Cecil Lee

Dear Anon, This is a review of The Gardens at Bishan:- www.geomancy.net/review/gardens Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Mariel, As I do not have much information with regards to the view of the home and other information, it is difficult to pin-point the problem. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Wasis, The logo was not attached. Warmest Regards, Cecil Regards, Wasis (Fil

This is an "interesting" e-mail that was sent to Robert-Lee's address. I have used an "alias" to replace the sender's name. This is what the sender wrote:- Date Received: 9/15/00 Subject: Feng Shui " Hello, I am a graduate of the BTB Feng Shui. I see some of your astrology does not co-incide with ours. Please respond about your dprimary school of Feng Shui. Compass? Form? where are you located. Walk On, " --- END ---- My reply is as follows:- This link would help you understand better about BTB Feng Shui http://www.qi-whiz.com/confess.html --- END ----

Dear Users, Please note that:- Is currently based on my observations and could be a coincidence but have always kept an open mind and Keep-in-view of further occurences of the above i.e. I do see more of such `coincidences', or if you know such cases, please feedback to this forum on this. As for now, do take it as just my personal opinion (not to be taken too seriously). Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Wendy, A further advise, I would like to add is that where possible, at the frontage of the house i.e. at the location, if there are too many windows, (in relation to the frontage area of the house, not all windows should preferably be opened fully. Here, if there the main entrance is also at the frontage, please avoid opening too many windows. In my opinion, it is particuarly important if the main entrance is at the frontage and not at the side of the building. And if there are e.g. sliding doors at this same frontage. In such a situation, it is best not to open the sliding doors and main door at the same time. Usually, the characteristics of such a house is e.g. where the ladies or women in the house, not being able to `marry'. This is one of the characteristics I had discovered based on quite a number of houses with such `problems'. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Wendy, In my opinion, having a lot of windows may not necessarily be bad. The only issue is if there are poison arrows aimed through a window, it should best be neutralised. For a house with exposed beams, the best advise is not to place e.g. sofas or seats directly below the beams. For example, a person sitting below it. Otherwise, if one does not sit below the beam for a time, it should not be an issue. Sometimes, (surprisingly) such a house may instead have good or even excellent Feng Shui because of its frontage which may give a quantum leap. For a gift, it is my belief that geniune friendship is far more dear than any materials gifts. So continue to `treat each' other as sisters.... Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Mariel, Yes, it would be best to try to revert to what it was like previously prior to the advise provided by the geomancer, first and monitor the situation. I am not sure what discipline the geomancer has but if his thoughts are merely based on his `intution' alone without reference to e.g. Compass School techniques or if it more from the angle of `sales' e.g. sale of windchimes etc.. where you need to place one or several such `objects', then it would not be appropriate. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Ashley, Currently, does your single room apartment has any poison arrows aimed at it. Or who were previously occupying it. With little information, it is difficult to find out what is wrong. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Jo Yong, In my opinion, one should take into consideration the `private' door into each apartments i.e. door (B) for Feng Shui analysis. If you have a sketch of the outline of the houses and its relation to the door (A) and (B), it would help to confirm the above. Regards, Cecil

Dear Judy, Please see below:- 1. Yes, you have brought up a very interesting question. 2. First of all, Chinese do place importance in phonetic sounds. For example, several years back when China opened up its economy, I believe, there was this Coca Cola advertisement where the interpretation of the words `Coca Cola' was interepreted to mean an inauspicious name. 3. Subsequently, Coca Cola, revised this ad. 4. Chinese language is quite `complex' and a pronunciation can provide as much as say 4 different meanings to a character alone. 5. For the Chinese, usually, there is no issue once an auspicious sounding name has been chosen. 6. In the past where there was no standarised Chinese words such as the Romanized Chinese ", many overseas Chinese. For example, those staying especially in Commonwealth countries had to register `English' names. Thus depending on the dialect of a Chinese, Sir names in English may differ but ultimately, the phonetic sound or the meaning in Chinese is still the same. Thus it is common to find a person with the Surname e.g. Chen or Tan. Both are identical in Chinese. Alternatively, the proper romanised form of Water is " Shui " as in Feng "Shui". But for a Hokkien (dialect) Chinese, the name could be " Chwee " or even " Chooi ". 