Does anyone practice Feng Shui?

[MaeFlowers]

I know this is probably a long shot but the Hive is generally all knowing.

 

 

I have been reading online trying to learn about feng shui but am getting a bit confused.

 

I understand that each person has their own element and that each bagua has it's own element. But, what I don't understand is how to decorate with those. Do you decorate the room according to the bagua element and add decorative touches to support the personal element or vice versa? What if one element is destructive to the other? For example, how would you decorate a bedroom that sits in the NW bagua but the tenant has wood for their birth element?

[Arcadia]

I don't but I do understand the personal elements aspect since my ancestors down to my cousins believe in that. If your personal element happened to conflict with your spouse, that would be a mental pain for designing the master bedroom according to personal elements.

 

ETA:

My girlfriend strongly believes in rose quartz in the bedroom for enhancing romance

Edited July 11, 2017 by Arcadia

[Guest]

I have read about it before, but I got confused on that point, as well as confused in that both the house supposedly has it's sections, but individual rooms have their own as well. So I could never figure that out; plus I highly doubt the original Feng Shui masters figured people would have houses shaped like mine and with the number of rooms mine has. So, mine is not at all like a rectangle with symmetrical baguas.

[MaeFlowers]

I don't but I do understand the personal elements aspect since my ancestors down to my cousins believe in that. If your personal element happened to conflict with your spouse, that would be a mental pain for designing the master bedroom according to personal elements.

 

ETA:

My girlfriend strongly believes in rose quartz in the bedroom for enhancing romance

DH and I do have conflicting elements, as well. So, the room conflicts and we conflict. My understanding is that you use all elements in a room but emphasize certain ones. But the which one part is confusing.

[MaeFlowers]

I have read about it before, but I got confused on that point, as well as confused in that both the house supposedly has it's sections, but individual rooms have their own as well. So I could never figure that out; plus I highly doubt the original Feng Shui masters figured people would have houses shaped like mine and with the number of rooms mine has. So, mine is not at all like a rectangle with symmetrical baguas.

I was looking at the classical bagua which is an octagon and wondering why they did it that way. I'm assuming because of the compass.

 

An octagonal house might be pretty cool, though.

[Aura]

I love feng shui.

 

But feng shui is THOUSANDS of years old, and there are so many different ways to practice it, so yes, it is confusing at times!!!

 

And I most books that I've read do not really take into account multiple people living in the same house. It's like they're written for just one person or couple.

 

Here's what I do, though. First, I try to get rid of problems like "poison arrows," clutter, and destructive items. Then, I try to activate each specific gua according to its life situation (i.e. prosperity or fame/reputation). THEN, I check each individual that lives in that room and try to arrange it in a way that places that most auspicious for that person.

 

General rooms like the dining room or living room are pretty easy for me. Because you don't have to worry about an individual making that their bedroom. But when it comes to bedrooms...those can be problematic!

 

Here's an example of a problem area and how I dealt with it:

Ds is 20 and has wanted to go into the Marines for years. But he's hit one block after another.

Ds's room: Creativity/Children gua

gua associations: northwest, metal, white, and rounded or mounded items

constructive: earth, yellow, flat or square items

destructive: fire, red, pointed items

Ds: kua is 4, wood...the creativity/children qua is one of his 4 worst directions

constructive: water, black, undulating/wavy items

destructive: metal, white, rounded items

See the problem? The actual element associated with that room is destructive to ds!

 

Before I did anything, we completely emptied his room. (We needed to replace the carpet, so that was a good excuse.) Then we added back only minimal items. Absolutely no clutter. (BUT, we're also staging our home to sell, that gave me a really, really good excuse to do his room the way I said. I'm going to have to a bit more delicate when we find a new place.)

 

I decided to focus on earth and water, neither which is harmful to the position or the person, and both are constructive: earth creates metal and water grows wood. So, blues and greens for colors. I added a peace lily, which is wood and earth: wood (plant) for ds and earth for the room. He has a black desk and bed frame (black is water, creative to ds and not harmful to the room) with a nice lamp (teal w/ a ROUND shade--no pointed arrows!). Bedspread and curtains are done in stripes of shades of blue/greens/teal. 

 

Ds also tends to have a bit of temper, so I was definitely NOT going to be introducing anything fire-associated to his bedroom! No reds. No spiky anything. No candles.

 

I put his bed in the east corner, which was best location I could manage for him.

 

The room looks and feels amazing. He has been much more focused and even tempered since I re-did his room. He's managed to move beyond the obstacles wrt to the Marines and is super excited about his new direction, in spite of being solely focused on Marines for so long. (And he is one of the types of people who actively fights changes!)

 

I think the biggest help was removing all problems: clutter, poison arrows, wrong colors, too many electronics, etc. That's the biggest part of feng shui. But it's not the most fun. ;)  I love figuring out the right stuff to really activate an area. That's the fun part, to me.

[Aura]

I have read about it before, but I got confused on that point, as well as confused in that both the house supposedly has it's sections, but individual rooms have their own as well. So I could never figure that out; plus I highly doubt the original Feng Shui masters figured people would have houses shaped like mine and with the number of rooms mine has. So, mine is not at all like a rectangle with symmetrical baguas.

