When I first moved to Irvine in 2019, I had already been a feng shui practitioner for nearly 30 years. Living in Los Angeles since the early 1980’s, most of my clients were initially based in Southern California, including in Orange County. I had taught Feng Shui Introduction workshops at Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College, with many students hiring me afterwards for their homes or businesses. I became one of the more well-known graduates and Instructors from the American Feng Shui Institute in Monterey Park, founded by Master Sang.
In the early 1980’s, I had a memorable trip to Irvine with a friend of mine who is a chef. In L.A., we shopped at “Irvine Ranch Market,” (ground floor of the Beverly Center) which later became Mrs. Gooch’s and much later bought out by Whole Foods. We drove down to Irvine one day so that we could experience the “real” Irvine Ranch and see where our food came from. I recall vast amounts of farmland and undeveloped areas. I stood on land which is probably someone’s home today.
Once I rented a house in the Portola Springs area, but after having to evacuate in the 2020 Irvine fire, I decided not to buy in that area. In 2021, I bought a house in the Northwood neighborhood and that is when I really started to notice the details. When driving on the major streets, I did see a lot of parks. Previously, I had no idea each neighborhood had its own additional parks and trails. I now walk those trails and neighborhoods daily with my dog, still marveling at the open space. Just consider the Ventu Spur Trail as one example: In Los Angeles, they would squeeze one more row of houses into the same open area.
Much of Irvine’s residential streets are aligned on a Northwest-Southeast or Northeast-Southwest axis. Other cities are laid out more on the cardinal directions. This alone is neither good nor bad, but directional references are a major part of a classical Feng Shui analysis. The compass is the tool of the trade.
Once we combine the directional orientation of a property, along with the year built, this reveals a lot of very personal information about how occupants are influenced: their health, relationships, career and more. Homes and buildings are developed in time frames referred to as Periods. In reviewing the stages of growth in Irvine, areas built up between 1964-1983 are Period 6, 1984-2003 are Period 7, 2004-2023 are Period 8. 2024 through 2043, (Irvine is still building away), is Period 9.
To the lay person, this may not mean much and there is nothing lucky or unlucky about any Period in which a home or business has been built. But when we combine the year built with direction, we can then calculate an unseen magnetic field, sometimes just referred to as “Qi.”
There are many different types of Qi (energy, air currents), such as the relatively stationary Qi contained in a home once the roof goes on. This is distinct from the type of Qi which travels through a house based on the location of windows and doors. In my Irvine house hunting search, I noticed quite a high percentage of homes with good Feng Shui.
This is above and beyond the exterior environment with plenty of beautiful outdoor spaces. I’m referring instead to the non-obvious aspects, such as with the floor plan lay-outs and the pre-determined “flying star charts” (Xuan Kong Fei Xing) for the homes based on year built and compass reading. I could not assume feng shui expertise was used during Irvine’s design phase. And yet, I can vouch for unintentionally good feng shui homes having a cumulative positive effect on the prosperity and well-being of residents on a large scale.
Real estate reviews often tabulate the quality of life for cities, based on mundane criteria. Now with feng shui, we have another way to assess the quality of life. An East-Indian version of Feng Shui is called Vastu Shastra. I’ve also had many clients grow up with Vastu as part of their culture, but they still prefer to work with the Feng Shui system as it can be so detailed, and in some cases more practical to apply.
On a large scale, we factor in mountain ranges, hills, the flow and direction of streets (seen as virtual water courses). Also influential are real water sources with lakes, ponds, pools and personal garden fountains. The ocean has a big impact on the whole coastline. It is a general principle that those who live near water can be more affluent. Those who live near mountains can be more heart-centered. Like Santa Barbara, Irvine (and other coastal cities in Orange County) have the best of both worlds.
In the West, real estate professionals became the first to be familiar with feng shui. There was an explosion of interest in Feng Shui in the 1990’s and I had read that at one point 45% of Irvine home buyers were Chinese. In the 1990’s I assisted one developer in Rancho Cucamonga who wanted to know why his Chinese buyers were only purchasing South facing homes and if there was something I could suggest to get the houses with other orientations to sell. Once the builder displayed a report I wrote on a north-facing house, interest in other orientations picked up.
To be brief, there is nothing especially lucky about a south-facing house when many other variables are added in, but there is a cultural belief that south is associated with summer, youth and vitality compared to north symbolizing winter and solitude. These are Yin-Yang features, which is another big section of Feng Shui principles, some of which is just common sense. An example of that would be to avoid a house that is too bright (yang), but even more so, to avoid a house that is chronically dark (yin). Assessing homes and commercial properties is referred to a “Yang House” feng shui.
There is also a whole branch of Feng Shui called “Yin House” which deals with the divination of grave sites. Twenty five years ago, my first teacher Master Sang took us to Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar. We were there to evaluate the grave sites which were purchased by Chinese people (some of his clients), hoping to gift good fortune to their descendants with the ideal placement of their own cemetery plots. The goal in Yin House Feng Shui is to choose an orientation (combined with burial timing), that can benefit up to three generations of descendants. This is a very tricky undertaking (all puns intended), since many buy plots decades before they will likely pass.
Currently, I still see clients all over Southern California, including locals in Irvine. I also work remotely with people all over the world. I didn’t explicitly move to Irvine for the Feng Shui, as my main objective was to live closer to my son. We could say I came for the low crime rate, but stayed for the good Feng Shui!
Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®
From the Architecture & Design Blog Series
