To see which part of your home or work room connects with the bagua fields, stand
IT IS ALSO BASED ON THE FIVE ELEMENTS: Fire – Represents passion and emotion Earth – Represents grounding and stability Metal – Represents strength and independence Water – Represents relaxation and inspiration Wood – Represents growth and expansion
Finally, the Bagua chart or compass is used to determine the “zones” in a room or
home to highlight the areas you wish to emphasize. It has nine zones (see charts): 1.Power/Wealth/Abundance – Increase prosperity and wealth 2.Fame/Future/Reputation - Increase recognition or build a reputation 3.Love/Relationships/Marriage - Enhance relationships, find love, and build self-worth 4.Creativity/Children/Legacy – Unblock creativity, start new projects, connect with children 5.Compassion/Travel/Helpful People – Attract clients/mentor, travel/relocate, spirituality 6.Self/Career/Work – Switch careers, change jobs, meet work goals 7.Knowledge/Wisdom/Harmony – Attend school, promote self growth and cultivate peaceful life 8.Family/Health/Community - Increase health, cultivate social life and build family ties 9.Well-Being/Balance - Achieve balance; recover from injury, increase athletic ability
at the threshold of the door facing inside and hold the diagram so that the blue, black/ blue, and gray guas are pointing to you. The bagua can be applied to the entire house, office, and garden or to a specific room separately, regardless of the actual compass orientation. Another variant is to match the bagua with the actual compass orienta- tion. Let’s stay with the first orientation based on the front door for this example. So simply, if you want to advance your career, the bottom center of the chart and
were it lands respectively in your home is the area that you would want to highlight. One way to do this is by using a small water feature at your entrance, very inviting, and a great way to greet your guests. The water should be moving however, as it is filled with life chi, rather than unmoving water which will produce stagnation. Let’s say you want to want to “spice up” your relationship—that area is in the upper
right area of the chart as represented by the orientation in relationship to your front door, it is an earth element area. Enhance it by using the color red as an accent in that corner or go dramatic and paint an entire wall in a rich, deep red to build that passion! These are two small examples of a vast study of the principles of Fung Shui; there are
so many ways to open up your life by unblocking bad Chi and freeing up the good influ- ences in your life. It is interesting to me that many of these things are based on common sense and what I end up using on a day to day basis in the design business. You can walk into some homes and they are so inviting and open, they may have a hodge-podge of furniture and may cross many stylistic dimensions, but there is something comfortable and inviting. If you want to study more about Fung Shui, I suggest you read Total Fung Shui by Lil-
lian Too. It is a fantastic resource for the principles. Don’t be intimidated, there is much to learn, but like most things in life the outcome is worth the effort!
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RAGE monthly | OCTOBER 2010
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