Today, apparently, we can Feng Shui just about anything the colour of your car, the ornaments of your house, your clothes, your pets, your fingernails and lately there's even talk about creating Feng Shui underwear.

Now, how can that be, considering that Feng Shui is the study of Earth's physiognomy? In a nutshell 'feng' is 'wind; 'shui' is 'water'. So where's the 'wind' and 'water' in a bikini thong?

Remember the hype on getting the best Feng Shui fish be it arowana, flower-horn, or tiger prawn? - and surely one would know by now that the number 4 can 'kill you' while the number 8 could make you 'rich'.

Says who? From which classical text?

What a Mr. Guo Pu did write, some thousand years back, in his 'Burial Scriptures', was:

Qi is dispersed and moves with the Wind; it gathers at the boundaries of Water

Feng Shui basics

That is where 'wind & water' comes in - but wait: first of all, before anyone can even consider talking about Feng Shui, one would need four walls and a roof a.k.a. a building. Why? Without first having a receptacle to contain the primordial energies of the Earth, or Qi, remember, the wind disperses it. And no two buildings are ever quite the same. You can have two identical houses, built at the same time, facing the same direction but one is in Bangsar and the other in London. Or Subang Jaya, Damansara, Salak South, for that matter. Location is the first Feng Shui key.

With that in mind, it is obvious that:

If it's not on the ground, you can't Feng Shui it.

There, it's been said. Now you don't have to worry about where to place your waterfall painting, dragon lanterns, golden chicken, and things you would normally find in any reputable Chinese restaurant.

Interior decor is, well, interior decor. In Feng Shui we deal with energy, Qi. Now, two neighbouring houses in Bangsar, built at the same time, facing the same direction how unalike can they get, Fengshui-wise? It now depends on who is living inside. One middle-aged man and one middle-aged woman? One couple plus 6 kids of equal number of boys and girls? And the issue is not how much noise is being generated by one house (some think that noise is a form of good Feng Shui), but that different people react differently to different kinds of Qi.

For example, in regards to the Feng Shui of a house, are we referring to a male or female occupant? When was he or she born? How old is he or she now? See how unalike, how specific, Feng Shui can actually be, and actually is? Wouldn't it become simply inaccurate to generalize a systematic science that has taken thousands of years to develop? 'Love sector' is here, the 'Wealth sector' is there, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

The barrage of watered-down Feng Shui today is disturbing. Amusing at first, but, rather disturbing. It has incorporated superstition, customary beliefs, fashion fads, and even psychology, into what was formerly a respectable science and art.

What's luck got to do with it?

Psychology has definitely nothing to do with Feng Shui. Granted, a high motivation level will get you far in life, but it does not affect the Qi of the Earth. The reasons are:

Destiny is proportionally shaped by three equal forces Heaven, Earth, and Human.

Heavenly luck, the first one-third, was pre-destined at the time of our birth, and which we cannot change. Just like the country we were born into, and who our parents are.

Earthly luck is the influence of our living environment and natural landforms, which we can bend and alter to certain degrees.

Human luck is the sum of our virtues, attitudes, choices in life, and psychological setup. All humans have total control over this one third of the force, and, as stated before, a very high level of self-made Human luck can bring you far in life. Feng Shui is the study of Earthly luck, while psychology is the study of Human luck.

Positive thinking, therefore, will not affect the Qi of your house nor does it rectify a Feng Shui fault. Secondly, Feng Shui is not bound to religion nor specific customary practices. It is, therefore, unnecessary for all things to be 'Chinese' in order to be Feng Shui savvy. If wind chimes annoy you, you can choose to tie a few spoons together with a raffia string. As long as they are metal spoons...

Speaking of luck - it has become such an overrated concept lately. When we hear of good luck, we instantly think of winning the lottery, getting married to the richest person of the opposite sex, finding an empty but signed cheque while shopping at Carrefour, and what not.

Understand this: good luck simply means accurate timing and proper action - doing the right thing at the right time. So similarly, bad luck is being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Imagine something like wearing your party clothes to a funeral. Carelessness? How about walking into a bank during a robbery? These are but some loose examples.

Wear purple for wealth

And the misconceptions continue:

Put this here for money luck; wear this for love luck do this, do that if you want this or want that. With so much mumbo-jumbo around, who can blame the skeptics? Would you rather be skeptical or blindly superstitious?

And while the classical texts may appear ambiguous, however, they are not subjective. The key points are not for the readers to decipher as they wish. Accurate interpretation only comes to those possessing a deep and sound understanding of the fundamentals Yin & Yang balance, the 5 Phases of Qi, the 8 core Trigrams, just to name a few. Many people claim to know that 'earth produces metal' and 'wood produces fire' in the Elemental cycle, but that is not always true. Mountain rocks do not produce metal; neither does wet wood produce fire.

And what happens when a couple belongs to different 'Life Trigram' groups and have different 'auspicious directions'? Should they sleep with the husband facing East, and the wife facing West? Wouldn't that be silly? And given that in today's society women play equally important roles financially, why should the wife sacrifice her potential career luck?

The misinterpretation and overrating of Feng Shui, whether deliberate or not, plays on the fears of the public. Let's be honest, everyone wants to avoid bad luck, everyone hopes to be rich. This may well be the only psychological aspect regarding Feng Shui fear and curiosity - people resorting to anything in order to avoid harm and to improve wealth. But one thing is missing here. Let's face it if it were that simple, that generic, wouldn't half the population be filthy rich by now and their wealth span over three generations? If bad luck were to befall all North-West facing properties this year, how many in the world will be simultaneously affected?

Feng Shui can help or hinder man's endeavors, but only with proper understanding and application. And Feng Shui, like medicine, should not be consumed without first knowing what it actually is.

Time to wake up and smell the coffee.

Welcome to the year of the Rooster.

SHERWIN NG's fascination for unfounded pop superstition sparked his journey into the study of Chinese Metaphysics, which turned out more than he had expected. Today he consults for residential and office settings in the science Classical Feng Shui - without the hoo-blah of village soothsayings.

Questions and curiousities can be directed to ng_sherwin@yahoo.com or ShenGeomancers@yahoo.com.