Written by Barbara Gee
Most of us assume that strolling in the garden will be a wonderful uplifting experience. But what if it isn’t? What if the stroll depresses you? What if the color combinations do more than unsettle you? Or you find the entrance to the garden unwelcoming? The answer could be more than just bad landscaping. Your garden may be in serious need of Feng Shui.
Feng Shui (pronounced Fung S’way) literally means “wind” and “water”. It is not a religion, as many think, but an ancient Chinese environmental philosophy that is all about building harmony between mankind and the environment. Chinese farmers relied on Feng Shui to determine where and when to plant their crops and how best to embrace the spiritual forces of nature to ensure a more abundant crop. This does not just mean good soil and lots of sun and rain. The philosophy of Feng Shui demands a far deeper and more spiritual understanding of the workings of Mother Nature in order to connect with the sacred in our lives.
In this country the application of Feng Shui is more commonly associated with buildings so many architects and interior designers here are familiar with the concepts. But having good Feng Shui inside your home or office building does not assure a happy environment unless the Feng Shui of your external surroundings is good. How can a building be a happy building if it is placed in an unhappy location? There is good Feng Shui, but there is also bad Feng Shui and the trick is to ensure you have all the good and none of the bad. Bad Feng Shui, however, comes about more from the misapplication, or lack of application, of the principles of Feng Shui.
Garden Feng Shui is a holistic approach to gardening. A Feng Shui analysis of a garden will incorporate an analysis of the air and the soil. This is not to be confused with an American-style soil test which evaluates the Ph and lime content of the soil along with the levels of plant nutrients, organic matter and mineral components of the soil. A Feng Shui analysis calls into play the energy of the soil. The Chinese word for this energy is “Chi”, as in the well-known meditative exercise of T’ai Chi. Chi is the life force of all living things. It is the driving force in human beings, and it is the quality of the environment, the power of the sun, the moon and the weather. The energy present at a location can be altered dramatically with Feng Shui, both for good and bad.
The Chinese have a saying: “First, there is luck; second, destiny; third Feng Shui; fourth, virtue and fifth, education.” As you can see Feng Shui is only a part of the whole. Central to the philosophy is the symbolism of celestial creatures: the Dragon, the Tiger, the Turtle and the Phoenix. These four creatures symbolize landforms, and the position of these landforms around your house dictates whether you have good or bad Feng Shui.
The forces of Yin and Yang are also central to the practice of Feng Shui. They are forces which are opposite to each other but complementary. Yin is dark and conceptualizes the passive female energy symbolized by the moon. These Yin forces are most powerful during the winter months. Yang is all things light and positive and conceptualizes the strong male energy symbolized by the sun and are most powerful during the summer months.
The five types of energy which are so important in Feng Shui are symbolized by the Five Elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water – all of which rely on each other and work together in symbiotic fashion.
There are different schools of Feng Shui but all stress the importance of land formations and the shape, direction and position of water elements. The largest, the most well-known, the Compass School, uses the baqua (or ba’gua) compass which utilizes complex mathematical computations and measurements of various elements at a site. The baqua is divided into eight aspects of life such as career, family, health, and their corresponding elements – wood, metal, earth, etc., as well as their corresponding colors. For instance, the North of the property is associated with career, water and black, the Northeast is knowledge, earth and blue, the East is family, green and wood, and so on. The baqua is superimposed on the site plan to ensure the correct assignment of landscape elements to the correct segment of life to bring about balance and harmony.
With any landscape design there will be a variety of scenarios to consider ranging from a virgin plot to an old and well-established landscape. A virgin plot allows for a total Feng Shui design from the outset. The house itself can be designed in such a way as to ensure good Feng Shui with all the right number of doors and windows facing the right way and so on, and then it can be positioned correctly on the plot according to the principles of Feng Shui. The important elements for good Feng Shui can all be manipulated to ensure good Feng Shui and decrease the potential for bad Feng Shui – the raised terrain will be on the correct side of the house and the essential water feature will be given an auspicious placement. Feng Shui is even applied to the position of the barbecue area. With the house oriented correctly to bring good Feng Shui inside then the external surroundings can be designed in such a way as to dramatically augment the good energy inside the home. The choice of landscaping material will be based on shape, texture, height, and so on, and can be positioned correctly according to Feng Shui principles. The choices are based on principles inherently different to those of our accepted concepts of landscape design.
You should not be downhearted, however, if you do not come to Feng Shui with this pristine empty space. You can still make changes to your environment without re-orienting your home or uprooting trees and diverting rivers through your property. You can make changes, and that is the strength of Feng Shui. Recreating the classical Armchair Configuration created by the positioning of the celestial creatures can be accomplished without shifting your home.
See next month for Part 2 of Feng Shui in the Garden, including resources.
