Harmony is the Key: Feng Shui and Symbolism

In this new series of columns we will explore how applying feng shui philosophy can energetically re-shape your home to support you in good health, joyous relationships and career success. Ancient feng shui philosophy contends: if the home is in harmonious surroundings and arranged in an harmonious manner, the inhabitants of that home will reflect that harmony in all areas of their lives.

Feng Shui Creates Harmonious Homes in Many Ways

Currently, there are three systems of feng shui that have gained popularity. These are referred to as the Landform School, the Black Sect Tantric Buddhist School, and the Compass School. Of these three the effectiveness of the latter two depends on the first for effectiveness, so much so, that very few people have heard of the Landform School as they assume it to be part of either the Black Sect or Compass Schools.

Be that as it may, the Landform School is one of the oldest approaches and developed from very commonsense observations about how landscaping, building structure, and interior design can effect inhabitants. Many of these observations are quite obvious, such as do not put your grass roof shack on a windy hilltop or along side a river that floods frequently.

Some considerations are more nuanced and can be understood by how it effects us psychologically. Some considerations can be seen in how we decorate our homes from floral patterns on curtains and rugs, images in paintings and wall hangings, to figurines on shelves or tabletops. Everything around us has a story to tell. Some are universal symbols and some are specific to an individual’s personal experience.

An example of a structural symbol that may be problematic is a bed positioned under a weight bearing beam roof support which to the unconscious ‘feels’ heavy and oppressive, with the resulting discomfort ultimately becoming a major health problem in the area of the body directly under the beam. If you understand how the ‘fight and flight’ mechanism of the adrenals operates, it should be easy to see why someone in constant stress – the irrational fear of the beam falling on them – eventually results in a breakdown of the immune system.

In Feng Shui, What You See Is What You Get

An example of how we decorate our home, would be someone standing at your front door as the door opens, they look within, and what they see is interpreted as the ‘message’ of the house. Kids toys scattered everywhere tells us clearly that young kids live here. An arrangement of healthy potted planets and nature art work, we know that this is a house of nature lovers. If we see a large black painting with a red lightening bolt, we can imagine what kind of people probably live within.

Or how about what you see when you and your partner sit up in bed and look at the opposite wall? A blank wall, not much to talk about. A TV, “what’s on TV tonight dear?” Or how about if one of you is looking through a bathroom door, while your partner on the other side of the bed is looking straight ahead at a picture of a dolphin jumping in the sunrise. One of you says, “Honey, let’s go to Tahiti next year.” And the one looking into the bathroom grumbles, “C_ _ _, we got no money.” and then goes on to complain about everything that is wrong, not going well, and needs to be done. Or how about the couple who had a painting on the opposite wall of a boat listing in a stormy sea. Yes, their marriage was on the rocks and they eventually divorced.

In a similar way, walk through your house and as you walk towards any image, stop, and say, “What does this picture, statue, arrangement, or whatever, say to me? If it is positive, great. If not, change it for something that is.

Effect of Symbolism

Are you cooking on all four burners? A broken burner means money problems.

Do you boil water on the same burner each day, or do you take advantage of all your opportunities in life and use all the burners on your stove?

Do you have a leaky faucet or plumbing? If so, do you also have money leaking out? After all, cash flows and we all circulate currency.

Are the hinges of a door squeaking? If so, have you noticed more arguing and complaining?

My book, Choose the Best House for You, The Feng Shui Checklist is the easiest to use in evaluating everything concerned with siting, construction, and room configuration. Other books teach the Bagua Template, or how we unconsciously map our living or working space into Abundance Areas, Relationship Areas, and so forth. This branch of feng shui is most concerned with the symbols and images we surround ourselves with. There is also the traditional Compass School approach which aligns a structure and its inhabitants with the earth’s magnetic field and, like acupuncture, brings balance by restoring the nurturing cycle of the Five Elements.

We will discuss some of these topics in future issues.

May you all be blessed with a year of abundant good fortune: health, wealth and prosperity.