The art and science of Feng Shui is increasingly popular and the demand for a deeper and broader understanding of the subject is constantly growing. Books on the subject are introduced on an almost weekly basis. More and more people are resorting to the practice of Feng Shui in the hope of mitigating their problems in relationships and enhancing their families' health and finding happiness and fulfillment in their lives.

Unfortunately like many popular industries, 'Feng Shui' has been very commercialized and in the process, bastardized. Much of the Feng Shui knowledge and information available in popular books these days deprives readers of a true authentic Feng Shui experience. Many enthusiasts are disheartened when they find conflicting theories and end up more confused than when they started out. This article is written in the hope of guiding you out of this confusion and directing you down the right path in your pursuit of authentic knowledge and studies in the art of Feng Shui.

Presently there are two major streams of Feng Shui practices in the Western community: New-Age Feng Shui and Classical Feng Shui.

Classical Feng Shui refers to the original form of Feng Shui practice as passed down from Masters to disciples. It has strong roots in the ancient Feng Shui texts and cannons, dating back to the Tang, Sung, Ming and Qing Dynasties. This is the form of Feng Shui practice used in oriental countries today.

New Age Feng Shui on the other hand is a much newer and westernized version of Feng Shui. Much of this stream of Feng Shui is a blend of modern-day psychology, color-therapy, aromatherapy, sound, fashion and jewellery design, product marketing and symbolism with a mixture of Chinese and other oriental, cultural and spiritual beliefs thrown in.

There are vast differences between these two streams of Feng Shui. As readers, genuine enthusiasts and practitioners of Feng Shui, you should be aware of these differences.

New Age Feng Shui is equivalent to the daily horoscope readings that you get in newspapers. It is entertaining. However, you should not take it too seriously. Certain approaches in New-Age Feng Shui are considered rather dangerous from the perspective of Classical Feng Shui. Classical Feng Shui refers to the actual traditional form of study and practice of this art. There are many profound theories and sophisticated formulae that one needs to know before one considers practising this art professionally.

How to Identify a Classical Feng Shui Audit:

A serious practitioner of Feng Shui can immediately identify the problems affecting your house or business before you reveal them. He should be able to identify events that occurred in the past, present issues and future matters, based on the Feng Shui of your property or business. The beneficial effects of any advice from a competent and responsible practitioner should be clearly experienced within a time period of 49 days to 3 months. A good practitioner should always follow up with his clients to check on the outcome.

If a house has specific problems, your Feng Shui practitioner should also be able to tell you who is suffering from the problems in the house and prescribe certain cures for your situation. A suitable remedy should be recommended taking into account the client’s financial capacity.

Classical Feng Shui usually requires the following:

• Direction as an Important Criteria
  
  Direction is as important to Feng Shui as blood is to a person. Without directional readings, many of the formulae cannot be applied. Directions are taken of the facing of your property, facing of your main door, desk, fire mouth (stove), etc.



• Chinese Feng Shui Luo Pan
  
  A serious Feng Shui practitioner will take the trouble to learn how to read and use a Chinese Feng Shui Luo Pan. It is imperative that the practitioner understands the characters on a Chinese Feng Shui Luo Pan. Others may tell you that it is not necessary to know how to read Chinese to practise Feng Shui. This is not entirely correct. While it is true that you do not need to know the entire Chinese language to learn Feng Shui, the least a practitioner or a serious student must know are the essential characters on the Chinese Feng Shui Luo Pan. Without knowing these characters it is impossible to understand any of the profound theories of Feng Shui. It is like a doctor who refuses to learn the Latin terms in medical school or a scientist who refuses to learn the conventions of chemistry and physics.
  
  If a practitioner uses an ordinary compass or an English version of the Feng Shui Luo Pan, this is a clear indication of how earnestly that person considers his or her studies in the subject of Feng Shui.
  
  A Feng Shui Luo Pan is to a Feng Shui Master what a stethoscope is to a doctor. You cannot seriously practise Feng Shui without one.



• Systems of Feng Shui Your Practitioner Advocates
  
  There are two major systems of Feng Shui, San He and San Yuan. San He is a system that focuses more on the physical and intrinsic appearance of the environment: the distance, direction and appearance of the mountains, direction, shape and flow of the waterways, rivers or roads and the direction of the building. San Yuan systems like Xuan Kong Flying Stars include techniques to measure the quality of Qi affecting the building in a specific period of time.



• Information Your Practitioner Would Ask For
  
  Your Feng Shui practitioner will ask you for the dates of birth of the occupants in your home, or key people in the office, depending on the nature of the audit. This information will help the Feng Shui practitioner investigate how the property's Feng Shui or energies are influencing the individual. Your practitioner will also request information regarding occupation date and request a floor plan to help with the audit.



• Environmental Factors
  
  All environmental features like incoming and outgoing roads, neighboring buildings and mountains, water inlets and outlets are taken into consideration for an analysis.

The above is a general guide as to how a Classical Feng Shui practitioner conducts an analysis of a building or site. Classical Feng Shui does not involve space-clearing. It is worth noting that space-clearing and other similar rituals have been recently introduced to the practice of Feng Shui by the Western world. This is a popular methodology in the West; however, in Eastern countries, Feng Shui masters do not advocate this approach at all.

Hopefully this article has helped you to identify Classical Feng Shui and will help you when looking for a genuine Feng Shui practitioner for your business or residential needs.