Chinese Astrology

Lesson 8: Astrology and Feng Shui

Chinese astrology and Feng Shui are intertwined in many ways - a person's astrological characteristics are used in many schools of Feng Shui to determine optimal placement of home furnishings and decorations specifically for that individual. This lesson will discuss the major schools of thought in Feng Shui with an emphasis on the ones that use astrology.

The Major Feng Shui Schools of Thought

Before we begin our discussion of Feng Shui, let me first say that a great deal of the information we get in the West is "faux" or Westernized Feng Shui rather than "real" Feng Shui. True Feng Shui follows one of roughly nine different schools of thought, with many variants. These schools of thought are taken very seriously and proficiency requires many years to develop. Our lesson will serve as merely an introduction to this vast and complex topic, but should serve to steer the interested student in the right direction.

These schools of thought are:

1. 1) San He or Harmony school: This is a basic form school and teaches the use of mountains and dragon veins to draw in chi, plus water dragon formulas to retain it.
2. Pa Kua school: This relates the 8 trigrams to the 5 elements and 8 directions
3. Wu Hsing school: This uses the productive and destructive cycle of elements as the basis for its analysis.
4. Chi Men Tun Chia school: This is based on the 8 gates and 9 palace method.
5. Hsuan Kung Ta Kua school: This uses the 64 hexagrams and the 9 flying stars.
6. Hsuan Kung Fei Hsing school: Also called Flying Star Feng Shu, it uses the stars of Zi Wei Do Shu.
7. Pa Chai school: Also called the 8 Mansion school, it was popularized by Lillian Too. It allocates fixed sectors to a house according to compass directions.
8. Black Hat Sect: This is a more simplified version of #7.
9. Fan Kua school: Looks at mountain/water relationships and transforms one kua to another by line changes.

In this lesson, we will primarily focus on 6,7 and 8, but it is good to know that there is more than one way to approach Feng Shui!

The Basics - Achieving Balance

The basic philosophy of Chinese life is to strive for balance in all things - this is also the basis of Feng Shui. Therefore, if you immediately want to get some benefits in your life from the study of Chinese astrology, I first suggest that you look again at your 4 Pillars analysis and see what you are lacking. Is your day stem element well supported? Try to bring balance into your life by adding representations of the missing elements into your surroundings. If you have a day stem element of wood but no supporting water, then add an aquarium or pictures of bodies of water. If you lack fire, add candles or red objects in your decor.

Next, look for balance in the overall surroundings. Are all the elements well represented and in balance (except of course, for the ones you just added more of to address any internal imbalances)? If you have too much of any one element, you will feel its effect in your life. Too much fire will mean many arguments or fiery exchanges with others. Too much earth can bog you down, making it difficult to enjoy life or take risks.

Last but not least, the hardest part of Feng Shui for most of us is the one universal truth that applies across all schools of thought - clutter impedes the flow of chi. Eliminate clutter - change your life! This holds true for hidden clutter as well as obvious clutter - just because the clutter is swept under the rug doesn't mean that the balance of chi is not negatively affected.

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