13th entry - Wind and Water
I was fascinated by the profound study of geomancy - known by Chinese as wind and water ("fengshui") - since I was a child. It all started with a book that my aunt gave me when I was about 10 years old.
I got all sorts of books from her back then, as she was working in a local printing company and books that were discarded due to minor printing errors ended up as gifts of knowledge that she bestowed on me whenever I visited her. Books in English on geomancy were rare in those days, so I considered myself lucky to own one, without even having to pay for it.
In my youth, I had no idea about the significance of geomancy. The concept of living in harmony with your surroundings, harnassing the energy of nature (the flow of qi) for your benefit, was rather interesting but difficult to grasp. I was skeptical about how knowing when and where to position the furniture in your house etc would relate to improving your luck, your relationships with other people, your career and your health. To me, geomancy was unscientific, shrouded in superstition and totally old-fashioned. At one stage, I even believed that geomancy (as with all forms of astrology, occult practices and fortune telling) flew in the face of my Christian faith.
When I was studying in the University, I had the opportunity to work as a research assistant for a professor in information systems management. One of the projects that she assigned me was to transcribe an interview (conducted in Mandarin) with the founder of Way Geomancy Pte Ltd, which will be used for writing a case study for her postgraduate business management programme. I was impressed with how this company utilised modern information technology in a traditional business, to provide unique solutions to its clients e.g. using AutoCAD to draw floor plans of clients' homes and superimposing geomancy charts with annotations on them, which makes it easier to visualise where key positions (e.g. for wealth and health) in the house were. I also had the opportunity to understand more about the basis and logic of geomancy. This encounter made me realise that geomancy may still be relevant in modern society, and it has many useful applications in our lives.
In 2003, not long after I acquired the keys to the apartment that I am presently staying, and before I engaged an interior designer and started renovations, my family and I decided approached Way Geomancy to conduct a geomancy consultation for the apartment. It was not cheap - about $3,000 - but I thought it was money worth spending on because it would give my family and I a "peace of mind" when we moved into the new apartment. Although I am not sure whether the consultation paid off, I did not regret getting another perspective on the way the interior of my apartment was designed. At least, the consultation helped me to eliminate the options that were deemed unsuitable for me and my family, and I must admit that I am quite satisfied with the decor of my apartment in that it made my family and I feel quite comfortable in our home.
Recently, the topic of geomancy became of interest to me again. Not only is my bf, H, somewhat into geomancy, but a good friend of mine, KW, was also studying it in his free time. KW gave me an amateur "life analysis" which was consistent with that provided by Way Geomancy some time ago. However, I am still considering whether I should be making some drastic changes to improve my "fortune", such as changing my Chinese name. "What's in a name, for a rose by any other name smells as sweet". Yet according to KW, the number of strokes of the ideograms that make up our Chinese names have a bearing on the fortune of our entire life!
I got all sorts of books from her back then, as she was working in a local printing company and books that were discarded due to minor printing errors ended up as gifts of knowledge that she bestowed on me whenever I visited her. Books in English on geomancy were rare in those days, so I considered myself lucky to own one, without even having to pay for it.
In my youth, I had no idea about the significance of geomancy. The concept of living in harmony with your surroundings, harnassing the energy of nature (the flow of qi) for your benefit, was rather interesting but difficult to grasp. I was skeptical about how knowing when and where to position the furniture in your house etc would relate to improving your luck, your relationships with other people, your career and your health. To me, geomancy was unscientific, shrouded in superstition and totally old-fashioned. At one stage, I even believed that geomancy (as with all forms of astrology, occult practices and fortune telling) flew in the face of my Christian faith.
When I was studying in the University, I had the opportunity to work as a research assistant for a professor in information systems management. One of the projects that she assigned me was to transcribe an interview (conducted in Mandarin) with the founder of Way Geomancy Pte Ltd, which will be used for writing a case study for her postgraduate business management programme. I was impressed with how this company utilised modern information technology in a traditional business, to provide unique solutions to its clients e.g. using AutoCAD to draw floor plans of clients' homes and superimposing geomancy charts with annotations on them, which makes it easier to visualise where key positions (e.g. for wealth and health) in the house were. I also had the opportunity to understand more about the basis and logic of geomancy. This encounter made me realise that geomancy may still be relevant in modern society, and it has many useful applications in our lives.
In 2003, not long after I acquired the keys to the apartment that I am presently staying, and before I engaged an interior designer and started renovations, my family and I decided approached Way Geomancy to conduct a geomancy consultation for the apartment. It was not cheap - about $3,000 - but I thought it was money worth spending on because it would give my family and I a "peace of mind" when we moved into the new apartment. Although I am not sure whether the consultation paid off, I did not regret getting another perspective on the way the interior of my apartment was designed. At least, the consultation helped me to eliminate the options that were deemed unsuitable for me and my family, and I must admit that I am quite satisfied with the decor of my apartment in that it made my family and I feel quite comfortable in our home.
Recently, the topic of geomancy became of interest to me again. Not only is my bf, H, somewhat into geomancy, but a good friend of mine, KW, was also studying it in his free time. KW gave me an amateur "life analysis" which was consistent with that provided by Way Geomancy some time ago. However, I am still considering whether I should be making some drastic changes to improve my "fortune", such as changing my Chinese name. "What's in a name, for a rose by any other name smells as sweet". Yet according to KW, the number of strokes of the ideograms that make up our Chinese names have a bearing on the fortune of our entire life!
posted by sunshine wallflower at 2:12 PM
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