The method of feng shui that I practise incorporates three classical schools of feng shui to give the most accurate results. These schools are Form, Compass and Flying Star.
Here’s a quick run-down of each:
Form School was traditionally used in Ancient China to select auspicious sites for building cities and burying the dead based on the surrounding land formations and waterways. Today it is used to determine whether the location of a house is auspicious by its surroundings such as the road, neighbouring buildings and features in the garden. It also applies to how the placement of furniture inside the house encourages the most beneficial flow of energy.
Compass School is a simplified version used as a way of determining an individual’s fortune based on the Bagua, a pattern comprised of eight trigrams, and the influence of the type of energy that is associated with the relative compass directions of their home. It also takes into account a person’s auspicious directions which are calculated based on their date of birth and gender.
Flying Star School is considered the most advanced form of feng shui as it is based on mathematics and looks at the effect of the different energies at play during different periods of time on a building. This practise uses a Lo Shu grid containing an arrangement of numbers and analyses the interaction of those numbers and their meanings as they systematically move positions according to the different compass directions and time periods.
You may have heard of Black Hat feng shui, which is widely practised in the United States. This is an extremely simplified, Westernised variation that many classical practitioners dismiss as being inaccurate. It is not based on mathematics nor compass directions, rather, it sees every house as having the same energies located in the same sectors based on the position of the front door. This generalisation is bound to result in errors and is the reason I do not consider this to be real feng shui!