pikkie

Dear Cecil I am personally no artist, but my partner is pretty good at particularly caricatures and cartoon-type characters. I speak his ear off enough about Feng Shui in our home for him to understand what the "characters" should look like. Maybe I can get him to do one and then you can see if you like it. How do you want it sent to you? Must it be in colour or black&white? Kind regards Toni

Dear Cecil So glad M Luther asked this question - I've been wondering how macro or micro one should go in analysing the elements in a career. Do you look at e.g. the type of industry the company is in, i.e. manufacturing = water? Within that company, there is likely to be many departments, so you could end up in H.R. (earth), marketing (fire) etc. etc. The manufacturing company may very well produce a product molded of hard polycarbonate plastic (metal). When you want to find the correct career element to prosper or enhance your own element, do you need to look at all the above factors? Kind regards Toni

Dear Cecil What does one do when you find that the exact centre of your home is inside the linen closet and extends to a small part of the livingroom wall where the Hi-Fi speakers are situated? Kind regards Toni

Dear Robert / Cecil This question has been asked before, but I still don't understand the reasoning - please indulge me. I understand that the Flying Star numbers are based on the direction of the front/main entrance. I struggle with this concept, because even though it is clear which is my main entrance door, I do not necessarily consider it the "front" side of my home (east 2), even though it fulfills most of your requirements for it to be so, i.e. it has the number next to the door; it is the only access point into the home for visitors etc. and it is the first side of the home that people see. However, architecturally it does not appear to be the front. What I consider the front, has a private patio (the people who live in the unit above me, have a balcony), there is an open flat area with grass and garden plants with a walll behind it. More importantly, the main living areas, e.g. main bedroom and living room (with sliding doors) are on this side of the building too, which is also why I consider it the front. Yet, because there is no main door through which you can enter on this side of the home, I am forced to "name" my facing side as East 2 where the main door is and not West 2. Could you please explain to me why the main door is so important? I can understand it to a certain extent when plotting the period chart, I understand the importance less when plotting the mountain and water stars. Surely the water star and mountain star should be based on the front / sitting side of the home and not the main door? Or is this just one of those non-negotiable rules i.e. that is just the way it is? Keeping the above in mind, where do I start looking for my four celestial animals from the Form and Shapes School point of view? Definitely the main door again? Or what is architecturally the front of the home? If it is the main door - would this be the main door to my home? Or the main electronic gate to our complex (for all 48 units). I hope you will clarify this for me. I can't get off the starting blocks until I'm clear on it. Kind regards Toni

Dear Cecil Are self-punishment symbols an inevitable bad event waiting to happen or can we exercise control over it or nullify the effects. Or do we helplessly await the "punishment". Also, if you are a weak element and have an element missing in your chart - do you introduce that element to create balance, or do you rather strengthen your weak element? What if the element missing and the element strengthening clash? e.g. weak water - no wood element (wood that's missing and metal that strengthens clash). e.g. weak wood - no fire element (fire that's missing and water that strengthens clash) Please advise. Kind regards Toni Pedro

Dear Cecil Do you have any plans in the future to introduce a course on Pillars of Destiny? Regards Toni

Hi Cecil I have two questions:- One: In a previous posting, the self-punishment symbols Wu and Chen were mentioned as examples. Should self-punishment symbols occur in a chart, does it mean one is helpless to prevent "bad/unfortunate" events, or can one exercise some control over the situation or diminish the extent of how badly the event will affect our lives? Secondly: The philosophy of the five elements is all about balance. So if you are a weak element and there is an element in your chart that is missing, what takes precedence, to introduce the missing element into your life to create balance? Or to strengthen your weak element by that which strengthens it? What if the element that is missing and the element that strengthens clashes? Hope you can understand my question. Kind regards Toni Pedro

