In feng shui theory, each part of the house can be ranked in order of its importance or affect on the occupants. The very center of the house can be seen as the "guts" or navel point. Often it is a hallway or pass through area and every once in a while it is an actual room.

The energy which resides at the center of a house actually radiates throughout the entire house and can dictate the basic personality of the home. The center represents the hidden potential of what the occupants may experience. What triggers this energy into being active can be a combination of yearly influences, design and décor features to the floor plan, even the occupant's personal compatibility or incompatibility with their space.

What surprises many is how specific feng shui can get. Much of the information is derived from time/space calculation, like astrology for architecture. Most Westerners do not yet practice feng shui on this high level. There are hundreds of houses types, but I will highlight the potential for a short list of very common house types to give you an idea of how personal the information can be.

1930's house facing West: the occupants can be powerful but lonely.

1950's house facing South: the occupants can have heart of eye problems.

1970's house facing North: the woman dominates the man, easy to get divorced.

1990's house facing East: not good for high risk stocks and investments.

A late 1920's house facing Southwest: the woman in the house looks younger than she is.

A late 1940's house facing Northeast: the occupants can be rich but not healthy.

A late 1960's house facing Northwest: occupants have money struggles from 1984-2004.

A late 1980's house facing Southeast: difficult to have children 2004-2023.

The center of the house can affect a person's health, relationships, and financial status.

And there can be other influences which make its potential better or worse.

As an example, many houses have basically a square or rectangular shape, but sometimes the floor plan has an extended area. This is almost like a person stretching their arms out away from their body. That pulling or tugging of the central energy of the house is one way that the center energy can become more active or influential.

If a house is missing the center (like an open central patio or courtyard), then it generally weakens the nature of the house. This is not so true for commercial buildings, which often have atriums.

It is also considered a poor feng shui design to have a kitchen in the center of the house. The actual fire and heat from the kitchen could easily be the wrong element for that location of the house and make the potential of the house worse.

You can contact Kartar at www.fengshuisolutions.net

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© Melt Magazine 2001