You would think that based on knowledge and experience that my own home would have A+ feng shui and that I would be able to manage every single potential problem. Well, aside from the fact that a lot of Feng Shui masters have this karmic, ironic duality going on in their own living spaces, that is not really how feng shui works either. But up until recently I could boast that my own home had very few of the typical Feng Shui flaws and that I was enjoying the prosperity and serenity I worked so hard to create.

(This article was written several years ago, before I moved.)

Two distinct changes to my property have recently made me more aware of how I became my own experiment in flawed Feng Shui. In 2014, I wanted to have more privacy and security on the front part of my house. I had always had an open carport on the street side with a walkway up to the side of the house where the “front” door is. I was also craving a garage since the original garage was turned into a den a long time ago. So, knowing that I would be stifling the qi flow coming onto my property, I still went ahead and had the custom carport doors installed, along with a side gate.

So, now my Fort Knox home is all buttoned up and even more secure. Shortly after the carport doors were installed, I noticed my income drop. Dang! Feng Shui is for real and I violated a major basic principle of qi flow. For all the times I have educated people about not having too many things blocking the front door or obscuring the “face” of the house, I went ahead and blocked the qi flow. When I made the correlation, we began to keep the carport doors open all day or when home and only zipping up the place at night in order to allow some qi flow to still come through and reach the “qi gate”.

The next “experiment” was beyond my control. In 2015, my city mandated that everyone with a pool has to have a pool cover because of the California drought. My pool is to the east of my house and classical feng shui practitioners know that from 1984-2004 that was the #1 best location for outside water. It helps increase financial luck. From 2004 until 2024, water to the east is the second best location to help boost financial luck. The same month that we got the pool cover, my income took a dive again. All puns intended. Sure, it’s nice to be civic minded and not use so much water, but having had an open no-cover pool for so many years more than “paid for its self.”

How can I compensate for this situation? Well, you can assume that I also do everything else within my capacity to adjust my interior space and other outside areas as well.

Part of my yearly annual update reports to clients includes a section on what directions to be aware of when it comes to remodeling or landscaping, since there are some areas which can trigger accidents. I have always been faithful to the Feng Shui Construction Sha calendar in terms of when to renovate, but I have yet another story of something negative happening which I had no control over. But it was certainly a lesson learned and further conviction that these unseen energies are very powerful and can manifest as predicted.

The mishap I am referring to had to do with a remodel I was planning inside my home years ago. I wanted to remodel a very dated and ugly bar between my living room and dining room. I called in a couple of carpenters to get their ideas and I ended up hiring the second gentleman. Our meeting was in April and I wanted him to start in May because my monthly Feng Shui calendar told me that doing any demolition in that area in April could initiate accidents or delays.

May was just two weeks away and I intended to schedule him to start then. I went into my office to retrieve a check book in order to give the carpenter a deposit check. I also grabbed my appointment book so we could schedule for him to come back in a few weeks and start the remodel. While I was in my office, I heard a loud crashing sound and when I rushed to the bar, this guy had already started ripping the old wood and sections of the bar away! I asked him why he was doing that and starting already and he could only tell me that he wanted to visualize more ideas with the old wood removed. That was quite a liberty to take. For all he knew, maybe I was going to be doing some entertaining before the remodel. It was strange that he just started tearing the area apart.

Technically, he had started the project with his impromptu demolition. I wasn’t sure how bad the situation would be since I had never before started a remodel project in bad timing. Long story short, this carpenter never returned to my house. He took my deposit, but in the following week he had a heart attack. After not returning my calls, I finally found out he was in the hospital and he promised he would be back in a matter of weeks. Well, that didn’t happen. He died and I guess my deposit check helped pay for the hospital or the funeral since his family was not interested in returning my $1,500 to me.

Of course, I felt bad about this man’s horrible misfortune and passing. Did the untimely demolition in my bar kill him? I don’t think so. But now we know that the popular saying “an accident waiting to happen” is actually a Feng Shui principle. And bad feng shui environments or circumstances can mirror the destiny. I ended up finding another contractor to rebuild my bar, but there were many delays in the project and it did not come out the way I really wanted it.

Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions ® since 1992
From the Feng Shui Musings Blog Series