Cecil Lee

Dear Aj, 1. Usually, when I mention traditional Feng Shui, it is to differentiate Feng Shui from "Black Hat Sect". 2. I also understand that there are so many different interpretations of `Traditional Feng Shui' practises. 3. When I refer to `Traditional Feng Shui' practises these are often referred to at a macro level. 4. For example, the purpose of a theory or concept (even if the mechanics of applying may be different.). Such as Ba Zi is meant for personal self while Flying Star is on the birth chart of the house. 5. I also refer to the most common `cures' used is the metal element. 6. If one follows the above, these are at a macro level. 7. When it comes to say, whether to use a wind chime or grandfather clock or other metal cures, do note that these are more at the level of `micro Feng Shui'. 8. It is like the question you asked whether a wooden furniture can be used as a wood cure. Your question is at the micro level and subject to many many interpretations. 9. In this forum it is good to understand all issues and as mentioned earlier, in `Traditional' Feng Shui as discussed here is therefore based on more acceptable macro practises. I do not nor mentioned that one must follow only one practise here. 10. As *BTB* Feng Shui is very popular, usually, when I mentioned `Traditional' it is to differentiate " Traditional FS" with *BTB* practises. 10. On your question on my view of whether a wood furniture can be used as a cure:- 10.1 It is common for many Feng Shui practitioners instead to look at a person's element and for example, if the practitioner finds that the person `lacks' wood, they may advise the person to use more wood furniture in their home. It need not be at only a sector or corner of the house. 10.2 To me, usually, a "wooden" furniture e.g. a couch or living room seats do have cushions and materials that are comfortable to sit on. Unless one goes out and buy an outdoor bench made entirely of wood. 10.3 Wood `cures' are less common than say the use of metal cures. It would be better, if plants are used as a `wood cure' rather than (to me) preferred than say using a piece of wooden furniture for a specific sector. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Luigi, When we refer to Gua or (Kua), it usually refers only to the individual. Therefore, the 4 good and 4 bad directions or sectors are based on the Gua no. of an indivdual or person. For example, if a person's Gua is `East'; he/she or their best direction is EAST or an EAST house. The 4 good and 4 bad direction or sectors therefore, only relate to a person's Gua. In order to find out how suitable a house to a person, we need to find the direction of the main entrance. Thus for example, if the main entrance is located at the EAST, there is a match between the person (his/her Gua) and the house. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, 1. Further to what Robert has mentioned, there is really nothing mysterious about "Purple Star". 2. This is because, it sounds so `powerful' or when we hear the discussion Purple-White, it simply means Purple = Flying Star no. #9 with White = Flying Star no. #1. i.e. it may imply e.g. mountain star is #9 and water star is #1. 3. To clear the doubt, I reproduce numbers used in this forum with the `color' relationship:- 1 White One White 2 Black Two Black 3 Brown Three Brown 4 Green Four Green 5 Yellow Five Yellow 6 White Six White 7 Gold Seven Gold 8 White Eight White 9 Purple Nine Purple Thus instead of talking about wood #3, we may listen in on some forum discussion that #3 is known as Three Brown. We can call Flying Star numerology by any name but if we understand their equivalent e.g. in Number and Color, it is easy to follow forum conversations of some " FS consultants " in their discussion of Flying Star. When we know that by simply placing a chart as shown above, we can easily say listen in on a `converstation' and participate on equal terms. Therefore, there is no mystery here. Purple Star with mountain # and water # and base # are one and the same. Here, one should not confuse oneself with Tzu Wei Star (which is actually Flying Star) but given a `grand' and cosmetic name with Ba Zi which is " Four Pillars " or our Eight Characters - reading or commonly known as Pillars of Destiny. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear April, 1. Five ghosts is the " direct translation " of the Mandarin word used in the Eight House Theory. 2. Under this website's, Eight House Theory, in order not to `give' the wrong impression, I had named it " Spook ". 3. This is because, the word " Five Ghosts " can be quite misleading. It does not necessary mean that there are literally FIVE ghosts that " spook " a person. 4. In the Eight House theory, some of the common terms used for inauspicious sectors are: a. death sector b. disaster sector c. Irritation d. Spook = " Five Ghosts ". 5. Therefore, when we look at the above, the two `more serious' concerns are the sectors with death/disaster. 6. While `irritation' and `spook (5 ghosts)' suggest some stumbling block or occassional "downs". 7. Many Feng Shui cures utilise " metal " element as a cure. This can be e.g. the use of color e.g. white or pastel shades, metal e.g. grandfather clock, wind chimes. 8. In Traditional Feng Shui, the Flying Star analysis is used to accurately determine the use of metal. 