Book 69 - Household Feng-Shui

Large western-style luxury homes often have a staircase in the center of the living room, with the front door opening into this room. The pillars of the staircase are often highly decorated with ornate carvings. Perhaps, for many, the staircase itself has become an ornamental piece. Some of these staircases are spiral-shaped and very beautiful. What a picture perfect scene it is for arriving visitors to be greeted by the host or hostess walking elegantly down a spiral staircase.

Many more examples, in which the staircase directly faces the front door, can be found in western-style homes.

The importance of staircases has been overlooked by some geomancers. Some geomancers are the opinion that, upon entry, seeing a staircase leading up to a second story signifies a "successive ascent." Conversely, they believe that entering a house and seeing a staircase leading down to the basement is unlucky because it signifies "a successive descent."

In fact, this concept is erroneous. When chi enters the front door and encounters a flight of stairs, the horizontal edges of the each step cut and disrupt its flow. Chi entering the house is thrown into chaos and unable to remain calm and smooth.

In geomancy, the sight of a staircase upon entry through the front door signifies "a rough and bumpy road." It denotes "unexpected destruction" and is a very serious matter. In my opinion, seeing a staircase when walking into a house is similar to seeing a pillar when one walks out of the house-both have the same powerful destructive force.

The staircases found in the living rooms of large, luxury homes are actually symbols of "decline." In ordinary homes, the sight of a staircase upon entry is actually a symbol of "the occurrence of accidents."

I once inspected the feng-shui of a home in which the family members had been involved in over ten car accidents within one year. In some instances, their cars had rammed into others' cars. Other times, their cars were the ones hit. In one incident, the gears of their parked car slipped and their car hit another car.

On one occasion when a month had passed in which no accidents occurred, the family decided to rejoice and go out to celebrate. Upon backing the car out of the garage, however, they hit their own garage door, denting their vehicle and damaging the garage door. Although no one had been injured, they suffered another incident of unexpected financial losses.

The owner of the house told me that all the drivers in the family were cautious drivers with more than ten years of driving experience. But, for some strange reason, every month someone would get into an accident. "If this continues," he said, "we're all going to have nervous breakdowns! Our family is developing 'car-phobia,' and it's as if a curse has been placed upon us."

Upon inspecting their situation, I realized that their problems resulted from "the sighting of a staircase upon entering the door." The door and staircase directly faced each other. In addition, the flight of stairs was located directly upon the northeast position known in geomancy as "the ghost door." Geomancers have misgivings about this northeast "ghost door" position and avoid installing staircases or elevators there.

After my inspection, they remodeled the house and removed the phenomenon of "seeing the staircase when entering the door." Since then, this family has been able to enjoy a peaceful life without mishaps.

In Taiwan, during my feng-shui inspections, I had seen a kind of steel and looked like a steel column. It was very inconvenient as it only allowed one person to go up or down at a time. Such staircases, if installed at inappropriate positions, can be particularly destructive.

There are three ways to modify staircases:

1. Change the position - If a staircase directly faces the front door, change its position. The key is this: avoid seeing any flight of stairs from the front door to ensure that the steps will not slice the entering chi.

2. Hide the staircase - If one is building a new house, it is best to design a staircase that is "hidden" because staircases only have destructive influences and no positive influences. In designing new homes, it is a good idea to hide staircases behind walls. An even better idea is to have the staircase flanked by two walls and concealed behind a door. This way, the steps are not seen and the space beneath the staircase can be used as a storeroom or washroom.

3. Cover the staircase - In a house that is already built, it is probably very difficult to move a staircase that directly faces the front door. In such cases, one must resort to the method of covering the flight of stairs by placing a screen halfway between the staircase and the front door. One way even hang a mirror on the screen to enhance the depth of the space in the entryway, so that one will not feel oppressed by the shortened distance. This way, the flight of stairs is not seen upon entry and one only needs to walk around the screen to go upstairs. Additionally, one can also use the mirror to check one's appearance before going out.

As for the hanging of chime bells, flutes, or bronze nails, these techniques only bring limited psychological comfort and have little practical benefit. As chi enters the door and encounters the flight of stairs, it will still become chaotic.

What about staircases outside the front door?

If one has to climb a flight of stairs to reach one's front door, then such a staircase is fine. If one must walk down a flight of stairs to reach the door of one's home, then attention must be paid to ensure that the distance between the stairwell and door is not too close or confining.

These are the keys to the positioning of staircases.

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