7. It is equally amusing for overseas Chinese when they wrongly register names even surnames at their respective birth registries. However, as mentioned above, the `True' name is always represented by their Mandarin name. 8. The above is to highlight the importance of choosing a Mandarin name and how Chinese place importance in the meaning or significance of a name. 9. In the above situation, it does not matter if a Chinese name can have other different meanings in all languages over the world. In my opinion, it does not matter unless, one is in a country where a predominant language exists. For example, if Spanish is the main language of the country and we pitty a child if his/her name "sounds" inauspicious or culturally bad in that language. However, if one is passionate enough could ask someone or a friend to interpret the wordings. Unless, one without much understanding try to `create' words or without knowing the word or words, "joined" them up. It is better in such situations to find out the meaning first from a reliable source. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Elena, In my opinion, painting the trim black does not invoke water. In addition I believe, that symbollically, it does not `touch' the roofs (where water may weigh down on the house). Furthermore, if one applies the 33.3% ruleset, it does not `occupy' such a large area. Nevertheless, yours is an interesting question. If it is not `broken' avoid `fixing' it. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Sky, 1. Currently, you are using just the Eight House Theory. The main importance of this theory looks at how suitable the house is especially to the breadwinner. 2. You can also check what is the intangible force for each of you in the bedroom. Where possible, this should be one of the good intangible force (if possible). Other than these two points, you can look at the house from other angles. 3. Since, you are referencing the house using the Eight House Theory, and if you do not want to apply the other compass theory such as Flying Star, you may have rely on your instincts. As you mentioned, since both of you feel positive about the house, this is a good sign. 4. If you do not want to use the Flying Star, do take advantage of your understanding of say the Shapes and Form and apply them to the home. For a quantum leap in Feng Shui, one important ingredient is the Shapes and Forms pertaining to the environment, the site and the land. 5. A quantum leap in Feng Shui is also based on how well a house can accumulate wealth. Usually an experienced FS practitioner can advise on this. But, bear in mind that it does not happen to all land. Excellent pieces of land does not simply drop from the sky. It usually takes a keen eye and years (yes, years of understanding the lay of the land). 6. Most of us should not be disappointed if one cannot find the elusive `excellent site'. It does not come often. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Zarah, Please see below:- Here, especially for anyone who wants to determine whether: 1. Is this a missing corner? 2. Can this be a protrusion instead of a missing corner? Under Para 1, for ease of identification, we consider a sector (we divide the house equally into 9 sectors). If the area of the sector is greater than 33.3% of the size of that sector, this is usually considered as a missing corner. If it is a `slight' recess, perhaps, you may want to check to see if this is truly a missing corner i.e. 33.3percent of the area is missing. A small mirror, does not `effectively' provide the "depth" require to cure a missing corner > 33.3 percent. It only acts as a means of psychological `comfort' to ease one's mind. Perhaps this can help. Usually, if we want to analyse a sector, the Flying Star is used to analyse the sector: 1. to find out the elements at this sector. 2. If there is an imbalanced at this sector, a neutralising element is used to `cure' it. Alternatively, this sector may not need any `cures' at all or the addition of metal may create more imbalances. Or, wood would be a `cure'. If one does not want to use the Flying Star to analyse, better leave it along. The saying goes " if it ain't broken, please don't fix it". Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Chere, 1. This has to do with beliefs. 2. Usually, a house should be `sufficently large' to place portaits. The portaits should preferable be of a reasonable size. 3. Neutral places to hang portraits are along the stairs leading up to the home. (Some people place them here). Other locations are along e.g. study room or `library' room (if one has one). 4. Like the placement of figurines of deities, one should avoild placing them directly facing the entrance door - " acting like a guard " or letting the portraits face into rooms and especially on the same wall as the toilet bowl. Otherwise, hanging the portraits above `chest' level is acceptable as opposed to leaving them on low cabinets within reach of pet animals or children. 5. For certain Chinese who perform ancestor worship, portaits of the deceased is commonly hang on the wall above the altar table. These `special' portaits usually have the eyes of the portait `painted' during a ceremony e.g. during the burial ceremony and carried behind the back of the eldest son. `Painting' the eyes of a person on the portrait synifies, giving `it' "vision". For those who are interested, you can check out the pictures under http://www.geomancy.net/mypictures/cgi-bin/imagesearch.cgi?img=0&search=burial&cat=all&x=12&y=11 Here, you get to see a portrait with the "eyes" of the deceased get painted during the burial ceremony. