Feng Shui also has similarities with the ancient Egyptian knowledge which was brought to Europe during the Crusades, and taken to North America by the European émigrés

In the Far East, Feng Shui is used by most businesses and many private individuals. In the West a similar pattern is developing, with companies such as Virgin and Arthur Andersen being mentioned in the press as using it as well as companies with Far Eastern connections such as HSBC and Orange. Thousands of private individuals are also making use of Feng Shui to benefit their lives.

Whilst we think of Feng Shui as being something new in the West, there is increasing evidence that it was in widespread use by the Victorian merchant classes (particularly those with connections to the Far East).

Feng Shui is a very comprehensive system, covering a broad area. The Chinese say that it takes 5 years to learn the basics and you can then go on learning about ever more advanced and powerful aspects for a lifetime. We know for instance that our Master (Master Chan Kun Wah) who is one of the top masters in the modern world, places great importance on continuing his own research. We have also been told that Grand Master Chue Yen (Master Chans Master, who in the 1960’s together with other venerable masters from Hong Kong and Taiwan founded the Overseas Chinese Horoscope and Research Association), also continued to deepen his knowledge right up until his passing in the 1980’s. From our own studies, we too can also confirm that Feng Shui is a vast subject.

In ancient China, Feng Shui was the preserve of the Emperor. It was kept a closely guarded secret and a master who gave away too many secrets to the masses was liable to execution. Even today there is still a reluctance amongst masters to divulge deep and powerful secrets to any but their most trusted pupils. One of the unfortunate side effects of this is that much of what is written about about Feng Shui in the West is fairly simple stuff. Some of it is superficial, some of it is taken out of context and can miss-lead and some of it is down right lies.

There are aspects of Feng Shui that deal with graves, others that deal with buildings, others that deal with people, others that deal with time and yet others that deal with the landscape. And ALL of them interact with each other.

So what is Feng Shui ?

At its simplest, Feng Shui shows how energy (often called Chi, Ki, Prana, Life Force, Vital Force etc.) flows around in our environment, how it changes through time and how it affects our buildings, our relatives buildings, our ancestors graves and ourselves. It shows up in our lives as what we in the West call “luck”.

Many of us can sense this energy (have you ever noticed what it feels like in a room after someone has had an argument - even after the protagonist have left, or how nice it feels in a house where the people are doing well ?).

We’ve also noticed over the last couple of years that an increasing number of people can sometimes see this energy as well. At first they often notice a thin “mist” like substance drifting gently around. Sometimes they see colours and occasionally shapes e.g. some people have observed a bluish grey jagged disturbance flowing off the corners of buildings where we know from Feng Shui that Sha lines are being generated.

Each “system” of Feng Shui tells us part of what is happening, and in our experience it all works to a greater or lesser degree if properly applied.

However the real power to understand and create improvement comes from examining the interactions between the various pieces of information from whichever “school” of Feng Shui they originate. Intuition can play a part, but this is not just an intuitive process. There are well defined links between the different aspects of Feng Shui.

The people who come along to our talks, seminars and workshops often tell us that they had got very confused by what they read in books and saw in the media. So our aim with this part of our web site is to clarify a few things, introduce some of the more common analysis tools referred to in books and generally help you to understand the basics well enough to try out a few things for yourself.

“Methods”

“Form” school whether Chinese or Tibetan provides information about the effects shapes and general topography of the landscape and is in itself a very complex subset of Feng Shui.

“Compass” school gives information about effects associated with the earths magnetic field. This is an extremely complex area. For example the “Flying Star” calculations, of which the most common (Sam Yuen (Three Periods), Yuen Hom (Mystery of the Void) & aspects of the Ba Chop (Eight House) formulas) give information about the interaction between a building and time. Other formulas such as the 24 Heaven Stars of the Imperial Lo Pan give information about how specific people and specific shapes in specific positions in the environment interact with each other and the building.

There are two analysis templates commonly mentioned in books and the press, which look almost identical. The BaGua which comes from the Tibetan school (a small subset of which is known in the West as “Black Hat”) and the PaKua which comes from the Chinese & Japanese schools. The main difference comes in the way they are used (which we tell you about in the next few pages) - BOTH give important information.

There are several methods for assessing the Feng Shui of people. The most popular (& simplest) is the LoShu (or 9 Star Ki) calculation, but others such as the Lap Yang, Kwa, Ba Zi and Tzu Wei systems give a great deal of accurate information about a persons life and how their circumstances change through time.

But before we all get too lost in the detail, remember that the basic premise of Feng Shui is that if an improvement is made in an aspect of the Feng Shui which affects you, a corresponding improvement will occur in your life or business.The more powerful the Feng Shui being applied, in general the greater the benefit.

DIY TIP

It’s best to only change one thing at a time, and leave about a month between changes - that way you can see what effect each is having before you complicate things with further changes.

Keeping a diary is also a good idea.