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Disclaimer: The information contained in this page is provided as courtesy, in memory of Feng Shui artist Mr. Ji Yuan, the author of this book. The opinions expressed in this book belong to the author and are not necessarily of those of China South Group, Inc.

A Feng Shui Guide

  Where to Position Your Aquarium

        For Your Auspiciousness

                                    by    Ji Yuan

Contents

Chapter 1        Preface                                                                                     1

Chapter 2        Why water is the number one factor in deciding Feng Shui?        2

Chapter 3        What kind of water is good for Feng Shui?                                 3

Chapter 4        What is the blessed water position?                                            5

Chapter 5         What are East Fate and West Fate?                                           6

Chapter 6        Other factors of aquarium                                                          19

Chapter 7        How to use compass to identify your auspicious directions          21

          Water is the key to Qi, the essence of the universe, and the energy of fortune. In terms of Feng Shui, water is the number one factor in deciding your wealth.  

          Good water can also be in your home and your office. A great number of commercial entities and residential families sacrifice precious spaces to position fountains or aquariums in a wish to prosper their businesses with the Feng Shui benefits that water brings.

          However, not all the aquarium owners happen to have their water set in auspicious locations. In fact, quite many place their fish tanks or pond in their bad luck positions and are actually troubled with consequent effects without knowing it.

This guide tells you how to identify the auspicious water locations for your aquarium and avoid bad ones, according to the thousand-year-time-tested Feng Shui theory, in languages you can understand.

A Feng Shui Guide:

  Where to Position Your Aquarium

1.     Preface:

Feng Shui has been in place for thousands of years. As the adoption of the arts and its benefits being verified with the times, it gained increasing attention along its way.

Feng Shui is now a major course of universities and many other academic institutes in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and other regions all over the world. Students spend two years learning the basics of the theory, many dedicate four years, even their life long studying and practicing the invaluable ancient arts. 

As more and more people use aquariums to direct the flow of Qi and to beautify their homes and offices, many do not realize the importance of Feng Shui positions for aquariums. While some enjoying the benefits of their aquariums in right Feng Shui positions, the others actually happen to have their fish tanks in wrong locations without knowing it causes bad effects.

I will focus mainly on the most important factor in Feng Shui practice – water, specifically, interior water setting, which in modern word often means: aquarium.  It is not my intention to give you everything about Feng Shui in this little booklet. Rather, I will try to avoid those hard-to-understand terminologies as many as I can, and show you examples with illustrations telling what is good and bad in Feng Shui sense.

2.     How come water is the number one factor in deciding Feng Shui?

Have you ever noticed, that the greatest commercial cities in the world are the ones that are adjacent to water? New York, Los Angles, and San Francisco, Toronto, London, Paris, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, just to name a few. If you spend some time searching, you will find that the majority of the 500 fortune companies have either man-made or natural water settings in the vicinity of their headquarters. Many small commercial entities like hotels, restaurants, service firms, even mom-and-pop stores, often sacrifice expensive spaces just to setup aquariums, fountains, or other type of water constructions in a wish to prosper their businesses.

“Water is money”; “Looking for water before mountain”; “Water takes care of your wealth and mountain takes care of your political power”;  “Water keeps Qi, wind runs Qi”.  These are just a few of the phrases Feng Shui masters use to emphasize the importance of water and when they are looking for a good Feng Shui Spot for their client. Good water plus well-set surroundings can direct Qi in a way to help your life. The effect comes slowly, quietly and invisibly, but it could make great differences, particularly when it accompanies good mountains.

3.     What kind of water is good for Feng Shui?

Not all kinds of water are good from Feng Shui point of view. Architects who built lotus ponds for those rich Chinese families hundreds of years ago did not just dig holes around their houses without first knowing the Feng Shui consequences. Auspicious water depends on the shape, sound, quality, position, and running condition of the water in relation to you. 

a). Shape:

Generally, you should look for curve or soft-angle water, instead of straight or sharp one. When it comes to an indoor aquarium, it represents the tank should have no sharp angle pointing at where the family members usually stay and move. I recommend mostly the cylinder shape and half cylinder shape aquariums, U-shape, bow front shape aquariums are also good choices.

b). Sound:

Running or circulating sound of water performs natural music, the kind that you are not tired of repeating. A mild running water melody that makes you sleep well, and think freely, is the kind of water you want. If the water from your aquarium is too noisy, you need adjust the water level or running volume.

c). Quality:

You don’t need to be too concerned about your water clarity. As the proverb says, “Over-clean water makes no fish”. You don’t need to change water every week. However, dirty and smelly water is always a “no-no”. Dirty water implies the resident makes money illegally or meanly. When a person keeps making money illegally or meanly, we know judgment will come sooner or later one way or the other. This is not only because of retribution, but also because of mathematics. 

