Feng Shui for Altar Placement, Cremation Remains and Burial

Hey guys welcome to the Learn Feng Shui podcast where you'll Learn Feng Shui from a classical point of view taking out the myth and Superstition so if you're interested in learning funu Chinese astrology all things Chinese metaphysics as well as the superstitions and myths that connect it all you'll enjoy learning funu with me hey guys today we're going to talk about Ultra placement where to Place those cremation remains you know fun for those urns as well as funu for burial and honoring our ancestors during Ching Ming known as TB sweeping Festival hey guys welcome to today's episode I'm cace spinga certified funu practitioner and red riing professional with International funu Guild So today we're going to focus on Funway for altars uh look at those alter placements and look at Funway for cre earns and remains you know there's definitely considerations when you kind of look at where the ultra placement is you know what we put on it may vary because perhaps you're a certain religion and you believe in certain things so today we're touching more on alter placement and um you know kind of those alter what are called funu forms and surprisingly there are a lot like the forms for placing a bed or even placing your desk so we'll take a look at that and then we're also going to look at funu for burial some of the considerations that are made as well as uh honoring our ancestors for Ching Ming which is known as tomb sweeping Festival so it is that time of year all right let's get into it fun for Alters let's start with that first all right so before we move on to looking at the forms and how to set up the altar like where's the best place let's talk about the objects that go on our altar I know I said I wasn't going to talk about specific objects and I'm not and that's because you know as a society we're all different religions you know funu is not a religion and So within funu we have every religion I would say and so what you want to do is you want to make sure that the objects you're setting on the altar do connect to you and they have some sort of special meaning to you and I say that because within toist beliefs even if you're not toist um they do believe that if your items haven't been like blessed or they're not like active then they're not going to be working to protect you and this goes for both deities that are placed on altars and protective items protective sigils you know and so uh one of the things they do is something called an open eye ceremony and they do this at the temples and then different tows Masters can do it too um but basically what is done is the items are taken to the the Talis master or the tals priest for the Open Eye ceremony and they usually do some sort of chanting you know burn the incense a burning sigils around it and they'll usually dot it with a red dot and that's usually cinar and sometimes it's mixed with the blood from a rooster's comb like the little comb on top of their head and then this is believed that this item is active and it's working to protect you in your home and your altar and wherever you place it you know you you should honor that object and um you know it's the same thing for our items we have on our altar right we you don't want to just go to Hobby Lobby and buy some kind of cross and you know stick that up but um perhaps you're Catholic and you really uh feel like the Virgin Mary you know is there to protect you or you connect with different Saints you know these are the things you're going to want to put on your altar uh for example I did by a mogro cross uh we went to Santa Fe last summer and we went up into the mountains and there was a a church there and it was said to have Healing Waters and healing dirt and stuff like that and so I bought the mogro cross from there and so to me that's that's special you know it's been blessed by the priests you know that see over that that church you know and so these are the things you're going to want to put on your altar um it again just with TOS beliefs it is believe that once this item has been embodied or like you put this intention into it you know you really focus your attention on this protective energy that you know this energy does manifest within that deity and so same thing for you you know you may have a special item that was past down to you maybe a necklace or some jewelry or even just crystals and stuff like that whatever you feel like you connect with and has energy for you place that those items on your altar looking at where to place the altar within your home you know it would be really nice if I could tell you like place it in the you know south or place it in the west or whatever but that's not really the case because honestly we're you know usually limited when it comes to what we're going to put in our home right we don't have uh that option and so what we're going to look at is What's called the funu forms and the forms really is the location within the home that you you place things or the uh location within the room okay and so when we look at a direction and location you know those are two different things you know um again you can have things facing in a certain direction but if it doesn't make sense for the room then that's not really good funu so we're going to look at where we place this alter Within the room you choose to place it in so just kind of a general rule of thumb anything looking at fun you're going to want to follow what's called these forms first and foremost because again you can place your you know altar somewhere but if it doesn't make sense and if it's in an awkward position then it's not really going to be a benefit to you and so just kind of the rule of thumb and honestly with anything is you're going to want to follow the same rules that you follow when you place your bed or your placing a desk and so you're going to want to make sure your Altra is placed up against a solid wall make sure the area is tidy and clean and make sure there's not oppressive energies overhead like ceiling beams sloped roofs don't place it underneath stairs okay so