Feng Shui Predecessor Law, Space Conditioning and the Memory of Place

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Feng Shui Predecessor Law, Space Conditioning and the Memory of Place

Part 1: Historical Foundations, Feng Shui and the Question of Whether Places Remember

Introduction: when buildings seem to repeat the same stories

Most people have had the experience of walking into a building and feeling something before they know anything about its history. A house may feel peaceful, heavy, neglected, bright, oppressive, joyful, sad, charged, empty or strangely familiar. A business premises may feel lively and prosperous, or stagnant and defeated. A treatment room may feel calm even before a session begins. A church, temple, library, theatre, courtroom or hospital may carry an atmosphere that seems to exceed its physical dimensions.

In ordinary language, people often say that a place has a “good feeling” or a “bad feeling”. In feng shui, one possible way of approaching this is through what some contemporary practitioners call predecessor law: the observation that the history of a place, including the experiences of previous occupants, may appear to influence what happens to later occupants. A home associated with divorce may later host another divorce. A business premises associated with bankruptcy may seem to produce another failed business. A house in which illness repeatedly occurs may lead people to ask whether there is something in the building, the land, the layout, the environment or the subtle atmosphere that is contributing to the pattern.

At first glance, this may seem like superstition. However, the matter is more complex. Repeating patterns in places can arise from many sources. Some are entirely physical, such as mould, radon, asbestos, polluted air, poor lighting, damp, noise, inadequate ventilation or other environmental hazards. Some are architectural, such as lack of privacy, poor spatial flow, oppressive proportions, insufficient daylight or stressful relationships between doors, beds, desks and circulation routes. Some are psychological, involving expectation, suggestion, attachment, memory and meaning. Some are social, as buildings carry economic, family and community histories. Some are symbolic and cultural, because humans do not live in neutral space but in places filled with stories, rituals, names, associations and inherited meanings.

Feng shui adds another layer. It proposes that places are shaped by qi, form, orientation, time, use, pattern and relationship. In this view, a building is not merely a container for human activity. It is a field of influence. It can support, weaken, disturb or refine human life. This does not mean that a building mechanically determines destiny. Rather, feng shui suggests that people and places participate in one another. The person affects the place. The place affects the person. Over time, repeated patterns may become more visible.

This article explores predecessor law as a serious and multi layered concept. It does not reduce all inherited place patterns to superstition, nor does it claim that every intuitive impression is objectively true. Instead, it asks a more precise question:

How are patterns stored, reinforced, transmitted and transformed within places?

That question allows us to examine predecessor law through several complementary lenses: classical feng shui, environmental psychology, place attachment, environmental hazards, architectural design, space clearing, space conditioning as proposed by William A. Tiller and colleagues, and morphic resonance as proposed by Rupert Sheldrake. Each lens contributes something different. Some are supported by mainstream research. Some belong to wisdom traditions. Some remain speculative but meaningful. Some may point towards phenomena that have not yet been adequately researched.

The practical purpose is not to create fear of places. The purpose is to understand that the past of a place may matter, but the future of a place is not fixed. Feng shui, space clearing, environmental assessment, renovation, ritual, intention and conscious re occupation can all be understood as ways of recognising and changing the condition of a space.

What is predecessor law in feng shui?

Predecessor law, in its simplest contemporary meaning, is the idea that the experience of previous occupants may leave a pattern that later occupants can repeat. For example, if previous occupants divorced, later occupants may be more likely to experience relationship difficulty. If a business failed repeatedly in a particular unit, a new business owner might ask whether the premises carry a pattern of commercial instability. If several people became ill in the same property, one might ask whether the cause is environmental, architectural, psychological, energetic or some combination of these.

There are at least two interpretations of predecessor law in modern feng shui.

The first is the residual influence interpretation. This is close to what many Western feng shui and space clearing practitioners mean when they speak of predecessor energy. In this interpretation, previous occupants leave emotional, psychological, symbolic or energetic traces. These traces may influence later occupants unless they are cleared, transformed or overwritten by new patterns.

The second is the structural qi interpretation. In this interpretation, the recurring pattern is not necessarily caused by the previous occupants themselves. Rather, previous occupants may have experienced the same problem because the building already contained a feng shui pattern that predisposed them towards that outcome. For instance, if a building has an inherent configuration associated with relationship instability, then several couples may experience difficulty in that same home, not because the first couple left divorce energy behind, but because the house itself repeatedly activates the same kind of relational stress.

This distinction is crucial. Without it, predecessor law can become too simplistic. It is not enough to say, “The previous owner had financial problems, therefore the house contains financial failure.” A more careful feng shui reading asks:

  • What happened here before?
  • Was the previous event caused by personal circumstances, by the building, by environmental factors, by wider social and economic conditions, or by several of these at once?
  • Is there a repeating pattern across several occupants?
  • Does the layout, orientation, form, landform or time cycle of the building support the pattern?
  • Are there physical explanations, such as damp, toxins, noise, pollution or poor ventilation?
  • Are there psychological and symbolic explanations, such as stigma, expectation, reputation or inherited stories?
  • Is space clearing needed to release old emotional residues?
  • Is deeper space conditioning needed to establish a new pattern?

This approach makes predecessor law more useful and less superstitious. It becomes a diagnostic concept rather than a fatalistic belief.

In practical feng shui, predecessor law encourages us to ask about the history of a home or business before moving in, buying, renting or investing. Why did the previous occupants leave? Did they move because they became successful and needed more space? Did they leave because of divorce, bankruptcy, illness, conflict or repeated misfortune? Was the building previously used for healing, learning, worship, creativity, care, trade, gambling, violence, debt, isolation or institutional control? The answers do not automatically prove anything, but they provide meaningful diagnostic clues.

A mature interpretation of predecessor law should therefore hold three possibilities at once.