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Shona, 1. It is good to check up (if you can - some history of the house). For example, try to enquire who previously lived in this house etc... In effect, try to find out more... 2. Depending on your level of participation or non-participation on the application of Feng Shui, you can:- 2.1 Apply Shapes and Form Feng Shui Techniques to do an environmental scanning of the site. And application of Shapes and Form to your home. When you mentioned that there are "lots of" poison arrows: 2.2 You should stand at the front entrance and at each window and look out of the house. Here, a poison arrow only becomes a threat when it is `aimed' thru the main entrance or the window. 3. One should thus not stand outside the house and perhaps perceive that poison arrows are everywhere. If it is not aimed at the house especially through an opening it can be dismissed. 4. This is based on the concept that " If you cannot see it, it no longer becomes a threat ". 5. Apologies as have not read the book you mentioned by you. However, if it is based on the Eight House Theory or a variant, assuming that it is identical to the Eight House theory, you should look at: 5.1. More importance of the main entrance to the breadwinner. 5.2. What is the intangible force at the bedroom or locations that one spents more time at. 6. As mentioned earlier, depends on how one wants to be involved or not involved in Feng Shui would:- 6.1 For those who take traditional Feng Shui further may want to use the Flying Star inconjuction with the Pillars of Destiny to look further. 6.2 On the other hand, if one only wants minimum participation with FS can use our intutition. More towards this. For example, before purchasing a house, get the whole family to take a look of the house. Get feedback from each family member on how each of them feel about the home. The above,I feel are some of the considerations you may want to look at. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Jack, Alterating the door would in my opinion, alter the birth chart of the house under the Flying Star Theory. It is always prudent to check what is `in store' of the house with the new birth chart - the new birth chart is based on Flying Star Theory / numerology. Thus, one should look at the new Flying Star Chart based on the `new' entrance direction of 150 degrees. Is this new chart better than the existing chart based on the present main door entrance? If so, it may be better since it is away from poison arrows aimed at the present main entrance'. Please note that pictures of semi-circular steps are meant to neutralise `Sha Qi' such as poision arrows facing the existing main door. Frankly, I do not see any association of this with one changing the location of the main entrance door. As I mentioned, if the new birth chart of the house is much better than the existing birth chart both under Flying Star analysis or both are `equal', if by shifting your main entrance door away from poison arrows, then it is considerably better to move the main door to the new location. Otherwise, if the birth chart of the house based on the new main entrance door at 150 degrees fare much worse than the existing Flying Star chart, then you should concentrate on neutralising the poison arrows and not change the main door to the new location. (150 degrees). Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Cheui May, The two major principles of name choosing in Chinese are: 1. Choosing names according to the number of strokes in each character. There are several methods. One method is based on the 64 hexagrams multiplied by 6 = 384 base number. Another method is based on + or - or Yin or Yang. 2. A more simplistic method is based on Phonetic sound-like. I mentioned that my elder brother was found to have lacked `water' element. Thus, a phonetic sound-like "Chwee" (Hokkien for `Shui' or water was added to his last name to `provide' him with more water. This is by far the most common method of adding the element to a name. 3. If one searched hard enough in Taiwan, Hong Kong or in my country one can easily find a book which has a `vocabuary' of `better' Chinese names. Each character can be divided into one of the Five Elements. Thus one can first find a good name i.e. a good name in terms of significane or meaning - for example: Bright Dragon and then check this `dictionary' to see which element each of the name has. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Jack, In my opinion, it is advisable to check the `new' birth chart of a house to find out if it is better or ... worse off in changing the `direction' of the door. Usually, the birth chart based on Flying Star of the existing door direction is looked at (compared to) in relation with the new door direction. Here, one looks at all sectors and check the significance of each sector by looking at: 1. The 81 combinations i.e. comparing the Mountain # with the Water # and the resulting interpretation. 2. The `cures' required. If the original chart needs few `cures' at various sectors. But the new birth chart has lots of `cures'. In such a situation, the former chart is `much better' in this situation. 3. A door need not be changed to another location but rather, tilted to another direction. Here, it is also considered facing that specific direction. 4. In my opinion, sometimes, changing the door direction need not necessary mean that you house has `escaped' for example the cul-de-sac. This is because of the `facing' and `sitting' position of the house has not changed. Your frontage of the house continues to be at the same location even if you had changed the main entrance door. Here, Shapes and Form prevails. