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Using Feng-Shui to Evaluate a House

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ere are some more suggestions to help you evaluate the feng-shui of a house. Although these aren't exhaustive and they're not designed to replace information covered in my books or advice from skilled professionals, they are agreed upon by practitioners of all the traditional schools of feng-shui.

Surroundings
The most important contributor to the feng-shui of a house is the surrounding environment, including natural landforms and nearby buildings. If you find problems in the surrounding environment (for example, malevolent landforms like jagged rocks and steep cliffs, grotesque-looking trees, threatening structures such as large power transformers, or a road running straight at the house), there's no point in looking at the house or its floor plans. To change the feng-shui of the external environment, you may have to undertake difficult, expensive, or impossible actions such as moving the landforms, altering the course of a river, or getting your city to change its road patterns.

Exterior Design
The next most important factor to consider is the building's exterior design. If you find problematic architectural features (such as pillars instead of a foundation, an excessively irregular roof-line, or a house shaped like a guillotine), you won't need to bother considering the floor plan. Changing the appearance of a house may not be as difficult as changing the surrounding landforms, but unless the site is extremely auspicious, why make extensive (and expensive) structural alterations when you can find another house with a more suitable exterior?

pa-k'ua mirror on door Click here to enlarge

Interior Design
Once you've found a house with a suitable environment and exterior design, you should evaluate the internal architecture, i.e., the floor plan and interior architectural features. You will want a house that promotes the development and flow of positive energy and that impedes the development of negative energy. Houses with narrow, maze-like, and dark corridors, for example, trap negative energy inside the building and keep positive energy from circulating. Exposed beams suggest that occupants will be crushed by the burdens of work and family. If the front and secondary entrances are aligned, the occupants cannot accumulate wealth. Even large fireplaces or excessively knotty wood paneling can bring malevolent energy. If the landform and outside architecture are overwhelmingly positive, however, it may make sense to remodel a house whose floor plan or interior design has undesirable features.

Interior Flow of Energy
The last factor to consider when you evaluate a house is the interior flow of energy. To do this, you will need to learn to use the Flying Stars System of the Hsüan-k'ung and San-yüan school or the eight-point compass of the Pa-chai school. Alternatively, you can get help from a skilled feng-shui consultant. My books will show you how to use the Flying Stars System and interpret the results according to the Hsüan-k'ung school. At present, I have not seen a feng-shui book written in English that describes the San-yüan method of interpreting the Flying Stars. I have also not seen a good book on authentic Pa-chai. If you want to find a skilled feng-shui practitioner to help you with charting the flow of energy within a building, you'll find some advice on choosing a consultant in the next section.

	fountain Click here to enlarge

Tips on Choosing a Building Site

All four traditional feng-shui schools suggest that you:

• find a site protected on all sides by things like hills, mounds, trees, bushes, and even other buildings. You can be protected and still have good views;
• avoid sites that produce destructive energy. See the section on feng-shui principles, Landform Classification, for information on which environmental features are associated with destructive energy, and make sure none of these features are found around the site;
• find a site that produces nourishing energy. See the section above on Landform Classification for information on which environmental features carry nourishing or auspicious energy. It's desirable, though not necessary, to have these features near the site.

Tips on Choosing a House

When you look at a house, examine its exterior architecture and look carefully at the floor plan and the interior design features to determine if it meets the following two criteria:

• Does it have stability, balance, and smoothness?

Make sure that the house is symmetrical, that it does not sit on pillars, that it doesn't look top-heavy, and that it has few or no protrusions. You may want to refer to information and photos in the earlier pages, see Exterior Features

• Does its floor plan facilitate the flow of positive energy and minimize the flow of negative energy?

Avoid a house with dark, narrow, or maze-like hallways, and steep stairways that generate negative energy. Oversized bedroom windows leak positive energy and offer poor protection for the occupants. Stairs that face an entrance can route unpredictable and destructive energy directly to the upper levels. And triangular spaces create aggressive energy. Again, you may want to refer to relevant information in the earlier pages, see Interior Features

If a house satisfies these two general criteria, then you should chart the pattern of energy within the house by figuring out where the auspicious and inauspicious energies are located. Flying Star System

"Rock Warrior" from Chinese mythology Click here to enlarge

General Tip

Always look for destructive features before benevolent ones because enthusiasm for the good features may blind you to the bad ones. Plus, if you find too many destructive features, there's no point in considering the benevolent ones.

My books Feng-shui: The Ancient Wisdom of Harmonious Living for Modern Times and A Master Course in Feng-shui contain a more complete guide to determining the feng-shui of building sites, houses, apartments, offices, and stores.

How to Improve the Feng-shui of a Place

Ideal feng-shui conditions are rare. Most of the time we have to live with what we can get or improve on what we have. To deal with problematic conditions, we can take countermeasures. Here are some examples:

Pa-k'ua Mirrors

• When a neighbor's driveway points toward your front entrance, counter it by affixing a pa-k'ua mirror to the door. Pa-ku'a mirrors are usually available at Chinese gift stores.
• A pa-k'ua mirror can also be used against sharp, pointed objects directed at your house--for instance, TV antennas, protruding tree branches, or spiky architectural features.

Natural Barriers

Against a transmitting antenna looming on a nearby hilltop, place a pile of cedar chips, a sandbox, or bales of hay near your house.

Symbolic Countermeasures

• Against a sculpture resembling a destructive object, place another object of destruction directly across from the threatening object. For example, against a sculpture resembling arrows, use a picture of a gun or a sculpture resembling a gun; against a cannon, use a picture or toy model of a tank.
• To counter a large, imposing fireplace, place a picture of a waterfall directly above the fireplace, or put a fountain next to it.
• Against rocks with grotesque shapes, use a "rock warrior" from Chinese mythology. Rock warriors, like pa-k'ua mirrors, are usually available at Chinese gift stores.

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