In reviewing Lippelt’s book, Feng Shui Demystified, he puts forth many advanced feng shui concepts, as well as some sidebars which deserve a more elaborate explanation. I have covered these topics in my on-line curriculum and often the reader needs a foundation in feng shui theory basics. For the casual Feng Shui enthusiast, I’d like to break down these concepts here in simple terms so that anyone can understand the premise, without a prerequisite.
Important concepts stem from the critical understanding of Sitting Versus Facing. This alludes to the back of a house or building (sitting side) in contrast with the facing side (front). What is vital to understand is that the conventionally noted “front” of a building or house is not necessarily the facing side according to Feng Shui theory. In the floor plan inserted into this article, the facing (front) side is the balcony, Study, Master Bedroom Suite side. This is a theoretical example where the facing side is to North (see arrow).
From the concept of “facing,” we can further decipher the difference between three different things: a facing side, a facing sector, and the entrance sector. And nothing illustrates these distinctions like a literal illustration. Here you can again refer to the sample floor plan at the top of the article.
The facing side of a house (or apartment) is the ENTIRE side which faces the more yang influences on the outside and often has the more yang influences inside in the design lay-out. It refers to the whole length of the facing wall. This might include several directional zones. In our floor plan example, the North side faces the street and is a smaller version of the whole building which faces north as well. This happens to be a corner unit, where a lot of other factors are included to determine the sitting and facing. With this example, the facing SIDE spans across northwest, north and northeast.
Within the facing side of a house, there is a facing sector. It is the middle sector within the boundaries of the exact compass point for the facing direction. Here the facing sector is North, the middle sector that overlays the Study on the floor plan. The facing sector might only be a portion of the facing side. This is determined by the actual dimensions of the structure. With a house that is long and narrow (on the facing side), you will see the facing side and facing sector almost identical. With a structure that is more a square shape like my example, three sectors will be part of the facing side, with the middle one being the facing sector.
Then we have the entrance sector, which is simply where the entrance door is located. An entrance door could be anywhere on the facing side or even along the side wall of a house. In my floor plan example, the entrance door is actually at the sitting side (back). This is common for apartments and Condos. This means that the facing sector and the entrance sector are not automatically the same.
Why is this distinction important? The recognition of the facing sector versus the entrance door sector becomes relevant in different Feng Shui formulas. There are also differences of opinion about which sector is more important. From my experience and training, it is not as clear which is more important since there are so many other variables to consider, but they both hold different keys to power or influence on the house (or occupant) as a whole.
The entrance is often called the “Qi Gate” to the house. Air currents enter through the main door, assumed to be the most heavily used door. These air currents carry with them positive or negative qi and/or the qi (as a neutral force) can stimulate whatever type of energy is inherently at the door or just behind it. This is why the entrance door is considered very important, in spite of people not spending a lot of time in that location. After the bedroom, the entrance area is high on the priority list.
The facing sector might not be where the main door is located. It still holds a lot of influence over the house and occupants. In fact, some practitioners describe the connection between the facing and sitting sectors as being very important for overall good Feng Shui. There should be an unobstructed physical link in the floor plan between the facing and sitting sectors in order for the house to circulate the best possible qi flow. In the case of the floor plan example, the north sector is the facing and therefore the south sector is the sitting. In this lay-out, the south is filled with the laundry room and kitchen and it is not very open between these two sectors. This is just one example of why using Feng Shui in the design phase is so smart.
Imaging if the human body was split in half at the waist. And imagine if a person could live and function with the top half and bottom half working almost independently. And yet, we can well imagine how much better the functionality of the body is with the relationship between top and bottom (facing and sitting) having an open, flowing connection.
An important detail to note here is that I am not advocating for a front door to be aligned directly with a back door. That is actually a well-known Feng Shui design flaw! Rather, I am referring to facing and sitting sectors, as the front middle and back middle sectors of the floor plan, regardless of location of windows or doors in this particular example.
These are principles that are appreciated in the Flying Star School of Feng Shui because we reference energies, called Flying Stars, that exist in each directional sector. They are not 100% confined to their directional sectors however. Some of the adjacent “water dragon” stars can hook up and create their own influence, separate from the mountain dragon stars. (Let’s say that East sector hosts a pairing of the 9-5 stars and the southeast sector hosts the 1-4 stars. The 5 water dragon and the 4 water dragon could unite as a 5-4 combination to create their own influence.)
The operative word here is “flying” as they move about, not just when they are being created and positioned into their home base location, but because they can be nudged and manipulated by their surroundings. This can be done through the architecture and design lay-out and it can also be done with furnishings. There is also a certain pole magnetism between stars which may attract them to each other, like a destiny between two people.
The stars will also react or respond differently to the human being or animal that is in their midst. Think about that for a minute: The stars know who they are dealing with! For example, the 3 star (wherever it lands in a house) could encourage one person to be very clever, conniving, assertive, resourceful, articulate and persuasive. For another person, sharing space with a 3 star energy could make them the victim of theft, gossip, contractual disputes or other legal problems. For a dog to dwell in the 3 star energy, it could make the dog more aggressive and prone to attack. This energy does not just influence us from the bedroom or the “center” cell. The energy field positioned in the facing sector or at the main entrance is bound to be more active as well. After more than 30 years in practice, I am still fascinated by feng shui’s “metaphysical biology,” making itself so evident in people’s homes and lives.
Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®
From the Feng Shui Theory Blog Series
