A mirror in your dining room is good, feng shui-wise
By Kaui Philpotts
"Well, feng shui practitioners have rules for everything else in home and garden decor, why not the table?," I continued.
For answers, I turned to Lillian Too's "Easy-to-Use Feng Shui" (Collins & Brown, $19.95).
Too, a feng shui consultant and author who lives in Malaysia, has put together 168 quick and easy ways to bring feng shui principles (creating harmony by directing the chi, or life energy, appropriately) into the right places in your world. Believers in these principles claim that the correct placement and order of buildings and objects can bring you success and happiness in your career and personal life.
I thought it would be fun to pass on the simple things to keep in mind in your every day life. Assuming, that is, that this all makes sense to you at all.
Bringing a mirror into your dining area is a good thing in the feng shui way of thinking. Bringing that same mirror into your kitchen above the stove is not. The reason having a mirror in your dining room (ideally placed on the north wall) brings good luck is that it visually "doubles the food" so you will not starve. The same result can be achieved by hanging a still-life painting of luscious fruit in the dining room, or placing a bowl of fruit on the dining table.
Oranges symbolize gold and prosperity in Chinese beliefs. This is why there are so many around the home and handed out during New Year celebrations. Also the sound of the word for oranges, which is "kum," resembles the word for gold.
It's no accident that most Chinese restaurants and homes have round dining tables. The round shape represents gold, or coins. However, square and rectangular tables can be equally lucky. The table configurations you want to avoid are those that are T- or L-shaped.
When seating your dinner guests, never squeeze someone in by placing then at the corner of the table. The corners create an "arrow" that stabs them and can cause harm.
If you have a bathroom nearby, never seat someone facing its door. Be careful not to seat a guest under an overhead beam, either.
It is desirable to have the dining room open onto a garden or courtyard with flowering plants and trees.
Chinese restaurants with their round doors, red walls, gold dragons, fish tanks and bright lights have always practiced the principles of feng shui, but today many are more concerned with chic decor. The red representing "fire energy" has in some cases given way to cooler colors and water features representing "water energy." This is considered especially good for liquor sales.
Feng shui practitioners try not to have kitchens too near the front door of the home. Mirrors in the kitchen also are said to cause misfortune to happen to a family.
Your stove should not be placed in the northwest portion of the kitchen. This creates a situation called "fire at heaven's gate" and it invites bad luck. The northwest corner is said to represent the father or breadwinner of the family. If you place your stove there, you are burning the breadwinner, who brings money stability to the family.
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| Oranges and bamboo are auspicious symbols. But be careful where you point that teapot.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser |
The rice bowl is said to symbolize a family's fortunes. Therefore, you should take care of your rice bowls and make sure that they are never used chipped or cracked. Watch also that you never serve drinks in even slightly chipped glasses or cups. Broken or chipped dishes should be removed from your cupboard because their bad luck extends to things such as business or anything that affects your "rice bowl," or financial fortunes.
Popular motifs on both island and Asian dishes are those of bamboo and fish. Bamboo is the symbol of longevity. It means that you have the strength to stand up to adversity in much the way that bamboo can stand up to stormy weather. Fish represent the element of water, which flows smoothly.
When you are serving tea from a teapot, make sure you do not point the spout directly at anyone. The "arrow" of the spout will bring them bad luck. In old China, triad gangs are said to have identified adversaries to other gang members at the table by pointing the spout of the teapot toward them.
Oh, and if you were thinking of taking that last morsel on the serving dish, don't. To do so is to become a perpetual "old maid" or bachelor; and to take the last sweet on a plate creates "poverty energy."
Along those same lines, we've all been offered "one for the road" at a party and thought that it probably wasn't such a good idea. Well, take it next time. This doesn't mean you have to drink the whole thing. Just take a sip. It can be just water or soda. Taking that last sip is supposed to ensure that you will get home safely. If you refuse, say feng shui practitioners, you will may run up against obstacles on the way home.
