The recent completion of a project for a customer located in the middle east served as the impetus for this article’s theme. I saw that there were two front doors on the floor layout, and after some thought, I came to the conclusion that this may be related to the client’s religious beliefs. Indeed, the architecture of the house, which has two front entrances located on opposite sides of the facing wall, was chosen specifically so that males and females could enter the home in a discrete manner. According to the principles of traditional feng shui, the door plays a critical role as a doorway or portal that invites qi and energy from the outside world within. During the design process, we want to make sure that the door is placed in one of the finest potential positions, but having two doors may make that impossible. In spite of this, it is rather uncommon for a home to have more than one door, which means that it is quite possible for us to include this cultural tradition into a design for feng shui. When comparing the two entrances, it is possible that one will be deemed superior than the other in the end; however, we may also take into account the person who is using the door, their gender, their status in the family, and their vocation when making this determination. I’ve been to houses that had two kitchens so that residents could prepare food according to their own dietary requirements. In contrast to the contemporary kitchen, which has a literal ton of metal, the ancient kitchen’s primary function was to provide a source of fire. Nevertheless, the notion of cooking and the kind of energy that is present in the area around the meal when it is being prepared might be a role in the study. Symbols in religion are similar to symbols in art in that they are up to interpretation, yet in their own unique manner, they may be very powerful and inspirational. The principles of feng shui would never prohibit a person from placing a significant symbol in their home, and no one should be asked to decorate their house with symbols that they are unable to relate to or relate to in any way. Since the popular hype years of the 1990s led people to believe that they needed to embrace chinese or buddhist symbols in order to have positive energy, this is something that I can’t highlight enough and it’s something that I can’t stress enough. Even if they don’t call them that, people from various cultures have their own take on the concepts of feng shui. For instance, the eastern Indian practice of vaastu shastra posits several beliefs on the optimal placement of a kitchen, as well as the locations of other rooms and even expresses a preference for northeast facing homes so that residents may welcome the morning light. Certain faiths have specific guidelines on the placement of the family altar and the prayer space inside the house. Some communities support the idea that the altar should be concealed in a separate, more personal chamber, where visitors should not assemble. Some communities have a requirement that the altar be raised to a certain level above the ground. I have never come across a circumstance in which it was necessary to disregard good feng shui in order to uphold a religious or cultural belief; the only time this occurred was when someone burned devotional candles in a room where the fire element should not have been present. Other than that, I have never experienced such a circumstance. A customer of mine from many years ago informed me that as part of the religious rite she performed every night, she would light one hundred candles. It is customary for some people to remove their footwear before entering the home. This is simply a fantastic habit to get into for a variety of reasons, one of which being the fact that the soles of your feet need a certain level of direct stimulation on a daily basis. Because the soles of the feet have 72,000 nerve endings, reflexology proposes that we let our feet have that type of direct touch with the floor in order to have a positive influence on the body’s internal organs, neurological system, and circulatory system. Even though we may take into account certain spiritual beliefs and practices when designing or utilizing a house, there are certain elements that are appropriate for a place of worship, such as a church or temple, that are not appropriate for a home and vice versa. These elements include things such as stained glass windows, which are not appropriate for a home but are welcome in a place of worship. In traditional feng shui, the precise compass reading of any construction is taken into account, and churches and temples should strive to have their buildings constructed precisely on the exact middle degree of each of the cardinal directions. These are the precise cardinal directions: 90 degrees to the east, 180 degrees to the south, 270 degrees to the west, and 0 degrees to the north. Even the directions that we refer to as cardinal will typically have a range of 15 degrees, such as the south wu direction, which ranges from 172.5 to 187.5 degrees, or the east mao direction, which ranges from 82.5 degrees to 97.5 degrees. According to this guideline, having a home that faces magnetic east at 95 degrees rather than 90 degrees is not the same thing as having a house that faces magnetic east at 90 degrees. If a home were to be placed at an exact angle of 90 degrees, this would be distinct from an angle of 85 or 95 degrees. According to what I’ve heard, having a building that is perfectly located on the cardinal directions might promote it to become more of a vortex of spiritual force. Because magnetic fields fluctuate, generally slowly, over lengthy periods of time, it is occasionally useful to find out what the magnetic declination was in a region at the time the building was constructed. This is because magnetic field changes tend to occur over extended periods of time. This information is not only more accessible than ever before but also considerably simpler to acquire and validate owing to the internet and websites such as the website of the geophysical data center. Kartar Diamond is the proprietor of the full-service consultancy known as feng shui solutions. Kartar has been in private practice since 1992 and has written three books in addition to six ebooks. Go to www.fengshuisolutions.net if you want more information about Kartar’s consultations, which are both practical and reasonably priced.
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