Dear Cecil Your theory of whether ghosts are "international" is quite interesting. I suspect personally, that it has more to do with the magnetic field i.e. the compass in the luopan than the fact that the luopan is of "Chinese" origin, since it is the needle in the luopan which spins. This would indicate to me that spirits or ghosts have magnetic fields which would affect the luopan. I would imagine that a normal compass should "detect" a ghost just as readily as would a luopan. What do you think. It would be interesting to try both. It would indeed be interesting to know if ghosts were afraid of say, the bagua/pakua in western parts of the world. Best wishes Toni Pedro

Dear Cecil / Robert Hope you can assist again. My boss's main office door directly faces the top of the staircase (which leads downstairs to the reception and main entrance to the building.) His office door also opens to the outside and not to the inside of his office. I have pointed out to him that this might not be very auspicious and he has asked me to fix it. He has asked the maintenance department to change the door so that it opens to the inside, but I'm not sure what else I can do to stop the Qi "rushing down the stairs and out the front door." There is a lot of "human traffic" up and down the stairs all day and I feel the Qi has no time to meander. He also sits with his back to the window and quite close to an airconditioner under the window. Not good, is it? What would take precedence - the fact that he should face one of his good directions, or under no circumstances sit with his back to a large window? (The blinds are mostly closed.) Could you offer some advice? Kind regards Toni Pedro Could you offer some advice?

Dear Cecil Further information in order to answer my question is as follows:- 1. Country - South Africa 2. Christianity is the predominant religion. 3. Yes - the religion at the time that the hospital was still used as a hospital, would also be christian (although it has not been used as a hospital for many years now.) 4. My partner is also christian. 5. Company deals with training and communications equipment. 6. No morgue nearby that we know of. (Although there could have been one in the past.) 7. The office he currently is in, used to be the consulting room. Most of the other offices were ofcourse wards and the hospital was mostly for maternity and general surgery. 8. Amongst other activity, the most obvious is the strong medicinal/hospital smell that often fills a room and there is usually no satisfactory explanation for this. Regards Toni

Dear Cecil and Robert My partner is a sales executive and his company's offices are located in an old hospital. The atmosphere is very yin there and there is some spirit activity there too, although it doesn't bother him - I can't believe that the environment can be conducive to a successful business. Since he has no choice in the location of the offices, could you please advise what he as an individual can do to improve the Qi in his own surroundings at work. Regards Toni

Dear Robert Would the same assumption apply in assessing the direction of the "main door" in an office?, i.e. one would take the direction of the door leading into your office as opposed to the main front door of the office building itself? Kind regards Toni Pedro

Dear Cecil I understand from reading Lillian Too's books that the pakua of the former heaven sequence is Yin (for the dead) and she cautions against using this pakua above your door. She says the later heaven sequence should be placed above the door, because it signifies yang (for the living.) Could you clarify for me, since you seem to indicate that the former heaven sequence is used above one's door? Thanks & best wishes Toni

Dear Cecil Is it not true that there is a difference between the form/shape school and the compass school in their methods for finding the green dragon and white tiger? i.e. I've read that for the form/shape school, you stand at your front door, facing outwards and the green dragon is on the left and the white tiger is on the right, regardless of the direction your main entrance is facing. Then is it true that the Compass School would find the green dragon to the east and white tiger to the west as per the compass readings (also regardless of which way your main entrance faces.) After all, not everyone's homes face South. Just when I think I have a handle on this concept, something else confuses me. Please comment. Best Regards Toni Pedro

Dear Cecil In answer to your question, yes I have a stove in my kitchen as well. This is placed against the south wall of my kitchen. Since this would be a fire area, I trust this is in order. However, the door of the oven does face the entrance to the kitchen, and the entrance to the kitchen is close to the main entrance(at a right angle). I hope all that warmth is not going straight out the door too fast. As for the microwave - I'm relieved to hear it can stay on top of the fridge, since it is not a convection microwave oven and therefore not used to cook food in the conventional sense. Thanks again for clarifying this for me. Kind regards Toni Pedro