Geomancy and feng shui (pronounced fung shway) are ancient systems; sometimes what's old is new again and in this case that's certainly true. What else could promise something as profound as this: "Feng Shui in the Garden: Simple Solutions for Creating Comforting, Life-Affirming Gardens of the Soul"?
Feng shui, literally ancient Chinese for "wind and water", is a surviving form of a very old way of keeping in harmony with the world around us based on time honored principles and observations. Nowadays we often associate feng shui with the compass points of the bagua or pakua (let it load and then scroll down a bit) but that isn't the whole story.
Considered to be the art of placement, feng shui began centuries ago in the observations made by rural people who were closely tied to the land. And so it is no surprise that it appeals to us so strongly today as we search for ways to blend more harmoniously with our environment and with nature as a whole.
This wish to blend smoothly and seamlessly applies whether we are thinking as gardeners or simply in terms of creating a sense of place. For we all search for that je ne sais quoi that sets us at ease, frees us to enjoy our surroundings and releases that inner peace we each hold somewhere deep inside. For many of us, the garden is such a place.
Over time a number of feng shui approaches or "schools" have developed, some very recently indeed as feng shui has gained in popularity in this and other western countries. So there is some measure of freewheeling adaptation and interpretation, the occasional wide and bitter difference between practitioners. Between you and me, don't worry about it too much. I think you simply need to select the one whose approach suits you best!
Some practitioners will present you with a reassuringly lighthearted and amusing "New Age" approach such as this one from Bartlett Designs. Others will provide you with serious-looking templates and calculators, charts and tables and perhaps some numerology; yet others will assure you that nothing you can do on your own will be quite right because you don't understand the entire significance of the system and as such could be playing with fire when you set out to influence chi.
Others scoff at modern feng shui practice for the most part, or call the bagua by funny names (see the Feng Shui Dictionary) or flaunt the practice of geomancy along with the dictates marketed by Martha Stewart...but I digress.
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