American Feng Shui Institute FS201 - Advanced Feng Shui
American Feng Shui Institute FS201 - Advanced Feng Shui
American Feng Shui Institute FS201 - Advanced Feng Shui
If you have taken prior online classes with the Institute, this online class works a little different. The
class material is now in a PDF format. This means that you will download the class as part of the
enrollment process and read the class material in your Adobe Acrobat Reader, available for free at
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html .
Please read the material in the PDF format. While you are doing so, if you have questions, you may
ask them (for up to 60 days from the date of enrollment) at the class forum. The Advanced Feng Shui
class forum is located at:
http://www.amfengshui.com/bb/viewforum.php?f=1
If you are having technical difficulties (such as lost passwords, being unable to view the PDF or you
have problems with your computer and the forum), please use the following Help Desk forum:
http://www.amfengshui.com/bb/viewforum.php?f=14
If you need anything Administrative, please email fsinfo@amfengshui.com This can include time
extensions, payment questions, Certificate questions, etc.
Thank you for enrolling and we hope you enjoy the class!
IMPORTANT: If you wish to have your Certificate of Completion issued in with a different last
name or with a different spelling than that with which you enrolled, please contact us immediately at
the above email address.
Sincerely,
The American Feng Shui Institute
We hope you enjoy the course and should you need any assistance, please contact us at
fsinfo@amfengshui.com
Qi
The most basic and yet most difficult concept to grasp is that of Qi. Some have called it “heavenly
breath.” Qi is the energy that is both within and around us. It is both air and energy. Many people are
familiar with the Chinese martial art of Tai Ji. This martial art looks at harnessing and utilizing the qi
energy within us. Feng Shui, on the other hand, looks at manipulating the qi energy within built
structures to provide supportive, prosperous and comfortable living spaces for people.
Qi, while invisible in most cases, can be witnessed. When the air moves across the leaves in a tree or
when you feel the Sun’s warmth, you are experiencing qi. Qi can be subtle or very strong. A tornado is
qi at its extreme. A warm breeze is qi that is more comforting. Feng Shui means wind water. We
understand that wind disperses the qi and water stores the qi. Feng Shui is about creating a balance of
qi.
Yang Yin
Active Passive
Hot Cold
Life Death
Summer Winter
Male Female
Day Night
Odd Even
Sun Moon
Fire Water
Above is shown the contrasting aspects of Yang and Yin. It is important to note that Yang is heat and
rising and is always correctly represented on the left. Yin is cold and descending and correctly
represented on the right. Yang is male and Yin is female. They are in harmony together and are
dependent on each other. There is a small amount of Yin within Yang and a small amount of Yang
within Yin. This shows that they are not completely yang or yin at any point. There is always an aspect
of the other within.
Learn this well because as simple as it seems, it is a basic foundation that will guide you in many
advanced Chinese theories.
Fire is the most Yang qi. It is the actual element of fire. It can be an actual flame or the color red. We
tend to like to use the color red as fire itself can be dangerous.
Earth is a grounding qi. It can be stone or terra cotta. Its colors are brown and yellows. Pottery, statues,
and earthen plates all make for earth remedies.
Metal is a very common remedy. It can take the form of metal wall hangings, metal furniture, metal
sculptures, and a lot of other assorted metal objects. The type does not matter, so long as it has either a
lot of surface area or it has a lot of volume (is very heavy). Wind chimes can be a metal remedy, but we
Water stores qi. It is commonly used in the form of fountains, ponds, waterfalls, aquariums, and water
sculptures. The water needs to be clean and moving. The colors of blue and black are used for water.
Remember that all of these remedies need to be applied in proportion to the area that you are
remedying. Additionally, you should make these remedies a very natural part of the environment. If it
looks like a place has been “Feng Shui’d,” then it is not good Feng Shui.
The Domination Cycle is used to identify the problem combinations. Elemental qi found in this sort of
combination is inauspicious and needs to be remedied using the reductive cycle. It flows as follows:
Wood dominates Earth. Earth blocks Water. Water puts out Fire. Fire melts Metal. Metal pierces
Wood.
