110 degrees magazine - Index

110 degrees magazine - wlinks_may08 - Index

Feng shui teaches that a house should be
built square or rectangular, with regular and
perpendicular angles and walls. Also, wood
promotes the positive flow of chi more than
other construction materials.
Such a house, with the appropriate orientation
and having these elements, would be
a perfect feng shui domicile.
Of course, almost nobody could hope to
have a house with this kind of perfection. Since
most East County homes lack some or all of
the specified external geographic features,
such elements can be represented by symbols
that will make up for their absence.
Ideal directions inside the home change
from one room to the other, taking into
account the birth years of the husband and
wife and which one will mainly occupy a given
room. The directions of the other rooms are
determined by the birth-year of whatever
family member will occupy those rooms.
Kilye’s computations of the flow of chi
are the result of algorithms represented on
a complicated compass, called a “Lo Pan,”
sometimes spelled “luopan.” The complexity
derives from the role the Lo Pan plays in
defining the relationships between associated
people and objects.
The Lo Pan has a red square that Kilye
exactly aligns to the buildings being analyzed.
Separate dials, comprising 20 concentric
circles, surround the center compass. Each dial
is marked into divisions creating a pattern of
complex partitions incorporating thousands
of symbols for such things as dragons,
Chinese mountains, seasons, lunar phases,
and astrological positions.
Elements in the Lo Pan also take into
account the location of a structure or object
in relation to the energies coming from the
surroundings such as mountains, rivers, astrological
elements, the forces of yin and yang,
plus local elements such as other buildings
and the street in front of the building, which
symbolizes water flowing in one direction or
another as a good or bad thing.
The compass settings are complicated,
each having three parts, called “trigrams,”
which are applied to the eight points of the
standard compass rose including North,
Northeast, East, Southeast, South, South -
west, West, and Northwest, resulting in a
pool of 24 directions (eight points times
three trigrams).
According to feng shui teachings, each
individual, depending upon the year of his
or her birth, has a direction that is most
conducive to harmony.
“I’m partially an East direction person,”
Kilye said, “but south is my best direction.
North is all right but I must avoid West.”
When she opened her store, called Charli’s
Boutique, in downtown Brent wood, Kilye
used her Lo Pan to determine the best
direction for her store and discovered that
the structure is thankfully oriented in an
appropriate direction.
The fountain across the street, located
by the Press Building, is also in a good
direction for water to be.
Kilye’s desk is in the south sector of her
space and facing in the Northwest-1 direction,
which is a source of her chi.
Color has little effect upon the flow of
chi through a building, but any water —
swimming pool, aquarium, fountain,
etcetera — plays a big role. Bedrooms
shouldn’t have fish tanks, for example,
because water in motion isn’t good in
those areas. Master bedrooms, especially,
should contain stable and unmovable
symbols such as mountains.
FENG SHUI AND THE AXIS
OF TIME
In a case study used for this article, Kilye
created a chart of a family dwelling having a
husband, wife, two sons, and one daughter.
Feng shui techniques incorporate astrological
elements and Kilye casts Chinese
horoscopes that correlate the life destiny of
the individuals with the feng shui changes
that she uncovers.
She derived a Gua-number, which is a
number depending upon the year of birth,
for each member. She discovered that the
younger son and the mother are totally
opposites.
The older son and the husband were
shown to be perfectly complimentary. The
husband and wife were also opposites creating
situations, Kilye said, in which someone
has to give.
Kilye discovered that the husband was a
“Weak Fire Person,” as identified by her
horoscope techniques, and was married to
“a Strong Fire Person.”
She also discovered, for example, that the
man shouldn’t invest money until reaching
middle age. Age 57 will be a good fire year,
62 a bad metal year, 72 not good, 77 good.
The Gua-number also revealed that the man
was a Nobleman Star, a good academic, and
a survivor.
She further discovered that the man
would do better investing in property or
May/June 2008 www.110mag.com 33