Walk This Shui: Not Everybody Is Born Lucky

Two weeks later, I’m still reeling from the news of my fate. I first contacted practitioner Alvin Ang with the expectation that he’d be rearranging my room or work space. All I requested was a simple feng shui consultation – nothing but creating positive vibes through home décor, right?

Wrong. When he asked me to meet him at the China Culture Center, I was puzzled. How on earth could he advise me on the layout of my home from there? Just in case, I sketched a mental map of my apartment so I could describe it to him in detail later.

I entered the classroom excited to absorb and apply this new knowledge. I was keen to share the tips I’d picked up in college – hanging a crystal from your ceiling, avoiding the colors red and black in your bedroom – but it turns out I was in for a bit of a surprise.

Straightaway, Ang made clear that he wasn’t into that commercialized New Age crap. “I practice classical feng shui, as it’s preached in the 3,000-year-old ancient texts,” he told me, with a slight edge of pretension. “And you can’t practice that branch of feng shui without first understanding bazi.”

Now that was a term I’d never heard before.

“You see, everyone is born with a certain amount of luck,” he continued, scrawling out a rough drawing of Heaven, Man and Earth. “But some,” he said, pointing ominously at Heaven, “are naturally more lucky than others.” The man emanated certainty and tentativeness, patience and haste – a mystifying mix that had me lapping up his words.

He noted that certain people have a greater inclination towards wealth, while others – no matter how much they adjust their environmental influences – will simply never strike it rich.

“Feng shui isn’t magic, after all,” he chortled, before turning serious. “At the same time, don’t underestimate the power of qi.”

I asked him for general rules about manipulating qi; he was quick to inform me there were none. In fact, he could tell me little about feng shui until I understood the details of my own earthly circumstances.

And what was my destiny, then? He logged my birth data into a complicated chart, telling me that I, too, could acquire this knowledge and skill should I take his eight-session course.

As he deconstructed my fortune, I began to feel devastated by the bad news, only somewhat placated by the good. I loafed about in a daze for the next few hours, unsure of what to believe.

After days of contemplation, I came to realize that whether the formulas of feng shui and bazi have basis or not, they do hold logic. And the lesson I’ve carried away from the two is that they work in conjunction with each other to enhance luck.

That doesn’t mean you must resign yourself to your fate. Rather, you’re encouraged to take charge of your life and nudge it towards a new, brighter direction. And even if you’re not superstitious, that’s one course I’m sure we can all agree on.

Visit China Culture Center to sign up for Alvin Ang’s “Xuan Kong Flying Stars Feng Shui” or “Bazi Beginner” courses.

Photo: Courtesy of Flickr user Dave Fayram.