Guest Author - Diane Kern

You go to the library or book store to pick up a book on feng shui. You select several and begin to read. After a reading each book you realize that there are differences and even contradictions in the material presented by each author. What is going on? You would like to implement feng shui in your home or office but whose advice should you follow? Wading through the different styles of feng shui can be very confusing for the neophyte. And when it comes to choosing a practitioner you feel at a complete loss.

There are two main types of feng shui prevalent in the United States. The first is the traditional which includes: form, compass, eight house and flying star schools. The traditional practitioner utilizes all these schools to arrive at their conclusions and prepare a plan for the client.

To simplify –

Form school looks at the outside environment, the mountains, rivers, lakes, contour of the land, quality of the land and surroundings. This determines whether or not the site is suitable for building or what problems will arise if the site is used.

Compass school takes into consideration the orientation of the proposed/existing buildings according to readings taken with a luo pan (Chinese compass) in relation to the surroundings. Magnetic readings rather than those adjusted for declination are used in traditional feng shui.

Eight house or Ba Zhai studies the relationship of a person and a building to the eight trigrams and the qualities they embody. The facing and sitting of the building and a person’s birth information both come into play in the calculations. Generally speaking, time is not a consideration in Ba Zhai only space/location.

The flying star part of the equation is where time becomes important. Energies or stars rotate around the 8 major divisions/locations of the compass in a particular pattern, combining and recombining with varying results. This pattern is proscribed and takes place on several levels changing in periods of 20 years, annually, monthly, daily and hourly.

When all of these schools are put together an individualized picture emerges that is particular to this house and to the people who live in it. Each instance is specific to that place, person and time.Unlike Black Sect feng shui there is not a particular corner in each room such as the far right corner from the door that represents marriage and relationships etc.

Black Sect Tantric Buddhism Feng Shui or Black Hat Feng Shui (BHFS) is the second popular school in the US. Developed by Professor Thomas Lin Yun, it has its roots in the Bon religion of Tibet. The Professor has developed a form of feng shui for the western world that many people find easy to use. Most of the books you find in the stores today are based on BHFS. Many of the theories and terminology are shared with the traditional schools of feng shui. One major difference is that BHFS does not use a compass to determine a unique sitting and facing for a building. Instead the main front door-the one you recognize as the primary entrance, sometimes called the architecturally designed front door- becomes the focus. The sections of the bagua- 8 trigrams-have been assigned certain characteristics or life values. The East is health and wellbeing, Southeast represents wealth and abundance, the South is fame and popularity, the Southwest is marriage and relationships, in the West is Children and pets, the Northwest is influential people, North is career and reputation and finally Northeast is knowledge and wisdom. When you stand at the door facing in you place the bagua with north closest to you and south furthest away from you. This establishes a “virtual north” instead of the magnetic north used by traditionalists. In the simplest terms, you now know which area of your house affects the various aspects of your life. You can repeat this at the door way of each room if you like. For example your marriage corner will always be in the furthest right hand corner. Unlike traditional feng shui, BHFS uses items such as mirrors, crystals, flutes and mantra-chanting, mudra-special hand positions and intention to strengthen the adjustments made by the practitioner.

This is a very simplified explanation of the differences between Traditional and BHFS. I hope it has cleared up some of your confusion.