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Feng Shuii & Chinese Astrology:
Inside Chinese Metaphysics
Feng Shui and Ghosts
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by Barbara Finch |
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Ghosts and ghost stories are endlessly fascinating, even for people who have never experienced ghostly phenomena. On a number of occasions I have conducted feng shui readings on homes, initially for entirely different reasons (such as money or relationship problems). It is only after I have arrived and the client feels comfortable enough to tell me that I find out the client or a family member feels that a ghost is in their house.
The feng shui of a house has a powerful impact on its occupants and their well being. But did you know that certain types of houses are more likely to be haunted than others?
The purpose of feng shui is to identify and correct the imbalance of yin and yang energy in a home or other building. There are several factors that can invite the supernatural into a house, but the most influential is the strong presence of yin energy.
Yin qi is feminine, cool, dark, receptive and still while yang qi is masculine, warm, bright, assertive and active. Houses for the living are yang while houses for the dead (gravesites) are yin. These houses have a name in feng shui; a yang zhai (yang house) is a living person’s home while a yin zhai (yin house) is a deceased person’s house (grave). Living people are yang and thus need yang qi – light and fresh air – to thrive. The deceased are yin so it is generally preferred for gravesites to be quiet and darker.
There are several items to look for and take into consideration when studying a haunted house:
* The needle on the luopan (Chinese geomancy compass) may vibrate or spin if ghostly energy is present. In some cases the needle can spin so violently that you must remove the luopan from the area or risk permanent damage to it.
* Houses within view of a cemetery or place of worship. While places of worship give many people comfort, the nature of these buildings is very yin. They are where one goes within to communicate with God or one’s higher power. Also, people often go to a place of worship when they are troubled and upset.
* Houses near hospitals or built over burial sites
* Houses where a previous occupant died (often unexpectedly or violently) or houses built over land where violent deaths have occurred (e.g., a Civil War battlefield).
* Houses with banana trees or “weeping” trees (weeping willows or weeping cherries) on the property
* Houses that are very dim inside (yin). This can be due to excessive plant growth outside blocking sunlight into the house, an insufficient number of windows, or the curtains being kept closed.
* Houses that are in their Shuai (Decline) or Si (Death) cycles. There are many cycles in feng shui and every house undergoes its own cycle of qi or life energy.
The qi of houses in their Shuai or Si cycle is much weaker than houses that are in their Wang (Prosperous) or Sheng (Life) cycles. For example, a house built 100 years ago is in its Si (Death) cycle and so could more easily attract spirits.
* This is also true for the main entrance. The door is the qi mouth to a house. This means that the house receives new energy every time you open your front door. If the entrance does not have Wang or Sheng energies present (determined by my calculations), the qi entering the house is weakened and more yin.
* A dark or dim main entrance. Again, since the door is the qi mouth to the house, you want bright (yang) energy entering the house when you open your door.
* In one form of feng shui called Flying Stars, one performs calculations that determine the house’s qi. The presence of a flying star 5 in the haunted area of a house can help support ghostly energy. The number 5 in feng shui brings problems wherever it appears – obstacles, illness and delays. I suspect that fives in a haunted area also delays a spirit’s ability to move on.
* Houses with windchimes incorrectly placed inside the house. Many feng shui practitioners routinely advise placing windchimes inside houses to correct angle sha (among other purposes). But classical practitioners do not recommend windchimes for inside use because they can attract ghosts. There are plenty of other good remedies to use that will not attract unwanted spirits into your house!
Below are two case studies of haunted houses from my files.
“We Don’t Want To Stay Here Again!”
This house is located in a gated, luxury community in Los Angeles County and is situated at the top of a steep hill. There is a sharp drop-off at the front of the house. The front of the house is not overly bright as the sun does not shine much on that side. The sun mostly shines on the back of the house, but there were several large trees in the backyard which makes this part of the house quite dim during the day. While the South and Southwest sections (indeed, the entire house) were decorated attractively, I felt a sense of sadness and loneliness that I did not feel in other parts of the house.
The wife told me later during the consultation that their young son said that he kept seeing a “green ghost” in the South/Southwest sections of the house. Because he was only about 4 years old at the time and wasn’t upset by his unseen friend, she and her husband chalked up his story to a child’s imagination.
However, their opinions changed after friends stayed at the house while they were out of town. Upon their return, they found their friends to be quite distressed and relieved to be able to leave. They told the owners that that they had repeatedly heard inexplicable noises coming from the South and Southwest rooms of the house - when no one was in those rooms. Also, in these areas of the house they constantly felt watched by an unseen presence. They told the owners that they did not want to stay in the house again.
The house was in its Shuai (Decline) cycle, which makes its qi weaker.
The ghostly phenomena occurred in the South and Southwest sections of the house. Based on my numerical calculations using Flying Stars feng shui, I found that these sections had abundant yin energy. Remember that the feminine is related to yin qi. Southwest is related to the wife and mother of a family (thus feminine), and South is related to the middle daughter of a family (also feminine). Additionally, there were two 5’s in these sections, which create more trouble.
The entire house was not very bright, but the South and Southwest areas of the house were especially dim (yin).
I advised the clients to trim the trees in the back yard to allow more sunlight, and to install stronger indoor lighting to brighten the South and Southwest. They did this and also installed other feng shui remedies as advised, and did not have any other complaints of ghosts in the house afterward.
