Cecil Lee

Dear Caroline, Thanks for your brief information. 1. It would be best not to rely on "fixed" theories e.g. the Eight Aspirations or Associations. The reason is that it is too general to be applied to anyone or their home. Unlike the Eight House Theory, the Eight Aspirations does not even consider one's Year of birth or personalised it to a person or their home. 2. In your case, you may want to consider any of the following theories: a. Shapes and Form in relation to the exterior of your home and the interior. For the exterior, make sure that there are no sharp corners of neighouring houses pointed towards the main entrance or the windows etc.. For the interior, make sure that the working table is flushed against one side of the wall to lend it support. Where possible, there should be a back wall behind the table. The table should not immediately face the room door etc... 3. You should also consider using the Eight House Theory. For example, it is best to have the location with good intangible forces for the person. 4. As an added bonus, you could sit facing one of your good directions at work. 5. If you want to go deeper into more advanced Feng Shui, you may want to consider: a. Using Pillars of Destiny. For example here you can design a company logo to suit you. In addition, if for eg. you are a weak fire person, you can try to add fire element or wood element etc... b. You can also use the Flying Star to analyse the room i.e. auspicious or inauspicious and in some situations if there is a mountain star, it can be activated. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi, In a " cold " country, it is acceptable to have a chimney. It is a good feature to have in such houses especially in the winter as it provides warm to the household. You can say that it is the near equivalent of the stove if we want to see it that way. A stove is a very important part of the home. However, we may perhaps look at the positioning of the chimney. This is considered a more important factor. I remembered that a few persons also written in much earlier (in the previous forum) that in their country, they have water pipes running along the floor of the house. If I am not mistaken it is Sweden. - Hope my memory is correct here). Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi, Colours are secondary to Feng Shui. For example, it is best to get the `basics' correct e.g. to have a good house situated on a good site etc... You can consider colours `nice to have' but not of primary importance. More importantly, choose a colour of the car that you like. I have read that there were some studies conducted (forgot the source) but one study mentioned that bright red cars are prone to accident. One reason is because the colour of the car blend with the brake lights and was not noticeable. This is before many new cars and countries require a third brake light especially at the back glass window or bonnet. So, in the past, it would be " foolish" if one did not really intend to buy a red car but because of FS, go out to buy one and met with an accident (worse still meet with a fatal accident). Here, it is best not even to know about Feng Shui. Overall, Feng Shui must not be practised or `run' our lifes or we become the `slave' of it. Warmest Regards, Cecil Lee

Hi, This is really not Feng Shui but based on " superstitious beliefs ". So far, in my personal opinion, I have on occassions also have dried flowers at home and to me, really do not pose any problems. Your second point of giving red flowers is based (I believe) on the `culture' that giving e.g. red roses represents a romantic senario. But I guess, it can equally symbolise `love' of the person or boss. It should be seen as a `gesture' and not so of bad luck. As a Chinese, we do not give a Clock e.g. during house warming or buy shoes for the person. This is considered bad luck. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi, The practice of placing the fish tank at window is an acceptable practise. However, you must leave a reasonable gap e.g. 6 inches from the wall. The above practise is very common when there is a street lamp outside the window *slicing* thru the window. As the street lamp to some practioners represent a Fire element, the water is used to cool it down or neutralise it. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi, This " School " of Feng Shui believes that 5 hanging lights represents each of the Five Elements and can be placed a a location to represent each of the Five elements. It can be all of the same colour. Some went to extent of using five different coloured bulbs. Symbolically, in the day time one need not light up the bulbs. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Liz, Here are a few points to note:- 1. If you have not read this short article, please click here: URL http://www.geomancy.net/fs/under.htm 2. The stream should not seem to be slicing into the house like a sickle or a blade. 3. Where possible the bed should be furthest away from the underground stream as the vapours according to Feng Shui is not ideal. Warmest Regards, Cecil Lee

