Last year, while in Hong Kong, I did some shamanic work for the brother of a friend. He was having a lot of problems ever since he moved into his flat – he’d lost his job, both he and his young son had become ill, he and his wife were disagreeing more than was usual and the whole family felt uncomfortable in the flat.
The problems, in large part, were to do with the cemetery which overlooks the town, and I dealt with them. In the next couple of months all problems disappeared and he got a new job. But previously he had called in two or three feng shui experts who had all said that, yes, it was the cemetery, but there was nothing that they could do about it.
It seems a bit much to charge for telling a client you can’t help him!
Is there anyone on this forum who could have helped, using feng shui? If so, what would you have done?
Is there anyone on this forum who could have helped, using feng shui? If so, what would you have done?
Hi Crowan
...but the sort of help I offer is nothing to do with Feng shui. Infact it would completely undermine all feng shui implications. Consciousness expands, anything and everything that is a rancour moves and shifts. reality smoothens as the consciouness expands. Thats how I would have and do help. Sorry it is not the Feng shui way, but does it matter how...as long as peace and joy is restored
I have to agree with Jnani, if they perceive within their consciousness that the cemetery is creating a problem for them, then that is what they are going to create for themselves, it is that creation that I would be looking to transform to resolve the problem. 🙂
I have to agree with Jnani, if they perceive within their consciousness that the cemetery is creating a problem for them, then that is what they are going to create for themselves, it is that creation that I would be looking to transform to resolve the problem. 🙂
'They' did not perceive the cemetery as a problem. The clients perceived the job loss and the illness as problems. The spirits who were asked disclosed that it was the cemetery that caused the problems.
I asked on the Feng Shui forum because I was interested in what a feng shui solution would be.
I suppose I may be wrong, I’m only a new member (and my main interest is patchwork) but reading the original posting about this by Crowan it seems to me to be asking how British Feng Shui practitioners would have tackled such a problem either here in the UK or in Hong Kong, which is where Crowan encountered the problem.
My understanding of the responses made by both Jnani and Paul Crick is that both seem irrelevant and smug. Perhaps it is because I do not understand the terms you use…this phrase “Consciousness expands, anything and everything that is a rancour moves and shifts. reality smoothens as the consciouness expands.”(sic) Sounds wonderful, but I am afraid, in practical terms, I have absolutely no idea what it means. It sounds to me that the people Crowan helped in Hong Kong wanted practical help, not philospophy.
If, as Jnani says “the sort of help I offer is nothing to do with Feng shui”, I have to ask, Jnani, in some bewilderment, why bother responding? You clearly have no idea what Crowan is talking about. For Paul Crick to agree with you merely compounds my belief that you do not understand much about Feng Shui. I hope I am mistaken; but really….why offer a response, which in practical terms is so utterly meaningless, if you know nothing about the subject? :confused:
Hi Rowanberry
Unfortunately unless Feng Shui practitioner do Shamanic spirit work, then there will not be a Feng Shui answer to the problem as laid out by Crowan, but there are other answers that lie outside of Feng Shui or Shamanism which we have added to the pool of understanding.
I suppose I may be wrong, I’m only a new member (and my main interest is patchwork) but reading the original posting about this by Crowan it seems to me to be asking how British Feng Shui practitioners would have tackled such a problem either here in the UK or in Hong Kong, which is where Crowan encountered the problem.
My understanding of the responses made by both Jnani and Paul Crick is that both seem irrelevant and smug. Perhaps it is because I do not understand the terms you use…this phrase “Consciousness expands, anything and everything that is a rancour moves and shifts. reality smoothens as the consciouness expands.”(sic) Sounds wonderful, but I am afraid, in practical terms, I have absolutely no idea what it means. It sounds to me that the people Crowan helped in Hong Kong wanted practical help, not philospophy.
If, as Jnani says “the sort of help I offer is nothing to do with Feng shui”, I have to ask, Jnani, in some bewilderment, why bother responding? You clearly have no idea what Crowan is talking about. For Paul Crick to agree with you merely compounds my belief that you do not understand much about Feng Shui. I hope I am mistaken; but really….why offer a response, which in practical terms is so utterly meaningless, if you know nothing about the subject? :confused:
There are no watertight compartments in life - only in the head. The various methods, ways are mere means to achieve normalcy and resolving of isuues. How does it matter what method in particular achieves that as long as it resolves it? I merely focus on the solution.
