Kitchen

In Feng Shui, the kitchen is the second most important factor that affects the family fortune. The first being the main door. A Geomancer can provide solutions to problems pertaining to the health of any particular family member, the desire to have offspring, marriage problems, litigation and the improvement of family fortune by the correct placement of the kitchen especially the stove.

In the Form School of Feng Shui, how the placement of the stove affects the health is already discussed in the preceeding chapter. In this chapter we shall concentrate on how the placement of the stove affects the family fortune and tranquility.

The stove is synonymous to wealth in Feng Shui. It is not advisable to have the stove seen from the living room as this is tantamount to exposing your wealth to others. Especially if the front door opens to a stove. The chi from the outside is sucked into the house through the door, hitting the stove, which threatens the stability of the stove or fortune. Worse if there are two or more doors in line with the stove because every door acts like a pump that sucks in chi, two or more doors in a row are like two or more pumps connected in a series, the combined suction is quite strong.

In accumulating wealth, one needs the backing or support from others. A stove without backing connotes not having helpful friends in the course of transacting business. Windows in Feng Shui are considered as hollows; a window behind a stove does not provide backing. Worse if there is a well behind the window(in rural areas). The modern version of this is where the window behind the stove opens to a water tank. This is applying the principle that every important element of a house should have backing.

We will now see how the adage "As in front, so behind" is applied to a stove. Nowadays, the divorce rate is on the rise and cases of broken families are mounting. One of the causes of such family tragedies can be traced to the placement of the stove. When a water faucet is directly opposite a stove, the water chi from the faucet and the fire chi from the stove are two opposing frequencies. The conflicting energies will affect the temperament of the wife, who usually does the cooking. This will take its toll on the husband. This adverse effect is built up daily and can manifest in frequent bickering and altercation over trivial matters, which, when combined with other social or domestic problems can really wreak havoc to an otherwise happy marriage.

Another example of conflicting energies in the kitchen is when the yin chi of the refrigerator tends to counter the fire chi of the stove. A washing machine placed opposite the stove will produce the same adverse effect on the tranquility of the home. The cure is to either transfer the stove or the source of yin energy. If neither solution is feasible then angle the swivel faucet and fix it to a direction that is not pointing toward the stove.

The second part of the adage "As in front, so behind" affects the family fortune. It is difficult for the family to accumulate wealth when the water chi of the water closet puts out the fire chi of the stove and it also flushes down the fortune chi. The same effect is when a water pump and a water tank are behind a stove. The cure is to transfer the stove.

The second adage "As above, so below" also affects the family fortune. In the preceeding chapter we dis- cussed the ill effects of having a water closet over a stove. When an exposed beam is over a stove, the pressure of the beam deters the growth of family fortune.

The cures are:

• to transfer the stove,

• to drop the ceiling to cover the exposed beam or

• to install a mirror on the under side of the beam as mirror lets energy pass through it. The pressure on the stove is then neutralized.

We also have to know if there is any water or sewer pipe that runs beneath the stove as this will gravely affect family fortune.

Chinese believe there is a Kitchen God that is in charge of the kitchen and his favorite place is the stove. Putting knives on top of the stove is disrespectful to the Kitchen God, hence this act should be avoided.