First, the previous history may reveal something about the building itself.

Second, the previous history may reveal something about the people who occupied it.

Third, the previous history may reveal something about the relationship between people and place.

It is this third possibility that is most important. Feng shui is not simply about buildings. It is about relationships between human beings, land, time, orientation, form, symbols, memory, intention and qi.

The historical roots of feng shui: wind, water, qi and place

Wind Water: Why a Small Translation Detail Matters

The term feng shui (風水) literally means “wind water”. The original Chinese contains no word corresponding to “and”.

This may appear to be a minor linguistic detail, yet it highlights a much larger issue concerning how feng shui is understood and taught. The familiar English translation “wind and water” has become widespread in books, courses and articles. However, the insertion of the word “and” subtly changes the conceptual framework through which the discipline is viewed.

Wind and water suggests two separate things joined together.

Wind water suggests a relationship, a continuum, a dynamic process.

In classical feng shui, wind disperses qi and water gathers qi. The emphasis is not merely on two environmental features but on their interaction, relationship and continuous transformation. The focus is on patterns, flows and processes rather than isolated objects.

WARNING

When studying feng shui, pay close attention to seemingly small details. They often reveal whether an author has deeply engaged with the original concepts or is merely repeating interpretations inherited from other sources.

Ask yourself a simple question:

Would you trust a source that cannot translate the two words that form the name of the discipline without altering their meaning?

This does not automatically mean the author is wrong about everything else. However, it should immediately encourage caution. If the foundational concept is misunderstood, simplified or repeated without examination, then the entire framework built upon it may also be distorted.

In any field, whether science, philosophy, psychology or feng shui, conclusions are only as reliable as the assumptions upon which they are built. If the starting point is flawed, every step that follows may move further away from the original meaning.

A useful analogy is a map. Two maps may describe the same territory, but one may be more accurate, more detailed and more useful for navigation. If your map omits a river, a mountain or a road junction, you may still reach your destination, but you are more likely to take wrong turns along the way. In the same way, a subtle misunderstanding at the foundation of feng shui can influence how later concepts are interpreted and applied.

Potential Emphasis Wind and Water (interpretive translation) Wind Water (literal translation)
Literal translation Adds a word not present in the original Chinese Preserves the original two-character expression
Underlying view Two separate forces connected together One dynamic relationship or continuum
Primary focus Objects or entities Interactions and processes
Understanding of qi Something moving between things Something emerging through relationships
Interpretation style More static and analytical More dynamic and relational
Environmental view Separate environmental factors Interconnected environmental patterns
Practical application Focus on individual features and rules Focus on flows, relationships and transformations
Philosophical orientation Distinction and categorisation Integration, continuity and emergence
What is most important? The components themselves The relationship between the components
How change occurs By adjusting individual elements By influencing relationships and patterns
View of the environment A collection of separate objects A living network of interconnected influences
Risk for students Missing the relational nature of feng shui Closer alignment with the original conceptual framework
Usefulness as a map A simplified map that may omit important relationships A richer map that better reflects the underlying terrain
Long-term consequence Can encourage a fragmented understanding of feng shui Encourages a systemic understanding of feng shui
Central question “What things are present?” “How are things related?”

The point is not that “wind and water” is completely wrong. The point is that it guides the reader towards a different conceptual framework. In disciplines concerned with relationships, patterns and systems, small shifts in the underlying framework can produce very different interpretations.

This distinction is particularly relevant to predecessor law. If feng shui is understood primarily as a study of relationships and patterns rather than isolated objects, then the history of a place becomes more than a collection of past events. It becomes part of an ongoing process through which places, people, activities and meanings continually shape one another across time.

Interestingly, much of the scientific literature writes fengshui as a single word. This reflects the fact that it is treated as a single concept, even though it is composed of two Chinese characters. Whether one writes feng shui or fengshui, the term refers to one integrated system rather than two separate subjects artificially joined together.

One of the hallmarks of serious feng shui study is attention to detail. Small linguistic distinctions often reveal deeper philosophical distinctions. Those who overlook them may inadvertently overlook some of the most important insights hidden within the tradition itself.

Although contemporary feng shui is often presented as interior design, its historical roots are much older and broader. They include burial practices, cosmology, divination, landscape observation, astronomy, settlement planning, agricultural life, ancestor reverence and the Chinese philosophical concern with harmony between Heaven, Earth and human beings.

One of the most important classical texts associated with feng shui is the Zangshu, usually translated as The Book of Burial. It is traditionally attributed to Guo Pu, who lived from 276 to 324 CE. The text became central to later feng shui because it articulated the relationship between burial, qi, landform and the prosperity of descendants. Its influence is especially important because feng shui was not originally only concerned with the living house, but also with the burial site. In traditional Chinese thought, the correct placement of ancestral graves could influence the wellbeing of descendants. This is sometimes called Yin House feng shui, in contrast to Yang House feng shui, which concerns dwellings and other buildings for the living.

This historical background matters for predecessor law because it shows that feng shui has long been concerned with continuity across time. A site was not seen as neutral. Landform, water, wind, direction, burial, ancestors and descendants were linked. A place could carry influence forward. A grave could affect a family line. A landscape could support or weaken a settlement. A house could shape the life of its occupants. The idea that a place has consequences beyond the immediate moment is therefore not a modern invention. What may be modern is the specific language of “predecessor law”, but the broader concern with inherited place influence is deeply consistent with feng shui history.

Historically, feng shui developed through several related streams. The Form School emphasised visible landscape forms, such as mountains, rivers, protective embrace, open space, water flow and the symbolic arrangement of dragon, tiger, tortoise and phoenix. This approach is observational and ecological in spirit. It asks how the forms of the land gather, move or disperse qi.