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Cheui May, 1. In Feng Shui, it is also important to maximize one's LUCK using the three most important theories:- 1.1 Shapes and Form Here, location, location and location is important. 1.2 Eight House HOW SUITABLE is the house to the person? And at locations where one spents most time at should preferably be an auspicious sector. 1.3 Flying Star and Pillars of Destiny Here, Flying Star looks the birth chart of the house is looked at. While we extract, one's element and strength from Pillars of Destiny. Look at our luck periods and its relationship with the five elements. If you can see clearly, each principle above (1.1; 1.2 and 1.3) are specific tools used to analyse different things. For example, the Eight House is to look at suitability of a house to a person. Thus even if the birth chart of the house is excellent, yet it does not `fit' a person, there is a mismatch here. Thus, I hope you can understand from the above, that one should not look in isolation but know the PURPOSE of each theory and apply them accordingly. For example, if there is a toilet at the centre of the house, this is a fundamental `flaw' under Shapes and Form School. So, even if one has EXCELLENT birth chart of the house and even if this house is SUITABLE to a person under Eight house, you may not get good Feng Shui from the house. For example, your present house layout (apologise if I bring this out) does not have good Shapes and Form. I hope you understand that it is very difficult to explain all the above. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Cheui May, 1. As you are aware, Feng Shui is based on a holistic approach. 2. In some of the messages, I relate finding a good home with the equalvalent of `scoring' marks in an examination. In order to score marks or pass a test, one should maximize our scores. For example, if the examination requires one to answer 4 essay questions within 2 hours. 3. Some of us may only answer 3 questions and after that spent too much time that we did not answer the fourth question. 4. As each question carries 25 marks each, by not answering the last (fourth question), our maximum marks (if we ever do get all three questions correct is 75%). Most of us know that we may not get this and could fail our exams. 5. Thus, it would be more prudent to make an effort to allocate 30 minutes to answer each question. By doing so, we would have `maximise' our marks. This could make the difference between passing or failing this examination. 6. Similiarly, one MUST understand clearly the PURPOSE of each Feng Shui theory. Part I.... will be continued in ... second message....

Dear Kaushal, I believe the price of wind chimes - online in other FS emporiums are quite similiar. Unless, you can manage to find one you in area. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Sarah, 1. In Traditional Feng Shui, wind chimes need not necessarily meant to be hang in the north/north west part of the house. It depends. It depends on the individual FS audit done for the home. Usually, this is referenced to the Flying Star chart. 2. If we do not consider Para 1, or use intuition, or simply liked a wind chime and placed it at a location that we personally find suitable, it should be `non-intrusive' or should `fit' the location. A `commonsense' approach is that since the wind chime constantly touches your door, it should normally not touch the door. As this is also considered a `decorative' piece, it should blend with or harmonise with the location and it seems that it does not fit here. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Niteka, Yes, I also believe that as far as possible, the centrepoint of the home should have clear space. Particularly the movement of the elevator creates Sha Qi at the centrepoint of the home which is not ideal. (The near equavalent is the toilet at the centrepoint). The staircase is a secondary (problem) as when compared to the elevator. Frankly, we normally wish or hope that there can be an effective `cure' but this is best avoided (if one can). As this is Sha Qi with regards to Shape and Form. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Michele, In my opinion, Feng Shui is not that easy to apply. Although there are many books available, in the past, it takes much experience not only to know the technical side but be able to analyse the home. Thus, the saying goes " a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." 1. Pool at the `back' of the house. If one does not have the services of a competent FS practitioner, one still `try' to find out where is the frontage of a house. For example, the frontage may even be at the `back' of the house. For example, if the living room opens to a balcony or clear space, the "frontage" can be at this location. Here, you can have clear space and a pool is acceptable. This is common in condominum housing developments. 2. An `L-shaped' house need not necessarily mean that this is a `missing corner'. An `L-shaped' house can be `split' into two rectangles for analysis. One also needs to differentiate between a protusion and a missing corner. 3. In the interior, for example, an `L-shaped' living room cum dinning room can be `divided' into two rectangles by having a partition on one side of the wall. (A top down view would show an outline of two rectangles.) Warmest Regards, Cecil ----- Original Message ----- From: "free-advice Listmanager" To: Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2000 9:21 PM Subject: Pool in back of house