As for answering the post, if it came over as smug to you, what can I do about that? and you feel I know nothing and are bewildered,it was practically useless and meaningless I am afraid, nothing I can do about that too either...and paul's endorsing my reply has compounded your beliefs further... Its a lot of stuff for a three line reply! An apology was made in the reply...
Unfortunately unless Feng Shui practitioner do Shamanic spirit work, then there will not be a Feng Shui answer to the problem as laid out by Crowan,
In Hong Kong I know that some Feng Shui practitioners do contact the spirits. I do not know if that is so here, as well. I was hoping (and am still hoping) for a reply that tells me more about how Feng Shui works, rather than your belief that there is no Feng Shui answer.
but there are other answers that lie outside of Feng Shui or Shamanism which we have added to the pool of understanding.
Has your understanding been added to?
Hi Crowan
There is a simple Feng Shui answer which is to move, but that is not applicable to everyone's circumstances, sometimes we have to change ourselves when we can't change our circumstances.
Out of curiosity, was everyone else who lived in these flats, losing their jobs, arguing and becoming ill, or did this cemetery just affect these people who you dealt with?
Thank you, Paul Crick and Jnani for getting back to me about my post.
Paul Crick, I do not think Crowan was asking for a shamanic Feng Shui solution to the Hong Kong situation. I believe Crowan was asking what Feng Shui solution would a Feng Shui practitioner practicing in the UK have offered in that or in a similar situation. Had Crowan asked for an answer that lies outside Feng Shui and shamanism, I feel certain Crowan’s post would have been posted onto the relevant therapy site. Neither do I think you have added to the pool of understanding. Sorry.
As you say, Jnani, you can do nothing to alleviate my feeling that you know nothing and have said nothing to further Crowan’s request for information. You say indeed there are no watertight compartments in life – only in the head. I’m sorry, what does that mean? Your philosophy sounds dodgy. I see no solution in what you have written. Sorry.
Just out of interest, are either of you, Paul Crick and Jnani, feng shui practitioners?
For your information, I am not.
Perhaps, Crowan would be good enough to get back into the discussion; I am aware that in my posting I have spoken as though I know what Crowan has been thinking….I do not; I am trying to understand the original posting which is pretty interesting. I would like to know, for instance, quite how the cemetery was having any influence at all on the family in the flat and whether anyone else in the block were having difficulties?
Whoops….my posting did not send when I thought it had….I have got slightly out of sequence! Sorry about this! 😮
I am very interested in continuing this discussion….:)
There is a simple Feng Shui answer which is to move, but that is not applicable to everyone's circumstances, sometimes we have to change ourselves when we can't change our circumstances.
If that is your ‘Feng Shui answer’, may I ask – what do you understand Feng Shui to mean? (Apart from the obvious direct translation, of course.)
Out of curiosity, was everyone else who lived in these flats, losing their jobs, arguing and becoming ill, or did this cemetery just affect these people who you dealt with?
Some were affected. I hope things have got better for them as well, although I have not been able to check on this. Others were not. The deciding factor was – were they still following the traditional practices of protecting their homes? The spirits from the cemetery were not entering those homes. The problem arose, in large part, because of the rapid decline in traditional practices. This has served to confuse and upset the spirits.
Hi Rowenberry
No, I am not a Feng Shui practitioner and nor would I consider becoming one as my life experiences have shown me another way.
Hi Crowen
My understanding of Feng Shui is that it is used to set up the environment that we occupy so that it will create good health and wealth for us, which is fine for the people who believe that our health and wealth are controlled by our environment as opposed to us controlling our environment, with the exceptions of natural things like earthquakes and volcanoes, which I am sure Feng Shui practitioner would not attempt to control with Feng Shui.
As you say some were effected and some were not, a true phenomenon would to my understanding effect everyone in the vicinity, regardless of their beliefs. 🙂
No, I am not a Feng Shui practitioner and nor would I consider becoming one as my life experiences have shown me another way.
