Placement of family potrait

[muffin_99]

Dear cecil,
I read somewhere that all the family pictures and pictures of ancestors should be kept in SW or NW of the living room and that pictures of ancestors should not be kept in the dinning room. Is there any truth to this. Thanks.

[Cecil Lee]

Dear Anon,
1. Yes there is some truth in not keeping the ancestor pictures facing the dinning room.
2. In my opinion, it is more a belief. One rationale is that it is being disrespectful if we do not offer food. But instead gobble it up.
3. The alternative is that (as a last resort) if some houses are really small, like those found in Hong Kong (very small houses), they may just do that. But here, food or fruits are offered at the altar to "applease the ancestor". The above would help in such circumstances.
4. For your point on SW (Earth element location) and NW (Metal element), there is not much logic in mentioning the two locations.
5. Even if we analyse further, SW is also the devil's backdoor. While NW is a metal location. So far even considering these, there are no direct relationships or rationale as to why these two locations are chosen.
6. For Yin Feng Shui, the South side of a hill is usually chosen for burial sites. This is where the tombstone faces South.
South is also Yin and darkness. Many past Chinese emperors were buried on auspicious South side of hills or mountains.
7. We also cannot associate point 6 with the `argument' that ancestor photos face NW and SW.
8. There is a rationale why ancestor photos should face a window or frontage of the house (looking out of the main entrance).
This is because, we seldom if ever come across a toilet at the main entrance area or a toilet located at the `window' area. It is most unlikely for it to face a bedroom wall.
It is thus disrespectful for the ancestor photo to face the toilet or even a bedroom.
9. I understand that many people do not have the luxury of a big house and this is why, this approach is the most sensible one and would normally be easily applied to most homes.
10. Even if it is shown (for a good reason)that say one `must' face NW or SW, it may thus not practical.
Applied Feng Shui is more important than pen and paper academic excercises. We live in a realistic world.
Warmest Regards,
Cecil

Quote

On 1/2/00 12:56:35 AM, Anonymous wrote:
Dear cecil,
I read somewhere that all the
family pictures and pictures
of ancestors should be kept in
SW or NW of the living room
and that pictures of ancestors
should not be kept in the
dinning room. Is there any
truth to this. Thanks.