The Building Whisperer

Case Study Part 1 by Master Boon Yap

Many of you already know that part of your luck is governed by the environment that surrounds and affects our home. But how does it manifest itself you ask?

Feng Shui can manifest itself in benevolent and malevolent ways. Unfortunately, the majority refuse to take it seriously until something major happens. I have encountered numerous occasions where misfortune could have been avoided if only we know to consult Feng Shui. I wish to share with you one such occasion where I was called in to help ‘move’ a property that was on the market for a year.

The wife is an internationally recognised interior designer who has been a finalist for two consecutive years at the prestigious Andrew Martin Design Awards. As was typical, the wife felt there might be some truth behind Feng Shui, while the husband, a mining geologist who made his fortune in gold mining, was typically sceptical of Feng Shui.

The owners had renovated a period bungalow on a landscaped quarter acre block in a premium location two years prior to when I was called in. The husband had owned and lived with his grown up children in the period home for the previous 6 years. In 2002 he decided to have the residence overhauled by his fiancée. Upon completion in that year, the couple married, performing the ceremony in the elegance of the newly refurbished home. Subsequently, they decided to team up in the luxury property refurbishment business. They have since renovated another property and are living in that penthouse apartment suite. They then shared with me their idea of selling their penthouse suite to live-in and renovate a river frontage home they had just bought.

I was called in because they could not understand why this grand and tastefully elegant residence could not sell at a reasonable priced buoyant market in a prestige location. I was asked to help move the award-winning period home and the penthouse suite and consulted if it was a good idea to stay in and how to renovate the riverfront mansion.

I shall begin my story with the award-winning period home.

The driveway enters the property from the South 2 direction, with the main door located in the south west sector facing South 2. The other side of the property slopes considerably lower down and a pool is located in the central area of the garden, overlooked by an expansive living room.

From the study of external forms, the Four Celestial Animals did not protect the residence. The downhill slope exposed the back of the house, and no significant left Green Dragon for wealth nor right White Tiger for authority.

One of the best method for analysing the influence of internal energies in a home is the Ba Zhai Eight Mansion School. The many years of experience from the Yap Cheng Hai lineage showed this method to be one of the simplest but most powerful. Not only for analysis, but more importantly for rectifying the negative Feng Shui situation. Allow me to explain how this works.

The owners both belong to East Life Gua, the husband is Kan gua and the wife is Li gua, so a south facing door is a good start for them. Although this was only the husband’s 3rd best and the wife’s 4th best direction, bringing in harmony and stability qi, respectively. The other good aspects they unknowingly managed to capture are the location of the kitchen and placement of their oven. Both are found to suppress the inauspicious sector of the home thereby helping the husband’s income and wellbeing of the children, and also preventing illness and legal problems.

However, these good points were negated by the location of the main door in south west sector of the home. This was the husband’s Total Disaster sector and the wife’s Six Killings sector, keenly inauspicious for both of them. The bedroom door faces West, also their inauspicious direction; the husband’s Mishap and the wife’s Five Ghosts direction. Their bedroom was also located in their inauspicious sectors, the husband’s Five Ghost and the wife’s total disaster area. All this meant that they were in a position of net negative qi according to the Ba Zhai analysis.

Combining my analysis with the Xuan Kong Fei Xing (Flying Star School), I deduced the birth chart of the house had a ‘Prominent Facing and Sitting Star of Combination of 10’ formation. This has the potential of bringing twice to triple the Feng Shui luck only if the star numbers of the chart is supported by the external forms.

Evaluation of the external environment showed the stars in the facing palace 6 and 8 were not in their prominent period and neither was clearly supported. Furthermore, the prominent mountain star in the sitting palace encountered a sloping away ground, clearly indicating a total lack of people relationship in the household. There was one positive aspect that relates to material wealth being supported by the lower ground enhancing the prominent water star 7 in the sitting palace. However, the large swimming pool in the sitting palace weakens the metal 7 prominent water star.

So although the owner can still make money, his wealth was continuously leaked away through regulatory red-tape due to the influence of the annual 3 star that harboured legal wrangles and inflamed disputes within family members. This was found to be so when he explained that a property development project of his was on sacred land and they were having difficulties with tribal leaders of the land and held up by government authorities.

Internal examination of the stars indicated that if they used the main entrance, at least they would be activating the wealth star 8. However, as bad luck would have it, they used the side entrance located and facing west, their inauspicious direction. The stars here suggested negative romance.

Their bedroom spanned the calamity star 5 facing and sitting star area, and their bed violates the sitting star 5 small tai ji. There were other bedrooms located in good star combinations of 8 and 6 that were not used.

To cap it all, the massive renovation project commenced in the month of February 2002. In the year of the horse, houses that front the horse direction (South 2) faced Tai Sui Grand Duke Jupiter and sat N2 the Sui Po Year Breaker direction, also sat on San Sha Three Killing. During such annual timings, one should not disturb the earth energies represented by Feng Shui, either by renovations or landscaping. Violation of 3 of these Forces coupled with the dispute star 3 flying into the S2 Facing Palace during the month of February bode ill disruptive energies. They married in the month of September when the calamity star 5 flew into the Facing Palace of S2, continuing to add to their already negative situation.

