With my recent trip to Rarotonga, many people have asked me to comment on the feng shui of that beautiful island. Naturally, for someone like me, the first thing I always want to do whenever I go somewhere new is to check out the feng shui and see what influences it is most likely having on the local inhabitants.

Indeed a factor which frequently surprises people when first learning about classical feng shui, is that it is based in very large part, on the surrounding geography of any given location. When assessing the feng shui therefore, of a whole country or a major city or town, it is the landscape within the surrounding vicinity that tells us more than anything about what is likely to be happening within it, economically, socially and politically.

Rarotonga for example, is an island; part of a chain linked to the Austral Islands, with its mass thrusting violently up out of the vast Pacific Ocean and soaring towards great craggy, volcanic peaks, not yet smoothed by wind and rain. This kind of land as we all know is very young geologically and in feng shui terms is referred to as a very young dragon. As such the environment is considered to be volatile and unpredictable, subject to violent upheaval and disturbances from natural forces. We must think of the longer term view when considering this. The recent eruption of a new undersea volcano in the Tongan group is a good example of some of these volatile natural forces as are the raging cyclones that can tear into the island.

In my research and talking to local people on Rarotonga, I noted with interest that the indigenous Maori prior to the arrival of Europeans, had learned by experience and observation that they were better to live in the hinterlands, up in the more sheltered valleys and hillsides, away from the exposed coastal lowlands with their vulnerability to these cyclonic storms and crashing seas.

This type of traditional wisdom was born slowly and out of hard won experience by indigenous peoples the world over when adapting to new environments and living conditions. It is ignored at our peril today. The move into the interior by early Rarotongans was no doubt something that occurred over several generations and the longer term, positive effects would have been felt increasingly by their progeny as time went by. A growing familiarity with the climate of Rarotonga, the micro-climates of coastal lowlands and hinterland valleys would have given the people an exponential confidence generation upon generation in living their lives within this tropical island setting. The world over, indigenous peoples have absorbed a feeling for their lands, responding to it, slowly, group by group over successive periods of time. This obviously was the case too in Rarotonga.

Traditional wisdom like this should be treasured and observed with respect, because when overridden - no matter how well intentioned or lofty the ideals that underlie any demand for change may be - the kind of topography found on Rarotonga when not regarded correctly, can lead to dangerous and frequently unforeseen results. I believe this is the case.

Up in the hills away from the ocean, the environment is notably quieter, calmer, more soothing than down on the coastal lowlands where one is within constant earshot of the surf which is forever pounding on the reefs. This relentless crashing of water onto rocks which can often be felt to physically vibrate the land, has disturbing effects on the human harmony factors of private homes and other buildings constructed within its echo. Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Flying Stars School feng shui will know that to have any building surrounded by the sound of water is harmful to the occupants. Hence in part, at least, the injunction against living near waterfalls. As a general rule, bedrooms for example should never have the sound of water coming into them.

By removing themselves to the hinterlands, the original Maori were not only avoiding the calamitous results of major cyclones and making it harder for any roving bands of cannibalistic marauders to find them, they would also have benefited from the effects of just being away from the constant disturbance of the surf. A similar pattern of retreat to the interior valleys by the Taino Indians of Ayiti – modern day Haiti (Hispaniola) has also been recorded. 1.

In feng shui, so important are the twin dynamics of Mountain and Water considered to be that they are ubiquitous to all classical schools. The concept of the Mountain is derived literally from the effect that highlands provide within the landscape – physical elevation, substance and stillness (quiet). Classical feng shui masters have observed that people born in this kind of territory are very hospitable and generous but inclined to be very stubborn. These same mountain people are also known for their deep spiritual values and commitment to their independence and freedoms.

Most political hot spots are mountainous: North and South Korea, the Middle-east, Afghanistan, Tibet etc. Many of these trouble spots are renowned for the intransigence of the people who also hold deeply felt political, social and spiritual perspectives on life. (In fact in China, mountains and hermits or religious recluses are all but synonymous.) Therefore in classical feng shui, mountains have come to symbolise factors to do with Human Harmony.

By contrast, coastal societies and those which have developed along deep navigable waterways are almost always dominated by trade and the acquisition of wealth, e.g. Hong Kong, New York and Auckland. Coastal people are better known for their flexibility and trading instincts. It is due to these factors that it can be said water symbolises money.