Hauntings in the Night
This house has an interesting story. It is a very pretty rental property in Pacific Palisades, California. Beyond the street in front of the house, the land drops off sharply. The master bedroom is quite dim during the day and contained a windchime.
My client complained of frequent and frightening nightly occurrences. She would suddenly wake up and see figures staring at her, especially that of a woman with a shroud over her face, with swarthy skin and wearing rather wildly patterned shirts. My client and her husband also saw spiders hanging overhead that weren't “really” there, i.e., they could see them but when they reached out, they could not feel them. As she had just become pregnant, I was concerned that she have restful sleep to help ensure a healthy baby.
While the master bedroom was dim, it did not feel uncomfortable to me, just very quiet.
This house was in its Si (Death) cycle. The entrance is in the East, which has little yang energy using the Flying Stars method.
The master bedroom is in the Southwest. Again, Southwest is feminine (the wife and mother) and this section also had abundant feminine energy with the Flying Stars system. Additionally the annual 5 was in the Southwest.
The combination of the lack of strong numbers at the entrance, the dim light and windchime in the bedroom, the overwhelming female (yin) trigram energy and the annual 5 in the Southwest all contributed to the ghostly disturbances.
My client removed the windchime immediately after I left and installed all of the advised remedies. She said that within a week the occurrences had almost entirely stopped. She had a healthy baby girl and is delighted.
She later discovered startling information that helped explain the strange things she had seen. Her landlords told her that they had previously lived in this house during the 1970s. They were friends with a couple who lived down the street and often hosted séances in this house, trying to contact spirits. They all agreed that if any of them died, they would attempt to contact each other from beyond the grave.
In time the female neighbor became ill and died. Some years later my client’s landlords moved out of this house to another.
The landlord told my client that the female neighbor who died was dark skinned and an artist who wore wild, unusual shirts. This was the exact description of the female form that appeared to my client late in the night!
So it appears that the dead neighbor did not realize that her friends no longer live in this house, and that she was merely attempting to contact them as they had all agreed.
Festival of the Hungry Ghosts
According to Chinese tradition, during the 7th month of the lunar year (roughly August and into September in some years), the gates of the underworld are opened. Ghosts are allowed to take a holiday and visit their living relatives.
This can be a pleasant experience if the families got along well with the deceased but, as you can imagine, might not be so pleasant for those who did not relate well to the deceased. The Chinese believe that the dead “live” in the underworld as we do, needing money, clothes and even luxury items, thus they are “hungry ghosts”. Unhappy ghosts need to be appeased even more. (As a side note, “hungry ghost” is also a term used among Chinese for qi vampires, people who constantly take from you but give nothing back, who always want you to help and do for them!)
The Chinese put in great effort to please their ancestors to ward off bad luck. Making their dead relatives more comfortable in the underworld can also induce the ancestors to help their living relatives make a good living, do well in school or even win the lottery.
During the Hungry Ghost festival, the Chinese pray for their relatives and burn joss sticks (incense). Special concerts are given at night to entertain the ghosts.
There are artists whose specialty is in making paper items which are burned for the dead during the Hungry Ghost Festival. In the shops you can find paper money (especially popular in the underworld), televisions, cell phones, clothing, furniture, even paper boats and airplanes! A huge feast is also prepared during the festival to make the dead feel appreciated and cared for.
One Chinese woman said that during the Hungry Ghost Festival, one of her dead relatives came to her in a dream and said she needed money and a mah jongg set. My friend dutifully burned paper versions of these items the next day. She said that that night the relative again came to her in a dream, thanking her for the gifts.
While ghosts are an interesting phenomenon, they can cause great discomfort and fright to the people they haunt. Although certainly not exhaustive, this article offers suggestion on what to look for and how treat a house that is disturbed by ghosts. But note that the Chinese believe in leaving ghosts alone, not disturbing them but making them feel as comfortable as possible. As Confucius said, “Respect ghosts, but away from them”.
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Barbara Finch,
Feng Shui &
Chinese Astrology
Consultant, Writer, Instructor, & Speaker
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Barbara Finch has been fascinated with metaphysics since childhood. Following a vedic astrologer's advice in 1995, she has studied feng shui and other Chinese metaphysics in earnest with Masters Larry Sang and Peter Leung, becoming an instructor for both.
Using both ancient and modern techniques and methods, Barbara has vast experience in residential and commercial feng shui consultations. She also teaches and writes extensively on Chinese Metaphysics.
Barbara is also a professional Chinese astrologer using Zi Wei Dou Shu, a form of Chinese astrology. Additionally, with Master Leung, Barbara has recently written a correspondence course on The Four Pillars of Destiny, another Chinese astrology. This course contains extensive and profound information on Four Pillars, much that has never before been available in the English language.
Barbara has lectured on Chinese astrology for the American Federation of Astrologers and various other groups.
Continually updating and expanding her knowledge of Chinese metaphysics, Barbara is committed to using this ancient wisdom to help those seeking assistance to best harmonize themselves with nature, time and space.
Have a question or comment for Barbara Finch? Contact her:
Email:
barbara@finchshui.com
Website:
http://www.finchshui.com
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