just some of those basic forms somewhere you wouldn't put a bed or it wouldn't make sense for you to put a a work desk you know don't place your altar there and speaking of stairs you are going to want to avoid placing an altar on the same wall that it shares with the stairs behind it and so if that makes sense it's hard to explain so I know my living room I have like a little half wall and behind that is the stairs right and so I would want to avoid placing my altar on that little half wall because there stairs behind it likewise you're going to want to avoid placing your altar where it shares the same wall as a couple's bedroom or a stove you know we're going to want to make sure that's not aligned so just like you would think with a bed like I mentioned earlier you know avoiding placing it underneath a window you're going to want to avoid it underneath a TV or an aquarium so we're not going to want to have these items near our altar either do avoid placing your altar too close to the television and an aquarium especially right underneath it and so you're going to want to make sure that there's not like water on top of it especially for that fire energy of the Altar and then of course that that TV we want to make sure it's just I feel like it's too too much of an active energy and so don't uh you know if you have like your TV mounted on the wall or something don't place your altar directly below it it's also said that you don't want to place your altar in direct sunlight I think you do want the energy to be a little bit more Yin um you know I always remember my grandmother who had her altar inside her closet she just had like a small trailer that she lived in but you open her closet and there was Virgin Mary there was candles and you know there was some other little little items there and so she always uh had a little Nook inside her closet so you can definitely um you know keep this in mind when you're setting your stuff up you could you know put a little Nook um but again make sure it's not oppressed under ceiling beams and stuff like that you know don't try and force it into a closet if it doesn't make sense to you for me it made sense to her um it just was just a little area she used um you also want to make sure that you're keeping your altar out of your bedroom and know living rooms in areas like that are typically better for an altar and again there is areas you know you can place it so you could look at the South or the North or you could look at eight mansions and look at certain directions within eight Mansions but I know just as a society we're kind of limited in the space we have you know not everyone has the option to put their altar in the perfect ideal spot and so again just look at where it makes sense to you and follow the forms when placing your altar some altars do have a little space underneath them like they kind of look like a TV cabinet right if you're buying a traditional Altar for alter's sake okay and so um you're not going to want to place like water here and some people like to do aquariums make it look cool or they Place their little deity there and so this is a specific spot for the Earth deity is not for these Heaven deities and so again it just kind of depends on your religion and stuff and what you pray for but there's not supposed to be an empty like slot or space underneath the Altar and definitely don't put uh water in this area another consideration is going to be the offerings that you're putting out so especially if you're putting out like food drink and uh like flowers you know those things tend to spoil quite quickly in hot weather and so we're going about to make sure that you're you know changing those offerings out very often and U make sure they don't get stinky or spoiled I know it's said that if they you know things start spoiling very quickly that the God is supposed to be gone from the altar so you're probably going to want to re bless or reconsecrate that area if you notice that your offerings are spoiling really fast uh one last consideration is the incense sticks that you're using sometimes are just called jaw sticks but you're going to want to either put a odd number of candles or incense sticks because again that's supposed to be the number of heaven and so usually one or three is kind of the um I suppose the uh traditional you know it's a traditional to put one or three up and you're also going to want to take note of the way those things are burning and I know in certain um religions or certain practices you can actually look at the way a candle burns down or look at the flame on the candle or even look at the way the stick is burning um and whether or not it lights and stuff like that and so if you're one to subscribe to doing that and you kind of know the meaning behind that do pay attention on to the way that those items are burning on that Altar and if you are setting up a TOS alter I'm going to include a link because it goes into detail about certain items I know there's very specific item placement placing your incense burner in a certain area of placing candles in certain area if you have a deity and if you have ancestor plaques you're going to want to set that up according to your religious belief please make sure you follow the Funway for placement and uh items on the that alter now also one thing is if you do have your altar set up you want to make sure you either have like lighting or candles that are going all the time again this is a fire energy you're going to want to make sure you pray daily and you have incense set there and so that's just kind of a rule of thumb don't set up an altar if you don't feel like you're really going to be using it now looking at funu for cremation remains I think this is something that you know I don't know if we talk a lot about it with funu I know the funu belief is that it's you know you don't want ien energy within your home but let's be realistic like people you know maybe you're not in a in a place where you want to settle down and you want to intern those remains right you need to have them with you right you don't want to be moving