To put this into some sort of perspective, one only need think of the deeply imbedded spirituality of ethnic Tibetans and the time-honoured reputation of the people of the coastal provinces of Guangzhou, Fujian and more latterly, Shanghai for trade and their aggressive commercial savvy, never better exemplified perhaps than in the populations of Hong Kong, Xiamen and Shanghai.

Not that Tibetan society has been entirely void of trade – far from it in fact. Or that everyone in Hong Kong is only ever interested in making money and haven’t a spiritual bone in their bodies, of course not. One might think as an extended example, of the deeply held spirituality of New Zealand’s own ‘People of the Mist’, the Tuhoi of the Ureweras and the much more trade oriented Waikato tribes of Tainui, both in fact, latter day descendants of the ancient Rarotongans.

With this in mind then, what can we deduce about the feng shui of Rarotonga in general and its effect on the people that live there today?

Since ancient Rarotongans worked out that it was not only safer but better to live in the valleys and away from the coast, and nothing in the island’s geography has changed significantly since they deduced that, except an apparent increase in the ferocity and frequency of these tropical cyclones due to global warming, we today can also say the same essential principle still applies.

The damage done to those properties most exposed to tidal fluctuations and high winds during the recent Cyclone season of 2005 is but a reminder of the power of Nature’s forces unleashed on those who would ignore her power. One is reminded of the biblical parable of the two men who built separate houses, one foolishly upon the sand, the other, wisely and soundly, upon the rock. Those who build too close to the sea, are quite literally at risk of having to surrender their homes back to the sea when it demands. ‘And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.’ Mathew 7:27

But there are wider implications.

Just as the lessons about not living permanently down around the coastal rim of Rarotonga by early Maori would have taken at least several generations to learn and be applied, so too would it have taken time for the positive effects to slowly build up for their progeny.  Nevertheless, gradually, inexorably we might say, the benefits would have accrued and been felt by the following generations. The physical advantages of living within a safer environment would have developed simply by living their daily lives in more sheltered and stable places. Little more would need to have been done by them than to stay put.

Conversely, the same rule applies in reverse and the forced migration back to the coast will be taking several generations to assimilate back into the lives of the people thus exposed.  Therefore, such a drastic change in the way in which people once lived on the island, is still just as unalterably exerting its longer term and latently detrimental affect on island society today.

The physical transition from interior (valley and hinterland) back to coastal dwelling in Rarotonga may have been forcibly accomplished over a period of just a few weeks (perhaps months?). The consequences however, can be expected to take much longer to devolve upon the people and can still be discerned subtly at work in today’s Rarotongan society.

Such significant shifts in demography produce a society in transition for generations after the immediate physical shift from interior to coast and in this case since it is a downgrading of the living conditions, the results will also be seen to be less than totally fortuitous. Historically, although it’s been well over 160 years since this change was made, it is likely to take several generations more yet before the effects are fully shown.

For anyone interested in Flying Stars School feng shui it would seem the coerced migration back down to the coast was conducted in the last Period of 8 (1824 – 1844) when a similar but even more significant forced migration was also enacted under President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act(1830). That migration saw the forcible removal of more than 100,000 American Indians of the Cherokee nation from parts of North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama into what became known euphemistically as ‘Indian Territory’ over a thousand miles westward. This same migration saw members of the Choctaw, Chicasaw, Creek, and Seminole peoples also forcibly transferred along what became known as the ‘Trail of Tears’. This too was a mass movement from the mountainous terrain of the Appalachians to the far flatter, wide open spaces of Oklahoma. Research is still being conducted on the long term affects this has had on these peoples. What is not in contention however is that this forced migration had devastating consequences for those peoples involved and that the effects of this are still being felt and litigated by these American Indian nations today and the off-spring of those so tragically removed. 2.

As we all know, any society in physical transition is usually a society in a state of communal flux, exposed to shifting influences and typically running a gauntlet of risks. These perils when related to a shift from one kind of geographical situation to another as occurs in mass migrations, are derived as much from the simple act of changing landscapes as they are to any given political dynamic of the day. For a further and dramatic example of this we can look to the corporeal difficulties suffered by those Tibetan refugees that fled the Chinese invasion of 1959 some of who ended up living at first in the tropical jungles of Assam and then later in south-western India. It has been documented that they suffered enormous physical complications just in adapting to their new, low altitude, homes. Apart from the horrors of post traumatic stress syndrome brought on by the migration, many succumbed to tuberculosis, their bodies unable to fight the disease with lungs so attuned to a different altitude. This has not been the experience of those who settled in high altitude Dharamsala. They too of course have had their issues, as do all refugee groups but not the dire health problems of those who settled in Karnataka. 3.

