It’s been a while since I was able to share such a story with you and I am sure this is one of those stories from which I will be receiving lots of mail from our readers.

I was on my way back from Dallas, Texas after my last class and my secretary called me to let me know that an URGENT call had come in from a Malaysian Mastery Journal Basic reader asking to meet with me.

URGENTLY was highlighted and I thought, ‘well life or death situation then’. And so I told my secretary to set up the meeting.

At the appointed time, Sammi, the main character in our story today, came to see me. This may sound like an Abbott & Costello routine but bear with me a while.

‘ Joey, you know, I have done my best la, but this man, I tell you.’

‘Err…what man? What does this have to do with me?’

‘My man, my boyfriend. It’s just not working out la. I have tried it you know. I have done my best’.

‘Tried what? Done what?’, I asked, sounding a little exasperated since I neither knew the real story or what I was doing in the picture. I was starting to feel more and more like a relationship counselor.

‘Well, I slept in my ‘Nien Yin’ direction, but my relationship has not improved. In fact, he is always moody and grumpy and seems to take me for granted’.

‘Nien Yin, I see’

‘Yes, Nien Yin, you see’.

‘I also hung a large bouquet of dried flowers my boyfriend gave me a while ago and they are in my room. They face down’.

‘He gave you dried flowers? What has this got to do with Feng Shui?’

‘No, they were fresh when he gave them to me, I wanted to keep them. So I subsequently dried them out’.

Before I could even say anything further, she interrupted me, ‘They are bad Feng Shui right? Right!? Cause I heard somewhere that they are. They ARE, aren’t they? Are they? But I don’t want to throw it away, they have such sentimental value to me, you see’.

‘I have to tell u Sammi, your whole house is filled with ‘Sha Qi’ right at this very moment’.

‘Whaat….?? My whole house ah? I will throw away the flowers, right now. Right away’, she hurriedly said to me.

‘Sammi, calm down. Your house is filled with furniture right? It’s all dead wood, right? So, if your theory is correct, your whole house will be filled with Sha Qi right?’

‘Hmmmm…well….err…that does make some sense’

Seeing an opportunity to jump in before she started again, I explained to her how there was no difference between the dead flowers hanging by her bed and the furniture in her house. There was no ‘sha qi’ problem for her to worry about. It’s all superstitious mumbo-jumbo I reassured her.

I also let Sammi know that the correct term was Yan Nian, not the often misconstrued Nian Yien. In Eight Mansions, the correct Chinese spelling for the Qi is Yan Nian (Chinese Character) .

I decided I would give her a hand, seeing as to how she had already come so far with her questions. I found out that although she was facing her Yan Nian direction, she was IN the Five Ghost or Wu Gui sector of the house – according to the HOUSE GUA. (Those of you having studied the Feng Shui Mastery Series would be familiar with this and how it is applied.)

Her entrance to her house is also in the Liu Sha sector of the house and though it does face her Tian Yi, it does not fix the negative Qi entering there. Furthermore, as this is the year of the Monkey, it is safe to assume that her problems with the Liu Sha qi will escalate even further.

I also found out that a room next to hers was empty and is the Yan Nian sector of the house. She could just as easily tap into her Tian Yi in that room and still enjoy the REAL Yan Nian Qi to help her in her relationship.

Just before I ended my discussions, I reiterated my two points to her.
1. Dried flowers are not dead wood Qi
2. Eight Mansions Feng Shui is not called ‘Eight Mansions’ for nothing. She MUST consider the House Gua – personal attributes are but one aspect of Eight Mansion Feng Shui. It would be incomplete without an analysis of the house’s Gua Qi.

Till next time, have wonderful relationships and enjoy the person you are with!

For more information on House Gua and the information covered here, you should refer to the Feng Shui Mastery Series: