Hey everyone! I finally managed to squeeze in a bit of time to update my blog! I’m going to talk a bit about the “wealth sector” of a home in this entry. A lot of people have been asking me how to identify it, and what makes a particular area of the house so special? As you all know by now, I like to get into the theory of things and understand why things are they way they are, so I’m going to attempt to explain what this “wealth sector” really is with a case study on one of my clients.
I conducted a feng shui audit for a client of mine, Shayne, some time in April and she’s finally finished renovations and moved in! She’s kindly allowed me to write a blog entry on her house. Turns out good ‘luck’ kicked in sooner than I expected! I don’t think this has to do with her house per se though, but rather, her and her husband’s BaZi chart as they’ve entered into a really positive luck phase (大運) for quite some time now. Shayne has shared some really positive news going on in both their lives and I can’t be happier for the both of them! This engagement was also one of the more memorable ones where everything was just so pleasant, very much like the BTO case I did previously.
You’ll realize that I will always put inverted commas when I say ‘luck’, because I want everyone to get a very clear definition of what luck exactly is. I’ll take the opportunity to reiterate this. The conventional definition of luck is that you get something, usually positive, by chance without seemingly putting in any effort and people tend to have an impression that metaphysics and feng shui is about generating this kind of ‘luck’. It is an extremely naive and dangerous way of viewing the world in my humble opinion. I’ve been doing this consultation sideline for a while now and have spoken to countless different people who have different ways of looking at the world, and the people who hold such a naive world view will of course possess chart that, in the eyes of BaZi (八字), will find it harder to achieve success.
I mentioned in one of my previous entries that the field of metaphysics may position itself as all positive and bright which is great, but I will always seek to balance that notion and remind my clients that it is important to be aware and acknowledge some hard truths as well. This field is built on a lot of positive fuzz because its easier to sell and there’s less backlash to deal with, which is nothing wrong if you look from it from the perspective of conducting this as a business. This is why life coaches and speakers do so well, because they can invoke that in people. It’s great of course, but as a practitioner in this field I still believe in balance. I remember sharing that I’ve attended such courses before, and of course I got to witness how my course mates fared over the years. Arguably, to most people, the effects of such courses is but a temporary high that fades without you even realizing it.
Metaphysics was built on the theory of Yin and Yang, and this theory supports balance. There is danger in being overly positive and optimistic all the time in my humble opinion. It is important to be positive yes, but too much of it and you become delusional. The old Chinese saying goes 物極必反 – anything taken to the extreme will have a reversal. It kind of explains why some people can fall from grace all of a sudden and some can bounce back from rock bottom. There is a flip side to everything. Metaphysics was built on laws governing nature, and there is a lot of logic and common sense behind metaphysics if you calm your mind down and think about it. BaZi explains these laws and how your life is a display of these laws.
Before I digress too much, back to the original topic:
The wealth sector and time taken for the effects of a house to kick in
Now for the juicy bit of this post. Based on my experience and what I’ve read in the Chinese classics, the effects of a house usually takes 3 years to set in, but the usual question is how do you measure or determine the exact moment when these effects kick in. To be honest I don’t think anyone will have a clear cut answer to that. It would like trying to determine the exact date of a seed germinating. Everything is a process and the process consists of your environment, your actions and even your thoughts.
This house is a great one and I was happy to deliver this piece of news when I conducted the audit. The structure is a great one, with all the important rooms landing in the right sectors, qualifying this house to be under 生氣宅 which is one of the best structures to have so naturally anyone who stays in this house will benefit. Just bear in mind, no house is perfect, so there will still be some small flaws here and there, but for this house these flaws are negligible. If you’re wondering why a picture of of the corner was taken, it’s because it’s the wealth sector of the house!
The intuitive thing to associate wealth (財) with is, of course, money – cold hard cash or in a digital form in your bank account. But if I were to break down what wealth represents in a more raw form through the eyes of metaphysics and nature’s laws, wealth simply refers to the resource that sustains life. Every living organism in this world is feeding off something to survive, grow and thrive. Whether it is bacteria, a virus, a mammal or even a plant, everything in this world is feeding off something. Similar to making money, we are taking money away from someone else to put it in our own pockets – this is a natural manifestation of nature’s laws. So when we talk about the wealth sector (財位) of a house, you can see it as the sector where it’s gathering the most resources from it’s surroundings (your house) based on nature’s laws, just that we are taking a macro view of nature’s laws and applying it to a ‘smaller universe’ which is your house. It is the sector where life will thrive, so you’re supposed to keep it clean and uncluttered which I’ve advised Shayne to do.
There will always be a polarity or ‘paradoxical unity’ – positive exists because of the negative and vice versa. This applies to BaZi, feng shui and everything else around us. Plants thrive on organic material that are decomposing to become grow; stronger animals feed on the weaker ones; the elite in society stand on the shoulders of those below them to get to where they are. There’s nothing cruel about this – this is just life. To accept it is to take that first step towards whatever change it is that you want.
I’ve always tried to explain the reason why one’s Daymaster needs to be strong in order to attain wealth, especially when a strong wealth element is also present in the chart. Imagining a seed that has been planted in fertile soil where there are tons of nutrients for it to grow – if the quality of the seed is not up to par, all those nutrients are of no use, and could even harm the seed. There is such a thing as soil being too fertile in agriculture and horticulture. You need to be strong enough to be worthy deemed worthy of acquiring such a high level of wealth and resources.
The quality of your BaZi determines the quality of your house
As always, I would analyze the tenants BaZi charts when I conduct a feng shui audit and as mentioned, Shane and her husband are going through a very positive 大運, so things will naturally be smoother for them. One thing everyone doesn’t seem to realize is how everything is interconnected. The quality of your BaZi chart is very telling of the quality of the house you will end up in and even the name you were born with. This is the reason why practitioners in the past developed the art of feng shui or name selection – it’s to give us a boost in what we don’t have.
The thing that caught me off guard was that the positive news in their lives came extremely fast – within a month of them moving in. I suspect it’s due to them being in a positive 大運 for a while now and it’s not really the effects of the house, but that being said, I have no doubt that everything will go extremely smoothly for them in the years to come thanks to this really auspicious house they have.
Do not be sloppy in your house selection
I really lost count of the number of times I tried to explain how everything is interconnected. The very fact that everything is interconnected makes it even more important for you not to be sloppy in your house selection, and the reason why I would rather clients engage me to hunt for a house with them is because the things a practitioner can do to truly remedy a house is very limited in this day and age when most people are living in apartments. Do not underestimate the impact of a house can have on someone. It have been written and documented in the Chinese classics that the effect is real, and it’s not something myself or other practitioners made up to get people to part with their money. I tried explaining this in a previous post of mine on how your BaZi and house are interconnected but I don’t think the title was clear enough. It’s written very clearly in 《八宅明鏡》。
What do I do if my BaZi chart is bad?
A lot of my clients have asked me “What can I do to make up for a beneficial element that I lack?” I will explain that in my next entry and what exactly not having a beneficial means. It’s a very deep topic that will require some explanation of the theory and philosophy of metaphysics. But I will say this again, and I don’t care how many times I have to say it – charms, items and whatever are not going to do anything for you. All meaning and long term changes can only come from within ourselves. If items and ornaments really worked, don’t you think I, as a practitioner, would have used it on myself and retired by now?
People have been misled for the longest time to believe that life’s problems can be solved as easily as wearing the right ornaments, by people who claim that they know secrets of feng shui and BaZi just because they have a lineage (I will blog about this topic on lineage some day). It’s sad because growth isn’t achieved this way. If you were trying to grow a plant, just because you switched from a porcelain vase to a crystal one doesn’t mean the flowers and fruits it bears is going to any different. Yes, items and charms do have a positive psychological impact, but how long can it actually last and why bother spending so much money and getting yourselves in debt (it does happen), when you can just make a conscious decision.
As always, if you have any questions, don’t be afraid to reach out! If you’re on mobile, I’m just a click away when you open the menu!
-Sean
So wealth sector generally has to be “clean and uncluttered” or its on a case by case basis?