So, use a U-V sterilizer or water sterilizer with your filter in your aquarium if you can. A good sterilizer can improve the health of your fish and at the same time keep your plants unharmed.

d). Running condition:

          You need live water, not dead one. Water that does not run could turn aquarium into sewage tank. Water that runs properly keeps water clean and gives water more lives. But don’t use big water pump for small tank. If water runs too swiftly or too much, you would get the opposite effect, which is like spending too much too soon what you earn.

4.       What is a blessed water position?

Times are critically relating to the Feng Shui position. Though certain changes take place year by year in conjunction with constellation movements, the general Feng Shui constellation positions switch every 20 years. Auspicious constellation water positions of your residence are shown below in different times:

Year 1984-2003:

East = good, Southwest = good, West = bad.

Other positions = Good if meeting your personal auspicious fate directions, and bad if collide with you inauspicious fate directions. 

(I’ll talk about personal fate directions later)

Year 2004-2023:

Southwest=good, East=good, Northeast=bad.

Other positions = Good if meeting your personal auspicious fate directions, and bad if collide with you inauspicious fate directions. 

Year 2024-2043:

North =good, Southeast =good, South = bad.

Other positions = Good if meeting your personal auspicious fate directions, and bad if collide with you inauspicious fate directions. 

5.       What are east fate and west fate?

Feng Shui is all about uniting and harmonizing the earthy lifestyle and characteristics of individual people with the will and way of “Tian”, meaning the uppermost, universe, god, and great nature in ancient Chinese. In plain terms, every person has either “east fate” or “west fate” as per his or her lunar year of birth, which gives 4 bad and 4 good fate positions to each individual. These are listed as follows (“W” = west fate, “E” = east fate):

Year   Male  Female         Year   Male  Female

1922  W      E                 1923  W      E

1924  E       W                1925  E       E

1926  W      E                 1927  E       W

1928  E       W                1929  W      W

1930  W      W                1931  W      E

1932  W      E                 1933  E       W

1934  E       E                 1935  W      E

1936  E       W                1937  E       W

1938  W      W                1939  W      W

1940  W      E                 1941  W      E

1942  E       W                1943  E       E

1944  W      E                 1945  E       W

1946  E       W                1947  W      W

1948  W      W                1949  W      E

1950 W      E                 1951  E       W

1952  E       E                 1953  W      E

1954  E       W                1955  E       W

1956  W      W                1957  W      W

1958  W      E                 1959  W      E

1960  E       W                1961  E       W

1962  W      E                 1963  E       W

1964  E       W                1965  W      W

1966  W      W                1967  W      E

1968  W      E                 1969  E       W

1970  E       E                 1971  W      E

1972  E       W                1973  E       W

1974  W      W                1975  W      W

1976  W      E                 1977  W      E

1978  E       W                1979  E       E

1980  W      E                 1981  E       W

1982  E       W                1983  W      W

1984  W      W                1985  W      E

1986  W      E                 1987  E       W

1988  E       E                 1989  W      E      

1990  E       W                1991  E       W

1992  W      W                1993  W      W

1994  W      E                 1995  W      E

1996  E       W                1997  E       E

1998  W      E                 1999  E       W

2000  E       W                2001  W      W

2002  W      W                2003  W      E

2004  W      E                 2005  E       W

Bear in mind, lunar year starts from February 4 or 5. So if you were born 30 days after Christmas day of 1960, you are not considered born in 1961, but still as 1960.

Now, knowing you are of east fate or west fate, you can find out which 4 positions are good and which 4 are bad for yourself.

Generally, auspicious Feng Shui positions for east fate person are: east, southeast; north, and south; bad positions are: west, southwest, northwest, and northeast. The auspicious Feng Shui positions for west fate people are just the opposite.

For East Fate person:

Good fate position: East, Southeast, North, South.

Bad fate position: West, Southwest, Northwest, Southwest.

For West Fate person:

Good fate position: West, Southwest, Northwest, Southwest.

Bad fate position: East, Southeast, North, South.

With these factors in mind, you can come up with a selection. The preferable Feng Shui aquarium position for east fate people is the east and for west fate people is the southwest. The second choices, before year of 2024 for east fate person, are N, S, or SE. For west fate person, only one second choice is available, NW.