Then why comment? I can see that if I had posted this in ‘Philosopy’ or one of the general forums, then your point of view would have been as valid as any. But I cannot see what you are trying to achieve in the Feng Shui forum. Would you go onto one of the religion forums to tell the posters there that their beliefs are wrong?
My understanding of Feng Shui is that it is used to set up the environment that we occupy so that it will create good health and wealth for us, which is fine for the people who believe that our health and wealth are controlled by our environment as opposed to us controlling our environment, with the exceptions of natural things like earthquakes and volcanoes, which I am sure Feng Shui practitioner would not attempt to control with Feng Shui.
You seem very sure of what Feng Shui practitioners believe and would do, for someone who appears to me (from this thread and others I have read) to have come to a clear understanding of his own beliefs, but to have very little interest in the belief systems of others.
As you say some were effected and some were not, a true phenomenon would to my understanding effect everyone in the vicinity, regardless of their beliefs.
You clearly either chose to ignore what I wrote or did not understand it. Some people were not affected because they were still following the traditional methods of safeguarding their home. My client did not believe this was necessary, but was affected nevertheless. The important beliefs were not those of my clients, but those of the spirits – because the spirits believed in the traditional ways, they saw a way in to my client’s home.
If I were talking to another shamanic practitioner, I would probably talk about contracts rather than about beliefs. For our purposes here, it probably makes no difference.
I still have no answer to my original question.
Gosh. I am surprised again with the response from Paul Crick. The Feng Shui response would be” to move”. In what way does that resolve any issue? It seems to me to be totally passing the problem on to someone else to have to deal with. :confused:
In what way is that response “to move” a compassionate response to an issue seriously affecting people? :confused:
It seems to me…and remember, I am a newbie to this forum, so I’m not used to the way folk are thinking at all….that the response “to move” totally divorces people from the community, it plays into the “I’m all right Jack” philosophy and the rest of the community be damned. :confused:
I also suspect that there is rather more than money involved in the “health and wealth” point raised, too. Wealth can be all manner of good fortune, affecting everyone in the community, so a “good” environment can be of benefit to all. That is my, albeit limited, understanding of Feng Shui principles. 🙂
From my understanding of what Paul Crick writes, Paul Crick does not believe in animism, so has a humano-centric view of the world. Would I be right in my assumption? 🙂
This discussion is really good! I hope more people will join in!:D
Hi Crowan
My original post was a response to a post that someone else other than yourself had put up which I happen to agreed with, I was then asked other things by you and Rowanberry which I have responded to, which is the usual way that forums work!
If you stop asking me questions, then perhaps a Feng Shui practitioner will come on and give you their understanding of the imbalance from a Feng Shui perspective. 🙂
People are entitled to their own beliefs, but I do not have to agree with them.
Hi Rowanberry
When presented with two immovable objects as in a block of flats and a cemetery upon a hill, then the only thing left to move is what can be moved, something has to change, so we can change location or we can change our core way of being, both ways will be effective and that is all that matters at the end of the day.
Yes, I do not believe in souls, I work with what I understand which is a little different to a belief, beliefs are what wars are fought over, understanding is flexible and adapts and changes as we develop.
Yes, I do not believe in souls, I work with what I understand which is a little different to a belief, beliefs are what wars are fought over, understanding is flexible and adapts and changes as we develop.
Whereas shamans and shamanic practitioners work with what we experience. This leads to understanding.
Thank you, Paul Crick, for your response to my posting.
If as you say you have no belief in souls, then how can you hope to comment sensibly on a subject such as Feng Shui which hinges on that belief?
I am finding it difficult to understand your definitions here, sorry, if I appear to be argumentative, I just want to understand.
I had no idea that there was such a difference between belief and understanding.
My understanding is that beliefs change as understanding increases.
Feng Shui and karma
Hi everyone
As a Feng Shui practitioner trained in Asia by a 2500 year old Feng shui lineage, I wish to contribute to this topic – without being u argumentative. Please take my lengthy post for what it is – an enlightened opinion that you might agree or disagree with. So here are a few points for your consideration.
