Have you used Feng Shui to determine how you decorate your home?

Behind the seemingly harmless facade of intricate and detailed decorating advice is a spiritual belief system based on the concepts of a universal force called chi, the opposing but complementary yin and yang, and the interaction of the five elements — earth, water, fire, metal, and wood. Feng shui is a system in which one uses tools of divination and complex formulas and calculations to determine how to control the flow of chi outside or inside a home or office. Harmony, balance, and peace are achieved mainly through the proper placement of objects in one’s physical environment.

Feng shui uses occult practices to identify lucky and unlucky areas of a home and to determine how to keep bad chi at bay while attracting good chi. Adherents of feng shui believe invisible, magical forces are tamed through occult forms of divination. Its worldview is antithetical to the biblical worldview of a supernatural, sovereign, personal God.

IS FENG SHUI JUST A NEW WAY TO DECORATE? Feng shui (pronounced “fung shway”) has come to the United States and other Western countries riding on the wave of interest, since the 1960s, in all things Eastern. Feng shui is used on a regular basis in China, Tibet, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines,3 and increasingly by those from Asian cultures living in the West.

Feng shui, however, is not just for the rich and famous. Business people, merchants, home builders, real estate brokers, interior designers, corporate managers, regular home buyers, and others are paying high fees for feng shui consultants.5 In addition to an increasing number of books that reveal its popularity, an Internet search discloses the existence of the International Feng Shui Guild, the Feng Shui Society, The American Feng Shui Institute, the Feng Shui Network, and various courses on feng shui offered through Web sites and universities. What is feng shui?

Many believe it to be just another decorating concept. One Web site promoting feng shui says it is “about balance, comfort and harmony. Feng shui is not a religion or a mystical belief.

Rather, it is a science that offers the ability to create a balance in your dwelling or place of work.”6 One “how to” book says, “This Chinese art of harmonious placement is largely common sense and good design.”7 Beneath the veneer of this ancient art, however, are concepts that go far beyond common sense decorating advice. Feng (“wind”) shui (“water”) originated within the context of Chinese Taoism. It is an intricate system designed to harness the flow of an invisible universal force called chi (pronounced “chee,” also spelled qi, ki, or ch’i) in order to maximize its benefits.

The chi in one’s physical surroundings, in concert with yin and yang energies and the five elements (earth, water, fire, metal, and wood), is thought to be affected by the characteristics and placement of physical objects: “The skill of a Feng Shui consultant lies in recognising where chi is flowing freely, where it is trapped and stagnant, or where it may be excessive. Another definition calls feng shui an “ancient and complex Chinese art that combines mysticism, science, and superstition to determine health, luck, and prosperity according to natural landscapes and the placement of dwellings, buildings, and graves. Central to feng shui is the concept of chi, which is believed to be the force that permeates every aspect of the universe.

Chinese philosophers Lao Tzu, Confucius, Mencius, and others developed this concept between the sixth and fourth centuries b.c. This energy is also known as bioenergy, vital energy, vital force, universal life force, the creative force, and the life force. “Just as acupuncture, chakra balancing or shiatsu massage can adjust the flow of energy in the body, so can feng shui adjust the flow of energy around us.”15 The chi must flow “not too quickly and not too slowly” and will stagnate or become destructive if it is blocked.16 The Taoist belief teaches that good health results from the harmonious flow of chi in one’s body; likewise, feng shui seeks to get the chi flowing around and throughout buildings and gardens so that harmony, power, romance, and/or success will result.17 The yin and yang components of chi “must be in balance” as well.18 The literal translation of yin and yang is “shade” and “light,”19 but it can also refer to other opposing but complimentary pairs such as female and male or sour and sweet.

In Chinese cosmology, the relationship between heaven, earth, and humanity is paramount. This is reflected in the various categories of chi: heaven chi, earth chi, and human chi, which are each subdivided.