According to ancient traditions, Feng shui can help you rid your home or any house of ghosts. There are some feng shui principles that talk about why some houses can become haunted by a ghost and some others not. The relationship between karma and our activities is reciprocal. Due to the way in which the existence of negative karma in a building can cause many problems to those who live in it, it might become necessary to change it or send it away.

Feng shui, pronounced in English as ("feng shoo-ee", it is the ancient Chinese practice of placement and arrangement of space to achieve harmony with the environment. The literal translation is "wind and water". The source of the term is purported to come from the Burial Book written by Guo Pu in the Jin Dynasty.

If you want to get started on the light side of it all you can take the Feng Shui walking ghost tour in San Francisco with lunch included. When I took the Tour Last year I learned about the concepts of harmony and balance and how they affect the life energy all around us. San Francisco Chinatown has a rich and diverse history and has shrouded many a secret over the years. I learned about Shars. They are any straight lines or angles that are pointed directly toward your home. If there is a road running directly toward your front door, as in the case of a cul-de-sac or dead-end street, it is considered extremely unlucky. Many Chinese believe that this situation beckons ghosts or evil spirits into your home.

Hungry Ghost festival is an annual occasion that is taken very seriously in Taoist Feng Shui. This festival falls on the 7th month of the lunar New Year.

During this month the gates of hell are opened to free the hungry ghosts who then wander to seek food on Earth. Some even think that the ghosts would seek revenge on those who had wronged them in their lives. The reason why the Chinese celebrate this festival is to remember their dead family members and pay tribute to them. They also feel that offering food to the deceased appeases them and wards off bad luck.

Rituals and Prayer Celebrations:
The dead would return to visit their living relatives during the 7th month of the Chinese Lunar year and thus the living people would prepare sumptuous meals for the hungry ghosts. The Chinese feel that they have to satisfy the ghosts in order to get good fortune and luck in their lives. During this festival, the Chinese offer prayers to the deceased relatives, burn paper money, paper houses, paper transportation, paper accessories and joss sticks massively to their ancestors as well as wandering spirits in front of their homes. Giving the ghost such necessities would enable them to live comfortably when they go back their own world. In Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, it is a common sight to see entertaining Chinese Opera shows performed on outdoor stages in many neighborhoods. These events are always held at night. Such entertainment would please those wandering ghosts that comes to earth once a year.

Taboos to Follow:

1. Avoid swimming during the 7th month. It is believed that those previously drowned evil ghost might cause you to drown in the swimming pool. Such ghost need to find victims in order for them to be go for rebirth.
2. Children and young adults are also advised to return home early and not to wander around alone at night. This belief is due to the reason that the wandering ghosts can possess children easily.
3. Avoid moving into new homes and opening new businesses this month as it is considered inauspicious and bad luck on new ventures.
4. Avoid getting married during this month because couples will have bad ending. Some bad ghost may cast a bad spell on couples during their wedding.
5. Avoid going for jungle trekking and going on camping trips as chances of injuries, possession and death are high.
6. Drive very carefully during this month to avoid accidents, as there may be many wandering spirits who died of accidents previously that are searching for next victims so that they could be reincarnated.

Hotel Taboos:

For those who are traveling, they may want to be cautious when staying in hotels. The hotel is considered as a "yin place" and is normally a favorite settlement for ghosts. The following are some tips that one can follow when staying in hotels to prevent ghostly encounters:

1. Provide a respectful knock on the bedroom door before you enter for the first time.
2. Avoid entering the room right away. Whisper to yourself that you are renting the room to stay temporarily, as a form of asking permission. Let any spirit leave the bedroom first before you enter.
3. Place your pair of shoes or sandals facing the door. The shoes must be away from the bed. One side of the shoe points to the door and the other side point inwards.
4. Display a glass of salt water next to your bed. Salt is an excellent antidote for dirty energy.
5. You are encouraged to flush the toilet bowl first before using it.
6. You are also encouraged to avoid wearing black or striking red colored clothing's.
7. Normally there is a bible or quran in the drawers. Please avoid touching or moving them from their original positions.
8. Always keep the toilet's door closed with lights turned off when you go to sleep.
9. Try to avoid facing the mirror when you sleep. If the mirror is designed in this manner, try to cover it with a towel.
10. Avoid placing any shoe next to the bed when sleeping.
11. Watch out the mouth from mentioning anything about ghost. Ghost story telling must be avoided by all means.
12. Display a 7 Star Sword made from Peach wood. It must be made from "genuine peach wood" to be effective in chasing away ghosts and protecting one with a good night's sleep.

