It’s a fair question, but perhaps not easy to answer with a simple yes or no. The reason? Everyone has their own belief system and set of values that define them. To give something a definition of that magnitude takes a great deal of conviction and faith in themselves and what they stand for. To venture an educated opinion on whether Feng Shui is a form of the occult or not means taking a good look at the definition of both the practice of Feng Shui and the meaning of occult. I say educated because simply finding a web site to support your belief is not enough. In this day and age it’s all to easy to prove our beliefs are right based on a web page because you can find that practically anything is true if someone else believes it too and created a mark in cyberspace to support it. That doesn’t make it true - and it doesn’t make it false. What it means is that someone else thinks it too. You will find that there are an equal number of people in support of the opposition.

Feng Shui is known to be an ancient Chinese practice that uses the placement of things and the use of colors in certain areas to achieve harmony in the environment. Feng Shui has found it’s place in contemporary society in the name of architecture. Many business owners have Feng Shui experts come in and help design their building to create the best flow of chi, or good energy. You may have noticed that many Chinese food restaurants have a fish tank near the front door - the idea is that the flowing of water creates a flow of chi into their establishment and positively impacts their business. Feng Shui in no way represents the worshiping of deities. It is simply the art of placement to create good energy. If it makes you feel better to call it Ancient Chinese Interior Design then good for you, but it’s still Feng Shui.

The occult, as defined by Merriam-Webster, means “matters regarded as involving the action or influence of supernatural or supernormal powers or some secret knowledge of them”. To further clarify, the definition of supernatural takes it’s origination from the 15th century and means “of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe; especially: of or relating to God or a god, demigod, spirit, or devil”. In that respect one might argue that any form of religion is occult; however, that opens up a whole world of arguments. Occult gets a bad rap for being inherently evil when in fact it simply means something that is scientifically unproven. This fear of the unknown and unwillingness to embrace something new is what gives the occult a bad name.

Those who view the occult as something evil, and believe Feng Shui to be a form of the occult, often back up their claims by the somewhat limited amount of information spawned by biased Christian web sites and books. As with many things that are different and considered ‘un-Christian-like’, Feng Shui is shunned and marked as the work of something heinous. A greater truth would be found if they opened their minds to the fact that not only is Feng Shui not the works of the evil version of the occult, it’s not even a form of religion. It’s more accurately defined as an art form. Some might even argue that it’s good housekeeping skills or the basic concepts of interior design. It in no way defies anyone’s God by cleaning up your house and making it pretty!

The answer to whether Feng Shui is a form of the occult is subject to personal definition of the word “occult.” Based on the dictionary definition it is possible to call Feng Shui occult, but then every religion on Earth must fall under the same scrutiny. Basing opinion on closed minded web sites that preach their own beliefs rather then seek out the truth only strengthens the divide among the human race. It is not necessary to embrace every individual belief as your own, but the world would be a better place if we all stopped calling each other wrong for believing in something that we don’t personally subscribe to.