There are "cures" for odd-shaped houses and ones with many rooms. But my current house is VERY easy since the rooms align almost perfectly with the bagua, so I've never spent much time looking into those cures. If you're interested, I found that there are quite a few books in my local library on feng shui. Some that even focused on problem areas. Maybe yours would have some, too.

[MaeFlowers]

That was super helpful, Aura. Basically, that is exactly what I'm dealing with. Our master is in the NW corner. My element is wood. You gave me some great ideas.

 

Dh's element is fire. I have to figure out how to incorporate that, too.

[Aura]

DH and I do have conflicting elements, as well. So, the room conflicts and we conflict. My understanding is that you use all elements in a room but emphasize certain ones. But the which one part is confusing.

 

My dh and I have conflicting elements.  :glare: He's fire. I'm wood. Our bedroom location is great for him. Terrible for me. I have health issues. Go figure.  :glare:

 

I'm still trying to figure this one out. But keeping the room free from clutter and general problems (like pointed arrows and obvious destructive items) helps. No candles on my side of the bed. Nice plants. Teal color works for both of us. Not too many fire items.

 

I'm not even sure our new place could make things better since we're total opposites anyway.

[MaeFlowers]

My dh and I have conflicting elements. :glare: He's fire. I'm wood. Our bedroom location is great for him. Terrible for me. I have health issues. Go figure. :glare:

 

I'm still trying to figure this one out. But keeping the room free from clutter and general problems (like pointed arrows and obvious destructive items) helps. No candles on my side of the bed. Nice plants. Teal color works for both of us. Not too many fire items.

 

I'm not even sure our new place could make things better since we're total opposites anyway.

We just moved into a new house a few months ago. I am basically starting from scratch. I was looking into feng shui because I thought it might be a good underlying philosophy for decorating. I want to be mindful of what I put in the house because my environment affects me.

 

I think I'm going to start with our entry. It faces East which I believe is a good gua for the front door. I thought starting there, in a room without conflicts, might help me grasp some of the rules of feng shui before getting into the more difficult rooms.

 

I do like teal for the master, thouth. I might have to steal your idea!

[Aura]

An easy book to start with is Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life by Karen Rauch Carter. That's the one I started with, and I reference it a lot. It doesn't get into personal kua numbers, though.

 

Environment affects me, too. I was just telling my dh how much clearer my mind has been since we've decluttered and staged the house to sell. I also feng shui-ed my house. Next place is getting this kind of treatment from the beginning.  :laugh:

 

I love my teal master bedroom! Steal away!  

 

Hmmm...I need to replace the one lamp shade with a round one. And I wonder if that chair's armrests are sending poison arrows at me while I'm sleeping. I may need to rethink their placement, but they work for staging purposes. 

 

[MaeFlowers]

An easy book to start with is Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life by Karen Rauch Carter. That's the one I started with, and I reference it a lot. It doesn't get into personal kua numbers, though.

 

Environment affects me, too. I was just telling my dh how much clearer my mind has been since we've decluttered and staged the house to sell. I also feng shui-ed my house. Next place is getting this kind of treatment from the beginning. :laugh:

 

I love my teal master bedroom! Steal away!

 

Hmmm...I need to replace the one lamp shade with a round one. And I wonder if that chair's armrests are sending poison arrows at me while I'm sleeping. I may need to rethink their placement, but they work for staging purposes.

I like the room. It seems very calming.

 

I'm just getting started and haven't come across poison arrows yet. I have to be honest, the mental image of chairs sending poison arrows at you in your sleep makes me laugh. I can hear them making noises like my kids do.

 

Question...I read that the bed shouldn't be in front of a window. Is the way it faces more important?

[Aura]

I like the room. It seems very calming.

 

I'm just getting started and haven't come across poison arrows yet. I have to be honest, the mental image of chairs sending poison arrows at you in your sleep makes me laugh. I can hear them making noises like my kids do.

 

Question...I read that the bed shouldn't be in front of a window. Is the way it faces more important?

 

Well, the way this room works is that there's another door opposite the bed so that there's two doors on the wall opposite the big window. And there's another window next to that chair with the arm rests.

 

There's just no way to position a bed in this room where I'm not going to have problems with the energy flow. So I make do with cures for the bad positioning.

 

(And no matter what feng shui says, if I can't make it look pretty, I'm not doing it. I'll find a cure.)

 

My side of the bed has the bathroom door directly opposite it. Bad placement. Cure: small mirror under that side of the bed that reflects the energy flow back to the door. Mirrors in general are not good for a bedroom, but I felt like a small mirror in that particular place would be a positive thing.

 

Bed in front of window. Bad placement. Cure: protective stones (red jasper) that line that window sill.

 

Here's a good article: How to Position Your Bed for Good Feng Shui It doesn't get into cures very much, and I definitely did cures differently, but it's still good info.

 

Now, I'm definitely still a newbie at this! I've only been studying and learning about for the last couple of years. I would love to hear other opinions from people that have been doing this for many years!

[Aura]

Oh, poison arrows are where the energy is directed in a straight line toward something. Corners channel the energy (chi) into a straight line. What you want is for the chi to flow gently around the room or house like a gentle, meandering stream. Poison arrows send the energy in too strongly and that creates problems.

 

Doors that open straight onto the bed, chairs with armrests that point directly at you, ceiling fans, and tray ceilings all create poison arrows.

 

Think of the chi like water. If water flowed from a corner, what does it hit? Is there something there to keep it from being a fireman's hose pointed straight at you?