Easy Fix for House, Garage Misplacement
Question: My house faces squarely north. The garage extends abruptly forward on the northeast corner, creating an indentation on the northwest corner. I understand this can cause health problems for the father of the house. Is there a way to remedy this problem?
AMY A.
Via e-mail
Answer: The house and garage combination you describe is considered inauspicious for a couple of reasons.
First, the shape suggests an ax. The garage extending forward in the front on the northeast side would be the ax handle and the northwest and west sides of the house would represent the cutting edges of the blade.
The second reason this shape is considered unlucky is that the house-garage arrangement makes an incomplete rectangle. It leaves the northwest corner of your property empty because there’s no parallel structure on the northwest to balance the garage jutting forward on the northeast.
You are correct that the northwest direction represents the father, but this is in the most literal sense. The northwest really governs the leader, which could mean a king, a president or chief executive. This direction can also represent the mother when she’s a single parent head of household and acting in what was once the traditionally male role of breadwinner and rule maker.
So what does this mean for you? Left untouched, your house’s shape could invite any number of difficulties for the people who live there. Health problems for the father are possible, but by no means a certainty.
It’s just as likely that there could be leadership struggles in the home, with household members competing for power and authority in ways that disrupt the family.
It’s also possible that any family member whose bedroom is in the northwest part of the house will have problems ranging from work or school difficulties to headaches and colds. But don’t get carried away imagining afflictions.
There are easy ways to remedy this inauspicious situation. The most frequently suggested solution for this common problem is to fill that “missing corner” in the northwest by planting a tree or shrub or installing a light that shines up.
Any of these elements will balance out the shape of your home, removing the ax shape and creating wholeness where there had been incompleteness.
Mirrors’ Good Effects Can Be Overdone
Q: What does it mean when you walk into a home and there are two mirrors facing each other? The mirrors are not facing you directly as you walk in, but they are on the right and left as you come through the doorway. Is this a good or bad thing? Also, there are water fountains by the front door and in the back of the house. Does that alleviate anything bad those mirrors might create?
BARBARA COHEN
Via e-mail
A: This sounds like the home of someone who may be trying too hard with feng shui. Mirrors are fine: They’re attractive and they can enlarge the appearance of a room. And since they throw back light and symbolically double whatever they reflect, they’re thought to be good feng shui.
As a practical matter, guests entering the home and confronting mirrors either way they turn may become a bit disoriented or startled and dismayed to see themselves so suddenly and so many times.
Feng shui master John-Dennis Govert says that only your vain friends will be glad to face mirrors as soon as they walk in your door. He’s a little tongue-in-cheek on this, but his point is that it’s easy to overdo the mirror thing.
As to the fountains, placing them just anywhere can backfire. Putting a fountain in the south, for example, can douse or extinguish chances for fame, fortune and festivity--three blessings brought by the south--because the south is governed by fire.
The best place for water in any home or office is in the north because water is north’s corresponding element.
Apartment Directions Go Room by Room
Q: How does one apply feng shui to an apartment? Is it applied according to the entrance of the apartment building or the entrance to the apartment itself? Further, once inside the apartment, would one apply the rules to the whole apartment only, or room by room? This is a real conundrum for me.
PAT BIDDLE
Via e-mail
A: You have a lot of company, Pat. I’ve received many letters from readers perplexed by this issue.
To answer, I must first remind readers about the two different schools of feng shui being practiced today. The Black Hat sect, which has been practiced in this country for about 60 years, is the school that uses the entrance to a room (or building) as a starting point to apply feng shui principles.
The traditional, or classic, school of feng shui that I write about uses a compass to determine relevant directions in a room or building. This compass method is the way feng shui has been practiced for thousands of years. My answers are based on the compass method and have nothing to do with entrances.
When you’re analyzing the feng shui of your apartment, you can bypass the building itself and focus your attention directly on your individual apartment. Within the apartment, go room by room and find the direction that corresponds to your personal goals in the room that seems most relevant.
For example, if you are interested in enhancing your career, find the north wall of the room you use most often when doing professional work at home. For relationship issues, use the southwest corner of your bedroom. For goals relating to money or finances, find the southeast area of the busiest room in the apartment and also focus on the place where you pay bills, balance your checkbook, etc.
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Kirsten Lagatree is a Washington, D.C., writer whose books include “Feng Shui, Arranging Your Home to Change Your Life” (Villard 1996) and “Feng Shui at Work, Arranging Your Work Space for Peak Performance and Maximum Profit” (Villard 1998). Mail your questions on feng shui to Kirsten Lagatree, Real Estate section, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, fax them to (213) 237-4712, or e-mail them to kfengshui@aol.com or Real.Estate@LATimes.com. All questions will be considered for use but cannot be answered individually.
