The placement of the Four Celestial Animals to promote and encourage positive chi are key principles in Form School Feng Shui, the earliest and most traditional method of Feng Shui. This school of Feng Shui focuses on landforms in the immediate environment to identify good and bad placement for our homes. Over the last couple of hundred years the use of landforms in Feng Shui has become less popular, especially in the west. In our modern towns and cities many people feel the use of landforms is no longer relevant and so we have turned to different ways of promoting positive energy in our homes. It is however a shame to throw away the old ideas completely when we find new methods and so in this article I am going to look at what we can learn from the ancient Feng Shui masters and the Four Celestial Animals.
In Form School Feng Shui a home which is filled with positive chi should have the Four Celestial Animals at each of the four main compass points outside your home. The Four Celestial Animals, the Green Dragon, Red Phoenix, White Tiger and Black Turtle are represented by shapes and landforms in the environment surrounding a home.
Let’s look at each of these animals individually:
The first of the Four Celestial Animals is the Green Dragon. As the first of the animals, the Green Dragon sits to the east of the house, where the sun rises. Representing spring the Green Dragon brings wealth and wellbeing to the home. In Form School Feng Shui the Green Dragon is represented by a low hill to the east of your home.
At the front of the house is the Red Phoenix. The Red Phoenix faces south towards the sun and represents fire and summer. The Red Phoenix brings fame, success and new opportunities to your home. The environment at the front of the house should be flat, or dip slightly and have a line of energy flowing through it which in olden times would have been a river or stream but can now include a road or path.
As we follow the movement of the sun, to the west of the house sits the White Tiger. The White Tiger represents autumn. The White Tiger is represented by a low hill to the west of your home. The White Tiger prevents luck from running away from the home so it is very important that you do not have ground that slopes away from the home at this side of the house
Finally at the back of the home, facing north is the Black Turtle representing winter. The Black Turtle is represented by a high mountain providing strong protection, support and stability to the home.
When thinking of house placement today, less emphasis is placed on the directions of the Four Celestial Animals and more emphasis is placed on how your home sits in it’s environment. When looking at how your house sits, I always find it best to first consider how you sit in an armchair. If you sit in an armchair you are well protected at your back, have support at your sides and have an open space at the front of you. Now think of your house sitting in the chair. This is how your house should sit in its environment, protected at the back, supported at the sides and with an open view at the front. In our modern environment, especially if you live in a town or city it is not easy to find natural land forms to provide this support and good fortune in our environment. We can however create our own shapes, forms and structures to provide us with the same protection and wellbeing that the ancient Feng Shui masters looked for when first practising Feng Shui.
As we stand at our front door facing outwards the sides of our home should have some support. This support can be provided by another house, a fence, a hedge, a row of trees or a garden wall. Ideally we would not want this support to be higher than our own house nor too far away.
At the back of our house we want to feel maximum protection. Here there should ideally be a tall structure shielding our home, which again if you have no convenient hill or mountain at the back of your house can be another building, a wall, a fence, a row of trees or a hedge. At the back of the home we would want this protection to be either the height of our own home or slightly taller and not too close so that our home feels oppressed.
Finally the front of our home should be an open area that is flat or dips down slightly. There should be some form of chi line which can take the form of either a road or a river. If there is a barrier between the front door and the road or river then this should be low enough to see over.
In an ideal world this would be how our home sits in its plot but unfortunately we don’t always live in the ideal world. If your home does not have natural land forms and there is little or no opportunity to physically create them then you can use symbolism. Always remember if you are using symbolism to place the item in position whilst performing the three secrets reinforcement.
In the area of the Green Dragon stimulate dragon chi by planting a tall tree or by hanging a wooden windchime. If you have no outside space at this side of your house add something made out of wood to this side of the house, or hang a picture incorporating a dragon on the far left wall of your home (the left as you look out of your home)
In the area of the Red Phoenix it is important you stimulate yang chi by introducing movement. This can be done by hanging a wooden windchime, a crystal, or by creating a moving water feature at the front. The front of the house is also a good place to celebrate the Red Phoenix by planting red flowers and plants and erecting a birdtable.
In the area of the White Tiger it is very important that the ground does not slope away from the house. If this is the case in your environment hang a metal windchime, or erect lights in the outside area. If you have no outside space at this side of the house hang a picture of a white tiger, introduce a metal sculpture or hang metal coins on the far right wall of your home (the right as you look out of your home)
In the area of the Black Turtle stimulate turtle chi by adding water or mirrors to this area of the house. For the best feeling of protection ensure that the back of your house is private, and if you have open ground at the back try and ensure that you can create some feeling of privacy. If you have no outside space at the back hang a picture incorporating a black turtle, or a picture of a mountain scene on the far rear wall of your home.
I hope that you have found this article a useful introduction to Form School Feng Shui and it will encourage you to look for the Four Celestial Animals in your own environment.