Feng Shui is part of Chinese metaphysics and as such acknowledges that different forces shapes our lives. According to Taoism, the concept of three factors/three lucks is at work in our human lives and explain our individual destinies.
The 3 lucks are:
-Heaven luck = our karma given at birth and the help we can get from the spiritual realm
-Human luck = our free will, intentions, energy levels, our choices to build a different karma
-Earth luck= the influence of Earth on our lives, this is what Feng Shui deals with.
This concept already casts some light of some points of debate here. In the Taoist/Chinese philosophy there is no opposition between the spiritual and the physical but a constant interaction. So it’s not all “law of intention” and wishful thinking; and it’s not either all physical – Feng Shui is one third of our equations.
The point that you can change your life by the power of your mind and that the physical doesn’t impact your whole life is weird to me. If you move near Fukushima won’t you be affected by the physical, which are nuclear radiations? Are you impervious to earthquakes, tsunamis, weather changes or gravity? How can we therefore sustain that our whole life can be changed by the power of our minds only? You can have the strongest mind ever, you’re still can’t get rid of gravity. So there is no doubt whatsoever that the physical impact a very large part of our lives. We belong to a physical and dense world – the other realm can permeate but the rules down here are based on physics.
I guess the point made by some of you is that the physical reality can impact other aspects of our lives such as love life, career or money income is a belief. Indeed it is a belief at this stage. However if you accept and have experienced internal Chi – through acupuncture, Qi cong or Chinese medicine – then you cannot reject the idea of external Chi as they are part of the same system. Basically in the Chinese way of thinking if you know that acupuncture is real than you cannot dismiss Feng Shui, there are two sides of the same coin.
Moreover I invite you to look back at your past and see what changed in your life once you moved into a different place – work, relationship, income, health etc. I would be hardly surprised you never experienced it.This is what we are talking about.
As I’ve mentioned Feng Shui is one factor of your life and ties up with karma and free will. That means that people usually choose a place through karmic challenges and affinities. Your friend Crowan did not choose such flat randomly, but because of his life path and karma at the time. Once aware of the problem he can choose otherwise or hire someone that can help him, if he is in the right “luck period” or if he has requested spiritual help. Otherwise he will go through this challenges full throttle and learn from it.
I must also absolutely emphasize here that Feng Shui is FIRST and foremost about natural landforms and large structure and their impact on our lives. No amount of Feng Shui can deflect the energy of a lake or a mountain. We can transform it but not discard it – these landforms are too powerful. So it is absolutely true to say that in some cases you gain more into moving to a different place rather than trying to correct the setup of a flat, home or business – if a landform is too big, too strong and wrongly placed for your home or business than you can only patch things up. Internal setup is only secondary in Feng Shui.
The Chinese Masters who told your friend he would be better moving to another place are therefore absolutely right and very professional; saying otherwise would be foolish. A cemetery is not a natural structure but it sends a very strong Yin energy – this is the same problem with hospital and religious buildings – that cannot be overwritten. The problems are not the possible errant spirits that might have stayed in the cemetery, but the Yin energy that is not supportive of an active life.
Is it morally wrong to tell the client to move? Of course not! First, if you are a serious Feng Shui consultant and tell your client to stay, then you expose him to serious problems. You don’t do your job and it will affect his karma and yours in return.
Second point, the suggestion that it is wrong to leave the place as someone else you then take over and experience problems is a bit simplistic. As we have seen Feng Shui interacts with karma; the next person moving in probably has a karma that needs to take them to this place at this stage of their life. By giving unsolicited advice you could mess up with their destiny. If such people chose to not hire a Feng Shui consultant this is their decision – who are we to say that they should?
Furthermore by preventing the next tenants to move in, you might affect other people’s karma – such as the landlords who could then experience money difficulties because you prevented a tenant to move in. You trade one karma for the other!
Last but not least, such a moral stance would be acceptable coming from a Saint or someone like the Dalai Lama: people like you and I live in grey zones – our cell phones and laptops are made in factories where people die for us to consume, our clothes are not all from ethical sources, let’s not even talk about our cars, appliances or food supply. So honestly I fail to see how we could judge or blame someone who has been told they live in a bad place and move away from it – it would be wise to put ourselves in their shoes and to look at our own decisions first.
