Feng Shui is a Chinese Metaphysical science. It is also called Chinese Geomancy, both an art and science which originated from ancient China, about four thousand years ago. Feng Shui, which means wind and water, has been used for many centuries to create harmony and balance to the environment we live in. There is a guideline of rules to follow as laid down by the ancient masters in order to harness the chi of our living environment, indoor and outdoor, on land, in the water, across the mountains, in fact chi is everywhere.

What is chi? This invisible energy is like other waves such as radio, mobile phones, fax machines, internet, satellite transmissions, which are completely invisible to the human eye yet powerful to control one's life. There are two types of chi, good and bad: Good chi can be used to improve human aspiration. It can enhance your relationship, attract opportunities and improve chances for success, and it can give careers a boost. Bad chi can bring sorrow and suffering. It leads to financial difficulty, poverty, ill-health and disappointment.

What is the difference between good and bad Feng Shui? Bad Feng Shui brings misfortune, illness and disaster, accidents and financial loss. It may cause opportunities to slip away, careers to fade away, wealth squandered and reputations to collapse. It causes grave unhappiness and results in tragic consequences for the family. Good Feng Shui can attract help and goodwill towards the home, bring helpful people into your life, give you a way out when you get into trouble and can make you enormously wealthy. Feng Shui can give you wonderful children, helping the next generation become better focused and better motivated, improve opportunities.

How many schools of Feng Shui are there? There are two, the form school and the compass school. The form school deals mainly with the landscape and the surrounding environment including the mountains and the waterways. In the compass school there are the Eight Mansions, Flying Star, and the Three Combination which require the Lo-pan (Chinese compass) to ascertain the best and good sector direction.

What about specialised Feng Shui? Specialised branches of Feng Shui are Door alignment for good and success chi to enter, Kitchen location for wealth, health and good fortune and the most advanced waterworks known as the WATER DRAGON SYSTEM to attract opportunities, prosperity, success, filial children and long life. The water dragon is the most advanced school of Feng Shui it overrides all styles, but unfortunately it is so rare that there are very few practitioners practising it. It is a closely guarded secret that is passed from Master to disciple.

Feng Shui is an ancient art that has been handed down from one generation to another. Because of its diversity in its working principles it has been divided into many schools. This has created confusion among the Feng Shui beginners for they do not know which school to follow. Feng Shui has its origins in the I-Ching, The Book of Changes, as it is known in the west. Its principles are part and parcel of the I-Ching philosophy. To the ancient Chinese everything in this world was governed by the law of ying and yang and wu xing (five elements). They believed that the world was constantly changing but these changes did not occur at random. On the contrary, they did so according to a regular pattern of recurrence. It is this pattern of changes that constitutes what the present day scientists call the dimensions of time and space.

Why do people craze over this ancient art called Feng Shui? It may be curiosity on one hand but it could well be the quest for Feng Shui knowledge that drives people around. Most people would like to know how Feng Shui would affect the environment they live in and the place they work in. As a matter of fact, each of us to some degree would want to peep into the future and find out what is in store for us. For the poor and the unsuccessful people, they want to know when luck would come their way. For the wealthy and the famous, they too want to know how long good fortunes would smile upon them. Feng Shui is a science in its own domain of philosophy. When you understand how time and space form the backbone of Feng Shui you are beginning to understand Feng Shui in its true perspective. The importance of time and space in Feng Shui is well illustrated in an episode where Confucius met Lao Zhi. Lao Zhi told Confucius that when the right opportunity came along, he must act or else he may as well lie low and keep a low profile.

The study of Feng Shui covers two aspects namely (1) the physical symbol or shape Luan Tou and (2) Li Qi, cosmic breath or life-energy. Feng Shui expounds on the effect of direction, position and the whereabouts of a hill, a river, a tall building etc.. This in fact is all about the dimension of space. (a) Symbolic Feng Shui touches on the geographical features such as mountains, rivers, oceans, buildings, roads and bridges in a city. (b) Li Qi is Feng Shui in a mobile form. Its emphasis is on the importance of the measurement of a direction by means of an instrument called Luo Pan, the compass.

Its verdict of good luck or ill luck depends on the law of afflicting, begetting and merging of the five elements. The Li Qi theory covers two aspects. The first aspect deals with the hexagram (Ba Gua) obtained as a result of a flying star in a palace and determines how it would affect the life of a person. The second aspect involves the calculation and forecast of the cyclical changes of Feng Shui. This sort of dynamic (as opposed to static) Feng Shui is a complicated science which has a great mathematical value.

Feng Shui is not superstition but an ancient art of choosing the best orientation with nature so as to avoid nature's wrath in life. It is based on Qi of the universe with its nucleus as its contents. It embraces the philosophy of I-Ching, the principle of the law of the five elements, the effect of the constellations and the logic of Life Analysis. It is indeed a field of higher learning.