Flushing Away Wealth?
By Joey Yap
Joey Yap discusses the taboo subject of toilets in Feng Shui and dispels the myths surrounding this subject...
A look at a taboo subject in feng shui - toilets, and what it brings to one's wealth and fortune.
TOILET FENG SHUI?
In feng shui, many people are concerned regarding one particular area that is present in any house or property, the toilet. Many are worried that their washrooms may be emitting 'She Qi' or unknowingly flushing away their own wealth. These worries are no laughing matter and it is time to straighten things out where toilet feng shui is concerned.
A long time ago toilets were regarded with vile and disgust. This is understandable as sanitation technology was still primitive back then. Undergoing piping and sewage had not yet been discovered. Consequently, toilets were situated far away from the living area of the house. Today however, the opposite holds true for toilets - they are built-in together inside the house. Thanks to the modern sewage system.
But it seems that the the taboo of toilets still lingers in our minds. Is a built-in toilet bad for health and wealth? Firstly, if a toilet is left dirty and unsanitary, obviously it becomes a breeding heaven for bacteria. It is only a matter of time before one falls sick because of this. Is it fair to attribute this to feng shui?
MODERN TECHNOLOGY
The arrival of toilet-flushing technology also causes some new worries- will flushing the toilet drain away wealth prospects? This perhaps stems from the earlier misconception that water represents 'wealth'. While water governs 'wealth aspects', the element itself does not directly represent 'money'. So flushing away the toilet is not equivalent to flushing away money. The more feng shui savvy may ask: What if the wealth star is located inside the toilet? Wouldn't that be flushing it away then?"
A 'wealth star' located inside a toilet becomes a problem not because of the toilet itself but because we are unable to spend enough time in the toilet to be influenced by any 'wealth Qi'. In order for any kind of Qi (whether good or bad Qi) to influence people, the person has to be exposed to the Qi for an extended period of time. The toilet is obviously not a feasible place to be spending hours in, thus its 'wealth generating' abilities cannot be maximized. This also applies to storerooms where there is no human interaction. That is why the three major aspects - main door, stove and bedroom - should be located in an area with good Qi.
WEALTH STARS
So what we can be done if you have discovered that your 'wealth star' is in your toilet or storerooms? Firstly, don't worry - there is more than one usable 'wealth star' in a home. For example, if the bathroom occupies the 'Sheng Qi' sector in your house, you can still use the 'Tian Yi', 'Yan Nian' or 'Fu Wei' sectors. Not only that, you can even use the 'Sheng Qi' minor sector in your bedroom. So you don't have to worry about missing out on the good Qi, there are many ways to go about things in feng shui.
When it comes to toilets, the only requirement is to keep it in a hygienic condition. Hopefully this also explains why having the main door below a toilet or sharing a common wall with a toilet is also acceptable.
In feng shui, as long as the main door, kitchen stove and bedroom are located in good areas, then there is already little room to worry about. Feng shui is not about remedying every situation. The secret is to find out where the good Qi is and then aligning yourself to receive it.