Book Review by Kartar Diamond

Richard Webster is a prolific author, having published over a hundred books. Webster has covered many esoteric topics including dowsing, talismanic traditions, palmistry, astrology, and numerology to name just a few.  I don’t know if he considered himself a professional Feng Shui consultant or not.  It seems like he only had time to be a full-time researcher, presenter and writer. In a paragraph about the author, Webster thanks his family for being supportive of his career path, but the fruit did not fall close to the tree, as he humorously notes his oldest son decided to become an accountant.

Published in 1997, his book is still available on-line with a new cover. I re-read it as part of my mission to critique most of the books in my Feng Shui library and like other “beginners” books, I attempted to read with fresh eyes, as if the material was new to me.  This is an impossible task, but Webster makes it easier than other authors. My aim in reviewing all these books includes cherry picking the observations and claims which stand out as different from the other books.

One thing I have noticed thus far in my project is that most books published in the 1990’s are distinct from those written after the early 2000’s, by including sections about classical Feng Shui, Form School, Chinese history, mention of the luo pan, early classical doctrines, how Feng Shui has been used commercially in Asia, the Flying Star School, and even passing comments about Nine Star Ki. Newer books, riding high on the trendy-factor would pad their pages with adages about space clearing and organizing.

There are ironic moments, such as him noting “even Donald Trump is using principles of feng shui in his massive Riverside South project in New York City.”   He also refers to martial arts film star Bruce Lee and the rumors people spread about his poor Feng Shui, leading to Lee’s death in 1973. Later, the feng shui curse supposedly continued with the untimely death of his son Brandon Lee in 1993.

He describes nicely the definition of Feng Shui, Yin-Yang Theory, The “Pa-Kua” (aka Ba ‘gua or the Eight Trigrams), and even mentions the “Former Heaven Sequence” and “Latter Heaven Sequence,” which are two different version of the Luo Shu. This is traditional basic information, not covered in the pop culture Black Hat books which predominantly came later.  However, in one curious section on the cycles of the Elements, he ascribes the Productive Cycle to the Early Heaven Sequence and the Domination Cycle (Water, Fire, Metal, Wood, Earth) to the Latter Heaven Sequence (King Wen arrangement).

While we can say everything is related on some level, I don’t see how the development of Five Element Theory (which permeates all of Chinese metaphysics) is tied to these two differing Luo Shu.  The Former Heaven Sequence does not arrange the trigrams (as elements) in a consecutive Productive Cycle Order.  If anything, it is the Latter Heaven Sequence, which almost appears to be a Productive Cycle, rather than a Domination Cycle. This is something which would go over the head of a beginner and fortunately it does not undermine practical application of the elements.

It’s good to question everything and for the first time, when Webster describes the Four Celestial Animals, I had my own epiphany about their symbolism.   These four animals (Tortoise, Dragon, Tiger and Phoenix) are most commonly used as metaphor to describe hilly or mountainous features in the natural environment. They can act as protectors around a house; in modern times, other structures may substitute for an actual natural landscape.  But when you think about it, why would the tortoise provide protection in the ideal higher back and a phoenix bird in the lower frontage? The literal tortoise is a small creature, low to the ground and the phoenix bird can soar high above ground.  For the symbolism, you might think those two should switch places. Ah, but there in lies the rub. There is more than meets the eye with just about every feng shui notion, principle, application or symbol.

Speaking of mountains, Webster describes how the shapes of nearby mountains can be harmful or beneficial on an individual basis, using Five Element Theory.  For example, he defines conical shaped mountains as related to the fire element.  Proximity to this “fire” type mountain could be undermining to the Metal type person (based on their birth data), because fire destroys metal in the Domination Cycle of the Elements.

The categorization of the five major mountain shapes can also be applied to building shapes and even what type of business the building is used for.  In my ebook, Feng Shui Tips for Businesses, I cover the complementary principle in how the orientation of a structure can enhance certain types of businesses.  For example, a publishing company is related to the wood element since the product may literally be made of paper. The East Sitting building is a Zhen House (Wood). This could be a supportive orientation for publishing, printing, a library, a bookstore, gift-wrapping and cards, or a literal paper mill.

In Webster’s chapter on the Compass School, it gets murky. First, he explains the rudiments of the Eight Mansion School (Pa kua), which is so rigid that even an open-minded person may become frustrated with all the contradictions. Calling the Eight Mansion School the “compass school” is misleading in that there are many different schools which refer to the compass and some are more sophisticated than others. He attempts to show how contradictory the Black Hat School is (without naming it as such), yet claims that many practitioners incorporate these contradictory schools and he proceeds further in explaining how to use it as an overlay.

Perhaps things were different in the 1990’s, but virtually no one who adheres to classical Feng Shui will advocate for the New Age Black Hat method. An honest practitioner just can’t reconcile the discrepancies, although there might be a few marketing mavens out there who throw everything into the cake batter, assuming the customer will be none the wiser.

Because I can’t pretend to be a novice, I’ll use myself and my current home as an example.  If I were to use the “Pa Kua” Eight Mansion School exclusively, my home office would be in the “Disaster” zone. And yet, with other applications of the Eight Mansion School, I can enjoy an office in a location that is good for my birth year, sit facing a good personal direction and within a good zone, after micro-managing the room. If I use the Flying Star School of Feng Shui, my office was selected over other rooms because the timely major wealth star is in that space.  Will these positive features cancel out the negative?   (Answer: yes).

