Cecil Lee

Dear Anon, In the ancient Chinese book known as Yang Zhai Shi Shu, this type of house is described as inauspicious and the result that the family members staying in the house cannot be rich. This is considered less auspicious than some other building layouts which can range from death occuring twice in a year to the breadwinner meeting a calamity. Frankly, there is really nothing one can do other than to `brighten' up the house and others include placing e.g. such as placing fu fu dogs/dragons or more offensive FS cures such as canons on the pillars of the gate of the house. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Jocelyn, Please see below:- In traditional Feng Shui, the original Eight House Theory is that if the main door is facing north, but you are sitting South, Eight House calls this a South facing house. Nowdays, with majority of users familiar with the ordinary compass direction and layout, when we talk about a `South' facing house, most people would assume that the main door is at the South. This is why when the Xuan Kong Fei Xing (Flying Star Theory) it is no longer called a South house etc.. but in Chinese, it is called `Sit South' and `Face North'. Under this description there is no way one can make a mistake as it is clearly `spelt out'. Under the umbrella of www.Geomancy.net www.Geomancy-online.com etc.. all the theories has already been simplified and related directly to the ordinary compass. You can understand that the audience here is universal. Thus us objective is to make it easy for everyone. If you have need tried this compass method, feel free to check out this link: http://www.geomancy.net/fs/cecilcompass.htm Therefore, in this website, when we talk about a South house, it is assumed that the main door is at the South. Even when one is using a Chinese Loupan and if you are standing outside the main entrance door (facing it), one should remember that the direction that you are facing the main door is the Sitting direction. You should instead take the `opposite' which is the Facing direction. Since many users are reading many different books, my personal advise is to take the concept provided by each author `totally' and not `piecemeal' i.e. if you read a book you should try to apply the author's method in total. Usually, if the author uses traditional theory, it should match any other methods unless one or the other has made a mistake. You can take the above advise. Usually, it would be more important for the spouse or the wife in this aspect (if you can). In applied Feng Shui, it would be more important or relevance to check the Flying Star numbers at this locationto see if there is a `balance' in the flying star elements. In addition, the shapes and form school should also be looked. Since the kitchen has both the water and fire element, these two elements has to be in harmony. Water is also eqiuvalent of Yin (cold) and fire (Yang) or hot. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Note: This message is in reference to the following: Topic: Photo Tours of Interest (with Picture attachments) Subject: " House at Junction of Main Road - with bad sha qi " Dear Anon, Thanks for your observations: 1. You are correct to say that electric lamp can be used to light up the `corner' for this effect. 2. In my opinion, although one can place electric lamps but one cannot place many or it is not practical to place many lamps on the wall without making it look more light Christmas lightning. The earthen lamps are `symbolic' to "trap" the sha qi as many are used rather than spacing out the electric lamps. In `symbolism' the earthen lamps represent light even if they are not lighted up. From what I can see, the owners do not light up these lamps. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Kapil, Thank you for your clarifications. To understand what I mentioned better, please go to this forum topic " Photo Tours of Interest (with Picture Attachments) Under this topic, click the first message posted " A picture showing circular steps radiating outwards ". This picture shows a typical `Ming Tang' formation where the semi-circle radiates outwards of the building. In your case, it should radiate outwards away from the main entrance door. For the metal pole you were mentioning; there are two ways of looking at it. Some FS practioners classify a tall thin structure as Wood element while others classify it as metal simply because the pole is made of metal. As for the colour of the carpet, can you let me know which direction your main entrance door is facing? Thanks in advance. Cecil

Dear Anon, In traditional Feng Shui, here are the following considerations for the main entrance door:- 1. It is not advisable to have an opened window above the main entrance door. 2. A proper main entrance door should be `solid' and Qi should not be made to come in above the window above the main entrance door. 3. In such a situation, the remedy is quite simple i.e. not to open the window above the main entrance. 4. Some FS Masters would even argue that under the "commonsence approach", a window e.g. without grilles could easily invite a thief to drop by. Although this is not Feng Shui but this is one reason given by some FS Masters. Other considerations: The main door entrance should be proportionate to the house. Here we can apply the 33.3 percent `rule' where the main entrance door should not be more than 33.3 percent of the frontage of the house. In many houses, there is a main entrance door and a row of sliding glass doors. This is perfectly ok if you do not often open every the entrances fully all the time. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Janet, Currently, it is difficult for me to comment as there is not much information to go on. In general, it would be best that the cash register not to face or be reflected on a mirror. One way to overcome this is to place a poster on the mirror. A mirror facing part of the cash register is considered inauspicious. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Note: For those who are not aware, " wu kwei " means Five Ghosts Dear Leslie, The Eight House Theory with the four auspicious and four inauspicious intangible forces is meant only for finding a suitable house, facing direction and sleeping direction. It can tell whether the location is auspicious and inauspicious but cannot be used for `fine tuning' as it is not directly `linked' to the five elements concept. Other Feng Shui theories like the Flying Star, Pillars of Destiny takes into account the five elements concept and thus these are used instead to check for a balance or if there is an imbalance of the five elements at a specific location, one can `correct' this. More importantly, the Eight house is used for: 1. Determine the suitability of the person to his/her house. For example, if the death/disaster line flows through the main entrance door, this is considered the least suitable house to a person. 2. Next, for the bedroom, it is best to sleep in a location with an auspicious intangible force. For example, if the bedroom comes under any of the four auspicious intangible force e.g. Prosperity, Health, Longevity and Excellent this is considered good. As an added luxury, if one can sleep with the head facing a good direction after considering Para 2, this is a "bonus." Do not on purpose sleep with the head facing a good direction but under the influence of an inauspicious intangible force. For example, if you are sleeping closer to your Prosperity intangible force. But because if you sleep away from this intangible force which is closer to e.g. death intangible force with your head facing your excellent direction, this is not as favourable as the original position of sleeping along the Prosperity intangible force. 3. What happens if one partner is the under the Prosperity intangible force while the other spouse has an inauspicious intangible force? Here, the spouse with the auspicious intangible force sleeps closer to this intangible line while the partner sleeps further away using the partner with the auspicious force as a shield. The above are the three main considerations one should rememeber when using the Eight House theory. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Thanks for your feedback. Currently, the audience in this forum and site is diverse i.e. from many countries, we try to be as general as possible in relation to the `cures'. What is more important is to understand the `concepts' relating to the use of items: 1. As far as possible, we will always try to provide examples in relation to : a. Symbolism in Feng Shui. Such as a wooden pyramid because of it's `pointed' shape represents the fire element rather than its form i.e. wood. b. A plastic red chair is considered of the fire element because of its colour. 2. It would not be possible for us to `spoon feed' every specific object. What is more important is that everyone should be clear of what each object represents. Rather, instead, we hope that if one is not sure, can always share the info in the forum and thus will be able to get a good answer. 3. Another major point is that by `stereo typing' one may end up using "fixed objects/items" and someone would take opportunity of these and start an Emporium to `push' the goods rather than to make sure that there is a real need. Here, setting up an emporium will conflict with the objectives of providing advise. On one hand, someone has stocks of goods to `push' or clear and on the other hand providing advise. Most of the time, these goods can only be purchased `online' by credit card or one is fortunate a Chinese sundry store nearby. I would rather, each of us truly understand: symbolism, colours and the secondary nature of things. I believe `spoon feeding' is not the way to go. We will always try to continue to provide examples where we can. Warmest Regards Cecil

Dear Jocelyn, First of all, let me congratulate you on your new home:) Please see below:- As your have a few entrances, you should ask yourself the following questions:- 1. Which door will I frequently be using? The door that you frequently used can (should) be your main entrance door. For example, if you frequently use the garage door as your entrance, then this will be your main entrance i.e. NE or the door at the NW (if I read correctly what you are mentioning). For the house facing, there are two ways of looking at it:- Based on Qi analysis. Under Qi analysis, the frontage of your house e.g. the side that usually have your living room (with lighting coming in is considered your house facing). Like Accounting, many FS practioners are more conservative and do not take into consideration the frontage as your main door area as this is difficult to measure. For example if your living room windows stretch from one side of the room to the other, then where is the front door/main entrance determined? 2. In usually more conservative FS assessment, it is usually your main entrance door e.g. at NE or NW. (I believe, if I get what u mean, it should not be SW at all). In modern day Feng Shui, although the kitchen is still important, you should take note of the following more important points: 1. As the purpose of the kitchen is to retain "heat" or a place where food is made, it should preferably be a location where the `warmth' can be retained. 2. This is why, most FS practioners will advise one to face the stove inwards rather than outwards. Especially if the knobs of the stove should face inwards. Better still if your stove knobs are facing the sky. 3. Since your kitchen is not at the North compass area, you do not need to take note that a water position cannot be placed facing the stove as it may "extinguish." 4. Where possible the cooking stove etc.. should not be at the centre of the kitchen but against a wall in the kitchen. It should not be placed on a wall with windows. 5. Avoid having more than one cooking stove in the house. Do not have two. Other than the above points (plus some others), it is less or of secondary importance in Feng Shui. Other more imporant points are to analyse the house e.g. using the Flying Star, at each sector, if there is an imbalance of the Five Elements or an over influence of an element, then it should be corrected or neutralised. Hope the above helps. Cecil