The Compass School developed more technical methods using direction, calculation, cosmology, the luopan compass, trigrams, stems and branches, time cycles and other systems. Later systems, including Flying Star feng shui, introduced more elaborate ways of relating buildings to time, direction and changing qi patterns. In this context, the history of a building can be read not only through previous occupants, but also through construction date, major renovations, orientation and period influences.

This helps clarify the structural interpretation of predecessor law. A building may repeatedly produce similar outcomes not because one occupant leaves a residue for the next, but because the building contains an enduring pattern. If a particular configuration repeatedly weakens relationships, finances or health, then different occupants may activate similar themes. Their personal stories differ, but the building pattern remains.

This is one reason why predecessor law should not be treated as merely ghostly or sentimental. It can also be understood as pattern recognition across time.

Tian, Di and Ren: Heaven, Earth and Human

A useful way to understand feng shui historically is through the triad of Tian, Di and Ren, meaning Heaven, Earth and Human. Heaven refers to time, cosmic order, fate, cycles and larger forces beyond immediate control. Earth refers to landform, orientation, building, environment and material conditions. Human refers to action, intention, ethics, behaviour, perception and choice.

Predecessor law sits precisely at the intersection of these three domains.

From the perspective of Heaven, a building exists within time. It is built during a particular period, occupied during particular cycles, inherited through particular historical circumstances and used during specific social and economic conditions.

From the perspective of Earth, the building has a physical reality. It has shape, orientation, structure, light, air, materials, landform, water, roads, neighbouring buildings and environmental exposures.

From the perspective of Human, the building is lived in, used, named, remembered, interpreted, loved, neglected, feared, renovated, blessed, argued in, slept in, worked in, sold, inherited and transformed.

A place develops meaning because these three domains interact. A divorce in a house is not only a personal event. It may also involve the bedroom position, the stress of the neighbourhood, the financial pressure of the mortgage, the history of the family, the symbolic condition of the home, the quality of light, the lack of privacy, the previous stories attached to the property, and the intentions brought into it by the couple. In feng shui terms, the event is not isolated from place.

This does not mean that the house causes divorce in a simplistic way. It means that places participate in the conditions under which human lives unfold.

Predecessor law and the history of use

One of the most practical questions in predecessor law is this: what has the place been used for?

A former monastery, school, pub, hospital, care home, shop, prison, factory, office, funeral parlour, family house, artist’s studio, retreat centre or gambling venue may carry very different patterns of use. Some of these differences are physical. A factory may contain pollutants. A pub may have noise patterns, alcohol related associations and late night social energy. A school may carry intense patterns of learning, discipline, socialisation and childhood memory. A hospital may carry care, suffering, recovery, grief and institutional stress. A retreat centre may carry meditation, silence and spiritual intention.

From a purely environmental perspective, previous use can matter because buildings retain physical residues. Materials, surfaces, ventilation systems, soil, water and air can all be affected by past activity. A building may literally contain its history.

From a psychological perspective, previous use matters because people respond to stories. If a house is known locally as “the divorce house” or “the unlucky shop”, this reputation can shape expectations, decisions and behaviour. Even if the physical building is sound, a negative narrative may influence confidence. Conversely, a place known for creativity, healing or success may inspire occupants to behave differently.

From a feng shui perspective, previous use matters because repeated human activity conditions qi. This is where predecessor law begins to overlap with space clearing and space conditioning. A room used for meditation for many years may feel different from a room used for conflict. A place where people have studied, healed, prayed or created may accumulate a different quality from a place where people have struggled, fought or despaired.

Wisdom traditions across the world have recognised this in different ways. Churches, temples, shrines, pilgrimage routes, ancestral homes, burial grounds, sacred mountains, wells and ritual sites are not treated as neutral locations. They are treated as places where repeated human attention, reverence and activity have created a distinctive field of meaning. Whether one explains this through qi, spirit, memory, cultural symbolism, place attachment or morphic resonance, the human fact remains: people experience some places as carrying accumulated significance.

Genius loci: the spirit of place

The idea that a place has a distinctive character is not unique to feng shui. In Roman religion, the term genius locireferred to the protective spirit or presiding presence of a place. In modern architecture and phenomenology, the phrase has been reinterpreted to mean the unique atmosphere, identity or character of a place.

Christian Norberg Schulz developed this idea in Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture (1980). His central concern was that architecture should not be reduced to abstract form or technical function. It should help people dwell meaningfully. A building should belong to its place, reveal its character and support human orientation in the world. In this view, architecture is existential as well as practical. It shapes how people experience being somewhere.

This is highly relevant to predecessor law. If places have character, then the history of that character matters. A place is not only a point in space. It is a lived world. It includes landscape, light, material, memory, use, cultural meaning and human experience. A house is not only bricks, wiring, plumbing and square footage. It is also an atmosphere, a biography and a field of lived associations.

The phrase “spirit of place” can be interpreted in different ways. For some, it is literal and spiritual. For others, it is phenomenological and psychological. For others, it is architectural and cultural. A respectful article on predecessor law does not need to force one interpretation. It can acknowledge that human beings have long experienced places as more than inert matter.

This is not a weakness of human perception. It may be one of the ways humans recognise complexity. We often sense patterns before we can analyse them. A person may feel uneasy in a building before discovering damp, poor ventilation, oppressive proportions or a history of conflict. Another person may feel peaceful in a chapel, library or meditation room before knowing how long it has been used for prayer, study or contemplation. Intuition is not always correct, but neither is it always meaningless. It may sometimes be an early form of environmental perception.

Christopher Alexander and the quality without a name

Christopher Alexander’s work provides another bridge between feng shui and architectural theory. In The Timeless Way of Building (1979), Alexander proposed that some buildings and places possess a living quality that cannot be reduced to style, taste or fashion. He famously called it the quality without a name. He associated this quality with places that feel alive, whole, free, exact, comfortable and deeply fitting, although no single word captures it fully.

