Rating
Compass feng shui is notoriously complex and confusing. Ms. Too is to be congratulated for bringing her famously lucid graphics to simplify the topic. She's done quite well in that regard — though all the numbers may leave your head spinning anyway. Although I practice Form School almost exclusively, I do use directionology. About a third of the book seems applicable to us Form School folks.
Too's use of graphics always seems fresh, but I noticed two instances where they could have been clearer. On page 152 she suggests cordoning off wall corners with furniture in a triangular-shaped room. Good advice, but the illustration which accompanies that caption leaves us guessing which corner or corners she would cordon off. On page 146 she says, " An excellent way to protect yourself from being harmed by this kind of hatred-motivated killing energy is to use a round mirror to reflect back everything negative that is being sent to you. However make sure that it doesn't actually reflect a hostile neighbour's house." Neither those two sentences nor the accompanying illustration give you any idea how to do what she's suggesting. How do you reflect back "everything" without reflecting the house?
I loved her comment on mirrors reflecting the stove. "I have been warned against this ever since I can remember." "Reflecting the food being cooked in the kitchen is not the same as reflecting the food being served in the dining room, which is very auspicious,"
There's an interesting little section called "Sensing the Chi" on pages 172 and 173. It struck me as being somewhat superstitious, purporting that, "Yellow flowers indicate money success, while white flowers can suggest a bad situation getting better." I'm an avid gardener and that particular bit of information goes in the same category as fortune cookies as far as I'm concerned. Her idea of "sensing the chi" is quite different from mine. To me, sensing the chi is about feeling that a certain space is good or bad before analyzing the reasons.
Toward the end of the book she recommends writing powerful mantras on crystals without suggesting how to go about writing on a crystal. Not a felt tip marker, I hope.
All in all, the book has great illustrations (all her books do,) but it left me glad that I practice Form School, not Compass School. She says, "Always rearrange your furniture each new year so that you do not inadvertently have the three killings behind you." Many people, myself included, just don't have that degree of flexibility in their living space.
Sterling Publishing Company, New York, 2003, 0-600-60902-2, 192 pages, color photographs and drawings, paperbasck, $19.95