I try to teach my own students about priorities; otherwise, the contradictions can be overwhelming.  As another example, Webster states that having a bedroom in a good prosperity zone is a waste of space and should be used as an office instead.  However, from my professional experience, it’s great to sleep in a wealth zone, soaking up the good vibes like a sponge. Said differently, it’s like making money while you sleep.

Webster vacillates back and forth between repeating Feng Shui fairy tales and dispensing actual historical dates and facts. He cites Robert Temple’s book, The Genius of China, in his bibliography. I also highly recommend it for the amazing inventions and discoveries made by the Chinese, going back thousands of years.  Webster’s chapter on the Flying Stars is troubling, not so much because he refers to the lunar calendar (Feng Shui uses the solar calendar), or incorrectly notes that Period 7 is from 1983 to 2003, but because he presents an arrangement of stars which appear to be a typical (Xuan Kong Fei Xing) flying star chart when they are not.

First Webster shows readers how to post the Period stars for Period 7 throughout the luo shu square.  But instead of showing how that gives birth to the mountain dragons and water dragons in each direction, we instead get annual stars and monthly stars positioned in the chart. They look very much like mountain dragons and water dragons.  While it is not the author’s goal to teach more advanced systems in a book for Beginners, it can easily cause some confusion down the road.

This could have easily been handled with a few sentences to explain the difference between the type of chart he’s created from the more universal presentation of the flying stars.  An example can be found in Monica Hess’ book The Feng Shui of George Washington’s Mount Vernon. She does not instruct step-by-step in how to create a flying star chart, but she mentions which star is which in her illustrations, including her own system to distinguish the yearly, monthly, and daily stars below the traditional flying stars.

Even though Webster states earlier in his book that the “Pa-kua” (when he means Black Hat) method is controversial because it ignores actual compass directions (and that he does not rely on it), he later appears to embrace many aspects of this school, such as with overly confident recommendations for crystals and mirrors (considered “wonder drugs” in the Black Hat school). This just demonstrates how pervasive it is for anyone, even a researcher, to be unaware of the differences between traditional practices versus New Age adaptations.

Webster’s chapter on “Shar Remedies” is truly disappointing from beginning to end, descending into a smorgasbord of Chinese folk superstitions blended with Black Hat remedies. What’s worse is that his take on such seemingly ordinary things as wind chimes, plants, red color, and electronics could backfire spectacularly and cause genuine harm to those following his instructions.

The volume of contradictory remarks is also hard to keep track of.  In one chapter, he states that televisions can be inducers of good ch’i and to experiment with moving a TV from room to room to see how it activates the aspirational Life Station where it is placed.  In the next chapter he states that seeing a TV from a front door indicates that the occupants will waste a lot of their time.  This one is provably false in so many cases, including me as an example.  I have a TV in the living room where my front door is also located. I’m known as a hard worker, someone who gets a lot accomplished, and queen of multi-tasking.  This is why I threw away most of the Black Hat books I purchased way back when. I didn’t even like the karmic liability of donating them to a thrift store and having some innocent person act on all these superstitions.

Continuing into one of the last chapters, Designing Your Own Home, the author mentions the common practice of building south facing houses in Hong Kong. This is based on simple principles of Yin-Yang theory and which rooms capture natural light at different times of the day.  However, he states that the study or home office should be placed in the southeast and calls this the Wealth Sector. For a south facing house, the southeast is the front right corner area.  But for the Black Hat folks, it is supposedly the back left-hand corner of the house which is deemed the Wealth Sector. Neither of these areas can be relied on exclusively for generating wealth. It is only the Flying Star School which reveals where the major wealth energy is within the floor plan and where it will be in the future as well.

Other authors besides Webster will use Five Element Theory as it relates to the person in their environment, which may or may not be the priority.  For example, if a person’s gua is Fire, and if Wood nurtures Fire, it is not necessarily essential for the person to paint their front door green (wood color) or their office walls green.  True, it can be seen as supportive to the person, but there are more layers to consider.

To begin with, no person is just one element. We are a composition of elements when factoring in more than just our birth year. We often share spaces with others who are different from ourselves.  Secondly, if we balance the space, then theoretically anyone using the space can benefit, regardless of birth year.  I appreciate reading how any feng shui remedy can optimize a person’s level of performance, comfort, social status or focus.  But I recoil at lists which sound rigid, based on too little information about the person or the space.

What is commendable about Richard Webster’s Feng Shui for Beginners: Successful Living By Design is its Table of Contents and organization.  He hits many foundational points, discussing both residential and commercial properties, after laying the groundwork in defining Feng Shui and its theoretical principles: touching on Yin-Yang, Eight trigrams, the Five Elements, and comparing Form School with the Compass methods. His illustrations are helpful, but there are many frustrating contradictions not addressed, which the author may not have even realized.  This beginner’s book is also loaded down with so many generalities and superstitions that it is hard to recommend.   I may have kept it in my library as a reference for a myriad of potential article topics, clarifying what is true and what is false.

Author: Kartar Diamond

Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®

From the Book Review Blog Series