Alexander’s relevance to predecessor law lies in his insistence that buildings can be more or less alive. This does not mean alive in the biological sense. It means that built environments can support or obstruct the unfolding of life. A well formed place strengthens human presence. A poorly formed place weakens it.

For feng shui, this is a familiar idea. Good feng shui is not merely decorative. It is the creation of supportive relationship between person, place and purpose. A bedroom should support rest, intimacy and restoration. A workplace should support clarity, focus, authority and creativity. A front entrance should support arrival, welcome and opportunity. A kitchen should support nourishment and vitality. When these relationships are coherent, a place feels more alive.

Predecessor law adds a temporal dimension to this. If a building has supported life well for many years, it may acquire a positive character. If it has repeatedly obstructed life, or been used in ways that create distress, neglect or fragmentation, it may acquire a more difficult character. Alexander helps us describe this without reducing it only to superstition. The “memory” of place may partly be the cumulative effect of form, pattern, adaptation, use and care.

A building that has been loved, repaired, adapted and inhabited consciously often feels different from one that has been neglected, exploited or repeatedly abandoned. Some of this difference is visible. Some is behavioural. Some is symbolic. Some may be energetic. Feng shui works with all these levels.

Place attachment and place identity

Environmental psychology gives us another important foundation: place attachment. Place attachment refers to emotional bonds between people and places. These bonds may involve home, neighbourhood, landscape, sacred site, workplace, school, country, ancestral land or other meaningful locations. The field is multidisciplinary and includes psychology, geography, sociology, anthropology, architecture and planning.

Altman and Low’s edited volume Place Attachment (1992) helped establish the concept as a significant area of research. Proshansky, Fabian and Kaminoff (1983) developed the related concept of place identity, arguing that physical settings can become part of the self. Tuan’s work on topophilia explored affective bonds with environment, while Relph’s work on place and placelessness examined how authentic place experience can be weakened by standardised environments.

Place attachment does not claim that buildings literally store memories in an esoteric sense. It shows that places become psychologically meaningful. They hold autobiographical memory, identity, emotion, belonging, continuity and loss. A family home may continue to influence a person decades after they leave it. A childhood bedroom, garden, school corridor or sacred place may remain vivid in memory. Places are not passive backdrops to life. They become woven into the self.

For predecessor law, place attachment offers a grounded psychological bridge. It explains how people and places become linked through memory and meaning. It also suggests that the “history of a place” is not only in the building. It is also in the stories people tell about the building, the emotions they attach to it, the behaviours it invites and the identity it supports.

If a house is repeatedly associated with conflict, occupants may consciously or unconsciously enter into that story. If a place is associated with healing, occupants may enter into that story too. This does not prove energetic transmission, but it shows that place history can influence future experience through meaning, expectation and identity.

This also explains why rituals of moving in, blessing a house, clearing clutter, repainting, renovating, naming rooms, lighting candles, arranging furniture and creating new routines can matter psychologically. They help transfer the place from one identity to another. They say: this is no longer only the place of what happened before. It is now also the place of what we are consciously creating.

Towards a layered model of place memory

The phrase “a building remembers” can be misleading if taken too literally. Yet it is also too narrow to dismiss it outright. A more precise approach is to speak of layers of place memory.

The first layer is physical memory. Buildings retain traces of what happened to them. Damp, cracks, smells, toxins, worn thresholds, altered rooms, old wiring, soil contamination, smoke residue and structural repairs are forms of material history.

The second layer is architectural memory. A building contains patterns of use in its layout. It may encourage gathering or isolation, rest or vigilance, clarity or confusion, intimacy or conflict. Design has behavioural consequences.

The third layer is psychological memory. People attach emotion, identity and story to places. A home, school, workplace or retreat centre may carry powerful associations.

The fourth layer is social memory. Buildings belong to communities. Neighbours know stories. Businesses develop reputations. Streets and districts carry histories of prosperity, decline, migration, trauma or regeneration.

The fifth layer is symbolic memory. Objects, colours, images, names, rituals and cultural meanings shape how a place is interpreted.

The sixth layer is energetic memory. Feng shui, space clearing and many wisdom traditions propose that repeated actions, emotions and intentions can condition the subtle atmosphere of a place.

The seventh layer is informational or field memory. This is where later sections of this article will discuss Tiller’s space conditioning and Sheldrake’s morphic resonance. These are not the same theory, but both raise the possibility that patterns may be held beyond ordinary material explanation.

Predecessor law becomes more credible when understood through this layered model. It is not one thing. It is a family of observations about how the past of a place may continue into the present.

Conclusion to Part 1

Predecessor law should not be treated as a crude superstition, nor should it be overstated as a scientifically proven mechanism. It is better understood as an observational principle in feng shui: places sometimes appear to repeat patterns, and these patterns deserve investigation.

Historically, feng shui has always taken place seriously. It arose from a worldview in which land, qi, ancestors, orientation, time, form and human destiny were connected. The classical concern with burial, landscape and settlement already implies that place has continuity and consequence. Modern concepts such as genius loci, the quality without a name, place attachment and place identity offer further language for understanding why buildings are experienced as more than physical containers.

The key point is practical. If a place has a history, that history should be read. If a place has a pattern, that pattern should be examined. If a place has been negatively conditioned, it may be changed. The past of a house, business or landscape is not necessarily a sentence. It is information.

The next part of this article will examine what modern environmental psychology, building biology and architectural research can tell us about recurring patterns in places, including illness, relationship stress, business failure and wellbeing.

Part 2: Environmental Psychology, Building Biology and the Scientific Study of Place

Why Places Influence People

If predecessor law proposes that places sometimes appear to repeat similar stories across generations of occupants, then environmental psychology asks a closely related question: how do places influence human behaviour, health, emotions and wellbeing?

