Feng Shui

Two feng shui methods are popular in the United States. Each has many nuances and employs a complicated and often conflicting array of options that adherents believe can be used to rejuvenate the energy, or chi, in an environment. The compass method evolved in northern China hundreds of years ago and is routinely practiced in parts of Asia.

The nurse just thought she was bringing a refreshing dessert — a Popsicle — to a new mother. She didn't expect the grandmother, shocked, to stop her and intercept the treat. The cold was taboo for Shu-Fen Chen. After emigrating from Taiwan, Chen gave birth to her first child in a Los Angeles hospital. Her cultural beliefs say a new mother shouldn't touch anything cold for a month after birth, or she will suffer headaches later in life, she says. Eventually, Chen moved to Irvine, home to one of the largest Chinese American populations in the nation and once home to Irvine Regional Hospital, where she had her second child.

Re "Swayed by a Home's Feng Shui," April 18: In the 1800s, it was snake oil salesmen. In the 1900s, it was crooked televangelists. Now, in the new newest century, it is feng shui consultants. There is always some group willing to take people's money and give nothing in return. ART LACHER North Hollywood

If Alice decided to decorate Wonderland using feng shui, would it resemble Vera Wang's Los Angeles flagship? Wang's new 3,500-square-foot boutique, which opened March 4, is separated by a "looking glass" fireplace into two rooms: A dark purple foyer showcases Wang's feminine ready-to-wear designs, and a sunny and modern bridal salon takes up the rear. Wang, who collaborated on the design with RNA Associates, ensured all feng shui elements were present — water flows down a window fountain, fire glows inside a glass tube, stone fixtures represent earth, and air flows from the entrance toward an outdoor fireplace.

To launch the Chinese New Year, which begins at sunset Tuesday, Warisan Antiques & Furniture, 7470 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, is offering a traditional tea and feng shui presentation Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. "Feng Shui in the Year of the Rabbit" will be presented by Gahle Atherton, an Australian who received her title of feng shui master in 1994. Feng shui is the ancient Chinese art of using placement of furnishings to create favorable energy flow within a building.

An all-day seminar on feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of placement, will be held June 4 at the Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave. Sponsored by the Pasadena chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers, the seminar is open to the public. The cost is $77. Reservations: (818) 952-5657.

One does not have to be Chinese to get help from feng shui ("Ancient Chinese Craft: Feng Shui: It Can Make a Difference," Part I, July 23). " Feng shui can make a difference" is a very true statement! Our regular feng shui adviser has cleared out and made habitable dwellings here for more than 50 years. After all obvious physical deficiencies have been corrected there may remain certain invisible but nonetheless real natural forces left there by previous habitants which have poisoned the atmosphere: This is the real objective of the feng shui operator who knows his business.

Feng shui (pronounced fung shway) is the ancient Chinese art of placement, a 4,000-year-old system of beliefs about the proper arrangement of buildings, rooms, furniture and other earthly objects for the purpose of bringing about good fortune and good health through harmony and balance. The words feng shui mean "wind" and "water." They can be taken as a metaphor for the power that nature has over our lives. Harnessing this power for human benefit is the purpose of feng shui.

Have you ever walked into someone's house and felt instantly at home? Was it the furniture that created a welcoming atmosphere? The shape of the room? The way the light came in the windows? Perhaps you couldn't quite put your finger on it, but everything just felt right. Maybe you felt "good vibes," warm hospitality or a perfect balance between comfort and style. Quite possibly what you experienced was good feng shui (pronounced "fung shway"). A home with good feng shui radiates serenity.

This Pacific Palisades home, originally built in 1980 on an acre-plus-sized promontory, was recently rebuilt by Gordon Gibson. The Italian Mediterranean estate, in a gated community, was redecorated by Cissie Cooper, with the advice of masters from three schools of feng shui, the ancient Chinese practice of arranging rooms in ways that create harmony and balance.

Feng SHUI was co-opted by the West at the same time that disco started to take hold, and some 35 years later, it's still rattling wind chimes. Now this quasi-mystical home improvement formula is getting a look from the world of rehab, where its unique blend of wishful thinking and Martha Stewart finickiness is seen as the promise of a more sustainable recovery.

It wasn't until I read two new books on feng shui that I realized the mirror facing my living-room window was bouncing good energy out into the frontyard, my sink and stove were locked in a power struggle and a hunk of my house was completely missing. I told my husband this, and he cocked an eyebrow and continued to read the paper. Reading these books about the ancient art of object placement from a Western (read: "narrow") viewpoint, it's easy to shake your head at some assertions.

LIZANNE FALSETTO seems to be more interested in her good fortune than the people who benefit from the Goodwill ["Model of Prosperity," April 5]. After reading the article, it made me sad and angry that a person with all her wealth would even think about not paying the $25 to Goodwill for her "money god." When purchasing from the Goodwill, the purchase price is a donation. To bargain with the Goodwill is one thing, but to brag about it is quite another. Shame on Ms. Falsetto -- that extra $15 would have helped some deserving people.

FENG SHUI is an approach to design based on ancient Chinese theories of placing materials to attract luck, health and wealth. The words "feng" and "shui" mean "wind" and "water" and these elements, along with wood, earth and metal, affect energy. Balancing them is the goal and that's up to interpretation. The traditional approach involves formulas, compasses and charts.

FORTUNE didn't just find Lizanne Falsetto's front door. It was invited. Lured in from the ocean and guided through a channel of steps, its force sweeps up from the street, gathers momentum from a splashing water fountain at the entry, then disperses throughout her hilltop home. Or so believes Falsetto, a nutrition bar entrepreneur and feng shui enthusiast.

Feng shui, the ancient Chinese practice of arranging space to achieve harmony and balance, figured prominently in the design of this Montecito mansion when it was built in 1975. The house was placed in what is known in feng shui as the chair position, said to engender good health and well-being. It is situated on a hilltop with the lot sloping down to the ocean in the front and rising at the rear -- a shape roughly resembling a chair.

Few places are as steeped in the traditions of feng shui as this ancient city. The pathways of centuries-old tombs follow the pattern of the Big Dipper's seven stars. Countless homes and modern buildings sport mirrors to deflect bad energy and outdoor fountains to guide riches inside.

Forget about whether Pope Benedict XVI will soften his attitude toward the role of women in the church or discover a more pastoral approach to homosexuals or heed the pleas of manpower-poor bishops for an experiment with married priests. For many Catholics, there is only one question about the new pope's intentions: Will he turn the altars around? Certainly it's the question my grandmother, Catherine Doherty Murray, would ask the new pope if she were alive.