All in all creating havoc with this newlywed couple. The disruptive energies evoked included stubborn and heated argumentative personalities. Children and third parties created destructive forces in their new relationship. Although they could still make money, their finances were being withered away by bureaucratic and legal hurdles. And he could not commander respect in the corporate role he held. Particularly interesting was that these negativities were transported to their then new penthouse suite.
Naturally, my clients were astounded by the diagnosis. They then allowed me free-hand in coming up with a solution to help them over this very difficult patch of 2-over years.

Stay tuned for the next instalment to find out how their problems were finally resolved.

Master Boon is daughter of Grandmaster Yap Cheng Hai and the Director of Feng Shui for Enriching Lives. She is in Malaysia to conduct the Yap Cheng Hai Academy Practitioners’ Courses Study Retreats in Avillion Resort, Port Dickson. Contact enquiry-at-MasterBoon.com or phone +6012 303 1991 .

Home and Furnishing Magazine
text : LAURA LEE photos : ANTHONY TAN

Master Boon Yap

Feng shui, which literally means wind and water in Chinese, not only has the ability to ensure our general well being but also the power to enrich our lives. According to Master Boon Yap, classical traditional feng shui has a history dating back to more than 5,000 years where the classical texts have been passed down to the masters.

“Feng shui is an ancient science and a formulated knowledge. It is very systematic. It is tried and test, and it works!,” she told the crowd who attended the evening talk on “Feng shui for enriching your life” which was organised by Prestij Permai
Sdn Bhd, the developer of Aman Sari in Puchong.

Boon, the daughter of grandmaster Datuk Yap Cheng Hai, went on to elaborate that the feng shui is based on the Tao philosophy and the I-Ching classics. It is a study of qi or energy flow as governed by the roads, water and corridors and knowing where it gathers.

“Roadways are water. A good road represents good water in feng shui. You want it (water) to flow and meander. You do not want it to stagnant. Water can also be in the form of a little fountain. It does not have to be flowing all the time.”

She said water is one of the five elements often mentioned in feng shui besides metal, wood, fire and earth (See table).
Water features play a very important role in your home. Normally water is quite peaceful but too much of the sound water can be negative and disruptive.

Boon also pointed out that feng shui involves an understanding the influence of time although its ultimate purpose is to seek harmony and balance. As such, the year you bought your property and which date you move in are of significance to the master or practitioner who is doing a feng shui assessment of your home.

“Feng shui is about possessing knowledge of Yi Ji Ba Gua, which concerns the forms and locations relative to the compass direction, key principles, theories, various systems and methodologies plus numerous heuristics.”

While reiterating that feng shui is very much alive today, she said it is an art because it is about the skillful execution of this knowledge.

“This knowledge is for us to access and use it. It involves cultivating one’s skills and the intuition to foretell the fortune of the occupants of a particular property bestowed by nature. It is about you sleeping in a particular position.”

She said in China, where feng shui originated from, the country was very much a farming community and had a lot of land and open expanse.

“In the modern context where feng shui is practiced today, our property or home is within the confine of your land area measuring 80 ft by 40 ft for instance. You cannot do a lot outside of this area but you can look within the property and change what you can. The beauty of feng shui is you can correct the negative qi and harnessing the good qi.”

In any purchase decision of a property, Boon said the factors to consider are still location, budget and design. Often when buying a property, the purchasers are preoccupied with the size, number of rooms and built-up but they do not think about where the main door faces and where the room or the toilet is located.

Boon said a good proportion of the feng shui is for the individual. It is about looking for the auspicious space for the various family members staying in the same house.

Touching on how feng shui manifests itself, in the interplay of the cosmic trinity between heaven, man and earth, she said the heaven is our destiny or the ship we are given.

“This represents one third of our luck. It is determined by the time, date and the year we are born. There are certain paths to follow.”

Where man is concerned, Boon said, “We are the captain while the wind is the feng shui. How good we are in tapping the win and reaching our destination represents the other one third of our luck.”

She added, “Feng shui is here for us to use. It can help improve your luck by a third but it is not a panacea for everything.”

The third factor in the cosmic energy is earth, which is represented by the environment or ocean. Purchasers looking at a certain property development would want to know if it is a good suburb area to be in and whether amenities such as schools are located nearby.

In feng shui, Boon said what is considered to be the environment relates to whether the place is hilly, flat, mountainous and rugged. Is it lush with trees? Are there busy roads and cul de sac near your property? What is critical here are also the direction and location of these physical forms in relation to your house.

Basically, there are two aspects of feng shui, xing fa and li qi. The former is about visible forms and features. She cited some examples of forms to include shapes (round, square, etc), colours, contours (wavy, high or steep) and appearance (rocky, beautiful, lush or ugly) in relation to your house.

Li qi, the invisible energy influences, is concerned about the flow direction, quality and nature of qi. Land forms play a vital role in guiding the energy flow. Boon added that feng shui should be very practical. It is using what is good for you in a practical way.

“When you do feng shui, you must ask for a little token back. It is not a small thing. We are changing someone’s luck and the environment’s luck. They need to draw from somewhere. It is a symbolic gesture of receiving something so that you do not lose your luck. You must have enough power or energy within yourself to do that. It is important to remember this exchange of value.”