Unlike some debates surrounding subtle energies, this question has been studied extensively for decades. Environmental psychologists, architects, geographers, planners, neuroscientists and public health researchers have accumulated substantial evidence showing that the environments in which people live, work, learn and recover are not passive backdrops to human life. They actively participate in shaping experience.

This insight may appear obvious. Most people intuitively recognise that they feel different in a cathedral than in a prison, in a forest than in a motorway service station, or in a light filled room than in a dark basement. Yet for much of modern history, psychology focused primarily on what happened inside the individual mind. The environment was often treated as secondary.

Environmental psychology helped reverse this perspective. It recognised that human experience emerges not only from internal processes but also from ongoing interaction with the surrounding world (Gifford, 2014).

This shift has profound implications for predecessor law. If environments consistently influence human behaviour and wellbeing, then some recurring patterns associated with particular buildings may arise not because of superstition or coincidence, but because the building repeatedly exposes occupants to similar conditions.

The question therefore becomes not whether a place matters, but how it matters.

Place Attachment and Place Identity

One of the most important contributions of environmental psychology is the concept of place attachment. Place attachment refers to the emotional bond that develops between people and specific places (Altman & Low, 1992).

Such bonds can be remarkably powerful. Childhood homes, favourite landscapes, schools, universities, places of worship and ancestral lands often remain emotionally significant throughout life. These places become woven into memory and identity.

Yi-Fu Tuan (1974) described this phenomenon as topophilia, literally a love of place. He argued that places are not simply locations. They are repositories of meaning. Through experience, memory and emotion, ordinary spaces become transformed into places.

Harold Proshansky extended this idea through the concept of place identity. According to Proshansky et al. (1983), aspects of physical environments become incorporated into self-concept. Places help answer the question: who am I?

This may seem distant from predecessor law, yet the connection is profound. If people become attached to places and places become part of personal identity, then the history of a place is never merely architectural. It becomes psychological.

A family home, for example, may contain memories of births, deaths, celebrations, illnesses, achievements and losses. The building itself becomes a vessel through which those experiences are organised and remembered.

From this perspective, place memory does not require mystical explanation. Places become memory structures because human lives unfold within them.

However, place attachment also hints at something deeper. Some places seem unusually resilient. They retain their character despite changes in ownership, decoration or function. A library may remain contemplative. A monastery may retain an atmosphere of quietness. A theatre may continue to evoke creativity. Such continuity raises an important question: are these merely human perceptions, or does repeated activity gradually condition a place?

That question leads directly towards later discussions of space conditioning and morphic resonance.

Buildings as Behavioural Systems

One of the most useful ways of understanding predecessor law is to view buildings as behavioural systems.

Buildings encourage certain actions while discouraging others.

A narrow corridor influences movement differently from a broad hallway. A bright communal kitchen generates different social interactions from an isolated kitchenette hidden in a corner. A bedroom overlooking trees creates a different experience from one overlooking a busy motorway.

These influences are rarely deterministic. Buildings do not force people to behave in specific ways. Nevertheless, they shape probabilities.

Environmental psychologists often refer to environmental affordances. Affordances are opportunities for action provided by an environment. A park affords walking. A bench affords sitting. A window affords viewing. A hidden corner affords privacy.

Buildings are therefore not neutral containers. They are active participants in behavioural patterns.

This observation is highly relevant to predecessor law. If a building consistently encourages stress, conflict, isolation or poor sleep, then similar outcomes may emerge repeatedly among different occupants.

The pattern may appear mysterious until the environmental conditions are examined.

Prospect, Refuge and the Human Search for Safety

One of the most influential theories linking environmental psychology and feng shui is Prospect Refuge Theory.

Developed by Jay Appleton (1975), the theory proposes that humans tend to prefer environments that simultaneously provide prospect and refuge.

Prospect refers to visibility, awareness and opportunity. Refuge refers to protection, shelter and safety.

From an evolutionary perspective, environments that allowed individuals to observe their surroundings while remaining protected offered survival advantages.

The relevance to feng shui is immediately apparent.

Many classical feng shui principles can be interpreted through this lens. The command position, for example, places a person in a location where the entrance is visible but not directly aligned with them. The occupant gains awareness while maintaining security.

Similarly, the traditional preference for a solid wall behind a bed, desk or chair can be understood as a form of refuge.

Although feng shui and prospect refuge theory emerged from entirely different cultural contexts, both recognise a fundamental psychological reality: people function best when they feel both aware and protected.

This insight may help explain why some environments consistently support confidence, focus and wellbeing, while others repeatedly generate unease.

Nature, Restoration and Recovery

One of the strongest areas of environmental psychology concerns the relationship between nature and wellbeing.

Roger Ulrich’s landmark study found that hospital patients recovering from surgery experienced better outcomes when they had views of trees rather than views of a brick wall (Ulrich, 1984).

The finding was striking because it demonstrated that something as simple as a window view could influence recovery.

Around the same time, Stephen and Rachel Kaplan developed Attention Restoration Theory. According to the theory, natural environments help restore depleted attentional resources (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989).

Modern life requires sustained directed attention. We focus on screens, traffic, deadlines, notifications and complex tasks. Over time, directed attention becomes fatigued.

Nature appears to provide a different kind of attention. Rather than demanding effort, it gently attracts awareness through what the Kaplans termed soft fascination.

Flowing water, clouds, trees, birdsong and natural landscapes engage attention without exhausting it.

This has obvious implications for predecessor law. Buildings that incorporate nature, daylight, views and restorative qualities may consistently support better outcomes. Over many years, successive occupants may experience similar benefits.

What appears to be inherited good fortune may sometimes be the long term effect of restorative environmental conditions.

