A good feng shui house must have good Qi (energy) flow.

Clutter means too many useless things and disorganization. If a  house is full of clutter, then the Qi flow is blocked, and the house gets less energy. It is similar to our body is getting less oxygen. Therefore a cluttered house has poor fen shui.

I have met many people who have problems with clutter. Clutter appears in two ways. The first is disorganization, where books, clothes, toys and objects are every where. The second is too much useless stuff, things from high school, university, office, things from grandma, clothes bought twenty years ago, etc.

Dealing with clutter is not hard if you are wanting more oxygen and more positive energy for your home and life.

To deal with disorganization, you must put your things in good order.  Put books in book shelves, old paper in the recycle bin.  Put clothes in the wardrobe, bowls and cups into the kitchen cupboard. Sort files into the filing cabinet. Etc.

To deal with too much stuff, you must learn to Let It Go. Keep life as simple as possible. Give away the things you haven’t used for a long time. There is no need to display your life history in the house. Pack away the goods from the past. Update your needs, and keep it light. Too much junk means too much burden in your life, it is unnecessary. Don’t keep bringing things into the house, don’t buy any unnecessary things or clothes.

To start decluttering your home, begin with a small section, then move from room to room. When you clean up a section, you will gain more space, more qi will flow. The additional qi will energise you to keep going, after not too long you will have a clean house.

If you make a routine to deal with clutter regularly, you will have no clutter at home. You will gain so much qi flow, and it will help you think better, rest better and work better.

Every Year Chinese Valentine’s day is on the 7th day of  the 7th month of the Lunar calendar. Other countries in South East Asia also celebrate love on this day. In 2010, the 7th day  of the 7th month of the lunar calendar is 16th August.

Chinese Valentine’s day traditionally called 七夕 (Qixi Festival) or 七巧(Qiqiao Festival). The Qixi Festival is about a legendary love story from Chinese folklore — The Legend of Love.

Here is the story: Long time ago, there was a boy who was an orphan and lived with his elder brother and sister in law. He was intelligent and a hard worker, but the sister in law hated him. Every morning before dawn, he herded the cows up to the mountain  and people called him cowboy （牛郎). He slept with cows in the barn.

A few years later, the cowboy herded the cows into a strange forest. There were beautiful mountains and clear water, birds were singing, and flowers were in blossom. The cowboy saw nine fairies riding on the cloud and landing on the green grass. The fairies then took off their colourful clothes and jumped into the clear river. The cowboy was shocked, his eyes fixed on a young beautiful fairy. That moment, one of his old cows spoke suddenly: shi is the weaver (织女) from the heaven, if you take her clothes away, she will become your wife”. The cowboy quietly walked close, and took her clothes away. Near the mid day, each fairy put on their colourful clothes and rode away on the clouds. Only the weaver couldn’t find her clothes and stayed there. The cowboy came out and asked her to be his wife. The weaver looked at him, saw him as an honest man and hard worker with a strong body. Softly she nodded her head.

After married, the cowboy worked in the field and the weaver sewed at home. They lived together happily. Two years later, they had two children, a boy and a girl. However, when the queen of the the heaven heard that the weaver had married to an human she was furious. On the 7th of 7th month of on the lunar calendar, the queen ordered her soldiers to catch the weaver. The cowboy was very sad, with the old cow’s help, he put his children in the baskets, and carried them to chase his wife. The queen saw the cowboy and his children got closer, she pulled her golden hair clip and cut a rough river just before the cowboy’s feet.

The weaver was seperated from the cowboy and her children by the river. They looked at each other and cried. The sadness sobbing had touched the happy birds, in a moment, countless birds flew together and formed a bridge across the river. The weaver and the cowboy finally could meet on the of the birdge. The queen had no alternative but agreed to let them meet on the 7th of 7th month every year.

From this story, the 7th of the 7th month on the lunar calendar has become a day of love. It is very common for single people to pray for love on that night, and it is also common for young women to pray for skills on the night.

Few day ago, I saw a  ‘money tree’  in the north shore of Sydney harbour. The  tree was full of five dollars notes. The tree was turned into a ‘money tree’. Passing people looked at the tree with surprise. Some people tried to use their umbrellas and cloths to get the money.

The money tree was done by one of the investment banks in Sydney. It’s aim was to encourage people to invest their money to the bank.

People knows there are no such tree which can growth money out of its branches. Money tree is a commercial term which is commonly used by financial institutes for building up wealth. Money grows as tree grows.

In Chinese culture, people likes to name  plants and tree with lucky names, such as a tropical plant Pachira Aquatica(马拉巴栗）is often referred to as the Money Tree (发财树）. The origin of the name seems to refer to an old tale , where a poor man prayed for money, found an odd plant, took it home as an omen, and made money selling plants grown from its seeds.

