What Is Feng Shui?

Everyone has probably heard the term feng shui before. You hear it a lot in the decorating world especially. But hearing it and having a vague notion of what it is doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about it and it won’t help you decorate your house. First you need to understand the basics of feng shui before you can truly appreciate it.

Where Did Feng Shui Originate?

Basically, feng shui are rules in Chinese philosophy that are meant to govern special arrangements and orientation in relation to either the patterns of yin and yang or the flow of energy. It’s been used in some form or another for centuries – in fact, many of China’s capital cities follow feng shui rules in both their designs and layouts. There are even rules for builders codified in a carpenter’s manual known as Kaogon ji. It’s also common for graves and tombs to follow this set of rules.

Feng shui history goes back nearly 3500 years and originated in Chinese astronomy. The furthest techniques date back to Neolithic China. Even the magnetic compass was invented for feng shui!

What Are Its Foundation Theories?

Today, the goal of practicing this ancient art is to build a human environment on spots with good qi, also known as ch’i. Practitioners search out a “perfect spot” that is considered a location and axis in time. 

Qi can be one of two things: a negative life force or a movable position that plays an essential role in the art. (You may be more familiar with the martial arts concept of “energy” that qi often refers to). An example of this would be a teacher determining the flow of energy from an object and then balancing the object’s structure, age and interaction with the things that surround it, like the vegetation, soil quality or local microclimates.

Polarity refers to the yin and yang theory. You have one force exerting a push and one exerting a pull. The five elements of feng shui – earth, metal, wood, fire and water – are made of yin and yang. It attempts to align an object’s polarity with yin-yang force fields.

Also important in feng shui is the bagua, which are two diagrams. There is the Lo Chart (called the Later Heaven Sequence) and the Hetu Chart (Early Heaven Sequence) indicate that time is the heart of feng shui. The four directions are represented by the Green Dragon (East), Red Phoenix (South), White Tiger (West) and Dark Turtle (North). These diagrams were developed for feng shui.

Using all of these elements, the art of feng shui has become popular.