I hope my post has helped you to understand that Feng Shui is one factor impacting our lives amongst others; and that thinking that a Feng Shui master whom cannot correct all the external structures affecting your place is a fraud is both wrong and a bit arrogant. Feng Shui is not the supremacy of men over nature but quite the contrary trying to live in harmony with it and harness its energy.
If you are interested into the 3 lucks concepts and these ideas you can contact me and I’ll send you some interesting articles – I cannot post url here.
Blessings to all
Thank you, Laurent. The Feng Shui point of view was exactly what I was interested in!
You're most welcome dear Crowan. I express here the point of view of a traditional practitioner - people using neo Feng Shui (clearing the clutter/all symbolic modern Feng shui) would probably say they can cure everything with good intentions - we traditionalists disagree 🙂
Also to answer one of the point made by Paul Crick about all people being affected or not by the placement of the cemetery; the fact that some people are not affected doesn't contradict the logic of Feng Shui but actually confirm it - back to the 3 lucks.
Everyone has a different karma and therefore birth chart (called Bazi, the 4 pillars of destiny) and therefore will not react the same way to the pro and cons of a specific place. You might have heard that "Water dragons" formulas bring prosperity when correctly applied - that would only be true for people whom charts can benefit from the Water Chi.
Same logic for the Sha Shi (= strong, malevolent Chi); it will affect people differently and also a different time - it can be triggered on a specific year or month. This can be seen in the charts of the people whom have moved in and can therefore be "predicted".
Blessings to all
Hi Laurent
A very comprehensive reply outlining Feng Shui. 🙂
The way that I perceive things is that there are only two certainties in this life, the first is that we are born and the second is that we die, everything in between these two certainties is transmutable.
Now when I look at what you term the three lucks (and I personally do not perceive that I form my reality around luck) which would make me dependant upon chance, which I have to admit when I was younger and life kept biting me in the backside it did appear that way, but now I have a different understanding which works upon design rather than chance.
You outlined the first luck as:
Heaven luck = our karma given at birth and the help we can get from the spiritual realm
I perceive that we choose the type of parents and the type of lifestyle that we wish to experience, as well as any challenges that we might wish to have a go at overcoming before we come here.
As for help, we all get the same nonjudgmental help to create whatever our underlying thought patterns and beliefs are showing the oneness of consciousness (my take on spirit) that we wish to experience, in each complete experience as we experience it. There is no right or wrong in this equation, we are free to experience whatever we choose to experience in whatever way that we chose to experience it; should the experience end our existence here, then that is an experience in itself.
You outlined the second luck as:
Human luck = our free will, intentions, energy levels, our choices to build a different karma
I perceive this as our thoughts create our realities, or to put it into the correct terminology then as above, it is actually our underlying thought patterns and beliefs which has the power to mould reality around them, our everyday aspect of consciousness (thinking mind) might well be at odds to our core way of being, so saying to ourself that I want something, when our core way of being believes that we are not good enough to get it, will not let it happen very easily.
You then outlined the third luck as:
Earth luck= the influence of Earth on our lives, this is what Feng Shui deals with.
I perceive this as a two way street, the living planet can exercise influences upon our life choices, but then our life choices can also influence the planet.
It is a problem of modern living where people have lost contact with the natural rhythms of the world that we live with, I do not perceive us as being separate from the planet or what people call spirit, I perceive it all as one, when we are in harmony and experiencing oneness, then life flows naturally with little effort, but when we are in disharmony or division then life becomes a difficult task master.
So yes as you say if we chose to live in the shadow of a volcano because of the fertile land, then we might experience it exploding within our midst, the same as if we choose to live in flood plane because the minerals that the floods provide make fertile soil, then we should not be surprised when our home gets flooded, then next time the planet supplies us with the minerals that we so eagerly desire to grow our crops.