Dear Jocelyn, Thank you for bring up this question. Presently there are many users in this forum and it is good to mention this subject. One way is by asking questions: 1. What is truly traditional Feng Shui practises? 1. At the highest form is called Taiji. 2. The next level is --> the Yin and Yang principle 3. One level below is --> the Five Elements Concept The highest form called Tai Ji is merely a term which we can broadly say that it is the union of Yin and yang in balance. All Feng Shui principles, theories and concepts must embody Yin and Yang. At the lower level is the Five Elements Concept. It is said that everything is made up of the Five Elements i.e. it is said that the Five Elements make up a person etc... The key to the Five Elements is " Balance ". For a human being, the Chinese use the Pillars of Destiny to find out our `components' i.e. our breakdown of the five elements. For example, when my elder brother was born, my Grand Father consulted a Geomancer specialsing in Pillars of Destiny. In his Ba Zhi, or Eight Characters based on his Year, Month, Hour and Time of birth (which comprises of 4 stems and 4 branches = 8 characters), the Geomancer found that my brother lacked the Water element. Because of this, he was given a Chinese name with an his last name as `Chwee' which is hokkien for Water. Under the Shapes and Form School, you will notice that there is the Dragon and the Tiger. When a geomancer looks for an auspcious site, he looks for a higher hill embracing a tiger. Here, the Dragon is Yang and the Tiger (yin). Where the Yang (male) hill is in gentle embrace with the yin (female) tiger. Many of the Shapes and Form School relates to Yin and Yang and some to the Five elements concept. The Compass School of Feng Shui such as Flying Star and Eight House uses the Compass for analysis. The Flying Star uses 24 sectors while the Eight House uses 8 sectors. The Eight Aspirations or Life Associations/Aspirations merely interprets the trigram at each of the 8 sectors. It is too general a theory to be considered reliable. I have given quite a few examples of these previously. One good example is that as SW is the Romance sector. What happens if there are five guys in an office and all are attracted to this beautiful girl in the same office. What happens if all started to place a rose or enhance the SW sector e.g. in their home or at their office table. Should one over do the other in other to `get' the girl? If my colleague place 1 rose, should I place a dozen roses in my home's SW and my office table? Is my chances better? In the end result could be that all five became over confident and instead someone else outside the office finally `win' over the lady. What happens if five, ten, 100, 1000, 1 million persons place a rose or dozens of roses at the SW? The end result is only the florist gets richer! Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Leslie, On the topic of the bathroom, here are some guidelines:- 1. It is advisable not to have the toilet bowl exactly at the true compass directions:- a. In general, avoid having the toilet bowl at true cardinal points e.g. 0 degrees North, 45 degrees North-East, 90 degrees East i.e. every 45 degree increments. The rationale is that under the Eight House Theory, there are 8 sectors with four good and four bad sectors, having the toilet bowl directly at one of these locations could result in it `landing' on one of the auspicious directions. b. In a more specific analysis using the Flying Star Theory, it is best to avoid having the toilet bowl fall exactly at 0 degrees, 15 degrees and add every 15 degrees. Other than the above, without detailed analysis such as the combination of Flying Star and Eight House, I am unable to to give a detailed comment with the brief information. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Leslie, Traditional Feng Shui is about Yin and Yang. Further down the chain, on the next level is the Five Elements concept. 1. For example, a normal mirror is considered a `Yin' object. 2. Mirrors are known to be able to bounce Qi (or Ch'i energy). For concepts like the Eight Aspirations / Eight Associations, this is one of the `lowest' or least important aspect in Feng Shui. One reason for saying this is because it is too general a theory as it does not apply to a specific group of person but to nearly everyone. Imagine, if everyone in the same company or for the matter the whole country tries to enhance their `Career' sector what would be the result like? Unlike the Eight Aspirations or Life Aspirations / Associations, the Eight House Theory on the other hand do take into account a person's personal Gua (Kua) number. Unlike the Shapes and Form School which is easier to apply and most of the time visual to us, the Compass Schools such as Eight House and Flying Star uses some formulas. The Eight Aspirations uses none. Only if one has applied the Shapes and Forms, Compass School methods and is really too free or have the luxury, can go enhance their `careers' sector only after the above are done. The proper way to analyse whether the mirror is used at a specific location is to: 1. Apply the Flying Star Theory. If the location at the North is inauspicious, placing a mirror will bounce back twice the bad luck. 2. Avoid placing the mirror facing the bed. 3. As mirrors are yin, avoid placing it at a Yin location which may inadvertently increase the Yin environment. Warmest Regards, Cecil Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Thanks for your suggestion. Will certainly take note of it. Closer home, perhaps, would start in Australia. