Explorations with Heluo is a series of publications on Time, Space and Destiny

Can we place a mirror opposite a door, so as to reflect Qi and disallow Qi from moving into our house?

Can a mirror counter Sha Qi, in other words, will a mirror disable any bad influence if you hang it facing an ugly influence?

To investigate this, a related question could very well be, can a window block Qi, or can a door block Qi? 

Well, windows and doors cannot block Qi, just as mirrors cannot reflect Qi. Mirrors reflect light, and light is just part of Qi. 

Not even our planet can block Qi. Let us then first examine what Qi is. 

Qi is (in) all conceivable tangible and intangible phenomenon. All conceivable phenomenon are saturated with Qi. More specifically, everything is saturated with Ling, all living things are saturated with Qi and will return to Ling after their life is terminated. 

Mirrors reflect light, they do not reflect images or even send back images to their origin. On a Feng Shui level, light is not Qi, light is merely part of Qi. In a Feng Shui sense, any mirrored object or even any influence is not Qi. 

From a Feng Shui perspective, here are just a few manifestations of Qi, going from the more subtle realms of creation, to more tangible manifestations:

- Vibration
- Light
- Pressure
- Color
- Sound
- Temperature
- Matter

It means that a mirror cannot reflect Qi. A mirror may reflect light, but light is merely a part of Qi. 

A door cannot block Qi. A closed door still admits Qi, although it may block out certain properties of Qi, of which temperature and sound are just a few. 

If we concentrate on mirrors and their use in Feng Shui, we must know that mirrors were originally never used in Classical Chinese Feng Shui. The same is true for by far most of the physical objects that have now been used in more modern interpretations for their supposed Wu Xing (Five Elements) effect, such as stones, crystals and statues. 

All these are the realm of either Black Hat Tantric Buddhist Sect interpretations – this system having been invented only around 1986 by prof. Thomas Lin Yun -, or their origins can be traced back to more folkloristic interpretations that perhaps eventually branched off from the traditional forms, but are not traditional Feng Shui. 

Yet, the use of mirrors became highly popular in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore and its widespread applications in the West have been manifest. 

However, whenever we study or apply Classical Chinese Feng Shui we must use our intelligence and discriminative powers and see whether a doctrine follows logic and common sense. 

Feng Shui is not a belief system. Its roots are in common sense astronomical observations, realities of a heliocentric and geocentric nature and their techniques mostly based in physics and mathematics. 

But, let us just assume for now, that a mirror is being used for the purpose of ‘sending back’ an inappropriate image of malign influence, e.g. a pointed roof from across the street. 

Here is the anticipated situation, offered through modern Feng Shui interpretations:




 

This is what actually happened:
 

Rather than sending back Sha Qi to its origin, traditional practitioners reason that a mirror will invite Sha Qi inside the house by imprinting the image into the rear of the mirror. In other words, instead of sending back the source of Sha Qi, it will be now burnt in the mirror. 

There are a lot of rituals, tales, symbolisms attached to mirrors, but we need to carefully distinguish between their use and function in Classical Chinese Feng Shui and their use in Daoism, Zen, folkloristic belief, architecture, interior design or otherwise. 

Here are some of the proposed uses for mirrors that we may find in mostly non-traditional applications: 

- Reflect Qi and disallow Qi from moving into a space;
- send back any undesirable image or feature;
- redirect the path of Qi;
- disabling Sha Qi by turning images upside-down;
- ‘harmonize’ a space;
- enlarge a space;
- ‘repair’ missing corners;
- pull in the view of desired environmental features;
- promote positive thinking and affirmation;
- attract wealth and fortune. 

Most of these application will merely have psychological effect. Still, many claim good results by using mirrors in the above mentioned ways, but we can debate if this effect is actual Feng Shui effect or merely coming from a placebo effect. 

Anyway, whenever you are to use mirrors, their placement should not ever oppose or contradict your Flying Star chart. 

Whenever you are to find mirrors used in Classical Chinese Feng Shui, they will not be used to manipulate Qi (how can a few inches of mirror be of any influence on something as huge as environmental Qi, such as the Time factors we so thoroughly research in Feng Shui, the overwhelming power of earth magnetic forces or gravitational forces), as they will much more likely stem from architectural approaches or just plain common-sense. 

Mirrors as such are not part of Classical Chinese Feng Shui. Yet, you can still use them in certain instances. 

Hallway

A good use for mirrors is when your main door opens to a blind wall. If you enter your house, but you immediately face a wall, it would be good to hang a mirror to ‘open up’ the hallway. 

A door like this may disallow environmental Qi (Dragon) from moving into your house freely. It may disallow light to move in freely. Besides this, one could envision that one’s personal Qi is being blocked. Some say, this way your vision will be limited.

If your main door opens to a blind wall, but if you hang a mirror to counter this, you can imagine how the mirror will now reflect the hallway and how this is more comfortable upon entering your house. 

It is also more inviting to visitors and some say that it is better because it enables you to much quicker determine who is outside the door upon opening the door. 

Double the image

It has been a marketing principle to use mirrors to double the merchandize.

Mirrors will add a feeling of spaciousness and mirrors can be used also to pull in more light into a space. 

Be careful here though, as we have been bombarded in recent years by all kinds of outrageous claims, like one of those claims saying that you can increase your wealth by hanging a mirror behind your stove. It is said that this will double the burners of your stove and therefore it will double your wealth. You may try this of course, but it is not Feng Shui. When it works, it is still not Feng Shui. 

Hide Pillars

Mirrors can be used to cover pillars and columns, so as to make them disappear and make a space appear more spacious. Claims as if the negative energetic influence has then also disappeared are false and misleading. If pillars are bad features in Feng Shui, their negative influence was not just because of their presence, but rather their influence is bad because of the imposed downward pressure. Mirrors cannot adjust this. 

Sleeping

It is widely accepted – even in traditional Feng Shui - that we should not sleep in line with a mirror or any other light reflecting surface, like television screens. 

Stars

Some traditional consultants use mirrors to direct pathway for auspicious Stars. In this sense, any mirror should not double Evil Stars. 

Conclusion

Be careful whenever you encounter terms such as ‘remedy’ or even ‘cure’ in Feng Shui. Mirrors will be used in Classical Chinese Feng Shui, but not so much as remedy. Mirrors may still be used, but for common-sense reasons. 

Always remember that the sole proposition of Feng Shui is to ‘invite Sheng Qi and avoid Sha Qi’. It is arguable whether using mirrors to ward off evil features or reflect unfavorable images back to their origin, is good Feng Shui practice or whether the mere ill psychological effect of you being extra conscious of the presence of ill structures will do you more harm than good. 

If I see a so-called Ba Gua mirror hanging outside of a house, I just know that a) something must be wrong with the Feng Shui of the house and b) something must be the matter with the common-sense abilities of the occupants. If you use a mirror to ward off any evil influence, what it will most likely do – rather than having any beneficial influence - is imprint the sense of ‘something is wrong’ in your brain. 

Ancient Chinese mirrors were used, not so much for their reflecting capacities, but these mirrors were made out of metal and their application was to add Metal to the space.

Therefore, you will not find any references pertaining to mirrors in any of the ancient Chinese Feng Shui Classics. 

You can use your web browser and take in the following – or comparable - terms into your search engine: Feng Shui mirror – Chinese mirror. 

See for ancient Chinese mirrors:

http://www.worcesterart.org/Collection/Chinese/1955.12.html
http://www.jacksongalleries.com/body_ori.html

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