Many people enjoy the creative and experimental approach to feng shui. They employ the scientific principles of keen observation, careful methodology, patience, and a healthy dose of skepticism.

The creative approach works best for most general and vague readings. Do not make the mistake of assuming it is an accurate appraisal of a building.

“Creative and experimental” feng shui is all that can be expected from an untutored novice. It is far less dangerous than a book in one hand and a Luopan in another.

Like home repairs, only more so

You can attempt plumbing repairs with little formal training only because water is generally not as hazardous as electricity. You can attempt electrical repairs with little formal training by having the “intention” to make the repairs, and because you read a couple of books on electricity.

Does the fact that you used “intention” confer the ability to be a competent electrician? Or are you merely foolhardy — another do-it-yourselfer who must call a professional when your lack of expertise gets you into trouble.

One hopes that you make the call when you first realize you are in over your head, instead of after a trip to the hospital.

Where to start

If you want to know how to enact some kind of feng shui in a building, you need to know some things before you begin.

Authentic feng shui is not interior decorating. You can “play at” feng shui this way, but you are no closer to achieving its effects than if you had just bought new slipcovers and told everyone you did some feng shui.

Start by collecting information:

• The age of the building — that is, the year it was constructed
• The date of any significant remodels (such as pulling off the roof for an extended period of time, a change in the footprint, etc.)
• The surrounding environment in terms of feng shui. Not just driveways and roof lines pointing at your front door. Where are the mountains? Is there a building behind that is larger, or one in front? What is the compass reading where you first see traffic from your front door, and the compass reading where you first see traffic leave?
  There are calculations required for all of this, and many other considerations that go into an authentic analysis using feng shui. This is not something most people can manage without an adequate education in feng shui, by the way
• The compass reading for the building, taking into account the correct sitting and facing — again, not something that a person without the education can manage (and neither can many practitioners, for that matter)
• The calculations based on time (construction year or years) and space (footprint changes, building layout, sitting and facing, compass readings)

Next you have to analyze this information and know what calculations apply. You cannot obtain all of the calculations that may be necessary by reading any of the books on the market. A feng shui book that covered everything would be enormous; it would rival Joseph Needham’s many volumes of “Science and Civilization in China.”

What you can get from websites and books is a sense of what is involved in authentic feng shui. You cannnot hope to achieve what comes from the training and experience of a real practitioner.

Don’t be swayed by people claiming they can give you “ten easy steps” or “fast” or “simple” or “easy” feng shui. Those are just for your entertainment. They have very little to do with feng shui. If they did, people would not spend money on practitioners!

If feng shui is so easy and quick, then corporations and individuals would not spend large sums of money for feng shui people to find the right piece of property to build on. You cannot come in later and just move some furniture around to improve the “chi.” Feng shui takes more than that to improve large structures.

Remember, most of the “fast” and “easy” feng shui advice was invented because people want things fast and easy. Marketers realized they could make a lot of money from your impatience.

You may notice that most of these get-it-quick schemes are associated with buying merchandise, especially merchandise from the supplier of the advice. That is your first clue the only “good feng shui” is the marketer’s, because they’ve taken your money for some bauble that they tell you has some relation to feng shui.

There is no evidence that any of these get-it-quick schemes work, except by the Placebo Effect.

“Personal experimentation,” as Master Lam Kam Chuen noted, “is no substitute for the professional advice of an authentic Feng Shui practitioner,” especially when you are dealing with complex calculations of time and space — which is what Feng Shui is all about.

Many of the Do-It-Yourself School have come to a different realization about their abilities after reading one or two of the better sort of Feng Shui books. After reading Larry Sang’s book and trying to read her house one woman commented,

I now realize that Feng Shui is definitely not something to ‘dabble in.’ It is an unlocking of the mysteries of the universe, and is very powerful. The people who play at ‘feng shui readings’ are messing with something they should deeply respect. I regret that I believed I had the background to perform my own house reading, simply because I had the desire.

You might as well call your mother and ask her for decorating tips to help you in your work, social life, relationships, whatever. She would give you better advice than the “quick feng shui” crowd, it wouldn’t cost you anything, and she would be so happy to hear from you.