Building Biology and Hidden Environmental Influences

Environmental psychology explains some recurring patterns. Building biology explains others.

Building biology examines how buildings affect human health through physical environmental factors. These include air quality, moisture, toxins, lighting, noise and electromagnetic influences.

One of the most important lessons from building biology is that recurring problems often have hidden causes.

Consider a house in which several families experience persistent respiratory problems.

From the perspective of predecessor law, one might ask whether the house carries an unhealthy pattern.

Building biology encourages a more detailed investigation.

Is there mould hidden behind walls?

Is ventilation inadequate?

Is there water ingress?

Are there airborne pollutants?

Is indoor humidity excessive?

In many cases, recurring health problems may have physical explanations that remain unnoticed for years.

This does not invalidate predecessor law. Rather, it provides one mechanism through which predecessor patterns may arise.

The pattern is real.

The explanation may simply be environmental rather than energetic.

Mould, Air Quality and Invisible Stressors

Mould represents one of the clearest examples of a recurring environmental influence.

Occupants may experience fatigue, headaches, respiratory irritation, cognitive difficulties and reduced wellbeing without identifying the underlying cause.

Because mould can remain hidden for long periods, successive occupants may experience similar problems.

The house appears to repeat a pattern.

Likewise, indoor air quality can influence concentration, mood and productivity. Elevated levels of pollutants, inadequate ventilation and poor air circulation may affect occupants in subtle but significant ways.

A poorly ventilated workplace may repeatedly generate fatigue and reduced performance among different employees. The pattern becomes associated with the building even though the cause is environmental.

Light, Circadian Rhythms and Wellbeing

Humans evolved under natural cycles of daylight and darkness.

Modern buildings often disrupt those cycles.

Research increasingly demonstrates that daylight exposure influences sleep quality, mood, cognitive performance and overall wellbeing.

Buildings with poor access to daylight may contribute to:

  • fatigue
  • low mood
  • reduced productivity
  • sleep disruption

By contrast, well designed daylight environments support circadian regulation and psychological health.

Again, the consequences can appear as predecessor patterns.

A building repeatedly associated with lethargy may simply be a building that repeatedly deprives occupants of adequate natural light.

Conflict, Stress and the Architecture of Relationships

Not all recurring patterns involve physical health.

Some involve relationships.

Environmental psychology has long recognised that crowding, noise, lack of privacy and loss of personal control contribute to stress.

Stress influences communication.

Communication influences relationships.

Relationships influence life outcomes.

A property that repeatedly produces relationship difficulties may therefore warrant examination at multiple levels.

Are bedrooms positioned to support rest?

Is sleep repeatedly disrupted?

Is there sufficient privacy?

Are communal spaces overly crowded?

Does the layout encourage conflict?

The point is not that architecture determines divorce or harmony. Human relationships are vastly more complex than that.

Nevertheless, environmental conditions can amplify or reduce existing pressures.

Over time, these effects may become visible as recurring patterns.

Towards a Scientific Understanding of Predecessor Law

Environmental psychology does not prove predecessor law in the strongest sense.

It does not demonstrate that buildings literally remember events.

However, it does show that environments repeatedly influence human experience.

Buildings shape behaviour.

Buildings influence stress.

Buildings affect health.

Buildings contribute to identity.

Buildings support or undermine restoration.

Buildings encourage certain patterns while discouraging others.

Viewed through this lens, predecessor law becomes less mysterious.

Some recurring patterns may arise because a building continually exposes occupants to similar environmental conditions.

The same causes generate similar effects.

Yet environmental psychology may not explain everything. It explains how places influence people. It does not fully explain why some locations seem to develop unusually persistent atmospheres, reputations or qualities that exceed obvious physical factors.

To explore those questions, we must move beyond environmental psychology into territory that remains more controversial but also more intriguing: the possibility that places themselves may become conditioned through repeated intention, activity and experience.

That possibility forms the subject of the next section: Space Conditioning and the Work of William A. Tiller.

Part 3: Space Conditioning, Conscious Intention and the Work of William A. Tiller

Beyond Environmental Psychology

Environmental psychology, building biology and architectural research provide powerful explanations for many recurring patterns associated with predecessor law. Poor air quality can contribute to illness. Inadequate daylight can affect mood and sleep. Lack of privacy can increase stress. Restorative environments can support wellbeing. These factors help explain why certain buildings repeatedly produce similar outcomes across different occupants.

Yet some observations remain difficult to explain entirely through conventional environmental factors.

Why do some rooms feel distinctly different despite appearing physically similar?

Why do meditation halls, churches, temples and retreat centres often retain an atmosphere of calm long after formal activities have ended?

Why do some buildings seem to support creativity, healing or contemplation over many generations of occupants?

Why do people sometimes report noticeable changes following space clearing rituals even when no physical changes have been made?

These questions do not automatically prove the existence of subtle energies or non-physical influences. However, they invite investigation into possibilities beyond conventional environmental models.

One of the most ambitious attempts to explore such possibilities was undertaken by the American materials scientist William A. Tiller and his colleagues Walter Dibble and Michael Kohane. Their work introduced the concept of space conditioning, a theory suggesting that conscious intention may influence the informational properties of physical environments (Tiller, Dibble, & Kohane, 2001).

Whether ultimately accepted, modified or rejected, Tiller’s work provides one of the most sophisticated theoretical frameworks for understanding how places might acquire and retain patterns over time.

What Is Space Conditioning?

In its simplest form, space conditioning refers to the idea that repeated intentions, emotions, thoughts and activities may gradually influence the quality of a place.

Most people are already familiar with this concept in an informal sense.

A room used for meditation often feels different from a room used for conflict.

A library feels different from a nightclub.

A healing centre feels different from a courtroom.

