Feng shui

The Chinese art of arranging house and surroundings, for harmony and prosperity.

Feng shui literally means wind and water. It is the Chinese teaching of arranging space: how you place and lay out a house, grave, office or city so that life energy, qi, can flow well. According to the tradition a good place brings health, prosperity and harmony; a bad place stagnation and setbacks.

The teaching is more than two thousand years old. Originally it was used above all to find a favourable place for graves, because the rest of the ancestors was seen as important for the family's well-being. Later it also concerned houses, palaces and cities. A classic ideal is a place with mountains behind and water in front, protected but open.

Feng shui works with concepts such as yin and yang, the five phases or elements, wood, fire, earth, metal and water, and the bagua, an octagonal division of space that links each section to an area of life, such as wealth, relationships or health. Doors, windows, mirrors, plants and the position of the bed play a role. A bed with the headboard against a solid wall, for example, counts as favourable for rest.

In dream interpretation feng shui returns above all with dreams about houses. A light, spacious and tidy house is often read favourably in Chinese folk interpretation, as qi flowing freely. A messy house, a blocked door or a dark corner can be read as something stuck that needs attention. Dreams about moving and a new home are interpreted this way too.

On Dreamkin the readings according to Zhou Gong offer this perspective, as folk interpretation and not as a fixed rule.