Traditional Feng Shui
Traditional feng shui refers to the assembly of practices that aim at achieving harmony and balance in the environment by a proper use of natural elements and a good channeling of the life force, chi. Unfortunately, it is pretty difficult to get to the bottom of real traditional feng shui, particularly when it is rather hard to distinguish it from the many in-authentic practices that have been spread in the Western society. Traditional feng shui is the one practiced in China and taught in other world corners by masters who pertain to a school recognized as part of the tradition. The name of traditional feng shui has been tarnished occasionally by the publication of books and guides that have given it a bad name.
In order to make it more accessible to the mass use, traditional feng shui is constantly analyzed, explained and promoted by both Asian and Western practitioners. Some of the feng shui schools that enjoy the highest reputation at the international level are slightly different from each other and definitely more extensive in practice and applications as compared to the Western feng shui associations. For instance, the San-ho School, that has a 1,000-history, focuses not as much on buildings as it devotes time to the relationships between valleys, mountains and water systems.
Even at the heart of traditional feng shui it often happens that different interpretations of the same charts and symbols be given. The explanation for such discrepancies comes from the separate evolution of the main concepts within one system or another. Generally speaking, the best-skilled traditional feng shui practitioners are trained not only in one school but in severals, and they learn to apply the elements specific to one or another depending on the situations they are faced with. If you plan to turn to use traditional feng shui for home evaluation, you may have to provide the analyst with all the architectural information necessary for the analysis.
In conclusion, it would be false to assume that after reading some feng shui guide you become an expert in traditional feng shui. We could actually say that you have taken an ant's step towards understanding how the system works. For quality knowledge, good sources of information are essential, therefore, do not take anything you learn for granted. Checking the elements from several sources makes the best way to stay as truthful as possible to traditional feng shui.