Not all authors invite the reader into their personal life and share what brought them to Feng Shui. In the first page, Spear tells us that he learned about magic squares as a child and also crossed paths with Michio Kushi and Takashi Yoshikawa years later. From the get-go, he has my attention because these mentors would point him in the direction of traditional Feng Shui and Nine Star Ki. This all being a decade or more before Feng Shui became trendy in the West, embracing a serious departure from the way it was practiced for centuries. And yet, further into the book, I realize that Spear is a proponent of the “intuitive” school of Feng Shui.
With a father who was a Washington, D.C. crypto-analyst, Spear must have had it in his DNA and destiny to study esoterica; how many teenagers discover the I-Ching while at summer camp? In the Introduction, Spear highlights his formative years, meeting with other luminaries in the world of Chinese metaphysics and later teaching world-wide.
Spear promises to not just show you “how to arrange your furniture….but how to change your life—and that is what feng shui is really all about.” Truly, as O.G. “influencers,” feng shui experts have used the medium of the physical environment, inspiring those interested in feng shui to also be open-minded about other facets of life and self-improvement.
In the opening chapters, Spear encourages readers to think about the many features of their life, to write down their perceptions and goals in the book, dedicating blank pages for readers to journal in. Caught off guard, it gets a bit New Agey, with the author using the Black Hat Ba’ gua template, but not by mentioning it in an obvious manner. He refers to this as “intuitive” feng shui only and in one passage he states that “an architect or designer can use feng shui after he or she has used the creativity and skill needed to do the job.” I understand that he does not want beginners to feel constrained by anything perceived as rigid or not practical.
Here I respectfully disagree, however. We can’t ask the late Howard Choy whether he did his feng shui calculations first or after he fleshed out architectural designs, but I would be willing to bet that feng shui considerations actually came first, or at least simultaneous, to the design plans. In my own sphere of influence, I have worked with architects who became frustrated when their design plans were scrapped because our mutual client wanted the design to maximize the feng shui and make it a priority. Feng shui input as soon as possible can work as excellent guard rails, to keep the design in check so that there will not have to be too many revisions. Of course, this all depends on the level of training and experience a feng shui consultant has; with little knowledge or training, we can argue that “ignorance is bliss.”
Back in the 1980’s, I read a tremendous amount of self-help books, some of them quite useful. With Spear, he’s created his own approach to delivering the information and it’s obvious he wants the reader to contemplate what is working or not working in their life, so that the intuitive style of feng shui will be that much more appealing and personalized. The ironic problem is that the intuitive (read: Black Hat) method ends up being the most generic form of feng shui when comparing it to the classical schools. By Chapter Five, he is back to introducing the Eight Trigrams, along with a snippet on the history of their origins.
At this point, I am wondering how much of the book has been “intuitively” inspired versus traditional. I peak at the Bibliography, where he includes a collection of both traditional and New Age feng shui authors.
Spear continues with comparative descriptions of the trigrams, but within the framework of the New Age Ba’gua. He promotes the “unified whole” concept as opposed to the “random assembly of parts.” He shows how the reflective nature of the Kan Palace, which he titles “The Journey,” gives way to the Li Palace, called “Illumination.” He compares the Xun Palace as “Fortunate Blessings,” in tandem with the Qian Palace, described in the New Age system as “Helpful Friends.” Spear points out that prosperity leads to philanthropy. This section on the trigrams has some expanded and more subtle descriptions, but there are discrepancies I can’t ignore.
Fundamentally, with the New Age Black Hat Ba’gua, literal directions are dismissed when the location of the door determines what he calls the “The Three-Door Gate of Chi.” This forces the energy at the entrance to represent only one of three Life stations.
This is bound to cause confusion for the feng shui student, unless they immediately resign themselves to the assumption that the directions symbolized by the trigrams were never intended to be literal. This section of the book also presents debatable theories about how to place the Ba’gua grid over any floor plan. For example, he promotes, like other Black Hat adherents, the idea that you shift the Ba’gua template around within the home, to suit individual entry doors for each room. In the classical Feng Shui schools, we instead view each room as a miniature version of the whole house with the same flying star chart, just on a smaller scale. (There are 144 different Flying Star charts, based on when a house was built and in conjunction with its compass orientation).
The only time we consider changing the orientation of a space within a house or building is if it is occupied by people (or a business), who have nothing to do with each other. For example, in an apartment complex with strangers all under one roof, it’s possible for each unit to have a unique orientation based on Yin-Yang theory. The brighter and more open side of the apartment (often the balcony or patio side), is the facing side regardless of where the main door is located.