Protection Required:
1. During the Ghost Festival, feng shui practitioners will display Chung Kwei, the ghost catcher whose specialty is to devour the ghosts that he catches, in many areas of their homes. And at least one of the images must face the main door. This act serves to scare away any roving spirits from intruding the particular household. As such the whole family will be able to avoid ghost spells.
2. It is also known that Fu Dogs are potent feng shui animals that when displayed at the main doors or in its vicinity facing out would scare away bad wandering spirits and ghosts.
3. Wear protective amulets to prevent bad luck, ghost possessions and accidents due to ghost disturbances. One such powerful type of amulet that is currently very popular is the Dzi Bead. They are considered to be powerful talismans by Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhism.
4.For those who prefer crystals and natural stones, there are two types of stones that we will recommend that has strong energy to ward off evil spirits and scare them away: a. Tektite Meteorite that falls from outer space and possess strong and pure energy. b. Rainbow obsidian with the "third eye" which enables you to strengthen your resistance against evil energy. These stones normally go out of stock during this period every year. These are recommended especially for those who frequently travel outdoor and for kids, because they are whom more easily being targeted or harmed by suicide ghosts who are looking for chances to reincarnate.
5. Hang the 8 Auspicious Objects at chi entry points of your house such as windows to deflect away any evil energy. Also hang one of it in your car to prevent accidents. For taoist feng shui practitioners, you may opt for the Elliptical Coin and hang on the door knobs of all entries you want to protect. Some would even go for higher form of protection with the bagua hung above their main door.
6. Carry along, hang in the car or in the house the powerful Peach Wood 7-Stars Sword. It is the most indispensable tool for Taoist Exorcism from ancient times till today.

Qi, the energy of the universe, is carried in the wind and retained within water. Both elements were used as a way of directing Qi, thus giving feng shui its name. Wind is said to carry energy or Qi and therefore represents the principle of change and transformation in nature. Water is said to hold energy and therefore represents the principle of stability. When applied to human affairs, wind is also representative of action, fervor, and enthusiasm, whereas water is representative of internal strength, meditative qualities, and psychological power. By relating the holding and dispersing qualities of water and wind in nature to those in human behavior, feng shui also seeks to improve the human condition through the manipulation of physical space in a way that will impact on its corresponding qualities in humans.

If you wish to sweep the bad karma of a building, the first thing you should pay attention to is whether rooms and doors are facing your positive directions or not. If they were facing your personal negative directions this would be an important factor of attraction for bad karma. Besides, you should also make sure there are no poison arrows, especially those which you could have overlooked in your bedroom and might harm you while you sleep.

Some practice that a Chinese Loupan (Chinese Compass) can be used as a ghost detector. Cecil Lee Center for Feng Shui Research believed that during his many Feng Shui audits, his Chinese Luopan's center needle moved round and round it meant that it had detected a actual real ghost. he noted that it occurs in the North-East part of the house or building, after this, he would fall sick and had to quickly throw away the Luopan. http://www.geomancy.net/resources/bbs/bbs-ghostdetect.htm

The way the basic elements as well as yin and yang are distributed in a house can make it be appealing or inhospitable for ghosts. Yin is a cold and dark feminine aspect while yang is the warm and active masculine one. The houses for the living people are yang and the places where ghosts inhabit are yin.