Hi, Sorry for the delay in reply. Besides other activities, Robert and myself were busy configuring each of our new notebook to cater for the increased mails. The purpose of calling this entire site - Center for Feng Shui Research is that: 1. We are not restricted by practising only one School of Feng Shui or owe allegiance to only one " Master ". Overall, as you can see, it is good to learn Feng Shui from many Masters. Personally, I now have at least more than 400 books on Feng Shui both Chinese: from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong and many others. 2. Like the Kung Fu movies we see, you will notice that the actors usually start off getting `bullied' and as a result they learn more and more skills from different Masters. The truth is the same for Feng Shui. 3. Great Feng Shui Masters in the past did not learn Feng Shui from only one Master but from books. They read widely, adopt what is good and discard the "bad ". 4. Look around the internet. If you read the biography of many of the people who called themselves a Master, you will find that most of them learn from books. If I am not mistaken, many Traditional Feng Shui Masters who are quite prominent on the internet such as: Master Joseph Yu, Master Sang `picked' up Feng Shui. Jokingly, I remembered reading a heated exchange on the internet between John Mansoulf and Master Yu. John questioned him "Who died and when you become the Master ". Like the problem with the communication channel where there is `noise' imagine, if one Master passes his skills to the next. The end result is a distorted or much reduced Feng Shui knowledge. This is different from reading as the knowlege can be imparted through centuries without much distortion. 5. In order to make a qualified comment, one must master all Schools of Feng Shui. 6. One must also try to learn or at least understand all the various techniques and variants of Feng Shui so that you can make an informed judgement. 7. Always have an open mind and be able not only to learn `blindly' but able to apply, interpret and combine various theories. For example, the first ever `spam' message in this forum by Jerry, who mentioned that he had learnt Pillars before and said that one can `never' do Pillars with only "3 Pillars ". Here, we must understand that in real life, many do not know their time of birth. Personally, I have been fasinated and enjoyed reading and learning Feng Shui from various sources as early as 1979. I recalled vivid memories of how my family members placed mirrors over the balcony doors etc... Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Joe, Thanks for sharing your personal information about plants. So far this year, there was one user here who did the Pillars and House Chart. Unfortunately, the House Chart is not good. In addition, the staircase is in the middle, the swimming pool is at the back. When you open the front entrance door, it faces the door of the bedroom. Toilets are also located wrongly. I really had no choice (after thinking very hard) but in the end had to advise user to place a single potted plant in the bedroom. The user has got too much water in many of her Pillars. Therefore, the plant would help to exhaust her water element. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi Felicia, Many Traditional Feng Shui Masters use the Pillars of Destiny to advise on the type of Company Logo to be used: 1. For a company for example, they look at the type of business. In my country, one local bank has a ancient coin in the middle of their logo and a circular purple background. The coin symbolises the Metal Element and Banking is considered a metal element. Here, what is done is to use Purple = Fire element to `destroy' the coin in the centre. The end result is to produce Wealth. 2. Many also take advantage of their personal element to create Logos for their proprietorship. For example, a weak Wood person actually used a wavy logo in green i.e. Wavy pattern = Water element and Green = Wood. Here, he is using water to nurish/strength wood and at the same time use Wood to strength his wood element. The above is how logos are designed using Pillars of Destiny knowlege e.g. weak Fire, strong Fire etc... I have a list of occupations in relation to the element in my Applied Feng Shui Made Easy book. For the Fire element, for example, the occupation includes : Sales and Marketing. So for your case, you can look at what your element is and try to enhance it. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi, Overall, we do not really need to `worry' ourselves on new kitchen gadgets: 1. The fundamental reason is because if we do not get our " basics " correct all these little or minute issues are over written by " global issues ". For example, if one lives in an apartment and there is a large building that sent poison arrows to the entire building, this is considered bad Feng Shui. Or the house is at the Y junction or T junction. No matter how much we improve the interior of the house, it does not matter as the residents are having bad Feng Shui. The issue here is that they should first look at ways to `protect' e.g. their front door etc.. Nowadays, the focus is on the individual or the person or his interior. Other than using the most powerful tools e.g. the Shapes and Form and the Flying Star, plus the Ba Zhi of the individuals in relation to their home (Eight House). These are still the most important issues. Please see below:- I agree with you that this is the trend. However, for such homes it is still best to use symbolic Feng Shui e.g. have a table top that `divides' the kitchen from the living room area. For example something like the bar counter. For the living