Hi Coral, and hi Jacqueline,
I'm very sorry to hear of your bad experiences with Diamond Feng-Shui, and hope things get better for Coral. (I'm taking it as a warning not to get too involved with DFS, as I've already had a number of misgivings -- its expense not the least, followed by reading it -- and about other "compass" systems whose biggest failing, it seems to me, is unwarranted complexity. And as it's said that you get what you focus on, then "disaster stars" is something I definitely don't want to know anything about.)
Having studied Feng-Shui since 1976, I became increasingly puzzled by how claims could be made for such a variety of different schools (land, compass etc) and systems, that they all "worked". And came eventually to what seemed to me be the only possible explanation: that the role of intentionality and symbolic action (in effecting "cures" according to each system) must be FAR greater than seemed to be acknowledged in any of them. Most of them, on the contrary, tend to make assertions that this or that "is" so, and that's that -- as though many alternative systems didn't even exist.
However Lilian Too (whatever one might think of her) stresses the importance of intentionality, and so does Marie Diamond. But it's relatively underplayed in all of the other 30-plus books I've collected over the years on feng-shui: and whose principles I've applied in detail to analysing plans, if not to "treat" actual properties. I have to confess that sheer confusion between all the alternatives, and which to follow, has prevented me from ever having done very much, in practice, about any of them.
Even so, for what it's worth, I think that the role of intentionality in implementing feng-shui analyses and cures might hold the key to at least some of the problems experienced by each of you, as an apparent result of Diamond feng-shui "cures". To put this into some kind of perspective: the "land" school of feng-shui has been around for thousands of years, the "compass" schools are more recent -- and only very recently pushed in a big-time commercial way by a few strong personalities having developed their own personal versions. So why do different versions of feng-shui "work" (or not) when they do?
I don't know if either of you subscribes to the idea of a universal "information" sphere: the ancient Sanskrit Akasa, which could be loosely equated with Jung's "collective unconscious" as a repository of cultural patterns and beliefs. The biologist Rupert Sheldrake taps into something like this with his theory of "morphogenesis": that pre-existing patterns in some etheric realm actually guide the development of organisms from single undifferentiated cells into a variety of specialised cells performing unique functions in highly complex structures. And he cites evidence that once a new chemical reaction has taken place, very slowly, for the first time (eg long-chain polymers), every subsequent reaction is progressively much faster: as though aided by some universal "memory" of accumulated previous reactions.
In the same way, it's possible to conceive of a number of dissimilar feng-shui traditions, each with dedicated adherents performing the same intention-laden symbolic actions based on the same analyses, being supported by the invisible "memory" realm in producing the "same" results -- usually. But given that every house and its contents and every occupant is different, there is no comparable "sameness" in applying collections of "cures", especially drawn from recent, idiosyncratic development of a tradition by a strong individual. And especially without supportive follow-up. An even bigger problem is in trying to mix traditions.
You don't say, Coral, what you did as a result of studying the Essentials course (which I was too put off by to use at all!).
"Starting in March" (I notice, 9-plus weeks after starting the Essentials course in December) "we have experienced a series of things going wrong, from my father died, our tenant left, the house was flooded with a broken pipe, unit still not rented, twice my credit card was stolen, and three times my ATM card was lost or stolen, etc. etc. It just seems that just as things seem to be starting to be Ok something else bad happens. I'm trying to focus on the good, like new linoleum paid for by the insurance company, but yesterday I assessed the overall financial loss and it was 40% of our savings gone.
Help."
Did you make changes gradually, and observe the effects, or make many changes all at once? Can you relate any of the things that went wrong, to any of the changes you made? Eg did things "go wrong" in areas you HAD changed, or HADN'T changed -- or a mixture? And what were the pre-existing conditions? Was your father already ill, or did he die suddenly? Was your tenant already planning to leave, but perhaps hadn't let you know it? In what way was the pipe "broken" that flooded your house -- an old fracture, poorly mended, or a sudden new one? (Also, floods often correlate with emotional overload: it sounds like you were already experiencing this.) "Unit still not rented" -- I don't know what this refers to, but the credit crunch and big changes in property and rental markets might have something to do with it. Credit card twice stolen and ATM card three times lost / stolen sounds very alarming: something about breach of boundaries there. But / and also, card thefts and fraud are booming. (For the first time ever, my own bank card was stolen six weeks ago and my account cleaned out just when, for the first time in many years, I even had any savings to steal!).
I'm asking a lot of questions because it would be the obvious conclusion to jump to that all these things happened "because" of feng-shui changes. It might be just as possible that the changes had little or no effect, one way or another, as that they caused all your problems. How would you rate the degree (then) of your belief in feng-shui in general, and in Marie Diamond's version in particular, or the strength of intention you put into the changes? Were you convinced at the time that you were doing the right things, or did you have any doubts? Doubts alone can undo the efficacy of otherwise impeccable action. And as all these things have already happened, it's worth trying to take an impartial view. Regardless, I do hope things get better for you.
And for Jacqueline, it seems the most likely explanation for your assorted disasters might be a conflict of strong wills, beliefs and intentions: not that Marie Diamond's stuff might not have worked for someone else with no previous history of having used feng-shui at all, let alone so successfully as you had. At least your final success story is about going back to what you already knew works, and finding it still does! Great. And despite the resulting pains of having hoped Marie could do it better, I hope that's a corresponding boost to your confidence in your own abilities.
"I have heard Marie Diamond does have true gift, but also many issues which complicate things." Perhaps she's chosen complexity for herself to make things more interesting, instead of "too easy" -- as it sounds as though she does have a true gift. But I also have reason to believe that seeing and sensing energy is also learnable and teachable, and certainly more valuable (in being more direct) than yards of formulaic stuff which is really usable only if you intend to make a living out of it. Speaking as a former addict of such complexity, finally disenchanted at its basic fatalism, life is too short.
So two of my favourite books, that do teach how sense energy, are Denise Linn's "Feng shui for the soul" and her "Sacred space".