Most of us assume that strolling in the garden will be a wonderful uplifting experience. But what if it isn’t? What if the stroll depresses you? What if the color combinations do more than unsettle you? Or you find the entrance to the garden unwelcoming? The answer could be more than just bad landscaping. Your garden may be in serious need of Feng Shui.
Feng Shui (pronounced Fung S’way) literally means “wind” and “water”. It is not a religion, as many think, but an ancient Chinese environmental philosophy that is all about building harmony between mankind and the environment. Chinese farmers relied on Feng Shui to determine where and when to plant their crops and how best to embrace the spiritual forces of nature to ensure a more abundant crop. This does not just mean good soil and lots of sun and rain. The philosophy of Feng Shui demands a far deeper and more spiritual understanding of the workings of Mother Nature in order to connect with the sacred in our lives.
In this country the application of Feng Shui is more commonly associated with buildings so many architects and interior designers here are familiar with the concepts. But having good Feng Shui inside your home or office building does not assure a happy environment unless the Feng Shui of your external surroundings is good. How can a building be a happy building if it is placed in an unhappy location? There is good Feng Shui, but there is also bad Feng Shui and the trick is to ensure you have all the good and none of the bad. Bad Feng Shui, however, comes about more from the misapplication, or lack of application, of the principles of Feng Shui.
Garden Feng Shui is a holistic approach to gardening. A Feng Shui analysis of a garden will incorporate an analysis of the air and the soil. This is not to be confused with an American-style soil test which evaluates the Ph and lime content of the soil along with the levels of plant nutrients, organic matter and mineral components of the soil. A Feng Shui analysis calls into play the energy of the soil. The Chinese word for this energy is “Chi”, as in the well-known meditative exercise of T’ai Chi. Chi is the life force of all living things. It is the driving force in human beings, and it is the quality of the environment, the power of the sun, the moon and the weather. The energy present at a location can be altered dramatically with Feng Shui, both for good and bad.
The Chinese have a saying: “First, there is luck; second, destiny; third Feng Shui; fourth, virtue and fifth, education.” As you can see Feng Shui is only a part of the whole. Central to the philosophy is the symbolism of celestial creatures: the Dragon, the Tiger, the Turtle and the Phoenix. These four creatures symbolize landforms, and the position of these landforms around your house dictates whether you have good or bad Feng Shui.
The forces of Yin and Yang are also central to the practice of Feng Shui. They are forces which are opposite to each other but complementary. Yin is dark and conceptualizes the passive female energy symbolized by the moon. These Yin forces are most powerful during the winter months. Yang is all things light and positive and conceptualizes the strong male energy symbolized by the sun and are most powerful during the summer months.
The five types of energy which are so important in Feng Shui are symbolized by the Five Elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water – all of which rely on each other and work together in symbiotic fashion.
There are different schools of Feng Shui but all stress the importance of land formations and the shape, direction and position of water elements. The largest, the most well-known, the Compass School, uses the baqua (or ba’gua) compass which utilizes complex mathematical computations and measurements of various elements at a site. The baqua is divided into eight aspects of life such as career, family, health, and their corresponding elements – wood, metal, earth, etc., as well as their corresponding colors. For instance, the North of the property is associated with career, water and black, the Northeast is knowledge, earth and blue, the East is family, green and wood, and so on. The baqua is superimposed on the site plan to ensure the correct assignment of landscape elements to the correct segment of life to bring about balance and harmony.
With any landscape design there will be a variety of scenarios to consider ranging from a virgin plot to an old and well-established landscape. A virgin plot allows for a total Feng Shui design from the outset. The house itself can be designed in such a way as to ensure good Feng Shui with all the right number of doors and windows facing the right way and so on, and then it can be positioned correctly on the plot according to the principles of Feng Shui. The important elements for good Feng Shui can all be manipulated to ensure good Feng Shui and decrease the potential for bad Feng Shui – the raised terrain will be on the correct side of the house and the essential water feature will be given an auspicious placement. Feng Shui is even applied to the position of the barbecue area. With the house oriented correctly to bring good Feng Shui inside then the external surroundings can be designed in such a way as to dramatically augment the good energy inside the home. The choice of landscaping material will be based on shape, texture, height, and so on, and can be positioned correctly according to Feng Shui principles. The choices are based on principles inherently different to those of our accepted concepts of landscape design.
You should not be downhearted, however, if you do not come to Feng Shui with this pristine empty space. You can still make changes to your environment without re-orienting your home or uprooting trees and diverting rivers through your property. You can make changes, and that is the strength of Feng Shui. Recreating the classical Armchair Configuration created by the positioning of the celestial creatures can be accomplished without shifting your home.
See next month for Part 2 of Feng Shui in the Garden, including resources.