room, one can still use the living room furniture e.g. a three seater / two sitter seats to act as a divider. Here, you will notice that we are trying to create an `artifical' wall even if it is low it still acts like a divider. If you have done this, it is still considered acceptable. Not a problem. But try to let Qi circulate in the house. If it cannot flow in and out, then it should be `avoided'. What I mean here is that Qi from which ever opening e.g. a window e.g. from the front or the back of the house should preferably be " allowed " to flow from either the front or the side and circulate in the house and allowed to flow out from various areas. This will avoid `dead' Qi as found e.g. in a store room. This is still acceptable. But best to be avoided by a person of weak Fire element. This is ok. Usually they have separate compartments and these act as symbolic walls. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi, Sorry for the delay in reply as I was giving a few talks last few days. You are free to wear rings because these are small objects and really quite insignificant to the wearer. Unless, you are going to wear a ring on each finger etc... Where possible, one or two rings at a time is acceptable. I know that some enterprising people are now begining to sell rings that promote `Luck', in the name of Feng Shui etc.. Sometimes this is psychological and `changes' our personality i.e. give a person something to hope. Otherwise, in general these are all commercial stuffs. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi Bob, 1. There are two views regarding the porch: - It should not be included with the house. - Some other practioners are unclear as to include it or not and `play' safe by including it as part of the home. 2. In my opinion, you should not include the porch to the house. If you do not include it as part of the house and find that there is no longer an indent, then it is fine. 3. Frankly, so far there are few practioners who uses such a technique i.e. placing a Ba Gua at the indent to offset the missing corner. In my opinion, it is ineffective to use a Ba Gua mirror to offset the indent i.e. it will not work. One way to offset the indent is through landscaping if this is possible to " re-create " the missing profile. I have covered some other methods (thou) limited for such situations in this forum. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi, The element of pottery is Earth because it is made of `earth' or originate from the earth. Yes NE and SW are considered the Earth element. Therefore, some books ask that one place pieces of pottery at these locations. However, one can say that this is a " novice " method of looking at placement of objects in the home. Most authors will usually ask one to place water at the North or Wood at the East. Looking at it, I believe, this is very basic Feng Shui that should not be applied if you are using advanced theories especially the Flying Star. You should like what you have mentioned, look at using the Flying Star rather than such a very general theory. With a " 5 " you should thus try to avoid increasing it with more `earth element. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Bill, Please see below:- The three legged toad (gold or wood) is a commercial product. Many sellers sell it on the basis that they belife it is suppose to `bring good luck' to the owner. There is another type of Ba Gua mirror with the Two door Gods. Again, this is said to protect against evil spirits. It is usually used by some practising Feng Shui practioners (with links to their personal religion) e.g. Taoism and they themselves believe that their clients should place these Ba Gua above their doors. From what I understand, if you are talking about the First Heaven Sequence Ba Kua, it is said to be originated by the ancient Chinese sage King called Fuxi. Some call it God because they think that it derived from the Heaven i.e. the formation of the Ba Gua. A sample of the First Heaven Sequence Ba Gua can be found at: http://www.geomancy.net/fs/pakua.htm Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi, 1. Basically, best to avoid sharp objects as this can create poision arrows ( or knives) that may be pointed to the bed or the study table. 2. For other objects such as a globe, it is acceptable. In real life, we would like to surround our homes with decorations and this is perfectly ok. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Chris, 1. In addition to looking the Eight House of your child, do remember to see that especially the location of the bed is in a `good' position. For example, it should not be seen directly from the bedroom door or the headrest of the bed is at the window. There are some materials on this at http://www.geomancy.net/fs/theory.htm 2. Avoid overhead beams and any poison arrows such as sharp corners pointing to any part of the bed. 3. You mentioned that the death or disaster lines are `almost' in the middle of the rooms. There is a really not much you can do. Where possible, let them sleep closer to a more `favourable' intangible force. Under the Eight House Theory, unfortunately, you cannot do much than to `move' further away from these inauspicious intangible force. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi, This is different from having a roof over a landed property. Here, if you are using e.g. blue tiles, the impact is on your house. But if you are living in a Hi-rise building, with a miniature fountain, this will not impact on your apartment. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi, Really sorry, but currently there is no ancient written documentation on cars. I think this is quite obvious as cars were not invented then. The only aspect is on whether it is auspicious to travel towards a specific location. If you are moving around your city or community, then this most likely cannot apply. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi, As the water position is outside the house care must be taken to see where it is located. Here, you should apply the Four Symbolic Animals Concept in the position of the pool. This is where:- 1. Do not have water behind the house. 2. Best is that it is infront of the house. Here, you will understand that there is little relevance to the actual compass direction. The above Shapes and Form concept is very important. In the above situation, the actual compass location is of secondary importance e.g. True cardinal point at the West. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Jason, Technically speaking the main influence will be based on the Eight House or East/West Group person's best direction. You can place a display item i.e. moderately. Ideally, it should be on the person rather than the location. Do watch out what you are placing on your table i.e. avoid poision arrows e.g. sharp edges pointed towards you. Another important point is the " overriding " consideration of the Four Symbolic Animals concept where your table should be against a solid object e.g. a wall. The back of the table should not be a glass panel or window. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Betty, In general:- 1. Ideally, the death or disaster intangible force should not be located at the main entrance door for the breadwinner. 2. It is not as bad for the spouse assuming that she is not the breadwinner. 3. When we use the Eight House Theory, try to look at the `global picture' i.e. not only the main entrance door but the bedrooms for each of the member of the family. Ideally, your bedroom should not have the death/disaster also. This is equally important as you are most likely to spent at least 8 hours at this location per day. Ideally, the main entrance and bedrooms should be one of the 4 auspicious intangible forces. Here, if you have children, you should also take a look at their bedrooms in relation to their " Eight House ". More importantly, the intangible force where they sleep is important. For example, if the bedroom of the child falls under the influence of the child's " longevity " this is good. Contrast this to sleeping under the influence of his " spook " area. But here his head faces his good direction. This is secondary consideration. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi, Thanks for bringing up this topic. I agree with you that this forum promotes learning and will note down your suggestion and when I have the time, will speak briefly about some of these theories or you get to see them in articles. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Hi, Please see below:- For the swimming pool, you have to take note of the following important points:- 1. The swimming pool must not be directly behind the house. 2. Ideally, it should be in front of the house e.g. when you are standing at the main entrance area facing out of the home, preferably the swimming pool is on your left. 3. Make sure that the swimming pool does not have `sharp' edges e.g. pointing towards your house. This is Sha Qi or poision arrow. 4. A swimming pool should also not have many curves and `odd shaped'. 5. Where possible, the swimming pool should not occupy be more than 33.3 percent of the plot of land area. 6. The swimming pool must not be at the centre of the house. 7. Please take note that the Shapes and Form School (particularly the Four Symbolic Animals Concept) takes precedence over the Flying Star Theory. Ideally, the house must have a solid backing and water behind the house is very unfavourable even if you have a good Flying Star Reading. Yes, you can do a Flying Star reading for each house. As I mentioned, Flying Star is "useless" unless you combine it with the Shapes and Form theory. No Feng Shui theory can live in isolation. Also you can make use of the Eight House Theory to find a house or avoid a house where the death or disaster line is located. This means that the house is unsuitable for the owner. (Even if the Flying Star looks great). When we apply Feng Shui, it is advisable to apply each individual theory so that everything goes `right'. Never do Feng Shui in isolation e.g. using only the Flying Star Theory. I know some Western Traditional Feng Shui School does nothing but Flying Star but this is simply like living in isolation. It is ok to install the fountain as it means that there is a clear space at the frontage of the house. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Judith, Thank you for your detailed description. Frankly, there is not much you can do here. You can on your own, try to use the Shapes and Form School in relation to the surrounding of the house i.e. to make it Feng Shui friendly. Although it is a water heater, what I feel is that you need not worry unduly on this as it is encased / enclosed and lets hope for the best. Warmest Regards, Cecil