Chinese people like to use lucky names to name the plants. Such as Jade plant,玉树 (Crassula ovata ); Happy plants快乐树 ; Harmony flowers 百合(lily)； Success Journey 一帆风顺（white lily). See the attached picture for example.

From feng shui perspective, tree and plants relate to wood element.  Wood is  one of the five basic elements. It is one of the most important elements to keep the environment in good balance. Without wood element, means no trees and flowers in the environment,  the world will be bored and ugly, natural disastas will occur. Hence, trees are important to our society, perhaps they are more important then money.

Buddha Statues （佛像）are symbols of the Buddhist religion（佛教）, in the same way that the Cross（十字架） is the  symbol of Christianity（基督教）. This post is not about religions, rather about the respect for symbols which represent religions.

In modern western society Chinese traditional culture, including medicine, astrology, feng shui and philosophy has become popular. There are a lot of books, teachings and objects relating to ancient Chinese arts, which people believe will bring  harmony and prosperity to their life. While this is good, much is merely commercial without knowledge of the background and true meaning. In particular many objects have been interpreted wrongly and are misused.

Buddhism is the main religion in China, the Buddha statues are regarded as symbols of harmony and prosperity and have become popular in the western world. You don’t need to go to the temple to see the Buddha statues, you can buy from shops and markets.

As a Chinese feng shui practitioner, I have visited many client’s houses. Many have Buddha Statues. I have seen Buddha statues used in the  garden as watchmen, some have been used to stop the doors, some have been used as decorations in the bathroom and bedroom. Some people like Buddha Statues so much, and have a full cupboard of them. Some people have told me ‘I like this little man with big belly.’

This is wrong. Buddha statues should be treated with respect. Similar to other religious symbols, they should be placed in an honorable position of the house. Never put them in the garden, bathroom or bedroom.

If you really like Buddha Statues, it may worthwhile to learn the Buddha’s teachings and the journey to obtain the Buddhahood.

The Killara Grand is a development project comprising three apartment blocks. The project has been completed recently, the location is 9-23 Bruce Ave, Killara on the upper north shore of Sydney.

The Killara Grand is one of the few real estate projects in Australia which have integrated the Chinese feng shui comcepts into the building  design.

I was the feng shui practitioner who provided the Chinese architectural theories  and guidlines for this project. When the design and DA  stages for the project were completed, the development company was able to sell the project successfully during the global economic down turn. The new project owner has completed the buildings recently.

I visited the finished project yesterday. To my relief, the buildings were completed with good quality throughout, and have met most of the feng shui guidelines. These include good floor plans and good layout to maximize  positive energy.  The main entrances have been angled to capture the positive Qi, with friendly paths around the common areas. Trees and vegetation were chosen to create a balanced tranquil envionment. The water features in certain areas and some details have not been done, however they could be added without difficulty.

The apartments offer generous spaces for indoor and outdoor livings. With the input of the ancient Chinese wisdom, they should bring prosperity and harmony to the residents.

During the school holidays, most parents have plans for their kids. Visiting the Taronga Zoo was one of my plans for my five year old son.

We met up with one of my friends who has two children with similar age as my son. Together, we visited the Taronga Zoo.

Taronga Zoo is one of the most popular zoos in Australia. It  located in Mosman, the north shore of Sydney.  The Zoo sits on a hill overlooking the Sydney harbour. People can reach the zoo by car or ferry.  The hill is on the north side of the Zoo, the harbour is in the south, south west, west and south east sides. The harbour and the city views from the zoo are spectacular.

Taronga Zoo is the home for about 2,600 animals. We walked along the winding paths, and stopped at each station to see different animals. Kids were having great time observing the big and small creatures. They were thrilled by the tall giraffes, big elephants and baby elephants, strong tigers, and arrogant lions.

I took the chance to observe the land and its surroundings. From a feng shui perspective, the zoo has good energy flow in general, therefore the Zoo residents (the animals) have a good life. They are living in one of the most beautiful parts of Sydney and are well cared for by the Zoo keepers.

However the land form of the Zoo indicates that the Zoo is not having the best time in the current year. In 2010 庚寅 （tiger year) the most important 宫位（ palaces）are 艮宫， 坤宫。（Gen, Kung). The land forms of these two areas are not right. This indicates the Zoo is not making money or suffering from loss in the current year. Next year 辛卯 （rabbit year),  Taronga Zoo will do better. From the whole topography of the Zoo, I can see the Zoo will have some major success in 2014. The Taronga Zoo will be very successful in terms of profit and reputation in period nine which is from the Feb 2024 to 2043.

Although feng shui is not a religion, I believe it is important to have religious beliefs. Our life consists of mind, body and soul. Our body is the temple of our soul. It is important for us to know where the soul comes from and understand where the soul will go to. I’m a Taoist,  and study and follow Buddha’s teaching.