around and not being able to visit your loved one at their at their burial space you know and I get that um so but you do want to make sure that you're honoring that person by putting their cremation remains in an area that is revered so um you know a lot of places that you you are going to want to keep it out of the bedroom I will say that let's put that out of the bedroom but a living room you know a family room maybe you even have a room dedicated for the altar um you know put it you can put it on that altar you know we we can do that so so we want to make sure that we're putting it in a space that it's just you know it makes sense for you but it's also honoring that person and I found a great article Funway manhattan.com you know again this is something that isn't necessarily talked about with you know I learned from an Eastern teacher you know and uh they again kind of subscribe to keep it out of their remains out you know or turn them um but uh here you know I feel like in the West we are more flexible of having those remains it doesn't like creep us out you know it doesn't make us feel a certain way you know and so uh there's some really great suggestions in here it says besides ear placement take into consideration the atmosphere and how you choose to display this earn there's already a lot of Yin energy so if the nurn remains within your home for a short or prolonged period of time it would be long wise to bring in more Yang energy to kind of balance that out and it says here a way to do that is just put living plants into the space where you'll be displaying the ashes you know kind of balance it out that way a place the earn in a location that receives natural daylight display a photo of the person and be sure that you choose a happy and healthy image so don't Place one of them when they were sick you know Place one of them maybe at their Prime place a ceremonial cloth beneath the ear maintain a clean table and shelves where the ear is placed and allow the ear to be close to eye level versus being placed too close to the floor and display a universal symbol or symbols that you choose that unify living and deceased in a respectful way I love those suggestions all right guys taking a quick midow breather here we'll get to focal or Friday funu for burial and venerating our ancestors during tomb sleeping Festival um yeah I don't have a lot of announcements Learn Feng Shui way.com check out the newsletter there on that blog post the monthly newsletter I work pretty hard getting that done so I'm actually quite proud of it it's one of my favorite things that I've incorporated into this uh you know into the website um one thing I don't talk a lot about is leaving reviews for the podcast so if you don't like the podcast why are you listening if you do like it go leave a review you know so yeah I know when I first started doing the podcast I have some bad iTunes reviews cuz I it was just me uh literally in a closet with my headphones so you know just in a dream in a dream so uh upgraded a little bit you know I didn't have all the equipment I didn't even have show structure so you know I've learned as I've gone but I feel like I've improved quite a bit you know uh so if you like the show go review it if you don't like it stop listening anyway let's go ahead and go to our next segment here focal Friday fun for burial and honoring our ancestors truly it said that where shingi is manifested on the surface of the Earth underground Chi accumulates Vitality where Chi flourishes although it flows away still there is some retention of its Surplus and although it dissipates there is still some accumulation in its depth and that is a quote from gu's burial book one of the first funu texts ever written and again funu does come from burial you know it was the uh first application of Funway and was later translated into homes for the living but commenting on that quote you know it's believed that the chi it does accumulate and it is stored underground also and so when we're buried this energy this vital energy does go into our bones and that benefits our descendants you know and so uh the first thing we can look at when we look at fun for burial is solow quality again that five color soil I kind of talked about this when we did soil quality last year I may uh reamp that episode there because it was pretty interesting but there's different soil qualities you can consider and um there's different colors and all kinds of stuff of soil and again we're kind of limited to where we're living right we can't always choose the soil that we're buried in and but one thing we do want to avoid is a soil that's too like Rocky grally and hard to dig in so if you have really dry soil um that does indicate that there's not a lot of a chi of flowing in that soil and then you're going to want to avoid soggy soil and so we know if you are a gardener like me uh when you have soggy soil that can lead to a whole host of problems you know we want proper drainage because then we can get things like rotting and and stuff like that and the I think the kind of consensus or the thought is you don't want your bones like rot right they're supposed to be um maybe even kind of kind of preserved with this soil and get Vitality from the soil and so those are just some considerations also if you hit a spring or there's water like underground water underneath this is not ideal for burial and kind of going with the soil quality one thing you want to look for also is Lush vegetation this is said to be a sign that the chi is good in an area making it suitable also for burial another really big consideration back in the day again we can't really choose this cuz you know we we live where we live we want to be buried where we want to be buried you know maybe your hometown does not have Mountain Contours and water around it and I know um mine does not you know there's not a lot of uh lot lot around there um but those are definitely things that are considered are mountain Contours and water shapes you know they're supposed to be all sorts of different formations within the mountains where you can be