Feng Shui literally means, "wind-water" in Chinese.  It has become one of the hottest trends in design today and even HGTV picked up a new show called Fun Shui, about redesigning spaces using Feng Shui. There are many forms of Feng Shui. The Form School began in Southern China.  It is based on looking at and evaluating landforms, waterways and geography like mountain ranges and valleys. You will know it is form school if the words: Phoenix, Dragon, Turtle and White Tiger are used.

Compass School Feng Shui comes from the relatively flat landscape of northern China and does not use geography as a benchmark.  This traditional classical Feng Shui practice uses either the Chinese (luo pan) or Western-style compass to determine the eight compass directions in a room, office or home.  Because those directions relate to various aspects in your life you place corresponding colors, symbols, numbers and elements in the areas you want to activate.

Black Sect Tantric Tibetan School is the school that has gained notoriety and popularity in the United States.  Master Lin Yun of Berkeley first introduced this style in the Bay Area.  This school uses the Bagua in your home or office by standing at the entrance facing the structure or room and placing objects that enhance that area.  This school deals with setting your intention.

All these schools use fundamental concepts that are:  Flow of energy, Balance of Yin and Yang and Interaction of the five elements. (water, wood, fire, earth, and metal).

To promote the flow of energy, avoid sharp, straight edges such as file cabinets facing your back in your office. Freeways, tunnels, bridges, buildings, corners of buildings and lampposts have straight edges called sha chi's or "killing energy" or "poison arrows".

To balance yin and yang you must first understand that yin represent the female: soft, passive, nurturing, flowing, even numbers and the right side. Yang is male and represents things: bright, hard, active, aggressive, odd numbers and the left side. In our Universe there should be a balance of these two components that make up the tai ch'i.

The five elements relate to each other in two ways, generative and destructive.  For example, in a generative relationship, water nourishes wood (think of watering your plants) and earth creates metal (we extract crystals from the earth). In a destructive relationship an obvious example is water destroys fire.  An interesting example is wood destroys earth (think of a forest fire and saplings are replanted into the soil to hold the earth). 

When you truly understand these relationships it is easier to determine where you place items in your home or office and create a better balance. One further note: with the holiday season upon us once again do you notice the colors red and green everywhere?  Green represents wood and red of course is fire and means abundance.  So we have the wood element "supporting" abundance when we all go out shopping and buying gifts for family and friends.  My next column will go into the art of setting intentions for the New Year.

If you would like to set an appointment Consy will be at her Las Vegas home January 8th to the 16th.