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Ann, Sorry for the late reply. For the large hot-tub, it is adviseable not to keep water in it. This is becase at the North-East sector, it is septical to yin influences i.e. avoid creating a more Yin environment. (This is the devil's gate) and too yin an environment here will increase negative Qi energy. As I do not have more details to go on, you should also avoid having a metal wind chime at this NE sector. All these add to increase the Yin environment. For the toilet, if you can, avoid using it at this location. Too much water, again creates too Yin an environment. For the location, try to keep it bright i.e. more Yang. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, In most instances, changing the floor tiles is considered changing the "date of birth of the house:- 1. If your house is under " Period 7, from 1984 to 2003 ", you do not need to worry as there is no change of birth date. 2. Under the Flying Star Theory, one way of assessing is to refer to the chart for the earlier period and the new period. For example, if your house is built in Period 6 and recently, you had done a major renovation, it is still prudent to look at the flying chart for both periods. Most cases, it will take on the new period especially after a major renovation. However, in some instances, the house still continues to take on the earlier period's birth chart. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Chris, Besides using the wind chime as "decorative" pieces or some use it to enhance Qi, the other uses include placing it to `neutralise' sha qi such the edge of a corner. The caution is to avoid placing a metallic wind chime at the Metal sectors i.e. West and NW. Plus the Devil's gate located at NE. Some FS practioners use it between the two bedroom facing doors as mentioned by you. Another method of counteracting this is to pave a screen in one of the bedrooms between the bedroom door and the room. It should preferably be around the height of the door. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, In my opinion, there is really no significance of hanging the mobiles as I believe, these are art pieces commissioned by the airline to decorate their building. Unfortunately, because these mobiles are shaped like `poision' arrows, it has hurt it's neighbour especially those the mobiles had `pointed' at. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Chris, Pillars of Destiny is a very large field and in general, considered the main `pipeline' of Chinese `readings'. As Pillars is based on Yin and Yang (the highest) form after Tai ji and the Five Elements, it is hard to take away Pillars. In the past, pillars or Ba Zhi can extend to more than 10 pillars as found in our reports: The current report analyse our Year, Month, Day and Hour, House of Conception etc... In the past, Pillars used to have at least two more columns both to analyse Yin Feng Shui. But Yin Feng Shui is less practised today. To clarify, if we are analysing an individual what is more important is to analyse his Day of birth in relation to other branches/stem. The more it is analysed with the other branches/stem ie. year/month/hour the more accurate it is. From here you will understand that the Two hourly system is "fixed" and this is related to the Moon/Lunar System. It is nice to have the hourly timing and we cannot re-invent Feng Shui and change it to our liking e.g. reducing the hours further. If so, it does not match the hour such as the Rat hour etc... One key important point about Pillars is its simplicity. For example, we only need to know a person's Year, Day and Month (option time) to get an accurate Heaven map of a person. Therefore, it has been used without even the need to find the longitude and latitude of a location. One reason is that if one makes the "input" too complicated, it would make it very diffcult to use due to ' garbage in garbage out.' For example, I know of some who have added a GMT time to the calculation. Here: 1. The current GMT time has been adjusted for some countries in the last decade. Some countries have day light saving hours. 2. There is a flaw in calculation if one only considers the Longitude. If one follows this argument, should also use the latitude. From the above, imagine, if one needs to supply the Longitude and Latitude of where one is born. What happens if one provides the wrong data? or does not really know both? If one sees, traditional Feng Shui Masters, do Pillars, they are more concerned with the DAY, MONTH and YEAR field. As Pillars of Destiny is a map of what the `Heaven' has bestowed on us, as mentioned, it is shaped by our influence on earth especially our upbringing and education etc... We should understand that one of the many purpose of Pillars is to help us better understand our Heaven Luck. Other very important uses (cross referenced to Feng Shui) is to find our element and its strength. This is used in conjuction with the Flying Star, and Ba Zhi Feng Shui etc... to either enhance our Qi or to find proper cures to a situation or to see if the "cures" proposed under Flying Star does not `destroy' our element especially if