The Role of Water - The Sun Property Plus
8th July 2005

WATER is an important factor in the practice of classical feng shui. Even the Chinese characters of feng shui represent wind and water. Basically, feng shui stands for qi (energy) that is carried by the wind and accumulated by the water.

Which is why water is normally used as an activating and accumulating factor in feng shui. Why activating? If you look at a body of water, it is never really still. It can be still one moment but at the slightest breeze, ripples will appear.

The basic principle of water is that it should accumulate and activate the good qi of a place. If bad qi is activated, then disasters can follow; anything from annoyances and obstructions to loss of wealth, sickness and even death, in extreme cases. As such, a simple and kiasu rule to follow with regards to water is to not have any water at all unless you are sure that it is at the right place.

Water has another common use that is not commonly known — it can be used to absorb bad qi from certain types of poison arrows. However, do not attempt to do this unless you have a thorough understanding of the circumstances involved. Otherwise, instead of reflecting the bad qi, you would actually be enhancing it with the activity of water.

Water Bodies
What is considered as water in feng shui? Does a small goldfish bowl count? Yes, water can take the form of something simple and small like a goldfish bowl or aquarium to something as large as a pond or a swimming pool. It is all a question of relativity. The positive or negative effects are often, but not necessarily, related to the size and activity of water. If it is just an urn of water, then it is considered not as active as a fountain.

Where to Have Water
Whether or not water may be placed in a home or office depends on two factors - the owner of the property and the property itself. Some homes may not be suitable to have any form of water at all.

As a general guideline, two major schools of feng shui - Ba Zhai and Flying Stars — are consulted on the placement of water inside a building.

For the exterior of a dwelling, the complexity increases substantially as all exterior factors have to be taken into consideration before a decision can be made.

Basic Guide for Water Placement Based on Ba Zhai Place water in good areas. For example, the best direction and location for a Kun (No 2) Gua person is in the northeast. Based on this school of feng shui, the best place for an aquarium is in the northeast sector of the house.

Basic Guide for Water Placement Based on Flying Stars
In Flying Stars feng shui, the direction of a building is used to calculate a set of numbers. This set of numbers is called the star chart of the building. In this star chart, each direction will have a set of numbers which are the base star, the sitting star and the facing star.

When it comes to water, we are more concerned with the facing star as water will activate the facing star but will suppress a sitting star.

The flying star chart is calculated based on the direction of the property. From the chart, sectors with facing stars as well as where water can be placed to activate these auspicious stars can be determined.

This guide debunks a common fallacy of having water in the east, southeast, north and southwest sectors only. This theory is not wrong, but it is too simple as it is not tied to a property or person. So, there are chances that the reading could be wrong.

From here, you can see that the placement of water is dependent on the person and the house. This helps to explain why aquariums placed in the same spot in two different houses can have a different impact on the respective owners.

Open Drains
So far, we have only touched on ponds, aquariums and single bodies of water. One must not forget that even the drainage of a house is important.

How water flows in a property; the direction of the flow, the entry and exit of water can have an impact on feng shui. One simple advice here: Cover all the drains with removable drain covers (for easy maintenance) so that you cannot see the flow of water.

Yap Cheng Hai Academy Sdn Bhd
Tel: (03) 2070 8009; Fax: (03) 2072 8009; E-mail: info@ychacademy.com

Disclaimer: Yap Cheng Hai Academy Sdn Bhd does not, and cannot, in any way whatsoever or howsoever represent, warrant or guarantee that the recommendations given in this column mean that the happiness and good fortune of the person(s) who put these recommendations into practice will naturally or necessarily follow