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FORM SCHOOL FENG SHUI As human beings, all of us instinctively, and indeed intuitively, know what makes us feel secure and protected. Whether we are travelling in our car, or watching t.v. at home, or sitting in an office, or settling down to sleep for the night, we all subconsciously desire a sense of security. The support that we are seeking can generally be linked to our desire to: see what lies ahead of us, know that we have ‘support’ behind us, and that there is, to a lesser degree, some form of support either side of us. Being able to see the door, having a headboard behind us when we sleep, having a comfortable high-backed chair in our office, or being well strapped in to our car with both doors closed, makes a great deal of common sense. Deep down, all we are practising is the earliest form of Feng Shui which is known as Form School or sometimes Landscape Feng Shui. Form School Feng Shui can be traced back to central China, even as far back as the Neolithic times, almost 6000 years ago. The earliest texts on the subject appeared around 300 years BC in Guo Pu’s classic known as The Book of Burial. Often skimmed over in contemporary Feng Shui, the real origins of this fascinating system stem back to the siting of graves, to give the ancestors the best burial sites to enable them to continue to support future generations. These early methods of finding the safest and most secure spot within the landscape also developed into finding the strongest and most secure locations within the landscape for dwellings. What were the early clues that this civilisation was looking for? The answer is actually quite simple, as they were looking for four basic forms that could appear in the landscape, a site nestled safely amongst these four would be the most powerful position, which translates to mean the Dragon’s Lair. To begin with, behind the site would need to be a higher landfall that is known today as the Black Turtle. This could represent a hill or a mountain, and in our modern, urban or even rural landscape, this could represent a taller building behind your property. Secondly, straight ahead is an area defined as the Phoenix, or sometimes the Crimson Bird. Sitting opposite the Mountain, and ideally in a southerly aspect, the most auspicious scenario would be a clear or open view ahead. In classical Form School, this could also include a body of water. In contemporary Feng Shui, looking ahead of the property, it is best to have lower lying land, and certainly not to have taller properties blocking your future, which the Phoenix represents. Standing with your back to the Black Turtle Mountain, and facing the Phoenix straight ahead, you are then looking for low lying ‘hills’ on either side of the property. Imagine that you are sitting in an armchair with a high back that represents the Black Turtle. Ahead of you all is open and clear, facing the Phoenix. To complete the picture, or sense of support, it would be good to have two armrests. These ‘lower hills’ are known as the Tiger and the Dragon. Standing with your back to the Mountain,
looking out, the White Tiger support would appear on your right hand
side. This is the yin side, representing the more gentle, the creative,
the more nurturing and the feminine. Properties, hedges, fences on this
side ideally need to be slightly lower than those ‘hills’
that appear on the Dragon side. |