As you said in your post, people can change what you perceive as their karma, I perceive that everything begins and ends with a thought and our underlying thought patterns and beliefs creates or orchestrates our experiences upon this planet, so in this case, there are two things that can change, one is the location and the other is what you perceive as changing their karma and I perceive as transforming their underlying thought patterns and beliefs (core way of being) to create a new environment for them to reside in where they are.
Although we perceive and express things from a different perspective within our different understandings, at the end of the day, you say that what you perceive as their karma can be changed to accommodate the location, much the same as I perceive that their core way of being can be changed to accommodate the location, or they can move, we appear to have reached the same conclusion, so our thoughts are not that dissimilar. 🙂
Thanks for this answer Paul. I actually think that we have slightly different views if I understand you correctly.
To summarize in Taoism sky is NOT the limit - our karmic boundaries in this lifetime are our limits. Thoughts do not create our whole reality; reality has been created by other forces and thoughts can give us a pleasant our unpleasant experience inside this reality. And thoughts will not be able to transcend some physical evidence and influences - hence Feng Shui (once again, gravity - you can have the most positive outlook you can hardly get rid of it with your thought - so how is that part of reality created by your thoughts?).
As for choices made in the other realm before the incarnation, perhaps - I like this idea - but I still think the choices are guided or limited by the previous karma; basically we might have choices but inside boundaries we have made for ourselves through our previous incarnations. It would be a misunderstanding to present the Chinese philosophy as all is down to free will and thought create our reality as this is not its point of view, at all. Just to clarify.;)
Hi Laurent
Yes, obviously we do have differing understandings, if you put a thousand year old tradition against something that has been conceived within half a life span, then there are bound to be differences, but a lot of that is down to terminology and perception.
I think you need a new analogy, your gravity one has been overcome by some people who used their thoughts to created space ships, which do allow people to escape this planet's gravitational force. 😉
I would like you to try and visualise an existence without judgement and blame (karma), where our thoughts can become reality, but in order for this to happen, we need to take full responsibility for them first.
The way that I perceive things is that there are only two certainties in this life, the first is that we are born and the second is that we die, everything in between these two certainties is transmutable.
Are you saying here that the circumstances into which one is born has no bearing on how life pans out? From your further comment ...
I perceive that we choose the type of parents and the type of lifestyle that we wish to experience, as well as any challenges that we might wish to have a go at overcoming before we come here.
... I would guess so. My experience and conversations with my Spirit Teachers tell me otherwise. I doubt that we are ever going to come to agreement over this.
Please excuse me for interrupting here, but from what I've read on Shamanism (including of course your own book, Crowan), I was under the impression that souls do actually have an input regarding their next lives before they're born again. Surely that's similar to what Paul believes?
Hi Kiga,
No problem with the interruption, but I've answered it over on the 'Shamanism' forum, as it's getting a bit off-topic here.
Jane
Hi Crowan
Are you saying here that the circumstances into which one is born has no bearing on how life pans out?
The circumstances in which we chose to be born only gives us a starting point in which to begin forming our life experiences.
We can be born with a silver spoon in our mouths and end up starving to death as a vagrant under a bush at the side of the road, alternatively we can be born into poverty and end up as a multi billionaire, with every comfort that we could desire, nothing is set in stone unless we choose to make it that way.
We come with a free will, it is our personal choices that are directly influenced by our underlying thought patterns and beliefs, which dictates how we make use of it to create our own realities. 🙂
we can be born into poverty and end up as a multi billionaire, with every comfort that we could desire
Not very common. And a few being wealthy depends on many being poor.
And where does ability come into that? What about people born with learning disabilities, for example?
Hi Crowan
Not very common. And a few being wealthy depends on many being poor.
If you think about that statement, then if we choose to embrace that understanding within the fullness of self, then that will limit us to the choices that are available within that belief, which explains why it is not very common for people to overcome their teachings, we have to perceive that something is possible before we can choose to set about creating it. 🙂
And where does ability come into that? What about people born with learning disabilities, for example?
To my understanding, there are no right or wrong experiences here, there is only the experience that we have chosen to experience for ourselves.
We can choose to come and experience such a diverse range of experiences, by choosing which time frame, nationality, gender and general state of being we wish to explore with each visit, the permutations are endless.