Feng Shui - Authentic, Traditional Or Popular - Which Version Is Right For You?

Love it or hate it, not all Feng Shui is the same.

Authentic Feng Shui

It arose from the close study of natural forces, and manipulating the alchemy of the world around us to create desired outcomes. Change can occur quickly and explosively. It is a metaphysical science that requires a long and revered commitment to its study, and shows a disdain for what passes today as feng shui. It does not use symbols. It studies the landscape, the heavens, the directions, the seasons, the flow of time and personal birth charts.

Yes, in the very beginning of human civilisation, this artful knowledge quite likely began in agricultural circumstances. Farmers the world over intimately came to know the conditions for successful harvests. But in the ancient Chinese world, a systemised body of knowledge was beginning to be developed, using categorisations that can be directly compared with many modern scientific categorisations. Science in China did not suffer the suppressive effects that science in Europe did for many centuries.

Authentic feng shui is used by the very rich and very powerful. Because it works. Practitioners at this level are secretive. You will not find them because they don't advertise themselves, or if they do, it is in a very low key way. It is not easy to learn, because it is not easy to find someone to teach you. Think of secret societies in our culture.

Traditional Feng Shui

This is what has trickled through to the general population, who were often unschooled, and who needed memory aids to remind them of guiding principles. The strength of the authentic Feng Shui teachings is undoubtedly diluted, because people would be overwhelmed by the forces that could be unleashed. However, traditional practices can be used with some success because of the grain of truth embedded in the embellishments.

Traditional feng shui often hangs on superstitions and legends as memory aids, leading to the generous use of symbols as offerings and appeasements to numerous Daoist or Buddhist deities. A few true Masters straddle the disciplines of both authentic and traditional feng shui, and will dispense their teachings to the appropriate level of the student or the client. However, most of today's touted Masters are responding to the hunger in Western culture has for their knowledge, and after initial caution, are now responding enthusiastically to share what they can.

Popular Feng Shui

Because we have become confident in the use of many ways to improve our health and our lives, we believe that anything that improves our home or our wellbeing can be thrown in under the banner of feng shui. I'm talking about aromatherapy, music, color therapy, interior design. We think we can apply this art and discipline to anything to make it more pleasing to us. Cars, Christmas trees, mobile phones, faces, hairstyles, clothes, and so on.

Our stated intention is to make the energy flow better, to make something feel more harmonious. Well, yes, that is good, but does it have to be called Feng Shui? Is this the only discipline that has this goal? In our time and place, the term Feng Shui has become synonymous with energy flow. How we apply it is as a pale echo of the true power of authentic beginnings.