Living objects : plants (real or man-made), bonsai, flowers, aquarium or fishbowl

Moving objects : mobile, windmill, whirligig, fountain

Heavy objects : stones or statues

Electrically powered objects : air conditioner, stereo, TV

Bamboo flutes

Bright or light-reflecting objects : mirror, crystal ball, lights

Sounds : wind chimes, bells

Others

Each cure has its particular qualities and uses; a windmill might disperse an oncoming road’s "Killing ch’i," while properly installed flutes might alleviate an overhead beam’s oppressive effects.

Colors

Colors can be applied to areas in a room or a building to enhance aspects of one’s life. The Chinese consider certain colors more auspicious than others. A Feng Shui expert praised an unusually decorated Chinese restaurant for its black interior because black is the color of the water element and therefore connotes money. Yet, in general, black also signifies loss of light and is often avoided. Red, used in Chinese weddings and other celebrations, is an auspicious color. White, the Chinese color of mourning, is avoided. At Chinese funerals, relatives wear simple, unbleached muslin robes to express humble grief. Yellow, the color of the sun, represents longevity. Green, the color of spring, signifies growth, freshness and tranquility. Blue is an ambiguous color, representing the sky. It is auspicious, yet sometimes, perhaps because of its coolness, blue represents death.

Living Objects

Plants and Flowers: Plants – real, silk, or plastic; bonsai, annual, or perennial – not only symbolize nature, life, and growth, but also conduct nourishing ch’i throughout the room. They function in many ways. Plants indicate good Feng Shui; where a plant or a flower thrives, so will the residents. Placed on either side of an entrance, they create and attract good ch’i. Inside and outside restaurants and stores, they are subtle beacons bringing in clients and money. Besides merely enlivening interior ch’i, plants can resolve design imbalances such as acute room angles, corners that jut into rooms, or unused storage space.

Man-made plants and silk flowers are effective substitutes in-doors; because their leaves do not turn brown and petals do not fall off. Since artificial flowers are maintenance-free, residents – unless they have a green thumb – need not be confronted with symbols of death and age.

Fish Bowls and Aquariums: These, like plants, are micro-cosmos of nature, specifically the life-giving ocean. And water – essential to the cultivation of rice – symbolizes money (The Chinese use the word Feng Shui (wind-water) as a slang term for gambling, i.e., "blowing away money"). So, when views of water are lacking, the Chinese use aquariums and fishbowls to evoke nourishing and moneymaking ch’i. Fish, the fruit of the sea, further enriches a home or office. In offices, fishes are used to absorb accidents and general bad luck and when they die, they are immediately replaced. Aquariums with bubbling aerators, which, like fountains, stimulate ch’i, are considered the most effective.

Moving Objects

Wind-powered or electrically powered moving gizmos such as mobiles (interior) and windmills, whirligigs and weather vanes (exterior) also stimulate ch’i circulation and deflect the overbearing force of roads and long corridors.

Interior or Exterior Fountains or Man-made Geysers: Fountains and geysers are also micro-cosmos of ch’i-activating and money-producers. They also can be protective; the strength of water disperses the "killing ch’i" of, say, an arrow like road. Water fountains also create active, positive ch’i. In business they are used to encourage profits.

Heavy Objects

Stones or Statue: Sometimes a heavy object, such as a stone or statue, when properly placed, can help stabilize an unsettling or elusive situation, be it holding down a job or holding on to a spouse.

Electrical power

Machines powered by electricity are used to stimulate surroundings, for example, a television in the ‘career’ area of a bar or equipment in the ‘helpful people’ spot of a factory.

Flutes

These have many symbolic and religious meanings. Historically, a bamboo flute was used to report peace and good news, and therefore, by association, its presence brings peace, safety, and stability to a home, office, or business. With its hollow, segmented interior, a bamboo flute symbolically lifts house ch’i, section by section. If two flutes with red ribbons tied around them are hung on a beam, slanting towards each other, thereby creating a partial ba-gua (octagonal) formation, they can pump ch’i upward from segment to segment and moderate the oppressive effect of the beam, allowing ch’i to penetrate it (They must be hung with the mouthpieces at the lower ends). Flutes are also protective. They symbolize swords and are hung in homes, restaurants, and stores to drive away evil spirits and would-be robbers. They also have ritual uses. When played, a flute strengthens weak home ch’i and generally boosts morale. When shaken, it drives away bad spirits.

Bright Objects

Mirrors: The so-called aspirin of Feng Shui, mirrors cure a host of Feng Shui woes, exterior or interior. Outside a building, they deflect threatening ch’i, be it from a road that aims at it, an overpoweringly tall neighboring building, or a funeral parlor. The mirror both offensively reflects back malign ch’i and glad walls used in contemporary architecture also help to deflect negative surroundings. Those wishing to remove the overbearing forces altogether might try a convex mirror, which reflects images upside-down. If a road aims at an entrance, hang the mirror above the door.

Inside a house or an office, mirror serves many purposes. The general rule for interiors is "the bigger the mirror, the better." Mirror should not cut off people’s heads : if too short, they create headaches and lower residents’ ch’i. If too high, they make residents uncomfortable. Mirrors should be hung in large pieces, not little mirror tiles that distort images. Properly hung to reflect good views of water or gardens to the interior, they draw in good outside ch’i, light, and scenery. In cramped quarters, a mirror can facilitate ch’i flow and create the illusion of expanse and light. Mirror also reflects all intruders to anyone whose back is to the door. They can balance an L-shaped home or room. In business, if properly hung, they can increase profits.

Small-Faceted Crystal Balls: These rounded prisms are prevalent in Feng Shui. Not entirely unlike the fortune-teller’s smooth crystal ball, they are said to endow the occupant with the gift of farsightedness and a good perspective. They can adjust a home or office’s ch’i, symbolically resolve design imbalances, and enhance ba-gua positions. As refractors of light or energy, they convert strong, threatening ch’i – both interior and exterior – and disperse it throughout the room. Thus they become symbolic sources of positive power and energy (Hung in a western window, a crystal ball transforms the sun’s glare into a rainbow of refracted colors). They are also used both to improve ch’i, flow symbolically and to lift up the home’s ch’i, thereby improving the occupants’ lives.

Crystal balls have special uses as ritual objects. Hung in a temple near the image of the Buddha, they acquire special powers. Blessed by religious person with high spiritual energy, a crystal ball will convert light into power and energy, and mantra and blessing will emanate from it and fill the room.

Lights: are powerful Feng Shui cures. Light itself is considered an important Feng Shui asset in any environment. Installed outside an L-shaped home, a lamp or floodlight can square off the issuing corner. Installed at the lowest point of a hill, it can keep ch’i and money from rolling out of a sloped plot. Inside, lamps – symbolic of the sun and disseminators of energy themselves – can enrich interior ch’i. As a rule the brighter the lamp, the better.

Sound

Wind chimes: Wind chimes are generally moderators of ch’i flow. They disperse malign interior and exterior ch’i, tempering and redirecting, say, a road or a hill’s ch’i in a more beneficial, balanced way. Hung on eaves, they symbolically raise a house’s ch’i. Wind chimes or bells can be used to summon positive ch’i – and money – into a home or business. Hung near an entrance, they act as alarms warning of intruders entering a room or a store. After a Californian bank was robbed in the mid-1970s, it installed, on the advice of a Feng Shui expert, a bell on the door to the tellers’ work area that would ring each time the door was opened. As a primitive but effective security system, is seemed to unnerve any would-be robbers, and no holdups have occurred since then.

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