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| Professional Feng Shui Cards | ||
 Image courtesy of Dragon-Gate.com Title : Professional Feng Shui Cards Author : Dragon Gate Palace & Joey Yap Price : US$16.00 When a pack of Professional Feng Shui Cards plopped on my desk, I hazily recalled my childhood years when I used to have a similar pack of cards, albeit more kid-friendly than this one. It had ABCs on one side of the card and a picture of an object or animal representing each alphabet (A = Apple, B = Ball: you know how it works) drawn on the other. Upon closer inspection, to my delight this nifty pack of cards worked more or less the same way as my ABC cards! But this is certainly a more polished, classy version for Feng Shui aficionados compared to those crudely drawn cards of yore. Professional Feng Shui Cards was sent to us by its creator, Dragon Gate Palace. According to the blurb on the pack, this pack is created “…as a part of our exclusive Professional Feng Shui Tools Series”. So along with their trusty Luo Pans, stamps and templates, the Professional Feng Shui Cards - co-developed and written by Joey Yap - is intended for aspiring practitioners. As you might know, the 24 Mountains and 8 Trigrams are key points to remember at all times for all things Feng Shui, Chinese Astrology and Chinese Metaphysics. Memorizing these points are crucial to your development in your skills as a professional practitioner. And so the Professional Feng Shui Cards were created to assist enthusiasts in remembering and discerning each and every point of their 24 Mountains and 8 Trigrams. The fun thing about these cards though? The technique they employ to train users for quick memorizing and comprehension. Much like my once-beloved ABC cards, they utilize the flash-card concept that has been proven to be effective, fast and fun as well! The pack is separated into two kinds. One deals in 24 Mountains whereas the other is for the 8 Trigrams. The front of each card displays a huge image of the 24 Mountain symbol, and the back of it provides information on all points connected to that particular 24 Mountain. 24 Mountain Cards As you can see, each card is self-explanatory. The back of each card lists down helpful information such as the 24 Mountains location, the Trigram, the Compass Degree, the Element, Colors suitable and the designated Object or Animal for each symbol. The end of each card even has a step-by-step symbol writing guideline! 8 Trigram Cards An 8 Trigam card holds more information. Each card has the Later Heaven, 24 Mountain and Early Heaven location as well as the symbol’s designated Number, Element, Color, Shape, People, Body Parts, Main Illness and Animal as well. Quite a mouthful to chew on, but this basic guideline should be easily memorized with a bit of elbow grease. As with the 24 Mountain Cards, an 8 Trigram card also gives a helpful step-by-step symbol writing guideline. And so, as a test drive of sorts, I took the pack home. After a leisurely dinner, my housemate and I proceeded to the memorizing lesson, with me guarding sentry and my housemate as the guinea pig student. I gave my housemate a goal of remembering the points and symbols of at least 5 cards for the night. We then had a flash-card session where I would hold up a 24 Mountain card, symbol side out, and quiz my housemate mercilessly on each point. And guess what? Within a couple of hours, she managed not 5, but 8 cards! (We could’ve gone further but she pleaded sleepiness as a way to get out of the flash-card drill.) All in all, I would give these cards a two thumbs-up for effectiveness and ease in memorizing. It was fun as well, in a weird back-to-elementary-school kind of way that made me kind of nostalgic at the end of our memorizing session. I highly recommend the Professional Feng Shui Cards for enthusiasts just starting out in their 24 Mountain and 8 Trigram memorization. Professional practitioners fluent in their 24 Mountains and 8 Trigrams would not need these cards, but it might prove helpful during their consultations and classes with complete novices to the arts. You can purchase the Professional Feng Shui Cards at Dragon-Gate.com. All major credit cards are accepted and international shipping is within three to five days. |