9. In the Flying Star analysis, it can be done i.e. 20 year flying star; Yearly flying star; Monthly flying star; Daily flying star; Hourly flying star; In minutes flying star 10. So, what you had mentioned is based on Yearly flying star. 11. For those who are new to Flying Star, please take note of the following:- 11.1 The Yearly Flying Star is often written by book authors to show the base # flying star of a year. YEARLY FLYING STAR ANALYSIS It may not be complete because it only takes into account the base number for the year. 11.2 Under Para 11.1, the about is not personalised to a person's house birth chart because it does not consider:- a. The period the house was built b. The direction of the main entrance. For e.g. 15 degrees. c. It does not analyse all three factors i.e. the base number with the moutain star # and water star #. 12. In Traditional Feng Shui, it is usually analysed in conjuction with the 20 Year Flying Star period. Where, this YEAR number is `overlapped' with the 20 Year Flying Star period to check for imbalances and if there is an imbalance caused e.g. at North sector which requires say a cure of " Fire element " at the North. But, in the Yearly Flying star, the recommendation, could instead be the use of metal, then, only after a Flying Star consultant has looked at both charts, he may advise, say using "metal" cure for that particular year at that sector instead of "fire" cure. Hope the above helps. Cecil

Dear Anon, 'Purple-White Star' is already used in the Flying Star, as it is the basis of the Flying Star. It is termed Purple White due to the fact that chinese names reflects it. Thus, this means that this theory is already found in Flying Star. It is cannot be directly related to Ba Zi simply because it is the calculation for the House Feng Shui while Ba Zi is the calculation for the personal Feng Shui. However, we did relate in it the way that the results of the analysis are often compared to the individual birth element to the flying star sectors. Warmest Regards Robert Lee

Dear Freddy, 1. Since you are occupying only a room (rental), you can still place decorative objects in your room. 2. I have known many who have done this. 3. One can still use the Eight House to divide the room into eight sectors but since it is usually a relatively small room can be considered not practical to do so. 4. More important consideration is to make sure that (or try) to make the room conform to Shapes and Form FS. 5. If it is difficult to do so, then, at least avoid having the bed on the same wall as the toilet. 6. If there is a window, check to see that there is no poison arrow aimed into your bedroom. 7. If possible, not to have the room become too cluttered with personal items. 8. If you are considering `decorative items' which you like, you can purchase them and display them especially at the corners or on the side table of the bed. 9. Or if you have a small display shelf, you can still display say these items. 10. The two objects are not considered `deities' or gods so, if there are no other locations, you may still let them face the bed. It is good to place them say higher level than the bed or on the study table - are still acceptable. 11. More importantly, you must feel good purchasing them and look around the room for a location, first before going ahead to purchase them. 12. Many Feng Shui `cures' use metal as a cure. For example, to cure bad wood or bad earth elements. 13. Thus "metal" objects are still considered safe items (if one does not analyse sectors for a balance). 14. However, the only metal objects to be " cautious " of are metallic wind chimes. For example, one may have to be careful of:- 14.1 Wind Chimes espeically the 5 rods and 5 solid rods as it may enhance bad earth number #5. 14.2 Use metal wind chimes with care at North-West, West (both metal element locations) - one do not want to create an imbalance of metal at these sectors (unknowingly). 14.3 Avoid using metallic wind chimes at North-East (Devil's gate) and South-West (Devil's back door). 14.4 If one's house in in alignment with a burial site at the NE. Or near a cemetry or burial ground or a "wake." Warmest Regards, Cecil Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, 1. The main door is the door that (usually is interpreted) as the door e.g. with the house number on it. 2. Please see below:- 4. Here, by tilting the main door e.g. to North, or another direction, which is favourable to the breadwinner, it is like killing two birds with one stone i.e. avoiding the NE direction and making it auspicious for the breadwinner. 5. For your question of making the door the "northern direction" perhaps can you specify further. 6. As in the Compass School of Feng Shui, north is north, south is south. There is no reference to north and "northern direction?". 7. In such a situation, I believe that it is not correct to say that north can be the "northern direction". As mentioned, perhaps, you may need to elaborate further or I may have misunderstood your question. 8. In tradtional Feng Shui, `frontage' is also another factor. 