If you receive a feng shui money bags email or Facebook post with a magical promise of wealth when you forward it or post it to your status, rest assured, it's a hoax. The truth is, feng shui wealth principles do not resemble chain letters.
Money Bags Hoax Explanation
You will not miss out on fabulous wealth if you don't forward the money-bags hoax within four days. In fact, your chain letter-phobic friends will thank you for not passing it along.
5-5-5 Weekend Configuration
The hoax circulates periodically when any month contains five Fridays, five Saturdays and five Sundays. The 5-5-5 phenomenon is no big deal. It happens because the calendar produces that configuration - in fact, the month of July 2016 contains five of each weekend day.
But the hoax claims that the three fives configuration is a powerful and auspicious rarity because it only occurs once every 823 years; this is not true. It happened in 2011 and it will happen again in 2022.
Possible Origins
The fabulous tale may have been inspired by Pu Tai, the jolly round Laughing Buddha carrying a sack. You often see those in Asian restaurants. Pu Tai was a legendary happy monk who wandered around China in the late Tang period, around 1000 C.E. He carried only a hemp bag for his meager possessions but he freely dispensed his wisdom and good cheer. People believed him to be the incarnation of the Maitreya, or teaching Buddha, a very great being. Today, Pu Tai is displayed as a lucky token to attract money.
Another legend from Buddhist Tibet tells of an enlightened master who gives all the jewels in his bag to a dishonest man. After the man discovers that the jewels don't bring him happiness and inner peace, he returns to the master and begs for the secrets to achieve real treasure.
Feng Shui and Good Fortune
Feng shui does provide practices and remedies to attract wealth and good fortune but they don't include magical messages. If you do find a money bag an appealing idea, you might tie nine coins into a bundle with a red ribbon and wrap them in red cloth. Place this in the southeast corner, the "wealth" corner of your room or home. Nine is an auspicious number and red is the color of wealth; both enhance the symbolism of money.
Add these practices to your feng shui decor to encourage positive energy to flow and abundance to bless you.
- De-clutter everywhere, especially under all beds. Clutter traps the chi or energy and creates stagnation. Free-flowing chi carries abundance into your life.
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Make sure every door in your home opens completely and freely - another strategy for keeping positive energy flowing.
- Energize your wealth corner. Embellish the southeast corner with your small red bundle of coins, a water fountain, a living jade plant, or a red candle.
- Fix faucet leaks so abundance doesn't drip away down the drain. And avoid flushing away your prosperity by putting the toilet lid down and closing the bathroom door.
- Change out dead plants and dead lightbulbs -- darkness and "dead" energy are the enemies of wealth and growth.
- Hang a mirror in your dining room to double the abundance served at your table.
If It Seems too Good to Be True…
Feng shui is based on practicality, tradition and inspiration. It is designed to encourage a steady flow of good energy - wellbeing and abundance - in your life. You will not experience that by falling for a fantastical money bag hoax.
