Prevent Chi From Rushing Out
Question: I have a straight stairway that goes directly down to my front door. It is impossible to put up any kind of barrier at the bottom because of a lack of space.
One of your past suggestions was to place a mirror on the landing of the stairway. Do I hang a mirror on any wall at the landing, and do I hang it on the top or bottom landing of the stairs? Would it be better to hang a mirror on the back of my front door in order to keep the good luck in my home?
JAYNE WEISS
Via e-mail
Answer: Staircases that run directly to the front door are considered bad feng shui because chi flowing in the front door is believed to rush up the stairs and then back down, racing out of the house before it can circulate and bring luck and prosperity to the home’s inhabitants. The idea of hanging a mirror on the landing is to reflect and disperse the incoming chi before it can rush out again.
You would, therefore, hang the mirror on the first landing at the top of the stairs so that it faces the staircase.
Computer Crashes Not Likely Due to Feng Shui
Q: Our home computer is situated in a small room with the screen facing a solid wall; the back faces north with a wall that has a window. There is a window on the west wall as well. The east wall has the door to the hallway. It seems to me that the computer crashes too frequently. Could there be a feng shui problem here?
R. DUNLAR
Long Beach
A: I’m not a computer expert by a long shot. But I’d say the frequent crashes have more to do with the machine or your software than with the location of the computer in the room. If you would like to experiment, try placing the computer on the west wall of the room. The west has metal for its element, and it governs creativity.
See if this placement makes the computer behave in a friendlier fashion. If not, bring in a computer consultant, not a feng shui master, to see what the problem may be.
Are ‘Empty’ Spaces Causing Stresses?
Q: According to the ba-gua map in a feng shui book I consulted, the wealth and prosperity and love and marriage sections of my house are situated at the back.
What can I do to improve these areas? My marriage is on the rocks and we’re always broke, even though we are both making very good money.
THERESA
Cerritos
A: I checked out the diagram you enclosed and can see that the addition of a craft room onto the center rear of your home has created empty spaces on the southeast (wealth) and southwest (marriage and partnership) areas of your house. So the shape of your house does cause some bad feng shui, and the bad feng shui may be partly responsible for the problems you mention.
To deal with the feng shui problem first, fill those empty spaces in the open triangles on either side of the craft room. One of the most successful and practical methods for completing “missing” areas of a home is to plant trees or shrubs. This will fill in the gaps symbolically (and attractively).
Since you will be taking on this project in the hopes of improving your marriage and your finances, include your husband in the decision about what to plant and how to do it. Also, since the craft room on the back of your house has created the feng shui imbalance, look at how much you are spending on crafts to see if this hobby could be one of the drains on your bank account.
And finally, remember that feng shui isn’t the entire answer for any problem and that improving the feng shui can be only part of the solution. If you both make good money and yet always feel broke, one or both of you is spending too much. Trying to solve the mystery of your disappearing money by sitting down with your husband may wind up solving both problems at once.
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Kirsten Lagatree is a New York City-area 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.