9. For example, the main entrance may be at the side of the building but the frontage could be facing North i.e. where some FS practitioners say that there is `more light' coming in to the building. Also, I almost 10. I like to understand that: Are you using the back door because of convenience or did you purposely use the back door because it is considered an auspicious sector? In using the back door, you can check that it is an auspicious sector for you. But in terms of using Compass School computation of the birth chart of the house, say using Flying Star method, you should preferably use the compass direction of the main door as the input of the compass degree. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Joanne, In a bedroom, it is quite difficult to change the layout especially the bed. 1. It is most important to make sure that the bed conform to Shapes and Form School of Feng Shui (FIRST). Here:- 1. Where possible the bed should not be on the same wall as the door to the bedroom. 2. It should preferably be on the opposite wall of the entrance door. 3. Where possible it should have a solid backing e.g. a wall instead of placing it against a window. 4. If the side of the bed is near a window, a gap e.g. by placing a side table or leaving some space for someone to walk is good. 5. Where possible it should not be on the same wall as the toilet. Warmest Regards, Cecil

For a strong water person, (other than taking into considering the season of strength) the best colours are: Favourable: Wood i.e. green and brown The reason here is that wood well help a strong water person exhaust the "strong water" i.e. control it. Or the use of " Earth " element to destroy water. Earth colour is yellow or square shaped. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Freddy, Please see below:- Yes, this is based on the theory of the Eight Trigram or Eight house theory. However, the element used here is not used as your personal element partially due to the fact that eight house uses only year of birth which thus makes it less accurate to determining the personal element. Well, I believe this is not exactly a theory but rather that it is based on just the year i.e. 1976 is a Fire element. For a simplistic method of determination you can be considered a Fire person (based on the YEAR of birth i.e. due to the fact that you are a born in the year of the Fire. However, again for a year of fire, it does not mean that everyone born in the year of the fire is a fire person. Every day one is born in will be considered a different element eg you can be a Metal-Fire, Water-Fire person depending on which day you are born in. Thus, in terms of personal element, the theory you should use is the Pillars of Destiny (Ba Zi Feng Shui), where you take your day, month, year & hour of birth to determine your true element. Based on the free report to determine your personal element (http://www.geomancy.net/report), it has been determined that you are a Metal person born in the year of Fire. Thus you are a Metal person. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Brad, 1. It is good to see if the amount of plants is proportionate to the size of the interior of the home. 2. Currently, there is no fixed ruleset to the amount of plants. 3. As to the placement of the plants, usually they are placed at either corners or close to the edge of walls where they do not `interfere' with pedestrian traffic or create /or likely to cause accidents especially in the dark of the night. 4. It is always good advise to check with family members or hear their comments on the placement (or non-placement) of the plants. Getting family members to `participate' and provide feedback is, in my opinion, a good idea. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, 1. Thanks for taking the effort to upload the two pictures. 2. In my opinion, as the pillow is not exactly black but do have red covering on both sides of it, I feel that it is still acceptable. 3. As the black background at the centre perhaps is part of the design of this cover and it is usual to have a mandarin character in this case the `Traditional form' character. 4. If it is totally black, it is best to be avoided. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Kaushal, For a wind chime, it is advisable to purchase it with hollow rods rather than solid rods. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Luigi, Let me share my personal experience with "The Eight House Theory" 1. In the past, and even now, it is very tempting for many people in the West to Apply " Feng Shui " methods such as `fixed templates ' such as those of the Black Hat Sect. 2. Such " marketing ploys " are so easy to relate to and Applied. 3. In Traditional Feng Shui, or for Traditional Feng Shui to be "equally successful" it has also to be able to be Applied with ease. 4. To `counter' the explosion of `fixed template' " FS ", the two most successful Traditional FS models can give such `fixed templates' a "hard fight": 4.1 Shapes and Form Feng Shui 4.1.1 This form of FS, if illustrated very well can be easy to understand. 4.1.2. However, those relating more to " vapour " or Qi is harder to grope e.g. locating the `ellusive' dragon and tiger. Under this area, it may be easy to `understand' but harder to apply. 4.1.3 Majority of time, shapes and form is the easiest to understand. 4.2 The Eight House Theory 4.2.1 In my opinion, the most successful model i.e. to the introduction of Compass School Feng Shui is still this model. 