A family home filled with warmth and affection may feel different from one marked by years of stress and hostility.

Conventional explanations might attribute these differences to memory, expectation, design, symbolism or social conditioning. Tiller proposed that something more fundamental might also be occurring.

According to his model, consciousness may interact with physical reality in ways that are not yet fully understood. Repeated intention may condition space itself, making certain outcomes more likely within that environment.

From this perspective, places are not merely passive settings in which human activity occurs. They may become participants in that activity.

The Origins of Tiller’s Research

William A. Tiller was not a feng shui practitioner. He was a Professor Emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University.

For much of his career, Tiller worked within conventional science. Later in life, however, he became interested in phenomena involving consciousness, intention and human potential.

His investigations led him to explore whether focused human intention could influence physical systems under controlled conditions.

One of the most unusual aspects of his work involved devices that he called Intention Imprinted Electronic Devices(IIEDs).

These devices were allegedly imprinted with specific intentions and then placed in experimental environments. According to Tiller and his colleagues, measurable changes occurred in some physical variables after sufficient conditioning of the environment.

Tiller proposed that repeated intention might alter the informational state of space itself, making it easier for similar effects to occur in the future.

In essence, the environment became conditioned.

This idea is directly relevant to predecessor law.

If places can become conditioned through repeated activity and intention, then the history of a place becomes highly significant. Previous occupants may influence not only the visible condition of a building but also its informational or energetic condition.

The Conditioned Space Hypothesis

Tiller’s theory can be summarised through a simple analogy.

Imagine repeatedly walking across a grassy field.

The first person leaves almost no trace.

The second follows a similar route.

The third follows again.

Eventually a visible path emerges.

Future walkers naturally follow the path because it already exists.

Space conditioning proposes something similar.

Repeated intentions, behaviours and activities may create informational pathways within an environment.

Once established, those pathways may influence future occupants.

In this model:

  • repeated conflict conditions conflict
  • repeated healing conditions healing
  • repeated creativity conditions creativity
  • repeated spiritual practice conditions spiritual practice

The space gradually acquires a tendency or bias.

Importantly, this does not imply determinism.

A conditioned path can be changed.

New patterns can be established.

Alternative pathways can emerge.

However, existing patterns may continue exerting influence until actively transformed.

This concept bears a striking resemblance to predecessor law.

Feng Shui as a System of Space Conditioning

Viewed through this lens, feng shui can be interpreted as a sophisticated system for recognising and modifying patterns of space conditioning.

Traditionally, feng shui is described as the study of qi, landform, orientation, timing and environmental relationships.

However, another way of understanding feng shui is that it investigates how places acquire and express particular tendencies.

A feng shui consultant entering a property often asks questions such as:

  • What has happened here?
  • How long has the building been used in this way?
  • What kinds of experiences have previous occupants had?
  • What activities dominate the space?
  • Which areas feel vibrant and which feel stagnant?

These questions are remarkably similar to those one might ask when investigating space conditioning.

The difference is primarily one of language and theoretical framework.

Classical feng shui speaks of qi accumulation and circulation.

Tiller speaks of conditioned informational states.

Both perspectives suggest that places may develop patterns that influence future experience.

Positive and Negative Conditioning

One of the most important implications of space conditioning is that not all conditioning is negative.

Much discussion of predecessor law focuses on problems:

  • repeated illness
  • repeated divorce
  • repeated bankruptcy
  • repeated conflict

Yet positive patterns may also accumulate.

A family home may become associated with love, stability and mutual support.

A retreat centre may become associated with contemplation and insight.

A university may become associated with learning and intellectual achievement.

A theatre may become associated with creativity and artistic expression.

A healing clinic may become associated with recovery and wellbeing.

These positive examples are often overlooked because they appear normal.

People tend to notice problems more readily than successes.

Yet if predecessor law exists, it should apply equally to positive and negative patterns.

Indeed, many sacred places around the world are founded upon precisely this assumption. Repeated prayer, meditation, ritual and devotion are believed to strengthen the qualities of a place over time.

Ritual, Repetition and Environmental Imprinting

Across cultures, people have long acted as though places can be conditioned.

Ancient temples were consecrated.

Churches were blessed.

Homes were purified.

Monasteries maintained daily practices.

Shrines received continuous offerings.

These traditions emerged long before modern discussions of space conditioning.

Although the explanations varied, the underlying assumption was often similar: repeated activity influences the quality of a place.

Anthropologists sometimes interpret such practices as symbolic.

Psychologists may emphasise expectation and meaning.

Religious practitioners may view them as spiritual realities.

Tiller’s work offers another possibility: repeated intentional acts may genuinely contribute to environmental conditioning.

Whether one accepts this hypothesis or not, it provides an intriguing bridge between traditional wisdom and contemporary inquiry.

Scientific Criticisms of Space Conditioning

Any balanced discussion must acknowledge that Tiller’s work remains controversial.

Many scientists argue that the proposed mechanisms have not been sufficiently validated through independent replication.

Critics point to:

  • methodological concerns
  • challenges of replication
  • theoretical incompatibilities with conventional physics
  • limited acceptance within mainstream science

These criticisms should not be ignored.

At present, space conditioning cannot be regarded as an established scientific fact in the same way as gravity, electromagnetism or circadian biology.

However, the history of science demonstrates that controversial ideas sometimes stimulate valuable investigation even when their original explanations require revision.

For the purposes of predecessor law, the significance of Tiller’s work lies not in proving a final answer but in providing a framework through which questions about place memory can be explored systematically rather than dismissed outright.

Space Conditioning and Predecessor Law

Space conditioning provides one of the most coherent theoretical explanations for predecessor law.

Environmental psychology explains how places influence behaviour.

Building biology explains how places influence health.

Architecture explains how places influence experience.

Space conditioning asks whether places may also retain the influence of repeated intentions and activities.

