Good Luck & Protection

Three bells hung under a pagoda roof, with the bagua above.In feng shui the metal element is what moves still air. A chime is hung at a threshold so that each time the door opens or the wind turns, the sound goes through the...

Amitabha standing on a lotus, one hand lowered to receive. Amitabha is the Buddha of the Western Pure Land, the one whose name is chanted in daily practice and called on at the end of a life. The lowered right hand is the gesture...

Three monks carved in cinnabar, one covering his eyes, one his ears, one his mouth, beneath a small ruyi cloud. Cinnabar is the fire-red stone of the Chinese tradition, long worn to guard vitality and keep good fortune close. Its colour alone was considered...

A laughing buddha carved in cinnabar, an ingot in his hands, hung beneath a six-character mantra bead. Cinnabar is the fire-red stone of the Chinese tradition, long worn to guard vitality and keep good fortune close. Its colour alone was considered protective, the red...

A hulu gourd in smooth cinnabar, hung beneath a small peace buckle. Cinnabar is the fire-red stone of the Chinese tradition, long worn to guard vitality and keep good fortune close. Its colour alone was considered protective, the red that meets whatever the day...

A whole dried gourd on its own vine, tied at the waist in red. The hulu (葫芦) is the oldest container in Chinese life, a bottle before there were bottles, and in feng shui it keeps that job: a narrow mouth and a wide...

A ring with a prayer wheel on it, the barrel turning under the thumb. The barrel is cut with Tibetan script, the six syllable mantra Om Mani Padme Hum, the same words carried on the hand held prayer wheels of Tibetan Buddhist practice. In...

Two crescents of peachwood, flat on one face, rounded on the other. Moon blocks, jiaobei, are the oldest yes and no in the Chinese temple. You hold the pair, put the question out loud, and let them fall. One flat face up and one...

Two small cymbals, struck edge to edge for one clear note. Tingsha are the practice bells of Tibet, cast heavy for their size so the note rings on long after the strike. In a meditation they mark the beginning and the end. In the...

A small monk with a ringed staff, nodding along wherever the road goes. The staff he carries is a khakkhara, the sounding staff of the travelling monk, its metal rings jangling to warn small creatures off the path and to announce a monk at...

Three beckoning cats carved in cinnabar, strung one above the other on a black cord. Cinnabar is the fire-red stone of the Chinese tradition, long worn to guard vitality and keep good fortune close. Its colour alone was considered protective, the red that meets...

A tall tripod ding in dark clay, a qilin sitting on the lid. The qilin is the beast that appears when a good ruler is in power, and walks without bending the grass under it. Kept on an altar or in a hall it...

Twelve metal tubes on a turned wooden disc, made to ring in the wind. In feng shui a chime is a metal element object, hung where the air has gone still or where a threshold needs marking: a front door, a balcony, the path...

Six aluminium tubes hung from a black disc, sounding in a light wind. In feng shui the chime is a metal remedy. Of the five elements, metal is the one that cuts and clears, and a metal chime is hung where air has stopped...

A peach wood plaque carved with one of the eight trigrams. Feng shui reads a house as a square, and a floor plan with a corner cut away, an L-shape, a recessed entry, is said to be missing the part of life that corner...

Ganesha, the remover of obstacles, waving from a red cushion. The elephant-headed god is the one asked first, before any new venture, journey or exam, to clear the road ahead. He holds an axe to cut through what blocks the way, a goad to...

A beckoning cat carved in cinnabar, hung beneath a small 福 charm. Cinnabar is the fire-red stone of the Chinese tradition, long worn to guard vitality and keep good fortune close. Its colour alone was considered protective, the red that meets whatever the day...

A bar of shungite, faceted and pointed at both ends. Polished, shungite goes from a dull coal-black to something closer to gunmetal, with a soft shine that does not flash. It is the same carbon rock from Karelia that is usually sold raw, here...

A plain agate tablet, orange and red in bands, on a beaded cord. The plain tablet, the wu shi pai, is a Chinese jade form given to travellers and to the young leaving home. Its face is left uncarved on purpose: wu shi means...

A rough piece of shungite, drilled and hung on black cord. Shungite is not a crystal but a rock, black as coal and one of the oldest stones ever cut for wearing, close to two billion years old. It comes from the Karelia region...