I have quoted Dr. Stephen Skinner a number of times when he said that “Feng Shui without a compass is like an astronomer without a telescope.” I also refer to the compass in my own published materials as the “essential tool of the trade.”
There are many calculations and observations done in Feng Shui which are very relevant to directions, and precise directions at that. I also go to great lengths to tell my students and house hunting clients that their Compass App could easily be inaccurate and not calibrated properly and that they should rely more on an old-fashioned compass for their reading.
So, why or when is there no need for a compass? This occasion occurs when the Form School aspect of Feng Shui is so unbalanced and presenting “sha qi” (negative, harmful energy), that we don’t even care at that point what the directional orientation may be.
Form School feng shui is a huge umbrella category under which many interior and exterior environments can be noted, for their ability to help or hinder a person’s health and well-being. In fact, by the time we use a compass to determine placement of elements inside a structure, these may be the only details of what we have control over. In other words, you may be able to place some design and décor items in a house, but you can’t change the fact that a house may be bordering a large swamp or some other “yin” stagnant water that is out of your control. Mountain ranges can also be good or bad, depending on how rugged or smooth they look and whether or not they can sustain plant life or animals.
In my e-book, Feng Shui Tips for House Hunters, it is loaded with picture examples of common sense things you simply want to avoid because they are environmental features which could ruin an otherwise good home or business location. And they are usually things you cannot change. Living too close to a freeway, a cemetery, a hospital, near train tracks, or an airport or some exterior features you cannot deflect away from your own property with the use of a wind chime or crystal ball! Even shielding a bad view is not enough.
There are a myriad of other features to a home which are too yin or too yang, which can make the compass calculations hardly necessary. For example, the week I’ve written this article, I had a client who wanted to buy a condo on the lowest level of the building, with the unit she wanted partly below street level. Looking out the windows, she would have to look up to see the wheels of cars passing by. The ceilings were low and half the unit did not have direct sun light available. This environment can be very “tomb” like, buried under ground and with this example, we hardly care if the unit faces east or west or what year it was built.
Form School, part of many styles of Feng Shui, also looks at qi flow and the shapes of all things which can affect or re-direct the qi flow (air currents). If you enter a house and within three feet you are blocked by a wall, this may or may not be something that can be altered. If the house has a crazy labyrinth of hallways, awkward shaped rooms or numerous split levels, these are also features which can make an occupant feel uncomfortable, regardless of its flying star chart.
Many years ago, we went as a group to a hoarder’s house, as a case study with the American Feng Shui Institute. Master Sang said to students off to the side, before we entered the home, “no need to bother with a compass reading, this is very bad.” That said, an overlay of the flying star chart for that house could have been revealing on a whole other level. We may have discovered that the hoarding person had issues with procrastination, depression or substance abuse.
These kinds of dramatic and intense situations are obvious to most people, especially when any of our five senses are assaulted immediately. This is the case where the human body is an active and effective sounding board for all types of “sha qi” which should not be overlooked or disregarded.
Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®
From the Feng Shui Theory Blog Series