Spear writes that within the same residential setting, two tenants can consider their spaces quite separate from each other. From my experience, when housemates share common spaces like an entrance or kitchen, they might as well be family members and share the one “unified” energy field.
Spear also believes that if you commonly enter your home through the back door, that the orientation of the house can change. What if someone enters through a bathroom window? I don’t believe that alone changes the orientation of a house either. Spear even goes so far as to say you can micro-manage a space which does not even have a wall dividing it from another area. He uses an example that kitchen floor tile can signal it’s a separate space from an adjoining dining room with wood flooring. Unfortunately, this kind of practice underscores the New Age predilection to micro-manage the smallest of spaces, down to desktops and computer screens.
Because the author illustrates floor plan samples posted with the luo shu magic square numbers, it appears at a glance that he’s demonstrating a traditional interpretation, but the narrative relies heavily on the New Age Ba’gua instead. Back when this book was first published in 1995, there were much fewer traditional books available, so the general population was none the wiser. That being said, William Spear does not imply that he’s teaching any traditional school; rather, he sticks very closely to the Black Hat New Age version of Feng Shui and he can take credit for helping popularize it. The book’s title, Feng Shui Made Easy, speaks for itself.
Further on, the author discusses the concept of what is a “cure.” I have one professional peer who hates this term because it is too much of a medical reference and he insists that spaces and Qi are not “sick” or in need of a cure. And yet, it’s a common phrase among practitioners, whether we call an adjustment or change to a space as a “cure” or a “remedy.” Spear writes, “The association of feng shui with myth and superstition was born out of lack of appreciation by modern people for the qualities that exist in the invisible world.” This reminds me of how we may use a physical and visible medicine to treat an “invisible” (to the naked eye) bacteria.
He further ponders, where do cures come from, and gives an apt example from Form School principles. His case study describes a family living in a house built on a mountain side. One front bedroom is teetering near the edge of a cliff and a back bedroom is very close to the mountain. Neither environment is ideal, making the daughter in the front room anxious. The son in the back room lacks motivation and feels trapped. This is an extreme example of yin and yang and they hire a feng shui master to help them.
The master uses common sense to suggest that the room teetering off the edge of the cliff be fortified with a hardscape outside the bedroom. This, so that she won’t feel like she is sleeping too close to the edge of the mountain without any support. At the back of the property, where the boy is ‘up against a wall,’ the first consideration was to bring in some water feature for movement. But on further contemplation, the master decided to recommend that some lively, strong bamboo be planted, to give the young man more energy to thrive and motivate him to grow like the way we know bamboo can take over a whole area very quickly. These were “cures,” both creative and practical.
The author continues to present a whole array of mystical “cures,” most of which I do not adhere to, but many others love these practices. It’s almost like turning your whole domain into a talisman, with required prep work, conscious intent and meditation to fully actualize the goals. If we are going to question “what is a cure” then we are also questioning what is really going on in the magnetic field we are trying to diagnose and treat. I have no proof, but I suspect that sometimes we are addressing a situation in a physical way, the origins of which might be seeping in from another dimension.
This reminds me of how the UFO community has shifted in the last few decades. Prior, the emphasis was on Unidentified Flying Objects, assuming that flesh and blood extraterrestrials were traveling incomprehensible speeds from incomprehensible distances, bending time and space. And then a shift happened, where speakers at conferences and on the internet theorized about inter-dimensional beings and the multiverse. Obviously, there is more than just physical space involved. Like the human body, (which has an aura and a subtle body), the house or building has its physical aspects, but also layers of subtle energy. These layers may be responding to and interconnected with: the physical, our thought patterns, and more.
The author makes statements that I both agree and disagree with and some of his claims are contradictory. He gives an example of a well-to-do English woman who felt conspicuous placing a Ba’gua mirror on her front door, to fend off the sha Qi from an oncoming street. She reported that nothing positive came from it as well. She then consulted with another feng shui practitioner, who consoled her in that she does not have to do anything stylistically awkward and not from her own culture. He told her to substitute the octagonal mirror with a convex mirror-like brass door knocker. This would suggest that these folk cures are cultural placebos. Shouldn’t they work whether someone believes in them or not?
