"Flying Star" Feng Shui Made Easy

      The author is a member of the Chinese Astrology list.

      This paperback book contains 144 pages. The book is loaded with charts and diagrams, but there are no photographs or actual drawings.

There are 21 chapters:

Yin-Yang
Five Elements
Eight Trigrams
Ba Gua
Lo Pan Compass
Mountain-Water Positions
Nine Stars
Nine Star Timeliness
Mountain and Water Stars
Evaluating Mountain and Water Stars
General Principles of Flying Stars
Five Element Remedies
Nine Star Combinations
Five Types of Flying Star Charts
Favorable Nine Star Structures
Forms and Feng Shui
Ba Gua Applications
Annual Flying Stars
Stars and Palaces
Personal Trigram
Feng Shui Examples

      David states in the Introduction: "The desire to learn Asian Philosophy and energy practices has led to more ancient esoteric knowledge being released in the last two decades than has been revealed in the previous 3,000 years."

      One thing that might be a little confusing to some beginners is the fact that all of the Flying Star charts in the Appendix are shown with South at the top (which is also the convention on this list). But the Ba Gua diagram (Table 3a) is drawn with North at the top.

      David states in the Ba Gua chapter: "It is important to develop the ability to interpret the chart in any form. The orientation may change, but the information located in each direction remains the same."

      The above statement is true, but I prefer to be consistent in doing everything the same way, every time, until the student is comfortable with the idea. Then, show how the charts can be redrawn with any facing direction at the top. Just a small point, no big deal.

      The author briefly discusses how the charts can be depicted using either 9 boxes or 8 pie-shaped wedges.

      Replacement Stars are mentioned, but their use is not described.

      A cure is described for the "In Prison/Lock" situation.

      Charts are provided for what is commonly called Holy 1 and Holy 0, and the Secondary Wealth Area/Second Fortunate Palace.

      The chapter on Forms and Feng Shui only contains 3 scant pages. I hope to see this expanded in a future, more advanced, book. The Forms should be considered for every palace, not just for the facing and sitting palaces.

      In the Feng Shui Examples chapter, there are 2 examples of readings.

The section on constructing the Flying Star charts is concise and fairly easy to understand. If you study this section, you will be able to create your own charts without having to resort to tables/charts in books/courses. It is a good feeling to go into a house armed only with a luopan, pencil and paper.

      This book is written with the Westerner in mind. You will not find any Chinese characters here. Also, there is practically no Pinyin romanization of the Chinese characters. For instance the three Mountains/Directions in the Kan Trigram are described as North 1, North 2, and North 3 instead of Ren, Zi, and Gui. Flying Star Feng Shui is a complex subject, but the author has made every attempt to explain the concepts in clear, simple English.

      BOTTOM LINE: As an introductory text to Flying Star Feng Shui, this book is an excellent value at less than twelve dollars. This is the type of book that must be studied, not merely read. If you are totally confused with most of the postings to the Chinese Astrology list, this book will provide you with enough background for you to understand what is being discussed.

      "Flying Star" Feng Shui Made Easy may be ordered online directly from:

http://www.amazon.com/

...or from the publisher at:

http://www.iuniverse.com/

      LAST WORD: This review is merely the opinion of one person. I would like to urge everyone to write your own review of this book (or any other Feng Shui/Chinese astrology book) and post it to the list.

      In the near future, I will also be posting a review of David's other current title, "Classical Five Element Chinese Astrology".

      If you would like to join the Chinese Astrology list, send an email to:

[email protected]

      If the moderators of any other lists would like to see this review posted on your list, please contact me privately at:

[email protected]

-- Ray Langley, "Have Luo Pan, Will Travel!"

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