This can be linked directly to the relationship people have had with the land that has up to that point, nurtured and sustained them. The character of that relationship in most cases has usually previously been a major factor in defining them as a people, and once altered, a new set of dynamics will be seen to emerge as a new, major contributing factor in their lives, redefining who and what they now  see themselves as. Anyone who doubts this only needs to talk to any immigrant about their homeland and observe the way in which that land has worked at shaping that person’s self identity. New Zealand Maori identify themselves in terms of their relationship with the land. The phrase, the Mountain is…, the Waka is… , the Marae is… , when reciting whakapapa - are simply indications of that continuing and defining relationship. The custom of burying their children’s afterbirth as a symbol of physically linking the child to their ancestral homelands is yet another example of the tie that New Zealand Maori have developed with their lands. It is interesting to note the spread of this custom now amongst more and more Pakeha New Zealanders.

I am reminded of the cliché, ‘You can take the boy out of the farm but you cannot take the farm out of the boy.’

It is at this point classical feng shui can give us some insights to the current situation in Rarotonga..

Considering how recently in fact this migration back to the coast has been in Rarotonga (it is after all less than 180 years and taking the Concise Oxford Dictionary’s definition of a generation as 30 years), it is at most only five generations, possibly only four since this migration occurred. It would seem evident then that we are looking at a people still in transition towards becoming coastal dwellers once again. By comparison, few Pakeha are able to claim as many as four generations as New Zealanders within their families, even fewer five and it is only in the last fifty years or so that we have stopped thinking collectively of England as home.

This means we might expect to see a people in Rarotonga who have not yet quite made the full transition to hard nosed coastal traders with a wholly developed profit motive. The spiritual values held in high esteem by their ancestors are likely still to be clung to, albeit grafted onto Christianity. It is perhaps only within the current and next generation or two that we might expect to see the glimpse of the flexible, trade for profit motive beginning to show itself in the majority of coastal lowland Rarotongan dwellers. This can be detected already I believe in those who now occupy the relative safety of the upper coastal lowlands and those who have returned from time spent in New Zealand, especially their children and grandchildren.

Real traders will of course look for greater opportunities and the broader scope of the wider world in which to seek their fortunes. One wonders if that has been at least a contributing factor to the mass migration to places such as New Zealand and Australia. It is interesting to note that the bulk of the outward bound migration from the Cooks and Rarotonga in particular, happened during the post-war boom in New Zealand (1950).4

This was during feng shui Period 5 (1944 – 1964) and can be linked directly to that dynamic from a feng shui perspective. During this period of time, it was locations/countries that had water to their centres (in the middle) that saw both a growing demographic and burgeoning prosperity. New Zealand has just such a configuration (Lake Taupo- Cook Strait). Rarotonga on the other hand has the precise opposite and thus could be expected to have a falling demographic during this period, with its rugged mountains in the centre of the island and being surrounded as it naturally is, by the ocean. This has to do with what in classical feng shui is described as the Water Spirit going up a mountain and the Mountain Spirit falling into water.

It would be interesting to see the results of a proper survey of Rarotongans living in New Zealand to determine just exactly how many are currently involved in business for themselves to help test all of this.

There are other factors to do with the tiny island’s current condition that can be defined from a feng shui perspective as well.

Let’s start with Avarua. This quaint but slightly scruffy little township serves as the main trading centre, the primary gateway to the country and also as its Capital. As such it has an important role to play not only in the life of Rarotonga but in the life of the whole Cook Islands.

Backed by craggy towering volcanic hills which form something of a classic U shape behind the main settlement and with the harbour to its front, Avarua can be said to have several classic feng shui components.

However, it also has two streams that run directly down to the water’s edge and a small open harbour which lacks a sea wall or any other protective structure. As a combination this cannot be said to be good feng shui. In particular the lack of a good harbour with protective plugging is of real concern.

It should be noted that the Cook Islands have little if any real exports and are very reliant on incoming tourism for their primary revenue source. Although there is a healthy trade in Black Pearls which are a high end product, these are probably mostly flown out of the country, their trade figures therefore, being of less importance for the port itself.