one is `Weak' e.g. Weak Water. I use the Luck Pillars to understand the element of influence of a season under a period. For example, if during this period, which is governed by a season with Strong Water, for a weak fire person, he has to be careful not to be `extinguished' by the season of the period. There are many more cross-references between all the various theories of Feng Shui and Destiny and it is more important to be able to have a global picture, learn how to apply all the tools together. Like the saying " Knowlege is power". I personally don't quite understand why even some Feng Shui Schools simply stick to one theory e.g. eat, sleep and drink Flying Star Feng Shui only. A few of such schools are not convinced of the use of Eight House. Each set of principles and theories have a specific purpose and if we can properly unlock each theory and use it to the full potential plus be able to linked all up, the better. The reason why I mentioned about Flying Star is because this year and last year alone, I have had to try to help many who were advised to apply only the Flying Star `cure' as it only looks at the horoscope of the house. What is the use of a perfect house if it is totally unsuitable to the individual living there. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, "Zi Wei Dou Shu" is called " Chinese Astrology ". For those who are not aware, I have another website at http://www.lovesigns.net which is based on the 12 Chinese Zodiac Signs. You can actually check your Chinese Astrology sign at the above website. In a nutshell, you can broadly classify Chinese Astrology (Zi Wei Dou Shu) as the `parallel' with English Astrology where there are 12 symbols e.g. Cancer, Gemini etc... It is therefore not a higher form of pillars but rather based on astrology (another field of Chinese culture). In fact, one cannot say that one form of Chinese practise is higher or lower than the other because one must bear in mind that each Chinese `tool' has its specific purpose. Let me illustrate: Most of us are very familiar with the Shapes and Form School of Feng Shui as we can really `see' or visualise for ourselves. Alone it is not enough to tell us more. We need other tools such as Eight House to find a personal best direction; Flying Star to find the "horoscope" of the house; Pillars of Destiny has many many modules. Overall, one should understand that similar to things we buy, we cannot simply use one tool and apply it to everything. Even today, when we buy something, such a television, the purpose is that it provide us with tv shows. An oven cannot be general purpose and includes a telephone etc.. Here u see that even household goods are `specialised'. many household goods like a telephone, dvd/cd player are not combined together. But, we have to buy a good hi fi set, a good tv set, a good PC etc... In Chinese culture, this is also the same. One cannot expect that one module of Pillars can cover everything or by looking at the Shapes and Form, this is it. No need to look further. In true traditional Chinese practise, to have a complete `picture' of a person, we should also include Face Reading, Hands reading etc... The more modules covered, we can then obtain a better `map' of ourselves. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Usually these sha qi are `commissioned' without any intention to hurt other buildings. For example, the hanging mobiles I shown under the conference Picture Tour - is owned by Singapore Airlines. It happens to be their Office building. I believe the shape of the hanging mobiles represent the `movement' of clouds etc... It is good for you to point out this information. The morale of this `story' that under the Shapes and Form School, we must constantly scan the environment near us (our home/office etc...) for such threats. Many a times, a new construction next to e.g. your office space may inadvertently (either intentionally or unintentionally) bring sha qi (poison arrows from neigbhours). It is common to find newly constructed buildings with sharp corners aimed at your building/office. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Red is considered an auspicious colour. For example, Chinese wedding invitation cards are in red (usually with a Phoenix and Dragon Graphic/design on the cover). During the Chinese New Year, it is common to find a red cloth banner with auspicious words hung over the main entrance door. Other examples of the use of red include: red fire crackers used during Chinese New Year. Many years back when fire crackers were not banned in Singapore, you will find houses literally littered with the exploded red fire cracker paper all over the compound. In addition, it is common to have the Double Happiness symbol (in red) hung in the house. The "Fu" word with red background is usually hung upsidedown in some homes. Some households do tie a red string on their plants especially if they are on both sides of the house. Therefore, it seems to reason why a red cloth is tied to the two lions for `luck' + auspicious. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Chris, Thanks for your feedback. We will certainly try to organise seminars for users. But currently, we have a very packed and busy schedule. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Koi's are actually carps. Many instead of keeping real fishes purchase paintings of Koi's swimming. Most of the paintings usually have 9 Koi's swimming. (A few paintings have 8 fishes). In Mandarin 9 sounds like `longevity' and in Cantonese 8 sounds like `prosper'. The last illustration, is interesting because, it can also be applied to a swimming pool. Besides an uneven flow of water, it is equally inauspicious to have a swimming pool in the shape as mentioned in the illustration.