Free Feng Shui Training Week 6

Welcome to the sixth module in your free Feng Shui online training course. So far in our Feng Shui journey we have focused our attention on the energy inside our home. It is now time for us to broaden our knowledge of Feng Shui and look at how we can balance and harmonize the energy in our wider environment. To enable us to do this we are going to study part of Form School Feng Shui as we start to analyse the placement of our home in the environment.

Before we start the module let us first look at what we mean by Form School Feng Shui

Form School Feng Shui

Form School Feng Shui is the earliest and most traditional method of Feng Shui. It is thought that Form School Feng Shui was first practised in China around 4000 years ago taking it’s name from natural landforms on the earth. This school of Feng Shui focuses on the shapes, structures and nature in the environment to identify good and bad placement for our homes.

There is a lot we can learn from Form School Feng Shui when assessing the location of our home to see how positive the flow of energy is around our immediate environment. Understanding the basic principles of Form School Feng Shui will also give us a head start over many Feng Shui practitioners in the West who ignore this important part of Feng Shui energy alignment. When considering the location of your home to see how auspicious it is for the positive and natural flow of energy, much of what we can learn from Form School Feng Shui will appear as common sense. And that is exactly what it is. When looking to site a home 4000 years ago the Chinese just used good old common sense. It became mysterious because of the terms they used, but understand and demystify these terms and we are left with an ideal and auspicious home location that is both simple and obvious.

By the end of this module you will

• Understand the ideal location for an auspicious home
• Understand what is meant by the Four Celestial Animals
• Assess the location of your home to identify if the Four Celestial Animals surround you in your environment
• Know the changes that you need to make to replicate the Four Celestial Animals around your home.

I hope that you enjoy this module

Module 6

In Form School Feng Shui the home should be surrounded by what the Chinese call the Four Celestial Animals if a positive flow of energy is to be attracted and maintained. Ideally an auspicious home should have the Four Celestial Animals at each of the four main compass points outside the home. The Four Celestial Animals, the Green Dragon, Red Phoenix, White Tiger and Black Turtle are represented by shapes and landforms in the environment surrounding a home.

Let’s look at each of these animals individually:

The first of the Four Celestial Animals is the Green Dragon. As the first of the animals the Green Dragon sits to the east of the house where the sun rises. Representing spring the Green Dragon brings wealth and wellbeing to the home. In Form School Feng Shui the Green Dragon is represented by a low hill to the east of your home.

At the front of the house is the Red Phoenix. The Red Phoenix faces south towards the sun and represents fire and summer. The Red Phoenix brings fame, success and new opportunities to your home. The environment at the front of the house should be flat, or dip slightly and have a line of energy flowing through it which in ancient times would have been a river or stream but can now include a road or path.

As we follow the movement of the sun, to the west of the house sits the White Tiger. The White Tiger represents autumn. The White Tiger is represented by a low hill to the west of your home. The White Tiger prevents luck from running away from the home so it is very important that you do not have ground that slopes away from the home at this side of the house.

Finally at the back of the home, facing north is the Black Turtle representing winter. The Black Turtle is represented by a high mountain providing strong protection, support and stability to the home.

Taking away the mystique of the animals let us look at what you are left with. A house that is protected at the back from the harsh northern weather and has some protection at the sides whilst still allowing the morning and late afternoon sun to filter through. At the front flat or gently dipping land affords the occupants a good clear view and allows visitors easy access to the home.

When thinking of house placement today, less emphasis is placed on the directions of the Four Celestial Animals and more emphasis is placed on how your home sits in it’s environment. 4000 years ago, even a few hundred years ago, it was very simple to find the ideal location when building a house. Nowadays with more and more construction occurring on the planet it is more difficult to find a house that faces south (ours for example faces south east) even though south is still the best direction for a house to face . Fortunately, although it may be difficult to find the perfect house for our needs that faces south we can still replicate the four celestial animals in our environment to ensure that we are surrounded by a positive flow of energy.

When looking at how a house sits, I always find it best to first consider how you sit in an armchair. If you sit in an armchair you are well protected at your back, have support at your sides and have an open space at the front of you. Now think of your house sitting in the chair. This is how your house should sit in its environment, protected at the back, supported at the sides and with an open view at the front. In our modern environment especially if we live in a town or city it is not easy to find natural land forms to provide this support in our environment. We can however create our own shapes, forms and structures to provide us with the same protection and wellbeing that the ancient Feng Shui masters looked for when first practising Feng Shui.

Exercise 1

It is now time for us to assess our own home for the Four Celestial Animals. Remember that although the ideal location is for a home to face south, if yours (like mine) doesn’t don’t worry. You will be looking for the four celestial animals at the back, right, left and front rather than the north, east, west and south.

Step 1

Stand outside your home so that you are looking at the front of your house. At the sides of your home you should see some form of support. This support may be provided by another house, a fence, a hedge, a row of trees, a garden wall or a hill. Ideally we would not want this support to be higher than our house. Make a note of what you see. 

Step 2

Now go to the back of your house and look away from your home. What do you see? At the back of our house we want to feel maximum protection. Here there should ideally be a tall structure shielding our home, which again if you have no convenient hill or mountain at the back of your house can be another building, a wall, a fence, a row of trees or a hedge. At the back of the home we would want this protection to be either the height of our own home or slightly taller and not too close so that our home feels oppressed.

Step 3

Finally stand at the front of your home looking out. At the front of your home there should be an open area that is flat or dips down slightly. There should be some form of energy pathway which can take the form of either a road or a river. If there is a barrier between the front door and the road or river then this should be low enough to see over. Again make a note of what you see.

In an ideal world this would be how our home sits but unfortunately we don’t always live in the ideal world. If your home does not have natural land forms in the areas of the four celestial animals and there is little or no opportunity to physically create them then you can use symbolism. If you are using symbolism it is very important that whatever you use you like, and that it doesn’t look out of place. The same principle of balance and harmony applies outside your home as much as it does inside.

Below are some examples of how you can replicate each of the Four Celestial Animals if they are not currently surrounding your home

In the area of the Green Dragon stimulate dragon energy by planting a tall tree or by hanging a wooden windchime. If you have no outside space at this side of your house add something made out of wood to this side of the house or hang a picture incorporating a dragon on the wall of your home.

In the area of the Red Phoenix it is important you stimulate yang energy by introducing movement. This can be done by hanging a wooden windchime, a crystal or by creating a moving water feature at the front of your home. The front of the house is also a good place to celebrate the Red Phoenix by planting red flowers and plants and erecting a birdtable.

In the area of the White Tiger it is very important that the ground does not slope away from the house. If this is the case in your environment hang a metal windchime, or erect lights in the outside area. If you have no outside space at this side of the house hang a picture of a white tiger, introduce a metal sculpture or hang metal coins on the wall of your home.

In the area of the Black Turtle stimulate turtle energy by adding water or mirrors to this area of the house. For the best feeling of protection ensure that the back of your house is private, and if you have open ground at the back try and ensure that you can create some feeling of privacy. If you have no outside space at the back hang a picture incorporating a black turtle, or a picture of a mountain scene on the far rear wall of your home.

I hope that you have found this training module useful. I am aware that I have focused on house location and that if you live in a flat or apartment building then it is more difficult for you to assess your outside space. If you do live in a flat or apartment building then you will need to assess the location of the whole building as opposed to the location of your home within the building.

In next week’s module we will be assessing your home’s location for energy lines. I hope you will return for next week’s module

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