Feng shui is always trying to achieve a balance between yin and yang and make them be correct for those who inhabit every specific place. Since yin is what predominates where the dead and ghosts live, such as grave sites and cemeteries, whenever a house has too much of it ghosts feel comfortable in it.

A house containing too much yin is a dark house, with few sun light and few windows. Also, houses built over grave sites or near them are attractive for ghosts. If you use the luopan compass in a house and its needle vibrates, that indicates the presence of ghosts in that space.

There are a few feng shui guidelines that can help you eliminate a ghost from your house. First of all, you should open the windows, curtains and anything that might be blocking the sun light to come in. Besides, you should use warm colors in the house interior as well as in its exterior. If the main entrance is dark or has obstacles for people coming in, you should repaint it in clear colors and take the obstacles away.

As a general rule, a house for the living people should always be clear, clean and allowing as much sunlight coming in as possible. In a cold and dark house yin would predominate and this is a call for ghosts. Ghosts would not like to live where they don't feel like home, and a clear and warm house with a lot of yang would make them very uncomfortable.

The bagua - directions and elements
The bagua (or pa kua) of the Yi Ching (Book of Changes) is an octagonal diagram used in feng shui analysis. Each direction on the octagon (north, northeast, etc.) is associated with certain significant aspects. By mapping the bagua onto a home, village, cemetery, etc., information about correct orientation and placement can allegedly be gleaned. However, there are two very different versions of the bagua. The first is the early heaven bagua, which represents the sacred, unchanging universe, and is used to orient sacred spaces such as temples and graves. The second version is the later heaven bagua which is used for more everyday and pratical spaces, such as homes and offices, as it represents the changing universe. Both have similar aspects, as they are both comprised of the eight trigrams, or guas. The orientation of the guas, however, are different and represent different trigrams and elements.

The Trigrams are the foundation of the I Ching, the seminal text of Chinese wisdom, and represent qualities that are observable in Nature as well as in human behavior. Each trigram is keyed to a particular orientation in space and to a particular phase of change in nature. There are eight trigrams, which when combined as double trigrams (called hexagrams), form a set of 64 potential situations or conditions in nature and in life. The eight trigrams are:

Heaven - The Creative principle which contains the potential for all of manifestation.
Earth - The Receptive principle which contains the potential for physical manifestation.
Fire - The Clinging principle which contains the potential for achievement, clarity, and vitality.
Water - The Abysmal principle which contains the potential for adaptability, mystery, and danger.
Thunder - The Arousing principle which contains the initial impulse for all new things.
Lake - The Joyous principle which embodies rewards and endings.
Mountain - The Stillness principle which contains the potential for serenity and internal power.
Wind - The Penetrating principle which contains the power to achieve without effort.
Whereas the trigrams describe conditions in the world, their change in time is described by the Theory of the 5 Elements, also known as the Theory of 5 Transformations. In this view, each of these elements – wood, fire, earth, metal, and water - represent a particular state or condition in time. One didactic tool often used to describe the elements and their relationship to each other is to compare them to the different seasons. Consequently, the Theory of 5 Elements is also related to the rotation of the sun, its particular position at different points in time, and therefore to the point of the compass. The practical use of the five elements is based on the fact that it can be employed within the household in order to stabilize, increase or decrease the Qi energies of the different elements.

The 5 Elements are:

Water - This is the quiet, cool, condensed energy of winter. It represents pure potential, such as the life force in a seed.
Wood - This is the awakening, active energy of spring. It represents growth, such as a sapling.
Fire - This is the hot, vibrant energy of summer. It represents achievement and clarity, such as a fruit.
Earth - This is the settled, mature energy of harvest time. It represents the community partaking of the bounty of nature.
Metal - This is the condensing, hardening energy of fall. It represents a return to beginnings and an ordering of nature's components.
In order to understand the Bagua and its relationship to space, it is necessary to map out the position of these energies according to the early and later heaven sequences. The early heaven sequence describes the state of nature in full equilibrium, without change or transformation. It refers to the sacredness of reality outside of space and time.