He proceeds describing all the New Age cures popularized in the West by Lin Yun and I realized while reading that many of these décor cures are meant for those who cannot do the more substantial remedies. For example, if you have an oncoming street toward your house, you can block the sha Qi with a hedge, a row of trees, or a solid wall. For those who cannot do that, they can hang a chime or a convex mirror. I wrote in the margins, “better than doing nothing.” In my own practice, when clients moan about purchasing a 10-20 gallon fountain, I remind them that the ideal is a pond.
Spear recommends wind chimes inside the house. Other schools of Feng Shui teach that wind chimes should not be placed indoors. Further, those who practice the flying star school learn that a wind chime in certain yin environments can attract ghosts. I give one example of that in my case study on ghosts, when I was visited by my deceased father-in-law shortly after carelessly putting a wind chime in the wrong location.
He also states that “almost all living plants bring auspicious energy to a room.” This is also an overgeneralization, since the wrong placement of the Wood Element can cause a whole variety of health problems.
I do like his description of water, which is like an adaptogen. Moving water added to a stagnant environment can bring some welcome lively energy to a dull space. Likewise, in a very chaotic overly “yang” environment, the sight and sound of trickling water can actually bring in a sense of calm and a good distraction.
The author briefly covers a concept called the Predecessor Law, but with a different interpretation than how others in the classical traditions would define it. Spear describes the Predecessor Law as the phenomenon of experiencing something similar in a house as the past occupants, due to the lingering influence of those people. This can actually occur, though many people are not so strong in their aura that they can shed their energy, thoughts and experiences for the new occupants to absorb.
In the classical definition of the Predecessor Law, we are referring to the Qi in the house created at the time it was built, such as with the flying stars. As an example: if the flying stars in a house indicate that the married couple could easily divorce, then this may happen to future couples as well. So, it is more about the relationship with the inherent, permanent energy of the space, as opposed to the previous occupants.
In a closing chapter on Feng Shui for the commercial office, Spear points out how toxic and unnatural our work environment has become, with suggestions for how to combat such things as Sick Building Syndrome and our exposure to electromagnetic fields when surrounded by electronics. This book was published in 1995, and unfortunately, our cumulative exposure to harmful environments and wi-fi technologies has only increased dramatically. At the time he wrote this, not everyone had a cell phone; he recommends staying away from it as much as possible. This reads almost like a memory from a past life, now that virtually everyone, including children, keep their phones within arm’s reach, if not attached to their bodies.
This chapter on the office is filled with common sense observations and advice, able to stand alone as an essay on environmental work hazards. However, he does blend it the Black Hat notions, such as de-cluttering certain areas of your office as they relate to the New Age Ba’gua template. Focusing on details like the size and shape of your desk is interesting, although no one should obsess over these subtle points if the Big Picture is ignored.
Spear continues with Black Hat notions about how the shape of a house can mirror the human body. While there may be some truth to that, I would recommend studying Chinese medicine and/or traditional Chinese Face Reading to get a more comprehensive understanding of how the physical body forecasts our personality and health issues.
He includes a section on house shapes which cater more to men or women, with extensions to either the northwest or southwest sectors, punctuated by a comment that would get the author ridiculed in current day “cancel culture.” While acknowledging that some men are openly in touch with their feminine side and some women have masculine tendencies, he writes “a man will never give birth to a child, nor will a woman manufacture sperm to plant inside another woman’s womb.” Imagine that being such a controversial thing to say in today’s political climate! Feng Shui, and throughout all of Chinese metaphysics, we note the features of Yin and Yang, their ratios, their flux, and how interdependent they are to each other.
He ends with a brief overview of macrobiotics, which has its own unique way of intentional eating, and dietary guidelines which place food groups into yin and yang categories. The goal is to balance those features in each meal. He extols the health benefits of “cereal grains,” which also needs to be “digested” in context.
With our recent Americanized Food Pyramid officially turned upside down, the big Take Away is that eating grains for thousands of years may have been healthy for past generations. In current times, if one wants to have a grain-based diet, they need to seek out unadulterated sources which have not been grown with carcinogenic fertilizers or ultra processed to the point of becoming a poison for the body. He justifies this section on macrobiotics by stating that it is a type of “internal feng shui,” which I agree with. Taking responsibility for all our thoughts and actions, and attempting to live in higher consciousness, can only enhance the efforts to balance our external environment.
For someone who wants to familiarize themselves with the intuitive school of Feng Shui, this book accommodates. However, for those who want to study traditional Feng Shui, this is not a book for you.
Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®
From the Book Review Blog Series
