Using a Feng Shui Compass

What should you look for in a feng shui compass and how should you use it?

A feng shui compass is a very helpful element when it comes to finding out the location and orientation of a house or building. It will allow you to apply feng shui guidelines in an accurate manner since it will provide you with knowledge on the exact orientation your house has.

There are different kinds of compasses, and the most useful feng shui compass you can find is the one which allow you to look at the numbers it shows at the same time than you look at the building and keep aligned with it. Other kinds of feng shui compasses, the most traditional ones, require you to look down in order to watch the numbers they show, and this is not as helpful as if you can watch them while keeping your sight up.

A traditional feng shui compass' name is "Lo Pan", "Lo" has the meaning of "everything" and "Pan" means "bowl", and the correct interpretation of the term means a bowl which allows you to have access to the universe mysteries. This feng shui compass is also known as the traditional Chinese geomantic compass.

The Lo Pan feng shui compass has different concentric rings which provide the information through a magnetic needle. One of the most important rings is the one called "the twenty four directions ring". This ring is the third one and accurately tells you which direction the building faces.

Another important ring you may find in a Lo Pan feng shui compass is the one called pre-celestial. This ring is placed at the center of the compass and provides information about the way chi flows in every specific environment and the realm of that space. This would allow you to find out the right way to improve the chi of that specific place.

As you can see, a feng shui compass is a very important feng shui tool which must be taken into account at the time to professionally apply feng shui within a space. A feng shui compass would provide you with accurate information regarding all the important aspects considered by feng shui and therefore allow you to properly balance and harmonize that space.

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.fengshuicrazy.com. Please visit his website and learn all the feng shui tips you'll ever need!

Using Candles in Feng Shui Decorating

The basic belief behind Feng Shui is that there are five elements, some combinations of which create a productive cycle, and some a destructive cycle. When one of these five elements water, wood, fire, earth, and metal, respectively for the productive cycle are combined with an element adjacent to the main element, a productive cycle is perpetuated. The reason being that water sustains wood, wood feeds fire, ashes create earth, earth creates metal, and metal holds water. So if you have a room where wood is the main element, it would be good Feng Shui to add a water or fire element to the room, as water feeds wood and wood feeds fire. This is where candles would be a nice touch of good Feng Shui.

A look at the destructive cycle will show which elements do not work well together: water, fire, metal, wood, earth. And we can see that water puts our fire, fire melts metal, metal cuts wood, wood clogs earth, and earth muddies water. Although these elements are generally considered bad Feng Shui combinations, one can be used with an adjacent element in the destructive cycle to minimize an overpowering element. For instance, if a room has overpowering metal elements, maybe filled with modern metal furniture, you can minimize that with wood elements like some green leafy plants, or with fire elements such as red throw pillows, a fireplace, or even candles.

It is beneficial to bear in mind the productive and destructive cycles while decorating, but for optimum Feng Shui, a room would have an equal balance of all five elements none being too overpowering. If this isnt the case and there is not one overpowering element, then the productive cycle is a good place to start when decorating.

Now that we have a basic understanding of the elements, we can see how to best utilize candles in our decorating. In areas with predominately metal or water elements rooms which would have a lot of blue or silver colors or metallic furnishings a candle would help minimize the overpowering colors and add balance. If you want to start using Feng Shui in a room with no overpowering elements, you could bring in a candle and a complimentary element like a plant or a brown oval rug since that color and shape are associated with the earth element.

Candles can be an easy way to bring a natural element into your home and can be a good starting place for implementing Feng Shui design. Not to mention that scented candles are often great Feng Shui because of the mood-enhancing qualities certain scents have. Candles provide a simple start in creating a pleasant ambiance and good decorating style.

Jennifer Hall is the founder and editor of http://Candle-Lite-World.com, http://Savvy-Cafe.com, a journal for fun home ideas and an online guide to saving money; and http://onetimesone.com, an online magazine featuring independent music and film. When she's not online, Jennifer's spending time with her family, gardening, or playing the piano or accordion.