Landscape Feng Shui begins with, and is all about the location. If your natural environment is auspicious , according to the basic Feng shui principles, then that alone can bring you a good life. You will succeed in all your endeavours even if your home has some negative Feng shui features inside. Landscape Feng shui talks about the importance of the four celestial animals (i.e. black turtle, green dragon, white tiger and red phoenix) in our surroundings. These animals refer to the undulating land forms which are considered lucky and should ideally be present when you are looking for a site to build your house.

The ideal configuration of these four celestial animals forms an armchair figure. The black turtle should be at the back of the house and symbolically provides support, the green dragon should be on the left side of the front door (inside looking out) and it should be higher than the right side, the white tiger should be on the right side (inside looking out) and should be lower than the left side, and the red phoenix should be in the form a small hillock or footstool, in the front of the house.

So how do we apply this cardinal principle in the modern day landscape? It is hard to tick all the boxes when you are looking for a property. Does that mean you cannot apply landscape Feng shui? Does it mean that you will have to miss out on the benefits that this lucky configuration brings with it? The answer is ‘No’. It is quite simple to introduce this armchair configuration on your land. You can introduce these land forms by artificially creating them (if you have the finances to do it) or by planting a tall tree(s) on the left hand side of your house and making sure that you have a smaller shrub or hedge on the right hand side of the house. To introduce the support or the turtle at the back of the house, you can build a high wall or plant a row of tall trees. The red Phoenix at the front can be introduced by having a small mound of soil. Once you have applied the four celestial animals in your house should enjoy good Feng shui.

The next question that comes to mind is, what if you live in an apartment in a busy suburb? It is not easy to find the armchair formation in cities and towns. In such a scenario, you can either use the whole apartment to determine the good landscape criteria. When you are choosing an apartment make sure that if there is a taller building, it is behind the whole apartment block. The land on the left hand side is slightly higher than the right hand side. Or you can activate these celestial animals inside your apartment as well. You can hang a painting of a mountain or a turtle at the back of your apartment. You can keep a real turtle if you like or a figure made of ceramic or metal will work equally well. The turtle symbolises support and continuous protection to the family and is one of the best Feng shui features. Similarly, you can activate the green dragon by placing a painting or picture of a dragon on the left side of the house. You can use a ceramic figure as well. Make sure you do not place the dragon figure inside your bedroom. If the left side of the apartment has a bedroom, then go to another room and activate the green dragon there by using small tai chi. If there is space outside your front door then you can place the dragon figure outside, to the left of the main door. The White tiger can be activated in the same manner. Make sure that the figure or picture that you chose is not a fierce looking tiger. The red Phoenix has to be placed in the front part of the apartment. You can activate it by placing an image of any bird near your front door if you can not find a phoenix.