These Yin and Yang representations are stacked three high in a combination that yields a lot of
symbology including, the elemental representation, the family representation, a symbology, and a
bodily area is represented. The trigrams are viewed from the bottom up based on:
Yin Yang
Closed Open
Plain Decorative (façade)
Flat Wall (long) Short Walls (broken)
Private Public
Heavier Lighter
Bedrooms Living or Public Rooms
Darker Brighter
These are no absolutes and it takes a lot of practice to understand fully which is the sitting side and
which is the facing side of any particular building.
Another helpful, but not always consistent way of determining sitting and facing, is to look at what the
architect’s intent was for the sitting and facing of a building. Many times in custom homes, the
architect will intentionally face the building a certain way. Many times, this is the case when the house
overlooks a significant feature, such as a beach house or a house on a golf course. The sitting side
might be the street side and the facing would be towards the ocean or the golf course. In the case of a
beach house, the main entrance might be on the street side, yet the house opens up to the ocean. The
sitting is the street side and the facing is the ocean.
Another way to visualize the sitting and facing is to imagine if a scale model of the house were
balanced evenly on a tight rope. Whichever side would fall down (heavier side) is typically the sitting.
Remember that sitting is Yin. Yin flows down and is the heavier side.
In the layout of the floor plan, the master bedroom is often on the sitting side. Interestingly enough,
many new homes have the master bath on the sitting side of the master bedroom. It is an architectural
way of putting the most private rooms away from the public area. Other sitting side rooms might
include the kitchen, the den or the utility room. In a business, the computer rooms and utility closets are
often located in the sitting. So, too, is the owner’s or president’s office.
The facing side is usually the public area. This is where the lobby or reception area is. In a home, it is
the front room and often the dining room. It is the area that was intended for visitors. It is also the area
with a lot of traffic, whereas the sitting is quiet with little traffic.
Another interesting way of determining sitting and facing is to look at the exterior walls. The sitting is
usually long, plain and flat. The facing is usually decorative, broken lines, and much more appealing. It
is intended to be the showy side.
Remember that you cannot make blanket generalizations about structures and their sitting and facing,
there are clues that can help. For example, in an apartment, frequently the balcony is on the facing side.
In track homes, often they are facing the street. Once you have determined the facing direction, then
you know the sitting direction. Never though assume that all buildings follow these rules. You need to
look at each one individually and assess the sitting and facing.
With practice, you will see that the sitting and facing can be very apparent. Many times, it might be
Look closely at the image below at the outer ring and notice the Red and Black markings.
Cycle 1864 to 1884 to 1904 to 1924 to 1944 to 1964 to 1984 to 2004 to 2024 to Cycle
continues 1883 1903 1923 1943 1963 1983 2003 2023 2043 continues
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
This is 180-year snapshot in time. It is the time cycles for cycles 1 through 9 in our recent generations.
The cycle number relates to the same numbered trigram and its attributes. This cycle continues, both
back and forward indefinitely. You will see that the nine cycles are split into thirds. These are the sixty-
year cycles that roughly correspond to the 59-½ year convergence of Jupiter and Saturn. The ancients
followed astronomy very closely and determined that these two heavenly bodies cycled very close to
sixty years. The sixty-year cycles are referred to as the lower, middle and upper cycles.
If there is a house built in 1964, then the question needs to be asked: “When was the building roof put
on, capturing the Qi and covering the ground?” Heaven no longer meets Earth. Did it finalize before or
after February 4, 1964? Why February 4th? We will learn more about that in the next section.
When we are looking at the larger time cycles, the beginning of these cycles is February 4 of that
year. So when looking at when the building was completed, if it is on a cutoff year, then we need to
We see that even the calendar plays an important role in the Feng Shui of the building. In Xuan Kong
Feng Shui, we look at the time and space. In the next chapter, we will see how to calculate the Qi based
on the time and orientation.
Cycle 1864 to 1884 to 1904 to 1924 to 1944 to 1964 to 1984 to 2004 to 2024 to Cycle
continues 1883 1903 1923 1943 1963 1983 2003 2023 2043 continues
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
The next step is to identify the orientation of the house. We are going to use a sample house called the
“Smith House” and having taken a Luopan Reading, we have determined it was Sitting to the North
and Facing to the South.