The port would need considerable alteration to ensure a change to an export led economy. This is unlikely to happen before Period 9 in my opinion, which begins in 2024 when the Water Spirit will move to the North and be at the Mouth of the Port of Avarua anyway. This should see an improvement in the economy of the island, Avarua in particular but this will in essence, be almost by default and even then only for the duration of Period 9. (2024 – 2044)

I have also been asked many times to comment on whether or not the so called ‘Chinese’ Courthouse has been built using feng shui. Although I have had no chance to make a real assessment of this building, it would at least on a cursory inspection, appear to have been built with an attempt to maximise the surrounding feng shui.

There are several clues that tend to indicate this. The U shape of its footprint – what the landscape does not provide for well, can in cases like this be strengthened by architecture. The three wings of a U shaped building put back into the environment, the three land forms of protective Turtle to rear, masculine Dragon to left and feminine Tiger to right that might otherwise be missing. 5

Another is its close proximity to one of the streams that run down to the coast. Of the two streams in Avarua, this is the only one which actually appears to hug the township, the courthouse in particular. The course of the stream turns slightly away and then back towards the edifice as it flows along the building’s east side. This embracing is mirrored on the west by the street which also turns and comes to the front of the building. At this juncture both river and road encompass the courthouse, enveloping it in other words like two arms of a joining river. We then find the Avarua War Memorial acting precisely like a plug slightly to the left. This is usually called a footstool.

Unfortunately, however, as the view below shows, the same river runs directly out to sea with a break in the reef straight out from the door of the courthouse with a ramp leading right down to the water. This is likely to cause a significant dissipation of chi and with it a loss of funds from the building. One would not necessarily expect a courthouse to be a major source of revenue for the community but it ought not to be a significant cause for outlay on a permanent basis. As for the matter of the quality and suitability or otherwise of the materials used in its construction; as I have already commented to the Cook Islands News, this is not a feng shui matter but one of due diligence in any building by those responsible for its commissioning and oversight.

All of this is circumstantial only and a full assessment would need to be made before one could say with any real surety whether or not feng shui had been used in the building’s planning and whether or not the application of that feng shui has been efficacious or not. Not everyone who applies feng shui, even classical feng shui, gets it right.

There are two other items that I have been asked about regarding feng shui on Rarotonga.

The likely influences stemming from the widespread practice of placing family graves in such close proximity to everyday housing.

And lastly, what from a feng shui perspective might be the causes of the failed Sheraton/Hilton Hotel project?

U shaped building with wrap around stream and side-street with War Memorial as Plug. But everything leads to the break in the reef and open water directly in front of the building’s mouth.

Both of these items warrant a full article of their own but suffice to say here that the custom of burying the dead in such close proximity to one’s own home is not one found in classical feng shui. Since graves, graveyards, churches and the like are all considered to be a reflection of the Yin aspect of life and are a direct drain on the life giving Yang force, it is said they exhaust that enhancing energy and take it away from us. With this in mind people who use feng shui avoid such places, especially when considering buying or leasing properties to live in or to do business from.

Naturally one must put the practice in its cultural perspective when looking at the Cooks. Would we find that the old Rarotongans lived in quite such close proximity to their dead I wonder? I need to do more research on what the archaeology is currently suggesting as to what these early burial customs were.

As for the Sheraton/Hilton project, I have already demonstrated that the overall shape of the complex reflects that of a traditional Chinese grave and as explained above simply cannot be considered to be positive feng shui. There are also several factors to do with the placement of the buildings within the landscape which are far from ideal.

Locals speak of the land itself as having been cursed and thus best being avoided. Such factors should not necessarily preclude its use for commercial purposes but certainly such local lore should not be ignored. Instead this kind of aspect should been investigated properly, respectfully, from the outset. Where perhaps there are records of earlier battles or major accidents or other culturally sensitive issues at stake, the land may still be put to positive use once better understood and potentially, where appropriate, even healed. It must be said however, that there are some places just best left alone.

By Danny Thorn

Director

Feng Shui Consultants New Zealand

Some Source Material used in this article:

1: http://www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/display.cfm?ID=192

By Paul Spoonley

Massey University

January 2004

2: http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/118trail/118trail.htm

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/602008/Trail-of-Tears

http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/Soverign02.htm

3: Status of Tibetan Refugees in India – A Case Study of Bylakuppe by Rinzin Mangmo

http://www.gomang.org/news1_04.html

4: http://www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/display.cfm?ID=192

5: The famed Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong has just such a design for this purpose.

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