buried for like it's almost like these Meridian points within the mountain um I know when you have Mountain Contours kind of the way the burial book explains it is when you have these Mountain Contours there's usually a place of like flat land and that is where the chi is said to accumulate and that is supposed to be ideal for burial again when we're looking at cemeteries we are a little bit limited but this is just what the ancient texts say another factor that we consider would be wind so wind is a factor in burial also so we know that fun translates to wind and water water and that actually does come also from the burial book where it states that she is dispersed by the wind and gathers at the boundaries of water but blowing wind is too strong it can actually dissipate that cheese since it does scatter it so it does say here you know it's you want it to not be so windy that the wind is eroding parts of the Tomb and it says here that a layer with leakage will only Harbor a decaying coffin so that is also considered negative and really that's probably also more of a consideration when you do have like um tombs that are I suppose like you know Mausoleum type or if you're buried above ground sometimes I know there's some parts of the US here where the water tables low and you have to bury above ground and I know that there's those um you know kind of Crypt type things too so you know I think burial and a cryp this would also be a consideration we can also look at land form around the tomb which we see this more again I think in um Chinese traditional tombs again you just got to go look at it but it has the four Guardians the four Celestial creatures which is the red Phoenix so the energy coming in from the front the left side should have the green dragon which the green dragon is it's going to be higher on the left side and so we have that energy and then the white tiger which does have an Embrace but a little bit lower and maybe just a slight Contour on the right side and then the black tortois which is behind you which is the backing you know it's supposed to be higher in the back to hold in the G and so again much like our homes when we look at this energy you know they look at the same way for uh for funu for burial and it wouldn't be funu if we didn't look at the direction of burial sites too and so here's what the classics said about different burial sights in directions it says burial sights in the direction of chin which is Northwest require a contour that rises and Falls continuously and the features should be Broad and square so I'm thinking the Contours that rise and fall are a metal element because they're kind of round shaped and Broad and square because that is Earth shape and the Earth does support the uh you know the energy of metal it it gives birth to it so we look at the elements like there burial sights in the direction of which is Southwest does require a contour that's like a partition screen with no incline and feature should be Broad and level I'm thinking a little more flat remember is Yin Earth and so I guess you want to features that also support the direction site burial energy sights in direction of gun which is Northeast require a contour that's senous and yielding the features should be lofty steep Peaks I had to look up lofty it just means like large and imposing in case you didn't know because I didn't so again kind of keeping with that Mountain Energy there sights in the direction of uh soon which is the southeast require Contour that is lofty and luxuriant the feature should be sharp and imposing and I'm thinking tall you know sharp mountain peaks maybe in the uh support the energy of wood sight that are in the direction of jun which is East require Contours that are gradual and harmonious features should be towering and commanding again tall cylindrical shapes to um for the metal uh sorry for the wood element okay sights in the direction of Lee requires Contours that spread and Arch and features should be rising and lofty I'm surprised it didn't talk about like pointy either cuz Lee is the South which is a fire so it just says rising and lofty maybe tall represents that fire energy sights and direction of do which is the West Contour to advance majestically with ascending slopes features should be square and level again I think the square is that Earth Energy supporting the metal sight and direction of con which is the north requires Contours that are long and winding features should be luxuriant verticals and lofty and of course the windy wavy features do represent that energy of water and there is a lot of consideration also for inter turning a urn and so when we're looking at placing ashes and putting those in a niche you do want to consider some different things here and so it is quite complicated and I mean honestly if I explained it you wouldn't really understand unless you've been practicing function way so um it does have to do a with you know the five elements and date selection the level of the slot the direction that the slot faces like all of those have a element to them and you want to make sure that it does support the person's batsa or their natal chart um and one of the the ways that this is done is using something called the nin and so the nin is known sometimes as a melodic element and each of the 60 different zodiac signs combine to make their own element so for examp example even this year though this year is the year of the wood dragon and wood uh you know is that Heavenly stem and the dragon is the element of Earth it's the Earth branch is Earth um the naen or when those kind of combine I suppose they make their own element and that's called like fire from the lamp so it's like basically fire and so all these things are taken into consideration when looking at internment for a ases also and of course all of the funct for burial earn placement and everything it does require the use of date selection for a good date and date selection is always done in conjunction with the burial the interment and setting The Headstone so it can get quite complex as you may know these are only a portion