Early on in my Feng Shui consulting career, one of the most interesting homes I ever saw was on Ocean Front Walk in Venice Beach, California. I wish I had taken pictures of it then and with the owner’s permission to feature it, but I always honor my client’s privacy and confidentiality before anything else. Decades later that house is featured on-line for public consumption, so I’ve included a few photos.
This is a multi-storied home, facing the ocean. The ground floor is retail space and there are smaller quarters on the next level. What I reviewed was the penthouse suite. What made it unique, and I have never seen this since, is that the entire top floor was on rollers and could shift from the back, to the middle, to the front with the push of a button.
The top floor was just a master bedroom with stairs for access at the back and side. It could sit at the back over some of the first floor bedrooms, in the middle over the dining room or in the front over the living room. When not over the living room or dining room, those rooms had the extra high ceilings to the top floor. Views of the beach and ocean could be seen from any of these positions, but I was struck at how “feng shui” adaptable this house was, without that even being the architect’s intention or motivation.
All beginner’s students and all my clients learn that the bedroom is the most important room in the house. Why? Because we tend to sleep in a bed about one third of our lives. So, the energy of a bedroom can influence us more than other rooms in a house, where we might only dwell for minutes a day or a fraction of the sleeping time. A bedroom can influence our health, our income potential and our relationships, sometimes all three at once.
This house was built in Period 7 (1984-2004) and I saw it in Period 7. But it reminded me of what the Chinese emperors were able to do so many centuries ago. In their vast mansions, they could change their sleeping quarters from one part of the castle to another, in order to dwell in and benefit from the most positive energy in any given year or 20-year Period. In modern times, most people, even wealthy clients, make do with their existing floor plan and we apply remedies or adjustments to the spaces we need to use. I have only recommended that a client sleep in another bedroom besides their master bedroom a handful of times in 30 years and it was because of some dire situations. But the emperors could float around their mansions and dwell in the energy most suited for their reign and power and to help maintain it.
Years ago, I was talking to one of my Feng Shui peers and she admitted that she was going to sleep in her living room for a while. I was surprised, and asked her if she didn’t have faith in the remedies we all recommend to our clients. She then said, “Kartar, you don’t understand. My personal luck (astrology) is so bad right now that I have to do everything possible to compensate for it.” So for her, it was a small sacrifice to sleep in her living room in order to dwell in the best energy and off-set what she thought would be a very unlucky time frame for her otherwise.
With this unique house in Venice Beach, the whole house was actually one of my favorite flying star charts, especially in Period 7. For those of you reading this who are well versed in the flying stars, it was a Double Facing House, facing Southwest-2 range. The bedroom could be positioned in the sitting sector with the unseen 4-1 stars, or it could roll all the way over to the southwest sector in the 7-7 stars. During Period 7, this was a major wealth area. The sitting stars in the 4-1 energy support creative people and can also bring a lot of romantic opportunities to the female occupant. This was all intensified by the proximity to the ocean.
In addition to having more than one sleeping area for the permanent energy, she could literally choose from year to year which would be the better annual energy to sleep in and make that decision to sleep in the Northeast, the center or the Southwest. As a side bar, she had other important areas on the lower level in the 6-8, 4-1 and 8-6 stars, all supporting health and wealth.
Over the years, people have asked me about other “modular” type homes, such as one, which was featured in the Los Angeles Times decades ago. It was a house where the entire roof and ceiling could be opened up to the sky, like a convertible car. While an interesting feature, those who practice Flying Star Feng Shui know this could be a nightmare if the Period energy of the house escaped and was re-constituted every time the “lid” of the house was opened up to the sky. Equally, there have been houses created like a Lazy Susan, where the whole floor plan can turn to face any number of directions. They look and feel more like a space ship than a house. Architecturally, this might be a stunning accomplishment, but energetically it could be very destabilizing.
Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®
From the Architecture & Design Blog Series