Left Right
Mountain Water
People Money
Sitting Facing
Yin Yang
As a reference, we use to designate sitting. It is the Chinese character for Mountain. An arrow
usually designates facing.
So the next step is to bring the Sitting number 3 into the center grid to the Left side and the Facing
number 2 into the Right side as shown:
Now we can begin to float the Mountain and Water numbers (also referred to as the People and Money
numbers). To keep it simple, lets just float the Mountain numbers to begin with. So we see that the 3 in
the sitting relates to the pattern of X A B and + - -. Since the house was sitting to the X direction, we
As shown below, we circle the Directional Letter and the corresponding Yin or Yang. This will show
us the direction the number will be floated. It is either ascending or descending depending upon
whether it is a plus or a minus. (Ascending is 1,2 3,4... and Descending is 9, 8, 7, 6, ...) So in this case
we will start to float ascending with the 3.
You can see in the example above, that the 5 in the Sitting Side is floating in descending order. (5, 4,
3, 2, ...) The 5 takes on the pattern of the 2 construction number. So the pattern is - + +.
Note: the Chinese character for Mountain is often used to denote the Sitting side and the arrow
is used to indicate the facing direction.
1. 1954 P-D
2. 1966 P-D
3. 2008 B-N
4. 2034 B-N
5. 1952 X-L
6. 1965 X-L
7. 1972 A-M
8. 1997 R-F
9. 1978 J-V
Wang Shan, Wang Shui Good for People, Sitting Number in the Sitting
Good for Money section of the grid, the facing
(Literally means Good Mountain, number in the facing side of
Good Water) the grid.
Double Facing Good for Money, Both the Sitting and Facing
numbers in the Facing section
Not Good for People of the grid.
While the four house types can use any construction number, from any construction cycle, below is an
example of each for a construction cycle 7. Note: South is the facing and north is the sitting.
Double Facing
Good for Money, Not Good for People
P>
Reverse House
Unfavorable for both People and Money
When a house is good for money, then there is prosperous income. If it is good for people, then
relationships, health and well-being are good. If it is bad, then things are a struggle. Bad for money
means that it is difficult to hold money and to make money. Bad for people means that relationships
can be difficult and health can be a problem.
Master Sang prefers that the people aspect be the priority before the money. As he puts it “If you have
your health, you can work for the money, but if you are sick then no money will come.” The focus
should be on creating good Feng Shui environments for people. After the people aspect is remedied,
Left Right
Mountain Water
People Money
Sitting Facing
Yin Yang
We see that People and Sitting relate to the Mountain; Money and Facing relate to Water. So those are
the two remedies we will be using.
For a Wang Shan, Wang Shui house, we do not need to do anything for it is already an ideal house.
For a Double Sitting house (the sitting number in the sitting section and the facing number in the
sitting section), we see that the facing number is displaced. We need to add water to support and assist
the money qi. The water is placed in the sitting of the house. It is always placed outside the house. We
are trying to remedy the entire house, not just a section.
The water remedy should be a large amount of water. Remember, you are trying to remedy the entire
house. A small fountain will not do. Regarding fountains, try to not use a stone or earthen fountain,
unless you have a very large amount of water relative to the earth. (Remember from the Beginning
class that Earth dominates Water.) Swimming Pools, Koi Ponds, very large fountains, Natural
waterfalls are all examples of excellent water remedies.
For a Double Facing house (the sitting number in the facing section and the facing number in the
facing section), we have the opposite situation where the sitting number is the one displaced. Here we
need to add Mountain, or raised up-earth in the facing to support the people qi. This needs to be in the
outside facing area of the house.
The Mountain remedy needs to be raised. Usually the remedy should be large boulders, or perhaps a
stone wall. A general recommendation is that the higher the better, but it should fit naturally in the
environment. Often, large stones are used in the facing to provide the mountain effect. Landscaping
and attractive plants can make these large stones very natural. There should not be a lone boulder as a
remedy as it looks like a tombstone. Make it a natural part of the landscape. Remember, that all Feng
Shui remedies should be natural and not look out of place!
