Procrustes was the villain in Greek mythology who forced travelers to fit into his bed by stretching their bodies or cutting off their legs. The term “Procrustean” is now used to characterize someone who has ruthless disregard for individual differences.

In Feng Shui, “Procrustean” can refer to practitioners who impose their ideological agendas on clients and clients’ houses, often without taking history, common sense, or authentic Feng Shui into consideration.

When you look for a Feng Shui practitioner, you need to be able to identify those who have been poorly trained, practice Feng Shui quackery, or who use untested methods — including practitioners who are trying to fit your home into their Procrustean Feng Shui.

Has any of this ever happened to you?

The practitioner tells you mythology about Feng Shui.

You have to follow the person around your house and have them indoctrinate you in “energetics,” whatever that is. They might say something about how you have to make your payments using red envelopes, which isn’t a Feng Shui “tradition” so much as a cool stylistic touch.

Some practitioners stress the importance of “intention” and other self-help psychobabble. Authentic Feng Shui does not involve such New Age and self-help concepts. The authentic stuff is applied to fit you and your home into the environment. This is quite the opposite of the typical conspicuous consumption mindset, which believes Feng Shui is what we use to get what we can in support of our lifestyle.

You might also hear that Feng Shui is an “intuitive art,” bordering on a religion that has nothing to do with science, though there is an overwhelming body of historical documents and archeological discoveries to prove just the opposite.

If something cannot be verified because it is “secret” or “intuitive” or “spiritual,” watch out! This kind of excuse indicates several things.

Perhaps the practitioner thinks Feng Shui is a psychic phenomena — in which case you are paying for entertainment in the form of a psychic reading.

It is entirely possible you have heard that Feng Shui is a secret and esoteric art from Tibet — a viewpoint that defies the historical record, as well as any knowledge about Tibetan religion and culture.

For instance, it overlooks the Dalai Lama’s decree that the contents of all Tibetan Buddhist rites are an “open secret” for anyone to know and observe. It also ignores the fact that Tibetan monks are not Feng Shui practitioners or teachers. Moreover, when the Dalai Lama’s supporters feel the need to call in a Feng Shui practitioner, they call traditional masters!

If it is a “spiritual” reading, ask if your practitioner is affiliated with the Black Sect Buddhist church, or whether their Feng Shui instructor is a church member. “Spiritual” in this case means one thing — one minority sect’s viewpoint. (“Minority sect” is defined by the absence of listings for Black Sect Buddhism in any existing books about Buddhism in America, including books that catalog all Buddhist temples in the U.S.)

If Feng Shui is some kind of “esoteric secret,” it is likely that the practitioner doesn’t want their methods backed up by peer review. In other words, someone claiming Feng Shui methods are “secret,” etc., has something to hide. It’s a prime indicator that the practitioner is a fraud.

The practitioner has a standard formula: every house has eight physical “life stations,” etc.

Perhaps the practitioner employs a diagram that looks like a stop sign or octagonal cookie-cutter with writing. They may superimpose the diagram on the floor plan of your home. Or maybe it looks like a square sectioned into nine parts but is called a “map.”

You may be told that you are “missing a life station” or some portion of your house — though it looks complete to you — and you need to write an “affirmation” and post it in a particular spot. Or you need to place a wind chime, crystal, mirror, red Avery Label dot, or other fetish as a “magnifying element.”

This is McFengshui — billions and billions served, every one identical from New York to Beijing.

The practitioner suggests that you use their Feng Shui merchandise.

You receive your structure’s diagnosis and the practitioner whips out a trunkful of Feng Shui “cures,” or a catalog. Or perhaps provides links to a Feng Shui marketplace the practitioner is affiliated with. Or brandishes some other marketing tool with flutes and crystals and other New Age/neopagan fetishes that are “guaranteed” to immediately “cure” your home’s supposed problems.

The prices may or may not seem reasonable to you, but the fact is that the practitioner is making the bulk of his/her money from merchandising, not the reading.

It is a conflict of interest to provide the services and sell people the gadgets. That means there is high probability of corruption and fraud.

You don’t see any standardization of Feng Shui practices or any regulation of practitioners.

This fact isn’t lost on some practitioners. Others, such as Jami Lin, believe any attempts at self-regulation show a “lack of respectfulness for each other as well as for other schools.”

In a 1997 issue of Qi Magazine Mark Johnson characterized the current state of professional behavior and abilities among Feng Shui practitioners and so-called masters to be “ludicrous and confusing,” with the faux Feng Shui most inclined to exaggerate their abilities.

“Do we really believe that mirrors and flutes are going to change people’s tendencies in any lasting and meaningful way?” he wonders.

I agree with Mark Johnson that it is important to find a qualified practitioner. I also believe that the available guidelines for environmental labeling — such as ISO 14020-14025 standards — offer guidelines to identify charlatans.

The purpose of ISO 14020-14025 is to “prevent unjustified environmental advertising claims from publication in the marketplace.” In the US, the FTC’s guidelines for environmental labeling offer people a way to force people who make outlandish claims for their Feng Shui skills to back them up or face the consequences.

Many of these hucksters do not know they might be committing federal crimes, and the public should apprise them of that fact.