Using Ancient Wisdom to Choose Your New Home Site
Misc.
I like to think of myself as a practical kind of guy. I believe in things that you can see and touch and calculate. I believe in things that make a difference. I believe that when things are broken, you fix them – but first you make sure that they really need fixing, and the fix is the right thing to do. So you can imagine my basic thoughts on an ancient “art” that suggests mirrors deflect bad spirits and lighting candles in a corner makes wealth feel at home and comfortable.
I also like to think of myself as an open-minded sort of guy, though, so when a friend insisted there’s a lot more to feng shui than candles and mirrors, I thought it was only fair to learn a little more about it. After all, one of the major branches of feng shui deals with turning houses and buildings into happy and prosperous homes, and the part of my business that I most love is in helping people find homes in which they will be happy and prosperous. Sorta sounds like a natural fit, doesn’t it?
So I did a little reading, which led to a little more reading, and the more I read, the more I found concepts that make sense and suggestions for practical, simple things you can do to feel more at home in your home. In fact, the more I learned, the more I realized that many of the most beautifully designed homes that I show are those that incorporate the underlying principles of feng shui.
Go With the Flow
Feng shui can be translated as “the way of wind and water”, which is very poetic but not terribly descriptive. Feng shui is the study of the energies in the environment and the way that they affect you. A feng shui practitioner studies the building and land formations around the house, as well as the floor plan and layout of the inside of the house to determine the flow of energy, or chi, into and around the house. He or she will then make suggestions for helping to direct the flow into and around the house in the most fortuitous manner.
This may sound like mumbo jumbo, until you realize that the flow of chi also happens to be the flow of traffic in your house. It’s not surprising that many of the suggestions that are offered by a feng shui consultant are very similar to the same suggestions that would be offered by an architect or interior design consultant.
The Feng Shui Balancing Act
Balance is one of the most important concepts in feng shui. Most people are familiar with the concept of yin and yang – the masculine and feminine, black and white in perfect balance. When choosing a home site, feng shui consultants also look for balance and symmetry. If you’re looking for a site on which to build a new home (and you can apply these same principles to an already built home), there are some things that are especially fortuitous and some that are not.
- Your house should be built on land that shows life energy, or chi. Healthy vegetation and animal life indicate land with plenty of chi.
- Choose a plot that is relatively square or as close to it as possible. Triangular shaped plots are the least auspicious.
- The land on which you build should be slightly higher at the back than at the front.
- The area directly in front of your house should be somewhat flat – a playground, lawn or small pool is ideal.
- If possible, do not build at the very top of a hill. It leaves the home unsheltered and the residents feeling vulnerable.
- Do not build on low-lying land-locked areas with hills on all sides – for obvious reasons. Especially here in Florida, you want to avoid a plot that will be especially susceptible to flooding.
- Avoid homes that are located very close to places that are excessively yin (cemeteries, hospitals and places of worship, for example) or yang (police stations, prisons, power plants).
- Mountain behind, water before, a guiding feng shui principle, isn’t always possible in urban and suburban settings. In modern times, buildings substitute for mountains and hills; parks, playgrounds, lawns and streets stand in for rivers and lakes.
- Look for balance in the landscape. Avoid high tension wires, radio towers and other tall, sharp, knifelike objects. Build near symmetrical land formations and rounded contours.
Facing Off and the Shape of Things to Come
The shape of your house is another consideration. People are generally happiest and most comfortable in houses that are relatively symmetrical. Square and rectangular homes are the most popular, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find a house that presents a good shape. You should avoid
- triangular shaped houses
- houses with “missing corners”, i.e, L shaped houses or U-shaped houses
- houses with sharp protrusions or oddly angled roofs and dormers
One of the more complex aspects of feng shui is deciding which position the front of your house should face. In real practice, a feng shui consultant will determine the birth dates of the people who will live in the house, along with the “birth date” of the house and the period in which it was built. There are some generalities that can be drawn, though, since “periods” for buildings last twenty years. If you’re building a house or buying one that has been built in the years since 2004, it is a period 8 building. Period 8 houses that face northeast or southwest are considered the most auspicious, with houses facing north and south coming in a close second.
What if you’ve found your perfect dream house, the one that welcomed you home the moment you set foot through the door – and the feng shui charts don’t agree? Even expert feng shui practitioners will tell you that there are ways to change and mitigate the chi of a house. Perhaps what you feel is the positive energy of a happy family before you. I say follow your heart – it tends to know things that charts and compasses don’t understand.
Date: Monday, October, 8th 2007 @ 08:37:47 PMViews: 739
This blog entry currently has 1 comments posted.
Kerrie Kneebon
At last I have found information regarding what to look for and best of all period 8 face SW or NE is very valuable. I thank you for my next lead is period, dates of house built etc to fine tune my decision making. Thank you