For a Reverse house (The sitting number in the facing section and the facing number in the sitting
section), we need to add both water outside in the sitting side of the house and mountain in the outside
facing side.
Master Sang uses the analogy of a fish on land needs water to feel comfortable and a tiger on a raft
needs earth to feel comfortable. The same can be said of a reverse house. You need to have the water
to aid the money qi and mountain/earth to aid the people qi.
Examples:
The following house chart shows a house that is locked on the People side during the Dui (7) cycle:
The following shows a house that is locked on People during the Gen (8) cycle: (Note that this house
has a 7 in the construction position. This does not mean that it was locked during the Dui cycle. It is
only the People or Money position that gets locked. Not the construction number.)
Practice Workshop
Review the earlier Practice Workshop where you floated the Xuan Kong numbers for five
different houses. Review them and see if any of them are locked in period 8 or were locked in
period 7. Keep in mind that period 7 locks are now over. This is just for your understanding of
locks.
What makes them locked?
How would you remedy them?
Above are shown three wheels. These wheels represent the life cycle of 180 years. Each of the wheel
section represents a 20-year construction period.
Lower Middle Upper
Cycle 1864 to 1884 to 1904 to 1924 to 1944 to 1964 to 1984 to 2004 to 2024 to Cycle
continues 1883 1903 1923 1943 1963 1983 2003 2023 2043 continues
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
No. In Prosperity (Wang) or Life (Sheng) No. In Decay (Shuai) or Death (Si) cycle
cycle
Now at the advanced level, we interpret the numbers based on the location of the cycle that the number
is in. For example, the number 7 was in its Wang period from 1984 to 2003. Dui is Wealth and
Promotions. During the wang cycle Dui is showing its good side. Now though, we have moved to cycle
8 and Gen is at the peak or Wang. As such, we will see the Decay influence on number 7. In fact, we
are starting to see some of this now. The number 7 represents Robbery, Imprisonment, Fires and
Bleeding. Also understand that the 7 cycle is Dui or the mouth. At its peak it was a time of
communication. People such as attorneys, actors, and politicians did well during this time.
Now we are in period 8, Gen. Gen represents the mountain and also youth. Mountains tend to be
Left Right
Mountain Water
People Money
Sitting Facing
Yin Yang
It is important to notice the placement of the number within any grid segment. Is it on the left or people
side? Or, is it on the right, or money side? An 8 on the people side could mean good health and perhaps
even additional children. The 8 placed on the money side means great wealth. Similarly, a 5 on the
money side can mean money delays and a lot of problems related to money. A 5 on the people side can
mean accidents and health problems. Look at each number and see what you can find in the number
depending upon the placement of the people side or money side. You can see very specific things in
each grid segment.
As an example, let’s consider a 9-5 entrance versus a 5-9 entrance. A 9-5 entrance means that money
will be very difficult, with a lot of delays. A 5-9 entrance means that the people can suffer from ill
health, have accidents, or other mishaps. When interpreting the numbers, look carefully at where the
numbers fall, on the people side or the money side. This determines how the situation will be affected.
It is also useful to look at the interpretations shown in Master Sang’s “The Principles of Feng Shui.”
These number combinations can help you in both the Intermediate level, but also at the Advanced
Level. In fact, knowing the Advanced level interpretation makes the references in the book more
understandable and illuminated.
Facing
Sitting
We will now have an on-line slide show. To access the slide show, please go to:
http://www.amfengshui.com/classes/fsadv/slideshow/index.htm
The slide show will show various external environments, with comments on what makes them good or
unfavorable. They will hopefully give you an idea of what to watch for in the environment.
Larry Sang
Certificate Notification
Lastly, we need to have you notify the Institute that you have completed the material. Since there is no
test in the Advanced Class, we need for you to email the Institute. Please include your name, the fact
that you have completed the Advanced Class, and (especially important) the exact spelling of your
name as you wish your Certificate of Completion to be shown.
Please send the email to fsinfo@amfengshui.com .
Once you submit it, then we can then prepare your Certificate.
Thank you for participating in this class! We hope you have enjoyed it. Please find the Advanced
Xuan Kong reference charts attached.