I was fortunate enough to receive the enlightenment from Buddha Ji Gong’s （济公老师）representative more than ten years ago. Since then I have had my spiritual guidance through study and cultivation. Through this I have a clearer vision and understanding about the purpose of life, and the true reasons behind happiness and suffering.

Last week, a group of masters came to Sydney from South East Asia to conduct dahma classes. They are great teachers who have given up the material life for cultivation and helping others. They are also Vegans. I set aside three days for these classes at a temple.

Every day the class started at 7:30am, finished at 7:30pm, we consumed only two vegetarian meals a day, and saved one meal for  the poor. The Buddha sutras and information from the classes were fascinating. They cleaned and fulfilled my soul. I was in a need for these classes, it has been two years since the previous ones.

As a feng shui and Chinese astrology consultant, I am not only delivering my skills and the results they bring to my clients. I hope that through my spiritual learning and cultivation I can provide the positive and right guidance to those who are confused or suffering in their life and who ask me for assistance.

Over the past years I have consulted in many houses and apartments, obviously I have visited many bedrooms.  There have been large, small, modern, old, clean, cluttered, all kinds of bed rooms. From a feng shui point of view, there are some common rules for bedrooms which I’d like to talk about here.

People spend an average of eight hours a day in their bedrooms – it is an important room in the house. The feng shui of the bedroom affects the health, emotional state, quality of relationships and fertility of the people who sleep there.

In contrast to other rooms, the bedroom is meant purely for rest and renewal. Therefore, it is essentially a yin room. For this reason, an ideal bedroom is quiet, with adequate light, good air circulation, a square or rectangular shape, a simple floor plan and a neutral color scheme.

The bedroom should not have too many doors or windows. Some bedrooms in big housesI have visited have seven 气口 (Qi access, refers to doors and windows). There are the door to the bedroom, door to the ensuite, door to the dressing room, door to the balcony, door to the baby room, two large windows. The room often looks grand, however, it is not 聚气，(accumulating the energy). This will result in poor energy circulation, and can cause insomnia and stress to the ocupants.

An ideal window provides light from the side, and is not directly next to the bed. For the average room, one window is sufficient.

The bedroom ceiling should be standard height, not too high, not too low. Too high or too low ceilings can cause  unbalanced Qi, and may cause nightmares or depression.

The bedroom ceiling should be flat, avoid any exposed beams crossing the bed.

The bed should not be too low or too high above the floor.

The bed head should be against a solid wall.

Mirrors are best placed where they can be used by choice and not in direct view from the bed or doorway.

The ensuite and closet should be as far from the bed as possible.

Avoid large pictures, they overwelm the bedroom.

Decorate the bedroom as simply as possible.

Avoid any clutter, let go of anything you don’t need.

The direction of the bed, the room direction and many other factors (including individual birth dates) significantly affect bed room feng shui. However these details are best investigated by a feng shui professional.

A few days ago a reporter from The Sydney Morning Herald contacted me, asking my opinion about a story she had read in Singapore.

The story said that ‘the year of Tiger may be causing parents to not have children this year, as children born under the Tiger sign are believed to be ‘fierce and bringing harm to their families”. The reporter asked me: ‘have you tried to tell prospective parents not to have children this year?’

My answer was this:

The story from Singapore is based on superstitions and some people’s imagination, it has no theoretical support. Certainly I have not told any prospective parents not to have children in the tiger year. Just think, if that was actual Chinese astrology theory, then there would be no Chinese born in the year of Tiger, eg. 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010.

According to Chinese astrological science, (the four pillars of destiny, or Bazi), a person’s character is the result from the combination of the time, day, month and year of birth. The birth sign is only represents the year of birth, it will affect only 12.5% of the whole character.

Chinese astrogy system uses 干支系统 (ten heavenly stem, and twelve earthly branch) to record the year. Tiger is one of the earthly branches, it has nothing to do with fierceness or harm.

There are factors other than birth date which affect a person’s character, such as the family, culture, environment, education and the person’s own effort and attitude of life.

Therefore, in Chinese culture, Tiger year babies are as welcome as those from any other year.

Today, one of my clients asked me the question: what difference between god, feng shui and the laws of attraction? My answer was this:

I think God represents the power of the universe, and stands for truth and justice.  God (the universe) has the power to award or punish human beings according to what they have done. God blesses every single being, even though beauty, happiness, abundance,  tragedies and disasters co-exit.

Feng shui is an ancient Chinese art, which focus on the earth’s energy to help people to live harmoniously with their environment and reach their potential.

The Laws of Attraction relate to people’s emotions and behaviour. Since emotion is part of human existence, we cannot be rational all the time. My opinion is to consider consequences arising from the laws of attraction, if you don’t like the consequences then ignore the laws. However, without attraction life would be very boring.