4.2.2 This is why you can see quite alot of messages posted in the past i.e. in this forum is devoted to this subject. 4.2.3 And rightly so, it is a means of " introduction " to more personalised Feng Shui i.e. such as taking into consideration the YEAR of one's birth. 5. Thus, in my opinion, Traditional Feng Shui owes much of its success to both these two Schools of Feng Shui. 6. Of course, some of us, who after, having being familiar with these two concepts want more and more.. 7. Thus, more advanced FS subjects such as Flying Star and Pillars of Destiny come into play. 8. The combination of all these concepts are under the Five Elements and the most popular School of Feng Shui is known as Ba Zhi Feng Shui. 9. Here, everything is to the common denominator of the Five Elements and the determination or analysis by strength ie. weak or strong and yin/yang. 10. Proper use of The Eight House Concept will cause NO HARM Why is this so? If one properly understand and `apply' the Eight House concept, it causes no harm because, it is to tell e.g. the suitability of the person to a specific location or sector. 11. Here, the Eight House Theory is not used to apply `cures'. We cannot apply cures to a sector e.g. if it is our Death / Disaster sector. 12. We have to try to `avoid' spending too much time here. 13. Contrast this with `fixed template' "FS' where, the "marketing guy or gal" would advise you to buy e.g. wind chimes, water fountain etc... and place it at that sector. This may inadvertenly activate the wrong elements. 14. Again, contrast, the `fixed template' "FS" with Flying Star. Where Flying Star analyses a sector for imbalances and try to use a `cure'. Hope that you can now better understand the relationship of the Eight House better and how, it serves to `counter' fixed template stuffs. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, 1. Usually, the Gua number refers to the `Eight House' Gua (Kua). 2. You can generate a manual report at : http://www.geomancy.net/fs/house1.htm 3. The above links has write-up on how to use the Gua to your home. Such as finding the centrepoint etc... 4. You can also used the Free on-line report i.e. The Eight House Report at http://www.geomancy-online.com to generate this and many other reports. 5. My Applied Feng Shui book has at least two formulas for calculating the Gua number. The methods are equally applicable to greater than Year 2000. 6. Recently, I received a private e-mail from a user using Lillian Too's (one method) where one needs to input the `four digits'. I believe, this method is not able to apply to Year 2000. (For those who may trying using it). 7. If you are doing a manual calculation of Gua (Kua), it is best to check with my manual method (As mentioned under Para 2 above) or simply use the online reports as mentioned under Para 3. All these are free reports to confirm your own calculations. As all the methods used in the website and sister websites have been verified by me to be compliant with Year 2000 or greater. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Luigi, I do understand what you mean. 1. I believe, the popularity of Feng Shui today can be attributed to the Eight House Theory. It is so easy to understand and apply. 2. Therefore, the Key Success Factor is in being able to apply a theory or concept. 3. In my opinion, this is why there is such a huge following of Feng Shui in the areas of: 3.1 Shapes and Form. The concepts here are easy to `see' from illustrations and yet many are based on commonsense. 3.2 Eight House. This is as mentioned earlier, very easy to apply and relatively straightfoward. 4. Because the Eight House is so easy, it is actually more general but still based on one's Gua (Kua) i.e. Year of Birth and distinction between a Male and Female. 5. Because of its (Eight House) simplicity, it is thus `less' accurate than say using the Five Elements concept. 6. In order to use the Five Elements concept, it is not as easy as finding that the direction is Water (North) and your element as Fire element. 7. When we use the Five Elements concept, one must also determine the STRENGTH of one's element. 8. Therefore, if one considers the above, the strength of your element can determine the final conclusion also. For example, if one is a Strong Fire person, and the direction in question is North (Water); this can be benificial. As water, helps to balance or neutralise Strong Fire person. 9. If one is very familiar with the Five Elements and strenghts, one should use this theory and apply it. If doing so, one can give the Eight House concept a miss. 10. If one looks at concepts `directly' and try to match them, for some of us, it can become contradictions. Apply what one is comfortable with. 11. It is never wise to try to apply so many concepts at any one time. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Perhaps, if you can draw a sketch, it would show a clearer picture of your situation. In "Office" Feng Shui there are two main considerations:- 1. Placement of office furniture of the CEO and other top ranking officals. Here, since these people are spearheading the company, it is best to increase the `luck' element and harmony of them, first. 