An ideal Feng Shui evaluation takes a lot more calculations than just matching the above factors. As such calculation requires taking into account not only the constellation movements and east/west fate, but also other personal information such as Ying-Yang Wu-Xing* compatibility from the household members in much more detail, as well as the characteristics of the premises and their surroundings within certain distance. If you want to go through all the details to discover the best Feng Shui for you and your family, you’d better consult a Feng Shui master who calculates and harmonize all the factors of your household and working place.

It generally works fine if you just want to find out a good location to place your aquarium. By using what you learn from this booklet, and by avoiding putting your aquarium in toilet and kitchen, you can be pretty comfortable knowing it will serve the purpose.

          Let me give you some examples:

          Example 1:

          Brian is the head of his household. He was born in September 1957. His house plan layout looks like this:

          From the year of his birth, we know Brian is of west fate, which defines that his good positions are west, southwest, northwest, and northeast. According to constellation times, east and southwest are good positions from year 1984 to 2023. But east is not his auspicious fate position.  Southwest is his good constellation position as well as his good fate position. Two goods make better. So, his best choice is to keep his aquarium in southwest position.

He has a second choice, northwest of the center point, just outside of bedroom 1, where represents his auspicious fate position without colliding with bad constellation position. He can also wait until 2004, when constellation times permits, to put it in the western side of the house, which is the northwestern corner of the living room.

          Example 2:

          If Brian was born in 1964, then he is of east fate and his auspicious positions are east, southeast, north, and south. Referring to the same house above, the east is a toilet, not good. The southeast and north are bedrooms, where you may not want your quests running around or sitting in your beds to enjoy the aquarium and feed your fish. The remaining choice would be the south.

          Example 3:

          Susan was born in January 1969. She owns an apartment with the following layout:

          Since Susan was born in January 1969, she is considered by the lunar year system as born in 1968, which indicate she belongs to east fate. According to her fate index, her auspicious fate positions are east, southeast, north, and south. Constellation times, however, indicates that east and southwest are the best positions. While southwest is good only for west fate people, the best location for placing Susan’s aquarium is east.

As you see, I arrange the aquarium to be used as a partition, thus it not only direct the flow of Qi in a curve fashion to her auspicious positions, but also, it blocks outsider’s direct eye contact with her bedroom. (It would be better if the partition aquarium were a U-shape one, or one with curve angles.)

What if, however, Susan does not like the aquarium to be near her front door? She can also place the aquarium in the southeastern position, or southern part of the living room before year of 2043.

          Example 4:

          Using the above picture, if Susan was born in 1965 as a west fate person, her auspicious fate positions would be west, southwest, northwest, and northeast. In this case, the best match would be southwest, as the location meets both her auspicious fate position and good constellation times.

          Unless she is willing to put her aquarium somewhere in the bedrooms, it appears there is no alternative location between years of 2004-2023, because the remaining auspicious location, northeast, at the outside of her toilet, collides with constellation movement for the duration.

          Example 5:

Several years ago, I was invited to a restaurant in Fushan* weeks before its grand opening for a Feng Shui interview.

The restaurant’s planned layout is shown as below:

By the owner’s year of birth, he belongs to west fate. Here is the analysis:

1). The restaurant is located on the west, with door open to the east, the auspicious fate position: good.

2). The door is located at the southeastern side of the building, his auspicious direction: good.

3). The toilet occupies his inauspicious position and is blocked by a partition aquarium: good.

4). A U-shape partition aquarium is placed in the south direction, where his east fate says “Yes” and where the constellation did not say “No”: good.

My recommendation was no major change was needed.

When the restaurant opened 2 weeks later, business was so good that people were willing to wait in line for hours.

Three years later, he sold his restaurant to a businessman for very good price.  Since the new owner took over, however, business started going downward.  Referred by the old owner, he came to see me. “The chefs are the same, waitresses are the same, and I work as hard as he did, why?”

I remembered the restaurant because it’s huge custom-made U-shape aquarium. I then ask the new owner’s year of birth. Unfortunately, he is a west fate person.

“There will be too many changes you need to make to it. It may not worth it.”

          “I already put so much money in it. I’ll do whatever it takes to save the business”, he yelled.

Here comes the change:

1). Change the door from southeast to northeast, west fate people’s good direction.

2). Put a half-round, or bow-front aquarium at the door, to direct Qi into the restaurant, though it will be no longer suitable after year of 2003.

3). Move the U-shape partition aquarium to southwest, to accept Qi there as it is a good position for the owner. It also stops Qi going further into the toilet.

   4). Invite Qi in Northwest direction by placing a   corner aquarium there.

The old owner, now my good friend, told me just when I started to write this booklet, that the business of that restaurant has improved a lot now and are making good profits, though it is not as good as it used to be when it was under his ownership.

          Example 6:

          Lee is a smart, energetic young man working in a government entity as the head of a small office. He complained that his senior officer gave him hard time and often made his work worthless.

          “Tell me what you have in your office, except dead documents?”  “Nothing special, a few plants.” “What plants?” He mentioned he had a basketball-size cactus, among the plants. By his description I then found out he placed the cactus in the north. He sits in the southwestern part of the office, facing northeast.

          Being an east fate person, he was sitting on wrong position facing ominous direction and having an object full of thorns stinging his career spot.

          “Get rid of the cactus and move your desk to the south corner. If you can, put an aquarium in the north or east, with Ying rocks and a Wen-Chang tower in it.” was my recommendation.

Coincidently or not, I met him half year late. I was told that his senior officer retired and he had taken his position. He added, that officer, who used to give him hard time, actually wrote recommendation letter for his promotion. The relationship between them became better since the next day after he setup his aquarium, when he saw the tank and started a chat about pet fish with him.

6.       Other factors of aquarium

Top:

Many people use a lighting hood to cover the tops of their aquariums. If you do not keep fish that like to jump out of water, I would recommend you have the top open, particularly if you live in regions where you can find stores selling humidifiers, or if you drink less than the doctor-recommended 6 glasses of water every day.

When you have the top covered, you only view the water, when you have the top open, you actually feel the water. This becomes meaningful or symbolic if you know “water” represents “money” in the minds of Feng Shui people. Some shops now offer to install an ionic mist generator with your aquarium setting. Add one if money is not an object. This way the aquarium not only serve as a humidifier, but also an air cleaner and refresher, some claim the negative ions it produces can reduce mental stress.

Setting:

          It is easier to make your aquarium settings to be looking good. It is much difficult to make it both beautiful and Feng Shui effective. Apply Feng Shui theory you learn to setup your aquarium using auspicious materials, including natural rocks, plants, symbolic figures, and Wen-Chang tower, you would not regret the time you spend on it.

Rocks:

          Rocks in aquarium can play important role in providing not only decoration but also Feng Shui effect, as they are the reduced version of mountains. However, Resin-made or ceramic imitation rocks available nowadays emit little Feng Shui power because of the natural effect loss during the chemical or burning process of production.

          I would recommend live, natural rocks, though they are usually heavier than man-made ones. While most natural rocks have certain effects, two kinds are particularly noticeable: Ying stone and Yang stone. The first one is widely used in aquariums, ponds, gardens, and other landscapes of China, Japan, Korea, and Singapore. The later one appears less due to limited availability, but it is more precious and effective. These stones are believed by many to carry the essences of nature during their million-year formation and to embed the most power of Feng Shui among rocks.

Plants:

          Use live plants if you can. From ecological point of view, live plants emit oxygen fish need and consume carbon dioxide fish produce. From Feng Shui point of view, live plants have lives and therefore more effective.

Bottom:

          A bottomless aquarium is not a good symbol. Lay some sands or gravels on the bottom. If needed, you can also utilize under-gravel filter on the bottom first, then gravels on top of it. This will help maintain your water condition easier.

7. How to use compass to identify your directions.

First, draw a layout sketch of your house. After measuring from four far sidelines, you will be able to tell where is the center point of the house.

          To give you an example, the following is the top view outline of an apartment:

To determine the center point, draw two dotted lines between the four angles, or between the middles of the four sidelines.

The point where the two dotted lines cross is the center of the premise.

Now, let’s learn how to use a compass to identify directions:

The needle of a compass always points at south. Put the compass on top of an even place located in the center point of your home.  Rotate the compass so that the “S” mark in it meets the arrowhead of the needle.

Locate yourself so that the needle points directly at your nose. Now you are facing the north, with your back toward south, and your right hand east and left hand west.

With your sketch in front of you, you can now mark the four directions accordingly on the paper using faint lines of dashes.

Divide the four directions equally into the eight directions, again, using faint lines of dashes.

Finally, divide the eight directions equally into 16 directions, this time, using solid lines of red.

Within the solid red lines are the eight different Feng Shui areas you need to use to determine your auspicious aquarium locations.