IN AN IDEAL FENG SHUI WORLD, we would all live in perfectly symmetrical houses. There would be no missing corners, no inharmonious edges. And our lives would be equally smooth and symmetrical. But who lives in the ideal world? Pretty well all houses have some lumps and bumps; some odd jutting out bits and peculiar missing portions. And without them our homes would look pretty dull and ordinary. Add to that the fact that many of us live in apartments which have been carved out of larger buildings and we’re looking at a feng shui conundrum. Fortunately, homes don’t appear to have been perfectly symmetrical in China either, and so feng shui has a whole battery of ‘cures’ to help us deal with those difficult bits. They can also be used to boost the energy of a particular room or part of a room – to bring more auspicious chi to that segment of your life.
THE CURES
These are the most common cures used in feng shui, known as the Nine Basic Cures. Most of these cures are so subtle that nobody need even know you’re practising feng shui – if you find it a bit embarrassing. If you don’t, it’s bound to make a great conversation piece …
1. Bright Objects
Mirrors
Mirrors are often called the ‘aspirin’ of feng shui because they can cure a whole host of woes. If your exterior surroundings are threatening (i.e. a road heads straight towards your building or you are overshadowed by a huge, dominating building) a mirror on the outside of your door or gate will deflect the cutting chi. Mirrors can also ‘square off’ missing corners as I’ll explain later. And they can boost luck by reflecting good chi.
Mirrors can also cause problems, however. Make sure your mirrors are always kept clean and are untarnished. Old, tarnished mirrors might well be precious antiques but they will reflect distorted chi. So a carefully situated mirror might well bring in money but, if it is tarnished, the money might be tainted: won at the expense of someone else for example or at great expense (i.e. a redundancy cheque or money from the will of someone dearly loved). Also ensure that mirrors don’t cut off people’s heads or they could end up with headaches. Equally, if mirrors are hung too high they can make people feel uncomfortable. Choose the largest mirrors you can to avoid such problems and position them so they reflect pleasant views: green trees and water are particularly soothing. Reflections of garbage bins or an oppressive building are not so good to pull into the house.
Crystals
The kind you can buy nowadays from any New Age or gift store are excellent too. They can attract more chi to an area, or calm down chi which is moving too fast. They also look lovely when they catch the sunlight and are a feature in their own right.
Lights
These can be very useful too when you have missing areas – shining a light into a missing area is a wonderful way to bring it back into the home.
2. Sounds
Wind Chimes
Wind chimes are usually employed to boost an area. They are particularly good at attracting money into a house, as we discussed in the previous chapter. They have a lively, energizing feel and can make a house feel alive.
Bells
Like wind chimes, bells can summon money, luck and positive chi into a home. They are also protective: on a purely practical level, a bell which rings as someone comes in is an effective burglar alarm. Sarah Shurety uses silver Mayan bells which have a tinkling ring to deflect harmful chi from oppressive buildings (by hanging them in windows). She also recommends her clients hang one (with a red ribbon) from the mirror in their cars – to protect them while travelling.
3. Living Things
Plants, flowers, fish in an aquarium. Flowers are nourishing to the soul and can give a huge boost to a particular area. They should be fresh and, ideally, softly shaped. Don’t allow flowers to sit in stagnant water or to droop or wither: dead flowers promote bad feng shui. Equally, be careful of spiky ‘architectural’ plants and the huge cacti so beloved of interior designers. They can create equally spiky, thorny energy, perhaps prompting arguments and making life less than soothing. If you love these spiky creatures give them plenty of room to themselves and don’t keep them close to where you sleep or work.
In general, however, green plants can enliven an area – they literally bring ‘life’ into it. So think of them when you want to resuscitate some part of your life: to rekindle a relationship; to go back to work; to rediscover your spirituality and so on. The same goes for goldfish – times 20! The Chinese adore goldfish, particularly if they are in a tank with a bubbling aerator. Ever wonder why almost all Chinese restaurants, even takeaways, will have a fish tank? Good feng shui and great profits are the simple answer. Not only will your fish bring in the cash but they will also guard your health and absorb accidents and bad luck. There are stories of people having lucky escapes – and the fish dying in their place.
4. Moving Objects
Mobiles, windmills, whirligigs, fountains. Anything that moves will attract chi. A mobile in a child’s room will encourage the chi to move smoothly and gently around the room. A bubbling fountain in your home office wall bring business flooding in and do wonders for your bank balance. A windmill in a sickroom will circulate spent chi out and usher fresh chi in.
5. Heavy Things
Stones, statues and large pots with healthy green plants can help to stabilize an unsettling situation. Think of heavy things when your situation seems volatile – i.e. your relationship is shaky with lots of arguments or your job is threatened. Heavy things help you hold on to what you need.
Computers, televisions, stereos: anything powered by electricity will create a stimulating effect. However, you need to balance this energizing effect against the potential hazards of electro-magnetic fields (EMFs) (see Chapter 10). The answer is to keep electrical items in their rightful places (such as your study or living room, not your bedroom). Also keep them surrounded by healthy plants (as already discussed) to offset the EMFs.
7. Bamboo Flutes
If you live near a Chinese store then you may well find bamboo flutes. They are said to bring peace, safety and stability and are often placed on beams to counteract their cutting chi. They can also boost any area of the ba-gua.
8. Colours
Colours can be very therapeutic in feng shui. But the process of choosing the right colour is very individual and beyond the scope, and space, of this book. I would suggest you read Living Colour by Sarah Rossbach for some insights into this intriguing field (see Bibliography).
9. Other Things
Almost anything can be a cure in feng shui – in the right place and circumstance. For example, a curtain to stop the chi racing through a corridor; or a picture used instead of a mirror on a blank dead-end wall; or the pile of velvet pillows you put in your bedroom. Feng shui consultants have a whole battery of weird and wonderful cures. For example, a piece of chalk under the bed is supposed to cure a backache.
USING THE CURES TO FILL IN MISSING AREAS
There are several ways you can bring a missing area back into your home. Which one you choose will depend very much on your circumstances and the physical practicalities of your space.
If you own the whole house and also the land around it, you have several options. If you really wanted to splash out, you could extend your house – or add a conservatory. But that’s a pretty drastic and wildly expensive option. Another solution is to bring the corner in with light. External lights are sited so they illuminate the ‘left-out’ area. If you don’t want bright lights outside then I would suggest one of the ‘heavy things’ cures. ‘Square off’ your corner, figuring where the actual corner would be were it to exist (see below). Then place a large, solid, heavy object in that corner. See what fits – it could be a big beautiful statue, a heavy urn, or a big terracotta pot with a wonderfully healthy plant in it (two cures for the price of one).
Using a heavy object cure to square off a missing corner.
If you live in an apartment or don’t own the land outside you can still square off your missing corner using mirrors. Simply place mirrors along the walls which edge your missing area (see below). This will work just as well.
Using mirrors to square off a missing corner.
USING THE CURES TO SOLVE OTHER PROBLEMS
The list of problems the cures can help Is never-ending. Here I’m going to outline just a few. I do hope your particular problem is in the list. If not, check out the feng shui titles given in the Bibliography – or splash out and treat yourself and your house to a feng shui consultation.
Bamboo flutes offset the damaging chi of a beam.
This part of the book has, I hope, given you a basic idea of feng shui and how it works. We’ll look at how feng shui can be used to boost particular areas to achieve specific results in the final part of the book. But for now, it’s time to leave feng shui to do its arcane and wonderful business while we shift our emphasis and prepare to indulge our senses in Part Five.