2. As what you have described, first thing is to see if the table you are using has a solid support. Usually it is at the side. For the `front' support as in a pillar at the front of the table, it has to be looked at in total i.e. the location of your table in relation to the building and other tables. The location of the toilets / lifts and other passages. As mentioned earlier, it would be nice to see an illustration or sketch of your situation before, commenting further. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Cheui May, Every period can have a Double e.g. 1s; 2s; 3s; 4s; 5s and the rest of the periods. This depends on one of the compass directions in 15 degree increments. These periods are considered good if they fall under the same period e.g. double 5s are considered good in Period 5. Perhaps, it is because you have not encountered a compass direction that has the right combinations of double 5s. Warmest Regards, Cecil On 11/26/00 11:35:00 PM, Cheui May Heui /wrote:

Dear Joy, In my opinion, `corner' theories or concepts are usually not used in more professional Traditional Feng Shui practises. Paying `homage' to a corner is not an ideal way to apply Feng Shui. Usually, this is too general to be of any use to anyone. I believe the proper way is to increase one's Luck by looking at Feng Shui from a holistic way i.e. priority goes to Shapes and Form and the use of Compass School methods. Look at it this way: How are we to know that the SW is always the `commitment' area of a location or house? Even if it is for some of us, it cannot be the commitment area for ALL of us. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Cheui May, In my opinion, as this is not a permanent water feature, this type of house can still be considered in your house hunting. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Freddy, For Nine Star Ki application, you can perhaps purchase books from Nine Star Ki authors. John Sandifier's book is `more technical' and relates to 9 Star Ki (calculation). You can perhaps purchase books by Simon Brown on Nine Star Ki applications. I believe his titles are like Feng Shui for the Home / Feng Shui for the Office. Do search eg. amazon.com for these authors. In general, although you are considered 6 White Metal Element, in my personal opinion, doing or just concentrating only on a specific sector such as the bedroom does not necessarily yield `positive' results. The Key Success Factor in the use of Feng Shui and other disciplines such as Pillars of Destiny is to collectively increase one's luck. Feng Shui of your house is only about Earth Luck. And one considers only the bedroom area, this is only a percentage of the entire Feng Shui of your home. Questions such as:- does not fully increase one's luck. These are subjective questions and of secondary importance to Feng Shui. In Feng Shui of the home, one seeks to balance the Yin/Yang of each room and neutralise any imbalances. The proper method to do so is the use of the Five Elements Concept. Here, it can be applied to each sector of the home (Flying Star) and Pillars of Destiny (for personal self / mapping out one's Heaven Chart). Paying " Homage " to a corner of the house e.g. the bedroom may bring false hope and ultimately.. perhaps disappointment that and lead to the conclusion that " Perhaps.. Feng Shui is of no use as I do not see any results ". The other alternative in not wanting to use the above methods is to rely on one's intuition: `I like the orange coloured light". Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Yes, in Chinese belief, it is not auspicious to use a black lamp shade. As for a throw pillow, this can be quite subjective. If you have a picture of it, perhaps you can post it here. Overall, having black furniture is not necessarily considered bad. For example, many leather seats for the living room are black in colour. Equally, nowadays, many furniture e.g. TV set stands and TV sets are in black colour. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Agnes, Yes, you should take the Flying Star of Period 7 instead of Period 6 due to the renovation work done. Whenever possible, it is also good to look at both Period 6 and Period 7 chart. Usually, one chart is better than the other. And try to match your personal experience with it. For the Period 7 chart, it may take a while for the chart to show its characteristics. As mentioned earlier, it is good to look at both charts. Yes, usually, Period 6 chart, may continue to be applicable for a while. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, 1. Overall, in Feng Shui, it is best that a mirror not be placed on a wall where this could be inauspicious sector as twice the bad luck would bounce back. 2. However, if you feel that it is OK, then you can try to place it above the fireplace. But the mirrow should not be larger than the diameter of the fireplace. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Wasis, In such a situation, frankly, the essence here is that the bed should not be on the same wall and particularly, the `waste pipe' should not criss-cross or next to the bed. The only option is to leave a gap between the bed and this wall. This is perhaps the `lesser of the two evils'. Where it is not ideal for the bed to be away from the wall but this is much better considering the above. Warmest Regards, Cecil Regards, Wasis