Feng Shui *

Feng Shui (?? - literally, wind and water) is an ancient Chinese proto/ethnoscience that addresses the layout of cities, villages, dwellings, and buildings. It is erroneously identified as geomancy, an unfortunate misnomer courtesy of 19th-century Christian missionaries. The most recent (1980s) definition, heavily flavored by the New Age movement, explains Feng Shui as the arrangement of objects within a home to obtain an optimum flow of qi. In rural China, according to recent fieldwork by Ole Bruun, Feng Shui is used to obtain health, family harmony, and prosperity; qi flow is rarely mentioned.

Feng Shui began as an interplay of construction and astronomy. Early Yangshao houses at Banpo were oriented to catch the midafternoon winter sun at its warmest, just after the solstice. (Some tribes in southern China still refer to this month as "House-building Month.") Professor David Pankenier and his associates performed retrospective computation on the Chinese sky at the time of the Banpo dwellings (4000 BCE) to show that the asterism Yingshi ("Lay out the Hall" in the Warring States period and early Han era) corresponded to the sun's location at this time. Several hundred years earlier the asterism Yingshi was known as Ding. It was used to indicate the appropriate time to build a capital city, according to the Shijing.

The grave at Puyang (4,000 BCE) that contains mosaics of the Dragon and Tiger constellations and Beidou (Big Dipper) is similarly oriented with cosmological accuracy along a north-south axis.

The tombs of Shang kings and their consorts at Xiaotun lie on a north-south axis, ten degrees east of due north. The Shang palaces at Erlitou are also on a north-south axis, slightly west of true north. These orientations were obtained by astronomy, not a magnetic compass.

All capital cities of China followed rules of Feng Shui for their design and layout. These rules were codified during the Zhou era in the Kaogong ji, "Manual of Crafts." Rules for builders were codified in the Lu ban jing, "Manual for Carpenters." Graves and tombs also followed rules of Feng Shui. From the earliest records it seems that the rules for these structures were developed from rules for dwellings.

The oldest known Feng Shui device consists of a two-sided board with astronomical sightlines. Liuren astrolabes have been unearthed from Qin-era tombs at Wangjiatai and Zhoujiatai. These devices date between 278 BCE and 209 BCE. Today Feng Shui practitioners can select from three types of Luopan or Feng Shui compasses: San He (the so-called "form school," although the compass name means "Triple Combination"), San Yuan (the so-called "compass school," although the compass name actually refers to time), and the Zong He that combines the other two.

Feng Shui is still considered important in some segments of modern Chinese culture, especially Hong Kong and Taiwan; most educated Chinese in the People's Republic have never heard of it. Those who have often think of it as peasant superstition. Since the mid-20th century it has been illegal in the PRC because of the propensity for fraud. This all came about because of the Cultural Revolution that set about destroying most of the old culture of China. It has been kept alive because the books and masters moved out of mainland China to areas such as Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Traditional or classical Feng Shui always involves the use of a Luopan and iterative mathematics. The New Age versions (Black Sect, Pyramid, Fuzion, "intuitive," etc.) typically do not.

Latest books on: Feng Shui;

Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life : How to Use Feng Shui to Get Love, Money, Respect and Happiness by Karen Rauch Carter -- Each chapter examines an aspect of your life and walks you through the Feng Shui way of seeing it. It explains what the Chinese historically associated with each aspect: colors, numbers, compass directions, household functions, etc., and then explains how best to arrange things around you to improve your situation with family, friends, lovers, your career, and anything else about your life that could use some help! 'offers vibrant new directions to those who are lost in life; it is an oasis in the desert'.

Feng Shui for Dummies by David Daniel Kennedy -- Feng Shui (pronounced fung shway), which means wind water, is the ancient Chinese study of harmony and energy flow between you and your physical surroundings. You can enrich every aspect of your life by applying Feng Shui principles to your home (inside and out) and workplace (from window office to cubicle). Feng Shui For Dummies is for anyone who seeks a better life. This clearly written, concise, and easy-to-understand guide can help anyone to: Create harmony and happiness in your, relationships Increase your prosperity, Eliminate chronic patterns of failure, difficulty, and stress, Energize your home or workplace, Enjoy better health, This book shows you how to feel and access the energy of your environment (it�s easier than you may think!). Find out how your environment influences your life right now. Use the solutions in this book to overcome obstacles and enhance the positive. You'll be sure to feel the before-and-after differences. ... Feng Shui For Dummies also covers the following topics and more: The meaning and history of Feng Shui, Making the most of the space in your home, both inside and outside, Tapping into the power of the five elements, Boosting your career, Jazzing up your bedroom for increased health, energy, and romance, Performing blessing ceremonies, Cleansing and curing with meditation, Within the past 10 years, Feng Shui has gained widespread popularity in the West. Today, more and more people from all walks of life are practicing Feng Shui and experiencing the positive benefits of auspicious placement. This book shows you everything you need to know to help improve the flow of harmony, creativity, and abundance in your life.

Feng Shui Your Life by Jayme Barrett
A Master Course in Feng-Shui by Eva Wong
Creating Sacred Space With Feng Shui by Karen Kingston
The Western Guide to Feng Shui: Room by Room by Terah Kathryn Collins
101 Feng Shui Tips for Your Home by Richard Webster
The Western Guide to Feng Shui: Creating Balance, Harmony, and Prosperity in Your Environment by Terah Kathryn Collins
Fast Feng Shui: 9 Simple Principles for Transforming Your Life by Energizing Your Home by Stephanie Roberts
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Feng Shui (2nd Edition) by Elizabeth Moran
Feng Shui and Money: A Nine-Week Program for Creating Wealth Using Ancient Principles and Techniques by Eric J. Shaffert
Feng-Shui by Eva Wong
Sell Your Home Faster with Feng Shui: Ancient Wisdom to Expedite the Sale of Real Estate by Holly Ziegler
Feng Shui Dos & Taboos by Angi Ma Wong

Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston

* some narrative from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; Wiki license applies to those portions.