of some of the factors that are used it can get very complex so even heard of Two Brothers like I read a while back there were these two brothers that were fighting for the perfect burial date because they thought it one you know one date would benefit another brother more than the other date so you know we can't uh we can't always choose these things you know and so one thing I would say also is use your common sense when it comes to you know looking at funct for burial or whatever you know there's certain red flags you know here where I live in West Texas very flat we don't have a land Contour we don't have Lush vegetation we don't really have water unless there's some set up by the cemetery one of our cemeteries here where I live has water and we actually bought a burial Niche facing the water for my father-in-law right and so there's some common sense things you can use if it feels good to you if you have the the means to pick a plot a lot of people you know plan their own funerals you know just use your common sense like U me and my kids were taking a drive a couple years ago and one one of the things I I had to stop because there was a cemetery right on the highway and the highway was actually rerouted and curved right around the cemetery so I'm guessing that they put the highway through after they put the cemetery but the the graves were very very close to the highway and I can't help thinking that that's that's just not a good fun way so when you're looking at spaces right we want to make sure we're picking kind of the space that makes sense for you so if you go out and you visit it you know you want to pick a a spot ahead of time just make sure it feels good to you like does this does this spot in the cemetery feel good you know um especially if it's like a family plot and you want to be buried by your relatives like these are all things you need to consider too so don't get too caught up on finding a perfect date and time and you know all of these things sometimes we just have to work with what we got especially when it comes to funerals can't always pick a perfect funeral date or time or you know even spot but as long as you feel good about it you know and you feel like things have gone well you know say your prayers to the heavens I think things will turn out pretty good for you and just a reminder that this time of year is Ching Ming or tomb sweeping Festival it's a time of year where um Southeast Asian countries Chinese countries they honor their ancestors you know and venerate them the legend actually comes from from a man named G Jitsu who was a loyal servant of a Chinese Lord he helped his Lord survive through Exile and in order to prevent his Lord from starving it's quite Grim he actually cut a piece of his own leg and fed it to his Lord so he survived the ordeal and the Lord returned to power 19 years later but sadly Enough by this time you know you forget about those who help you right they said he had forgotten about G service can't imagine can you imagine being so devoted to somebody that you literally take a piece of yourself to keep them alive and they come back into power and they're like no I don't know you they forgot about you just forgot all about it anyhow sometime later he did remember so he remember G's service and felt regretful about forgetting felt pretty bad I'd feel pretty bad too so the Lord intended to reward G but by the time he found him G had passed and to honor the life and death of G the Lord established Jing me as a holiday to commemorate the dead and it is also used as a celebration of spring and for that reason different um activities during this time are also like kite flying just spending time outside you know going to the park um and then of course burning incense and stuff flowers cleaning the tombs of your relatives so if you don't have time or you don't live near your relatives that you want to honor um in the newsletter here on the website learnfengshui.com I did put in a little thing about some Yin house fun and honoring your ancestors and so you can of course visit the graves clean the headstones and place flowers but if you don't have time to do that maybe you don't live near them research your family tree you learn about your relative so spend some time and listen to stories from the elders feel like mine are all dying off I'm 42 so my elders are like my mom I mean she's you know my aunt you know know my my great aunts only have one left so my grandma passed you know 2010 so we don't have a lot of those ant those Elders left so spend some time with them um setting up an ancestor altar or placing pictures out of loved ones that have passed a special area I know many people do view that East sector as a the family sector and Associate it with family and ancestors so you can definitely put those out in the East um go through your old funeral programs I know I keep like prayer cards and you know the little programs from the funerals I typically keep those but I do have a memory box that I put them in and I keep them in there because I don't want to look at them all the time you know alternatively you can burn these items to release them if you feel the memories are sad so you don't feel like you have to hold on to things you know but maybe storing them or burning them can help bring you some closure so offer a prayer or spend some time in reflection if you feel you need closure with a loved one that has already already passed so these are my uh ways to you know honor your ancestors aside from just cleaning the tombs all right guys well I hope you enjoy today's episode maybe learn a little bit about the history of fun and you know kind of where it came from you know setting up your altar stuff like that so let me know if you found this useful so again go to the website and I'll catch you guys next week for um yeah Cannabis used in ancient China as well is shinyang the father of Chinese medicine for free Wonder Room consultation or energy mapping of your space follow the link in the show notes to support the podcast share with your family and friends leave a review or go to learnfengshui.com