Sometimes I get inspiration for article topics from the most unlikely sources. Today I was studying the instructions for a doggie drinking fountain I purchased from Amazon. In the description for how to assemble the fountain, the instructions identified each part. The actual fountain pipe was labeled a “water dragon.” (See picture at right).
Ha-ha, inside joke to use a feng shui term? Chinese slang? This also reminded me that the vast majority of the items in the average American home were MADE IN CHINA. For good or for bad, that is how our global economy turns.
Was the practice of Feng Shui really discovered or exclusively developed in China? Few people have disputed that. The only question is centered around when this canon of environmental mysticism was first documented. Some people say the practice of feng shui is 3,000 years old; some say 6,000 years old. We all know that something can exist long before it is acknowledged on a large scale or officially documented.
Through ancient travel and trade routes, more than tea, silk and spices were shared. The secrets of Feng Shui may have transferred back and forth by any number of other names, through other societies and spiritual traditions. Feng Shui had previously been called Kan Yu, before master Guo Po (276-324 AD) coined the phrase “feng shui.” With feng meaning wind and shui meaning water, this is an abbreviation of his poetic definition regarding Qi being dispersed by the Wind and collected at the boundary of Water.
Some believe the ancient Sumerians (6500-4100 BCE) had their own version of Feng Shui. For just as long, the East Indian and Hindu culture has had their own version of Feng Shui called Vastu Shastra. And to whatever extent these ancient cultures were influenced by inter-dimensional beings or aliens, we might eventually have to credit non-humans for teaching the principles of Feng Shui to Earthlings.
In more relatively recent times, Freemasonry uses the symbolism of the protractor, with references as well to the compass (representing the boundaries of behavior) and the mystical connotations of building and architecture. Freemasonry incorporates principles of thought and practices from ancient Egypt. A strangely high percentage of U.S. Presidents have direct or indirect genealogy to practicing Freemasons, including George Washington. Just the architecture alone in Washington D.C. is a lesson in the links and aspirations between ancient societies and their governments with America’s Founding Fathers.
The building blocks of the United States overflow with mysticism and the occult if you know where to look, and yet Feng Shui was not widely known or practiced in the U.S. until the end of the 20th century. I had a client once tell me that her parents enlisted the services of a feng shui master in the 1970’s. And yes, he had to fly in from Hong Kong.
With the continual influx of Chinese immigrants into western countries, it was only natural that Westerners would be exposed to Feng Shui. The fact that Westerners embraced Feng Shui so voraciously is still surprising to me, but perhaps it was just riding on the coat tails of all things Eastern and exotic, which began decades before with the hippie counter-culture movement. Like Chinese medicine, perhaps Feng Shui was intentionally imported to break down certain cultural barriers, in a long game that is still playing out for New World Order dominance.
Be on the look-out for my upcoming review of Dr. Stephen Skinner’s book, Feng Shui History in China & the West (221 BC to 2012 AD), summer 2026.
Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®
From the Philosophical & Metaphysical Musings Blog Series
