I have been requested to do more posts about Feng Shui. I’ll begin with basic details: Feng shui is literally translated to wind and water and is considered a spiritual or metaphysical practice. Next, the goal of feng shui is to balance energy, both good and bad. Specifically, Qi (or Chi) energy is the life source of all living things that moves through air and water and can be impeded by natural or manmade structures and formations. Feng shui is a practice of analyzing, understanding and manipulating the Qi of buildings and objects in a particular space, in a way to bring the individuals within balance and harmony.
There are many different schools of Feng Shui and each will likely tell you something different. Please be advised, I am NOT familiar with every single one nor am I an expert of the different ones that I will be describing shortly. Also be aware everything included here is based my own personal perspective, which IS biased since I studied with only one of the schools and not multiple different ones. At the end, I will explain my reasoning for choosing the school I studied and became certified with. I always encourage everyone to do their own research and determine for themselves what they believe will work best for them.
- Traditional or Classical Schools
a. Form or Landscape School of Feng Shui is the oldest documented before a compass was even invented and is linked to Master Yang Yun Sung. Since specific compass directions did not exist then, the practice was based on the natural external environment, such as trees, mountains and bodies of water, by observing the directional divisions of the external features surrounding a property. Qi was also observed with regard to positive or negative as well as the way it moves and collects. Lastly energy from above, that is being astrological factors, are considered. In modern times, with urban environments, aside from natural formation, other buildings and manmade walls are also taken into consideration. This school is still relevant today and is one of many major factors in Flying Star Feng Shui.
b. Compass School includes two aspects (Yang and Yin) that are both considered together at the same time.
i. Flying Star (or Xuan Kong) and Eight Mansions (Ba Zhi) are both of the Yang House and includes the consideration of the external environment as described previously, using calculations based on the direction of the property by using a feng shui compass called a Luo Pan, plus the factor of time assuming that Qi changes over time. Advanced methods include taking residents astrological charts into account as well, which is the BaZi aspect.
ii. San He and San Yuan fall under the Yin House which represents the burial sites for the dead. I do not know much about this aside from an indication from my teacher that Flying Star is part of the method used to determine the most auspicious burial site. Where one’s remains is buried is believed to affect the generations that come after them. - Black Hat also known as Black Sect Tantric Buddhist School or BTB Feng Shui was developed more recently. I am not quite sure when and by who because I’ve come across conflicting information in my research. One indicates the 70s by Grand Master Lin Yun Rinpoche and another claims Grandmaster Thomas Lin Yun sometime in the 1980s. It seems to have evolved from India, Tibet and China’s philosophy of Buddhism and Taoism while also incorporating western culture, which is a very popular school in the U.S. Practitioners claim it takes spiritual, religious and holistic factors into consideration. Regardless of its origination, this school is touted to be an easy and the most cost effective practice because the changing aspect of energies with direction and time is not a factor. This eliminates the need for different Feng shui remedies and activation methods to be instituted on a regular changing basis. It is most known for not using a compass direction, but rather the front door entrance to determine the relative direction.
- Intuitive, Modern or New Age School of Feng Shui seems to be the newest of schools being developed in the 90s that pulls from Black Hat while using crystals, colors, placement of ornaments, charms, like the cat with the waving paw, and mirrors along with personal intuition. This is the most simple practice of Feng Shui.
As I became interested in Feng Shui early 2021, I began learning about the BTB school. I regularly listened to a podcast by two well known consultants and read the published online articles by one of them to educate myself further. I was very open to the idea that there are energies around us that could impact our lives in ways we may not fully understand. It was in alignment with my belief in astrology and how the planets affect each individual human born.
As the type who normally digs deep into things I’m really interested in, I wanted to learn more, but didn’t have the time or want to spend the money to take their specific intensive certification course that consisted of over 100 hours over six months costing over $5K. I was working over 15 hour days and usually 6 days a week at the time. It was when I tried researching other quicker/more affordable courses that I discovered there were many different schools of Feng shui. Overwhelmed by the options, I took the easy way out and hired a consultant locally who indicated she studied with at least 3 different schools and applied a little bit of all of them in her assessments. In my What Does Feng Shui Have to Do with my Spiritual Journey post I gave an example of a Feng Shui action she recommended. After she helped me implement it, I did receive a raise and promotion at work within 2 months of that change. There were other recommendations, but I’ll go into those in future Feng Shui posts.
New circumstances in the summer of 2022 brought me back to researching Feng shui again and I did a google search for “different schools of feng shui”. BTB seemed relatively simple, and I knew the most about it since I regularly listened to the podcast from the two BTB practitioners, but I had a nagging thought in the back of my mind that it almost seemed too simple. If it was so easy to implement and effective, with so many people following it, why weren’t there tons of super successful, happy people living their best lives screaming on the rooftops about how BTB improved all aspects of their lives? So I started reading more about other types to compare.
When I learned about traditional and classical feng shui, that made more sense to me. Why you ask? Because it answered the one question I had about BTB’s practice that didn’t sit well with me. I wondered, how can every single person’s home have the same exact corner for wealth and do the same exact recommendations there to become rich?
According to BTB, one simply has to stand at their front door and the farthest left corner of their home is for wealth. Then according to that same school, to activate wealth you simply need to:
- Ensure the area is clean and eliminate clutter
- Fix anything that is broken there
- Place some plants and keep them thriving
- Decorate with colors purple, green and/or blue, and
- Add a water fountain (or pictures of water, preferably in a black frame because black also represents water-aside from blue of course)
So if every single person in the world did all of the above, in their far left corner of their home, whether it was a tiny home, apartment, single family home or mansion, shouldn’t everyone be millionaires? It seemed unlikely to believe that would be the case.
I came across an introductory video from my soon to become Feng shui teacher, Safrina Kadri, briefly listing the different schools. She required signing up to see more in depth videos on the topic, so I did and the next video I received was titled, Black Hat Sect – Do Not Follow! Of course I clicked on that immediately and she reviewed exactly what I spoke about with the wealth corner. She got me. I began watching more videos on her channel.
Classical feng shui addressed that doubt for me since it described that an exact compass reading of the home’s location, tied in with the time factor of when the structure was built and/or when the residents moved in and the Chinese calendar’s ever-changing energies, plus the external environment outside the home all comes into play. It did not appear to be so simple after all and it was only when I was in the course myself that I realized exactly how very complicated it was and why it would be challenging to align with the auspicious energies perfectly. One misstep with the compass reading, calculations or combining all the factors and interpreting them together can result in no results or even bad results.
I discovered, in a few days from when I watched her videos, she was starting a 4 day San Yuan Xuan Kong Flying Stars certification course, based on the Tan Yan Wu School of Feng Shui she is a disciple of, and it cost less than half of the BTB course. I jumped at the opportunity to get educated first hand. After learning all that I did, hearing her first hand experiences, along with other graduates of her program from them directly, I was glad I chose the school that I did. I am excited to put what I learn into practice and see for myself what the results of Flying Star Feng shui will give me.
GGibberish 