The restored capital of Germany has undergone vast changes over its many years. Developing on sandy swampland since the 13th century, the city has been the capital of Prussia, a key metropolis in the industrial revolution and a centre for arts and culture. The Third Reich even had plans to transform it into an übercity called Germania in the 1930s, but after its devastation during World War II, Berlin was separated into four sectors by the victorious Allies and divided by the now infamous Berlin Wall from 1961 to 1989. Since its unification, Berlin has made efforts to move into the future, experiencing a boom in investment and construction between 1990 and its reinstatement as the German capital in 1999.

In terms of feng shui, “the planners of Berlin didn’t really take landforms into consideration,” says Coxon. The Spree River narrows after passing through the newly built administrative offices of the federal government in Berlin Mitte, shown here, constricting money flow through the city (Berlin is currently bankrupt). Its configuration of governmental buildings is also less than ideal. Berlin would benefit from moving the seat of government from the Reichstag to the Palast der Republik, the former site of the East German parliament and, even longer ago, the Hohenzollern Palace. The Palast would in turn be relocated to align with the Fernsehturm (TV tower) on Alexander- platz. This would create a configuration to rival Washington D.C.’s powerful arrangement, as tall obelisk-like structures predispose areas to intelligence. The Palast (which is slated to be torn down to make space for reconstruction of the old palace) could also be embellished with a dome. “For about 4,000 years, buildings with spires interacted well with time energies,” Coxon says, explaining the feng shui principle of elemental shifts. “But in the mid 1950’s, that started to change to the benefit of dome-topped buildings.” The illustrated district is the centre of what was once East Berlin, which has always enjoyed better feng shui than the western part of the city. While the Berlin Wall may have divided families and friends, its effect on chi flow was in fact minimal. “Imagine it like a container holding fog into the east side. Now some of that fog can seep into the west. It’s more positive energy,” says Coxon.

BODE MUSEUM: The split in the Spree River indicates the the Bode Museum – an institution housing the state coin collection and Byzantine treasures – received financial support from two sources, but the river flowing away indicates that its finances may be curtailed. Because one can see the river from the entrance, however, a degree of control is possible. The museum has been under renovation since 1999 and is scheduled to reopen in 2006.
THE FERNSEHTURM (TELEVISION TOWER), STATUS QUO: Large, obelisk-like structures, like the Berlin television tower or the Washington monument in Washington, D.C., generally have a beneficial effect on the areas around them, predisposing the people in those areas to intelligence and supportiveness of their governments. The spike topping the tower, however, indicates that the administration that built it may be “stabbed in the back”. The structure was built in 1969 under the eastern German Communist regime, which was indeed toppled in the late 1980s. SUGGESTION: The tower’s power could be increased by removing the sphere that presently holds an observation deck and restaurant.
PALAST DER REPUBLIK, STATUS QUO: The location of Palast der Republik, formerly the seat of the East German government, was once the site of the Hohenzollern Palace. The narrowing river surrounding the remarkable building, which contained not only parliamentary meeting rooms but also several stages and restaurants, indicates that its regime lost money about a decade after its construction. SUGGESTION: Although the Palast has been gutted of asbestos and is slated for demolition – Berlin plans to reconstruct the Hohenzollern Palace on its historical site – the building would serve well as a parliament now. It would, however, be better placed south of Marx-Engels Platz, creating a flat, open space, making the new administration fair, open and powerful.