INTRODUCTION

I'm a huge fan of feng shui - the Chinese art of placement which has been dubbed acupuncture for houses. Over the last few years feng shui has become increasingly popular in the West, with features in virtually every newspaper and a growing stack of self-help tomes on the bookstore shelves. At first the idea sounds crazy: how can shifting your furniture change your luck? How can re-positioning a mirror bring in more money? Why on earth does it matter if there is a beam over your bed? It all sounds insane. However, if you can believe that our homes are full of subtle energy, constantly moving, then it makes more sense that the lay-out of our homes, the positioning of our furniture and other features, can affect how that energy flows.

Feng shui evolved around five thousand years ago in China. The ancient Chinese believed that invisible life energy (called chi) flowed through everything in life. It's the same philosophy that underlies acupuncture. If the energy in your body is flowing freely and easily, you will stay fit and healthy. If, however, the energy becomes stagnant or blocked, or erratic and undisciplined (through bad diet and lifestyle or weakness in an organ) you will most likely fall ill. The needles of acupuncture simply act by removing the blockages or calming the energy flow - they regulate the chi. The principle is exactly the same in houses. The Chinese believed that the buildings we live in require quite as much attention as our bodies and so developed this highly complex science for "healing" the environment. Centuries of observation showed that different areas of the house and different parts of each room attracted specific energies. Furthermore they discovered that certain configurations (the layout of rooms or even the position of furniture or features) could either help or hinder the free, smooth flowing of energy. If the energy was blocked or allowed to flow swiftly it would cause corresponding blockages and problems in life. Clutter can "catch" energy, stopping its free circulation and turning it dull and stagnant. Sharp corners can send energy shooting out, in too harsh a concentration. A series of open doors send energy racing through, too fast and too frenzied. A blank wall will stop the energy dead in its tracks. However, fortunately, they also realized that very small but specific changes (known as "cures") such as hanging wind chimes or crystals in certain places or using certain colors would correct such disharmony and put your life back on track. Boosting particular areas with auspicious colors and objects could even create better energy and better opportunities in life. At its core, feng shui teaches that by making small shifts to your home you can affect everything in your life, from your finances to your health, from your relationships to your spirituality.

Although feng shui sounds so mystical, it is taken very seriously, not just in its native China but all over the world. Madonna is a fan; so is Pierce Brosnan. There have been rumors in the press that members of the British Royal Family have sought the help of feng shui experts. And, surprisingly, it is not necessarily Hollywood celebrities or troubled royals who are seeking the help of feng shui consultants. Most of their clients are high-powered businesspeople and large corporations who use feng shui to keep ahead of the game and to maintain their profits high. As feng shui expert Sarah Rossbach, author of several books on feng shui explains, "Today, those in powerful positions do not take chances where feng shui is concerned. I was surprised to find hard-nosed businessmen anxious to try feng shui as an added tool to clinch deals, enhance corporate clout, or expand their businesses." Western and Oriental banks, restaurants and corporations throughout Asia and also in the USA consult feng shui experts. Chase Manhattan, Citibank, Chase Asia, Paine Webber, Morgan Guaranty Trust, the American Chamber of Commerce and the offices of the Asian Wall Street Journal and the Far Eastern Economic Review (all sane, sage businesses) have used feng shui. Body Shop founder Anita Roddick freely stated that her headquarters and shops around the world had been designed using the principles. Richard Branson of the Virgin empire has used feng shui to huge advantage. And telecommunications company Orange have used it to rapidly expand their business.

People use feng shui because, quite simply, it works. A hotel in Australia was virtually empty until an Oriental company bought it and called in a feng shui consultant. He said the problem lay with the staircase: it faced the front doors and so the hotel's energy was shooting outwards and being lost. The staircase was moved and the hotel's luck changed almost overnight. On a more personal level, feng shui consultant Sarah Shurety tells of a couple who were on the verge of divorce. They could hardly bear to talk to one another. Sarah checked their house and found the problem in their bedroom. There was a large beam in the ceiling above their bed which effectively divided their bed in half. In feng shui, beams are considered to cause quarrels and even ill-health in the people who sleep under them. Sarah advised the couple to move their bed. "Now they are newly in love again," she reports, "the beam was cutting them in half, separating them.

MAPPING YOUR HOME

So let's see how feng shui could help your home. I have to say that feng shui is a complex science and that a website this size cannot explain every facet. If you have a house with an unusual layout or, particularly, an apartment which has been created out of an older building and so has a very odd shape, you may find it tricky to apply the rules to your own space. There are two options here: firstly you could employ a professional feng shui consultant. They don't come cheap but, if you find someone experienced and good, your investment should be well worth while. However, the second option is cheaper. Many modern feng shui consultants believe that much of feng shui's power relies on intuition and an awareness of subtle energy. Hopefully this will be a skill you are already developing. So, if the advice here doesn't take into account your curiously shaped abode, don't panic. Once again, centre yourself, get in touch with the spirit of the house and see what comes into your mind. You may well find the answer within yourself.

However, given that, there are some fundamental principles of feng shui we need to learn. The first is the ba-gua. This is an octagonal template which divides any space (your entire home or simply a room within it) into eight areas. These eight areas (or corners) represent wealth, fame, marriage, children, helpful people, career, knowledge and the family.

Let's take a quick look at these areas and how they affect your life.

· WEALTH: Wealth governs your finances, money and the material side of life. If you have problems with the wealth corner of your home - if it is missing, cluttered or blocked off, you will undoubtedly find money is tight. This area can also correspond to your feelings of abundance in general: you might feel "rich" with blessings, full of joie de vivre, with a sense of happy well-being if this area is working well.

