MAKING WAVES WITH FENG SHUI
Fabulous Wind Chimes
by Dennis Fairchild
 

As we embrace autumn, let’s hear it for Feng Shui (pronounced “fung schway”), which has been around 3,000 plus years advising how to create the best living and working environments for your fullest potential. Feng Shui is a melange of Buddhism, Taoism and rural magic with roots in ancient agrarian China where farmers worshipped harmony with nature. It has endured because it works – combining common sense, tradition, superstition and the power of self-fulfillment. Plus, it’s loads of fun!

Let’s peek through the post and pursue some recent queries.

Dear Dennis,

Is hanging a set of bamboo wind chimes inside by the front door better than metal ones?

Darlene; Troy MI, internet

Dear Darlene,

I’m a serious fan of bamboo – all the floors of my new house are bamboo and every step I take is like walking in a forest. My fellow Feng Shui For Modern Living magazine columnists all agree: bamboo is boss. The image of a clump of bamboo firmly rooted in the earth and watered by the heavens is an archetypal Feng Shui image. It unites the Five Chinese Elements in one picture: the bamboo (which is the element of Wood) drawing life from the soil (which is Earth) and being watered by the rain (Water) may eventually be cut down by man (using Metal) and burned (Fire).

Pretty keen, eh?

Feng Shui translates from the Asian words “wind and water.” The ancient Chinese were always very concerned to make sure that their best Feng Shui sites were well-protected from the raging wind or torrential rain. Taming water and causing it to flow in meandering dragon-like paths remains a large part of Chinese landscaping.

Wind, however, is much more challenging to control. Traditionally, bamboo tubes have been used for centuries to channel wind and the ch’i (pronounced “chee;” means “energy”) which comes with it. Feng Shui is intimately related to the eight unique compass directions which play a part in analyzing either a site, a building or room and associated with what’s called a special “wind.”

Just as in Europe, it is well known that Le Mistral, which blows across from the Sahara to Southern France, brings with it frayed tempers and even increases the local crime rate, so likewise the Chinese associated different moods and different types of luck with the winds coming from each of the eight directions. Taking the idea further, each of these winds became associated with eight special musical notes played on a bamboo flute. This connection between the winds, the direction, the musical notes and the type of ch’i is fundamental in understanding wind “cures.”

A cure is something that is placed in a specific position to prevent, deflect or modify an un-good, funky Feng Shui influence. The origin of these cures is quite complex but, simply put, a bamboo flute or other hollow bamboo tube can be used to modify the flow of airborne ch’i.

Wind chimes are fantastic wind cures! Certainly, they produce beautiful natural noises when hung in a breeze but, more importantly, they encourage air and consequently ch’i to flow through their tubes. For this reason, it is most important that wind chimes are hollow. (Remember the musical notes of the bamboo flute.)

When determining whether you should use hollow wooden or hollow metal wind chimes, consider what corner/area of the house or room they are to be hung. Metal is best used in the west and northwest which are directions traditionally attributed to metal. North is also compatible as the element attributed to north is water and water is considered to be produced by metal.

On the other side of the I-Ching coin, wooden chimes are most powerful to the east and southeast as these are wood directions. Wood produces fire and, therefore, wooden wind chimes are also a-OK in the south which is the direction attributed to fire. Simply put, wood chimes relate more to one’s muscles and health; metal with intuition and feelings.

Web-wise, check out www.windchime.com and www.buychimes.com for a wide selection and nice online help. Ring those chimes!

Dennis Fairchild is the Royal Oak author of several books on divination. If you have a Feng Shui question for consideration in future column, email DenFairchild@aol.com. For information about individual intuitive tarot, astrological or Feng Shui consults, call (248) 546-6912.