In our last post we cleared up the myth of the south-facing door.
In Feng Shui, when we talk about a house or apartment, there are three major elements: the main entrance, the kitchen, and the bedroom.
The main entrance is the gateway between Yang and Yin (the outside is Yang, the inside is Yin). The main entrance is known as the “Mouth of Chi”: it’s where Chi comes in from the outside. When friends or relatives gather, they come in through the main entrance.
The main entrance is where people stand to look out at the world, and where the world looks at them. The main entrance affects wealth and your public image. For this reason, of the three features, the main entrance is the most important.
Feng Shui stresses that the door should face in an auspicious direction: but what does that mean?
It is a matter of common sense: the door should face a bright and open space, and should be near a road so that it is easy to enter and leave. This means that usually it should not present much of a problem. Throughout history, most people have naturally understood where the door should be. However, some Feng Shui practitioners make it look very mysterious, as though it were a very difficult problem.
If we go to the internet, we can see huge numbers of ideas. For example, some stress the door should be in accord with your zodiac sign. In the Eight House School, people are divided into two main groups (east and west), and based on this, they decide what direction is auspicious. But in a family, where many people live together, who’s birthday or directional type should it be based on?
There is clearly a problem here: it does not make much sense. In the Flying Star School, the auspicious direction depends on when the house was built, as well as the birthday of the resident.
These approaches all have their theories. But when we dig into them, these theories do not have any solid ground. This is why academics in architecture have long regarded these concepts as one example of the dross of Feng Shui.
Feng Shui is not a belief system: it’s not the kind of thing that affects you if you believe it, and doesn’t affect you if you don’t. The fact that something is mysterious, or that we don’t understand it, shouldn’t keep us from trying to understand. We can always ask why, and not simply reject them or accept an idea. We have to ask what the basis for the idea is, and see if it makes sense.
In conclusion, the front door placement should be based on the right coordination of the existing Four Features. This means, the front door should face the Water feature (open space feature).
