No police force in the world has the power to stop people from preying upon our gullibility. Your only defense is a little skepticism, especially when the evidence is beyond belief. —Dean Edell, M.D. As suggested by a reader FSUR surfed the site of the Nine Harmonies School of Feng Shui. It is easy to see why this site is a winner of a coveted Bad Feng Shui award. Carol Bridges wrote a book (The Medicine Woman's Guide to Being in Business for Yourself) about remodeling yourself as a New Age entrepreneur (read: huckster) that forms the basis of her attempts at feng shui — a wacky plan of action that includes the "essence of feng shui without having to concern yourself with the Chinese bagua" (how convenient!) so your house can sing "the song of your soul." Yes, that is what everyone wants: To live next door to some wingnut whose house "sings." Bridges also penned notable works about channeling Native Americans (making her one of the "plastic medicine people" that disgust the people of the First Nations), and created a Tarot deck along with a personal transformation guidebook (with "22 major mysteries of life" and "52 lessons of the Four Powers"). See, it's true: anyone can remodel their job, give birth to their career, generate ideas and take command (of other people's money). After you read about the Nine Harmonies School you may want to enlist in the scam (or warn others away) What She Says Reality Check You will learn how to sense energies, dowse chi flow and feel the effect of colors. If you have spent any time reading FSUR you already know this is fraud. Humans cannot "sense energies" any more than they can see infrared. You also know that dowsing is an old Eurowest tradition (making "dowse chi flow" another oxymoron for my list of favorites). Feeling the effects of colors might be appropriate for people who have synesthesia, but it is not the stuff of everyday lives. For one, our eyes and brains evolved together so we could see colors; we see colors only as our brains and eyes provide to us. That doesn't mean what we see is the real color. In fact, you don't need anything but a brain to see color. Congenitally blind people can see color just by having a doctor stimulate their fusiform gyri. colors"? Not everyone experiences synesthesia. And, colors are not always a feature of the natural world, they are something that human eyes and brains have developed! Scientists can enable blind people to see color simply by stimulating their fusiform gyri. For all her training in psychology — otherwise used to good effect in cozening clients — Bridges is not prepared for the physical truth.   colors"? Not everyone experiences synesthesia. And, colors are not always a feature of the natural world, they are something that human eyes and brains have developed! Scientists can enable blind people to see color simply by stimulating their fusiform gyri. For all her training in psychology — otherwise used to good effect in cozening clients — Bridges is not prepared for the physical truth. An explanation of feng shui What if you could compel the power which moves the oceans and lights up the sun ... Sound interesting? You can find it as part of Prospero's powers in "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare. It's magical thinking in the finest Eurowest tradition. You can't compel nuclear reactions, which are what "light up" the sun. You can't compel the tides, which occur because of the gravitational effect of the moon. So what is being sold here? Taken to it's [sic!] deepest level, feng shui creates external environments to enhance the journey of the soul. Yet part of your training with Bridges is to dance under the sky and "code" the Five Elements "into your life process" and move the bagua "into your body." So what you are taught is not what Bridges says is feng shui. If your life lacks in one of the many Black Sect concepts, she says, you might benefit from a feng shui adjustment. This can be as simple and fun as rearranging your furniture or as big as moving to a new house. Black Sect practitioners like to say "When the feng shui practitioner comes, be prepared to move" as a canon of traditional practice — yet the only people who say this are Black Sect practitioners! ... the life force, called chi, is the bearer of all blessings... "Life force" meaning what? Nineteenth-century Vitalism imported to the Midwest? This philosophy of "chi" runs counter to any Chinese teachings. Even the strongest yang has a tinge of yin (look at the symbol of the taiji). There is sheng qi and sha qi. No one who knows how bad sha qi can be is likely to say that it "bears blessings." ... it could be that the "wealth" corner of your home is piled with unused goods, thus causing obstruction in the flow of chi. Or it could be said that we tick off any number of other, bogus rationales that sound convincing enough for gullible people to part with their money. It does not matter if you believe feng shui to be superstition .... At worst, you will have engaged in a playful entertainment. So the truth is out: You are paying Bridges for entertainment, not for an education or for a feng shui analysis. Some US states require that fortune-tellers explain their services are entertainment. Those who don't run the risk of committing felonies. This may be how Bridges prefers to include her mandated disclaimer; if so, it's not clearly identified. Her entertainment is unlikely to be reasonably priced; Bridges says clients are "happy to pay ... well" for the experience. And as she wrote the book on her brand of entrepreurship, you can bank on it.