Feng shui is an ancient Chinese study of the relationship between humans and their environment. Principles of Feng Shui can be used to design and decorate a home in harmony with the natural world to bring peace and good fortune to its occupants.
In searching for land, we looked for a south-facing lot both for passive solar reasons and because Feng Shui recommends orienting houses in cooler climates towards the sun.
From a Feng Shui perspective, the ideal location is on a hill, not quite at the top, with the mountain behind you and a gentle southern slope in front of you. Although our lot is a little closer to the mountaintop than the Feng Shui ideal (too close to the top is seen as being overexposed), our lot does match this description.
Once we purchased our land, Feng Shui was used to orient the house in an auspicious direction, which happened to be the same direction that would accommodate a passive-solar home. After the house was built, we had a problem with many “straw bale enthusiast” strangers driving down our driveway. To prevent unexpected visitors, some Feng Shui cures were necessary, including a no trespassing sign and a ritual space-clearing ceremony. Although we could not afford to install pillars at the end of our driveway, we did put in a marker instead, to delineate our space and symbolize our intention of prioritizing privacy. We have found these techniques to work quite well in preventing unwanted visitors from traveling into our private domain.
To protect our family, we painted our front door and mailbox red to repel bad energy. Our Feng Shui consultant recommended that we install spotlights outside to increase the chi of our family. We have not done this because of the expense, and also because we cannot afford to squander our home-made energy on non-essentials.