The eight directions of the early heaven bagua are:

North - trigram earth - element earth
South - trigram heaven - element metal
East - trigram fire - element fire
West - trigram water - element water
Northwest - trigram mountain - element earth
Northeast - trigram thunder - element wood
Southwest - trigram wind - element wood
Southeast - trigram lake - element metal
The later heaven sequence refers to the transformational quality of reality and describes change in time. It refers to the profane world of ordinary existence: to home, work, and human activity.

The eight directions of the later heaven bagua are:

North - trigram water - element water
South - trigram fire - element fire
East - trigram thunder - element wood
West - trigram lake - element metal
Northwest - trigram heaven - element metal
Northeast - trigram mountain - element earth
Southwest - trigram earth - element earth
Southeast - trigram wind - element wood
The Qi coming from each direction has its own quality, and these qualities vary for the two baguas. The directions on the Early Heaven Bagua represent the following:

The North contains the Qi of the Earth, the Nurturing Principle, which represents the material foundation of the cosmos. Its energy is condensing, substantive, and feminine.

The South contains the Qi of Heaven, the Creative Principle, which acts as a template for all of manifestation. Its energy is vital, righteous, and masculine.

The East contains the Qi of Fire, the Clarity Principle, which sets in motion the patterns of change and transformation. Its energy is active, expansive, and inspiring.

The West contains the Qi of water, the Abysmal Principle, which receives into itself the patterns of resolution and decay. Its energy is condensed, still, and dangerous.

The Center is the primordial void from which all of existence springs forth. It is both timely and timeless, local and universal. It is the foundation for the Tao.

For the Later Heaven bagua, they are as follows:

From the North the qi is nurturing and mysterious. Its symbols are the Black Tortoise, (the animal of winter), and the moon. It is linked to the element water , which is diplomatic, intuitive and compliant.

From the South the qi is invigorating and lucky. Its symbols are the Red Phoenix, (the bird of summer and good fortune), and the sun. It is linked to the element fire , which is dynamic, restless and energetic.

From the East the qi is protective, kind and competitive. Its symbols are the Green (or Gold) Dragon,(the animal of spring), and thunder. It is linked to the element wood , which is warm, generous, and seeks to grow.

From the West the qi is unpredictable and disruptive. Its symbols are the White Tiger (the animal of autumn), and the lake. It is linked to the element metal , which is unyielding, forceful and self-reliant.

In the Center lies the element earth, which is at home with all the directions, and seeks to harmonise them. The element earth is patient, stable and prudent.

Each kind of qi seeks its opposite to achieve harmony, thus the active, hot qi of the south seeks the cool qi of the north to balance itself; and the wise qi of the east seeks excitment from the qi of the west, and so on.

An example of use of the bagua is -- the stove (kitchen) should not be placed in the north part of a house, as water extinguishes fire. This is only a rule of thumb, and there are many other considerations in locating a kitchen.

Guardians of the Home

Fu dogs are a pair of ancient symbols which are half lion and half dragon, one of them a male and the other a female. They are intended to be placed at houses and office doors, and their task is to be guardians of those spaces. They are a recurrent symbol in China and you can see them in many Chinese buildings around the world.

These two guardians are meant to be placed at the front door of the building in order to keep an eye on who enters it. They have the ability to discover the intentions that those who come into the house have. When people with bad intentions enter a place which has fu dogs at the door, they won't be able to cause the intended damage.

The ideal place for fu dogs to be is either outside or inside main doors, but always facing the exterior and those who enter. If they are placed by your house's door, they would keep bad people from damaging you and your family; and if they are at your office's door, that would ensure you that bad feelings such as jealousy or envy won't be able to enter or affect your career. Whatever the nature of the space they are at, they would always protect you from people with bad intentions and bad energy.

The proper way to place them is the male dog at the left and the female at the right of the person who is in the house. If you place your fu dogs in the wrong order or the wrong place, they wouldn't protect you as they should. Having the fu dogs in the middle of the room or facing inside wouldn't protect you from people that may come in with bad intentions but rather control those who inhabit that space.