· FAME: Yes, this area can apply to true fame but equally it shows how you are viewed by the outside world: your social standing, your place in the world. It also takes care of your self-esteem and confidence. If all is right with your fame corner, you will feel good about yourself and who you are.

· MARRIAGE: Not just marriage, but all relationships are governed by this corner. If you have unlucky relationships or would just like a relationship in the first place, this is one of the main areas on which you will need to concentrate. On a more esoteric level, this also represents your relationship with the wider world and, on a more intimate level, with yourself. We can't have good relationships with others unless we have a good relationship with ourselves.

· CHILDREN: If you have children this is an area you will want to ensure runs smoothly. If you don't have children but would like them, this is an area to boost. If you don't have (or want) children and think this corner is one to avoid, think again. Another name for this corner is Creativity and it can boost your imagination and artistic endeavors or simply help you find creative answers to problems.

· HELPFUL PEOPLE: Everyone can benefit from having helpful people in their life. Nurturing this corner makes sure the people you need greet you with a smiling face and a willingness to help. You could find help from unexpected places and people when this corner functions well - or simply that the plumber is swift, efficient and doesn't charge the earth.

· CAREER: How do you earn your living? With ease or great difficulty? Are you happy in the work you do or would you love a change? This is the corner that needs to be kept smooth-running for ease in your employment; boosted if you want a higher profile; shifted if you want a change.

· KNOWLEDGE: Knowledge covers a wide variety of ideas: this is the corner which can generate wisdom, ideas, learning and scholarship. If you, or anyone in the family, is studying this corner will need attention. But equally it offers inner knowledge, spiritual wisdom, fresh ideas and inspiration.

· THE FAMILY: Not just our immediate family are represented here, but our lineage, our ancestors too. This may sound a strange idea in the West but to the Chinese (and other ancient cultures) it is quite obvious. Keeping your ancestors happy results in good luck and prosperity. However, on a more practical level, this corner ensures that families get on together - not just the immediate family but your extended family, relatives and friends. It signifies your role as part of a wider clan.

So you can see that, while you may have imagined that only one or two corners might need attention, if you want your life to run smoothly you really need to look at all the corners. This makes sense: a true home of the spirit is a balanced home. It should not just be a home which craves fame and money above knowledge and friendship. Nor can any home thrive on love and creativity alone: a certain amount of money and recognition will make life much more comfortable. So let's see how to plot the various corners in your house.

BA-GUA

Different practitioners of feng shui use the ba-gua in different ways. However all the feng shui consultants I have met so far use this format which is, to my mind, also the most straightforward to learn. If you already know a fair amount about feng shui and are already using another method, stick with that by all means.

To work out the ba-gua of any room or house, the position of the main door is important. If you live in an apartment or a single room you will need to take the door into your space as the main door, rather than the door that leads into the building as a whole. Now imagine yourself standing with your back to the door: depending on the position of the main door you will be standing in either the knowledge, career or helpful people corner of the ba-gua. Now envisage the ba-gua laid over your space. The wealth corner will be off in the far-left hand corner, the marriage corner in the far right-hand corner. You may find it easier to take the map of your home you drew earlier and sketch the ba-gua over it, giving you an immediate idea of which corner lies in which room.

You can apply the ba-gua to any building or room, as illustrated here.

 

To start with, we want to look at the overall picture of your home. First of all check to see if any areas are "missing". Not all houses are built perfectly square and symmetrical and often you will find an area of the ba-gua missing. This means that the energy of that corner is lacking. A clear example comes with L-shaped houses which are often missing either their marriage or wealth areas. This was my first experience of feng shui. I was living in a terraced L-shaped house in London and, to be honest, my finances were a walking disaster. Then I interviewed my first feng shui expert, William Spear, over the telephone from New York. Bill told me about missing corners and I realized that money was my missing corner. Jokingly I asked Bill for a cure and he promptly told me to put a huge terracotta pot with a vigorous green plant to "square off" the missing corner. I did so, chuckling all the way, but soon stopped laughing when, within weeks, my income quadrupled without any effort on my part. I have taken feng shui very seriously since. When we moved into this house, I had a consultation from Sarah Shurety who was, to put it mildly, concerned. The chi was very undisciplined and would cause disputes, problems and anxiety. Her "cures" were quite extreme. We had to knock down several partition walls in our bedroom, losing our en-suite bathroom and a large walk-in closet. Several doors needed removing and the walls plastered up. Some rooms needed re-decorating in better colors and we were advised to hang a round mirror on our neighbors' gate. Our neighbors were not, however, convinced by this and so a large shiny ball had to be hung from a tree instead! We made the changes and the turmoil in the house did settle down. Interestingly Sarah also noted that, once again, we were missing our wealth corner - not as much as before, but there was still a marked indentation in that area. Apparently it's very common for us to repeat the same patterns in our lives by choosing houses which have the same feng shui problems. So watch out for that if you are moving. Another fascinating point came up when Sarah looked at our house. She explained that people who live in houses frequently follow the same pattern as those who lived there before - its technical name is "predecessor chi". Not surprising really when you think you are living in the same feng shui configuration so your energy will be moved in the same way. We were amazed when we realized that the people who had lived in the house before us complained that the husband had to work away from home all week and only returned for weekends. We were in exactly the same situation. However, once we made the changes, Adrian was able to shift his working pattern and work most of the week from home.

Take some time to become accustomed to the ba-gua superimposed on your house. Figure out which rooms lie in which corners. Are there any areas missing? Are any areas over-developed? Does it make sense, given your circumstances? Now look at it the other way around. Think about each corner of your house in turn. Are these areas well represented in your life? Are they well balanced? Which do you feel are missing or under- or over-developed?

To find out more about feng shui, read Spirit of the Home and Rituals for Sacred Living.