Feng Shui and Electronics

The "Black Hat School" advocates using electrical appliances to stimulate areas of your house for good fortune. These folks claim that "electrical objects are one of nine basic cures." This notion is misguided, to put it mildly.

In the 6,000-year plus tradition of feng shui there could potentially be hundreds of different remedies, not just nine. And obviously, practitioners from centuries past were not recommending televisions, stereos, and computers as remedies because, hey, they didn't exist!

This is not to say that a modern object cannot work brilliantly as an affective remedy. For instance, a "moving metal" remedy used to be satisfied routinely with a wind chime and is still considered a popular item. However, if you needed a moving metal remedy in your house, you could also use a Grandfather clock or a very hi-tech moving metal sculpture.

I had a client who was a hairdresser and her work area specifically needed the fire element. Her station happened to be adjacent to a whole row of hair dryers, which she said were running constantly throughout the day. This is an example of literal heat (fire) occurring naturally, inconspicuously, and in a very modern way. Because the fire was already there, it was not necessary for her to use red color or any extra lighting around her area.

But do electronics have any real purpose as remedies? Some research suggests the exact opposite: that frequent exposure to electrical fields and appliances can undermine health in a variety of ways. Children who are exposed to high electrical fields can even get leukemia! I advise clients to NOT sleep closer than six feet from a computer, TV, or refrigerator. And if an electrical appliance could be categorized as one of the five elements (water, wood, fire, earth, metal), it would loosely fit in the "fire" category, not the "metal" category that is erroneously printed in many books. This is because electricity is really more of the fire energy than metal.

At the same contradictory time, some novice practitioners are urging their clients to cover up the TV at all times when not in use, like hiding some bastard child that no one is supposed to know about. Enclosing a TV inside a cabinet or draping a cloth over it is not going to do anything and is really unnecessary.

More than the object itself, it is WHAT the object does which could be addressed within an authentic consultation. For instance, if someone lived oppressively close to a freeway, then it might be appropriate to play a stereo sometimes to drown out car engines with more soothing sounds of music. Or if you are in the habit of watching the 11 o'clock news every night before going to bed, you could be creating your own internal bad feng shui by making those stressful news reports part of your last waking thoughts before trying to sleep.