As any Traditional Feng Shui Master will tell you, all you really need are the five basic elements– fire, earth, metal, water, and wood– to change the energy field of your home or office if it has bad Feng Shui. This is supposing that you’re not planning to remodel or do any new construction. If you are, you can plan it all in advance and perhaps not even need all of these five. The goal of a good Feng Shui Master is to incorporate the correction without anybody noticing, but the benefits will effect the occupants subtly and efficiently.
Paradoxically, the information pool available on-line or on the bookstore’s shelves are full of so-called "experts" calling out for all sort of "remedies" which really have nothing to do with real Feng Shui.
Let’s check out some of the most popular myths:
1. RED DOOR. The idea of the red door is that red (a substitute for the fire element) will always bring good luck, so it must be on the door to bring good luck in from the entrance. WRONG!
In most cases the color red serves as an enhancer, and by putting it randomly by or on the door all you’d do is enhance any energy that is in that area. Statistically speaking, less than one in ten houses will benefit from having the fire element located at the entrance. More likely, if a household is experiencing problems, there is a good chance that the door be located in an area that does have a problematic energy. Adding red is only going to increase this problem, not take it away. So, do not paint the door red unless so advised by a trusted consultant.
2. HANGING CRYSTALS FROM THE CEILING. They started out being real crystals and then ended up being simply lead crystals. For how pretty they may be, they are absolutely not related to Feng Shui, whether natural or synthetic. They’re usually recommended to remedy a "bad design shape" or a "posing arrow" (pointing corner), but in reality they have absolutely no power to do so. The size of a building is much bigger and the movement of energy caused by a design feature will not change by hanging any crystal, big or small, real or synthetic, in it. You need to address the matter for what it is and use designer solutions to correct the problem. So save your money on the crystals.
3. WATER AT THE ENTRANCE. Water can be very powerful to create more financial success in a building. I have seen it do so many times, but the location of the water really depends upon the characteristic of each specific building: sometimes it is in the front, but, in many cases, surprise– it could be in the back or even in one of the corners. It’s use is also sometimes temporary and sometimes permanent. To install an external water feature could be quiet expensive and requires quiet a bit of maintenance, so if you want one make sure you place it in the right spot.
4. FU DOGS. It’s not the animal represented that does the trick, but the element they’re made of. Those “ugly” twin dogs that look like lions were originally made of solid bronze– a.k.a. metal – which is the reason why they were so effective as Feng Shui corrections for eliminating problems. The modern counterpart– usually made of plastic or clay – have absolutely no effect. So if you do want to use Fu Dogs, make sure they’re made of the real element for the most effect.
And the number one myth of all:
5) FENG SHUI MIRRORS. Books are redundant about using mirrors to attract good energy and reflect away bad luck. But a piece of news: mirrors aren’t that smart to know which energy you’d like to attract and which you’d like to reject. This myth comes from the old days when mirrors were solid heavy pieces of polished metal. Back in those days the Feng Shui Master would visit a house and suggest to place a mirror here or there. But what was being effective as a correction was not the reflectivity of the mirror but rather the metal element it was made off (like the Fu Dogs above). Obviously, "charlatans" Feng Shui Masters wouldn’t know this nowadays. So do not choose any Master who uses a lot of mirrors.
Any other Feng Shui myth you’ve been wondering about? E-mail me the description and I’ll let you know if it’s truth or myth at simonam@sbcglobal.net.
About the Author: Simona F. Mainini is a Doctor of Architecture and Feng Shui Master who uses Traditional Feng Shui to help others increase wellness, abundance, love, and happiness in their lives. Since 1997 her firm, Feng Shui For Architecture, has been an advisor to celebrities, business executives, and homeowners worldwide, assisting them in creating the lives they want and deserve. She was a recent guest speaker at the 2007 International Feng Shui Convention in Singapore and has been dubbed “the expert” in the field of Feng Shui to hire when you’re looking for answers about Feng Shui.. She is the author of Feng Shui for Architecture and has been teaching classes on Feng Shui for Designers and Architects at UCLA for the past eight years. To learn more, go to www.fengshuiarch.com. You may also e-mail her at SimonaM@sbcglobal.net or call (310) 860-8989.