From this perspective, predecessor law becomes neither superstition nor certainty.

Instead, it becomes a hypothesis worthy of investigation.

The history of a place matters because every activity leaves traces.

Some traces are physical.

Some traces are psychological.

Some traces are social.

Some traces are symbolic.

Space conditioning proposes that some traces may also be informational.

Whether future research ultimately supports or refines this idea remains uncertain. What is clear is that many cultures have long behaved as though places can accumulate qualities over time.

The possibility that they may be correct deserves thoughtful examination rather than automatic dismissal.

Space Clearing and Space Conditioning

Understanding space conditioning also helps clarify the role of space clearing.

Space clearing and space conditioning are often treated as interchangeable terms, yet they refer to different processes.

Space clearing focuses on removing, releasing or transforming existing patterns.

Space conditioning focuses on establishing and reinforcing new patterns.

A useful analogy is gardening.

Removing weeds is space clearing.

Planting and cultivating desired plants is space conditioning.

Both are necessary.

A property burdened by years of neglect, conflict or stagnation may first require clearing. Once that has occurred, new intentions, activities and patterns can be introduced and reinforced.

From this perspective, many traditional feng shui adjustments can be understood not merely as symbolic acts but as deliberate attempts to influence the ongoing conditioning of a place.

Conclusion to Part 3

Environmental psychology demonstrates that places influence people. Space conditioning asks whether people also influence places in lasting ways.

William Tiller’s work offers a provocative framework for exploring this possibility. Although controversial, it provides a bridge between modern scientific inquiry and longstanding traditions that regard places as capable of accumulating qualities through repeated activity and intention.

If predecessor law is understood as the observation that places sometimes repeat similar stories across generations of occupants, then space conditioning offers one possible explanation for how such patterns might persist.

The next section moves even further into the question of place memory by examining Rupert Sheldrake’s theory of morphic resonance and the possibility that habits, patterns and memories may be distributed across fields rather than stored solely within individual minds.

Part 4: Morphic Resonance, Habit Fields and Rupert Sheldrake’s Theory of Place Memory

Can Places Develop Habits?

In the previous section we explored William Tiller’s concept of space conditioning, the idea that repeated intentions and activities may influence the informational qualities of an environment. Tiller’s work raises an important question. If places can be conditioned, what exactly is being conditioned?

One possible answer comes from the work of biologist Rupert Sheldrake, who proposed one of the most controversial and intriguing theories of memory, development and habit in contemporary thought.

Sheldrake’s theory of morphic resonance emerged from a simple observation. Nature appears to contain remarkable regularities. Organisms develop into recognisable forms. Behaviours become established. Cultural practices spread. Patterns repeat.

Conventional biology explains these phenomena primarily through genetics, natural selection, physiology and environmental influences. Sheldrake argued that these explanations may be necessary but not always sufficient. He suggested that systems inherit a collective memory from previous similar systems through a process he called morphic resonance (Sheldrake, 1981).

Whether one accepts this proposal or not, it offers a fascinating perspective on predecessor law because it addresses a central question: how do patterns persist over time?

What Is Morphic Resonance?

According to Sheldrake, nature contains organising fields known as morphic fields.

These fields are not material structures like walls, roads or rivers. Rather, they are proposed organising influences that shape the development and behaviour of systems.

The central principle of morphic resonance is often summarised in a simple phrase:

Similar things influence similar things across time.

In Sheldrake’s model, once a pattern has occurred many times, it becomes increasingly likely to occur again.

Habits develop not only within individuals but within larger systems.

The more often a pattern is repeated, the stronger its influence becomes.

A useful analogy is learning.

The first time someone learns a skill, considerable effort is required.

After repeated practice, the skill becomes easier.

Sheldrake extends this principle beyond individual learning. He proposes that nature itself develops habits.

The universe becomes increasingly shaped by repetition.

In this sense, the laws of nature may themselves resemble deeply established habits rather than fixed eternal rules.

This idea remains highly controversial within mainstream science. Nevertheless, it provides a conceptual framework that many people find useful when considering recurring patterns in places.

Memory Beyond the Brain

One of the most radical aspects of Sheldrake’s work concerns memory.

Conventional neuroscience generally assumes that memories are stored within brains through changes in neural networks.

Sheldrake does not deny the importance of neural processes. However, he questions whether memory is entirely contained within the brain.

Instead, he proposes that memory may involve access to broader morphic fields.

In this view, memory resembles resonance more than storage.

An analogy often used is radio transmission.

The radio does not contain the music.

It tunes into it.

Similarly, the brain may not contain all memory but may participate in larger informational fields.

Whether this hypothesis ultimately proves correct remains uncertain. Yet it offers an interesting way of thinking about predecessor law.

If memory can exist beyond individual brains, could places also participate in larger fields of memory?

Places as Habit Holders

One of the most intriguing applications of morphic resonance involves the possibility that places develop habits.

This idea should not be confused with superstition.

A habit is simply a pattern that becomes increasingly likely through repetition.

Consider a family home in which generations have gathered for meals, celebrations and conversations.

Over decades, certain behaviours become associated with that place.

People enter the house and naturally behave in familiar ways.

Part of this process is social and psychological.

Part may be architectural.

Part may involve memory and expectation.

Sheldrake’s theory invites the possibility that another layer may also exist.

Repeated activities may establish morphic patterns associated with particular locations.

The more often those patterns occur, the easier they become to repeat.

A place does not merely contain history.

It participates in history.

From the perspective of predecessor law, this idea is particularly relevant.

A building associated with repeated business success may develop a tendency towards success.

A healing centre may develop a tendency towards healing.

A meditation hall may develop a tendency towards contemplation.

Likewise, places repeatedly associated with conflict, fear or dysfunction may reinforce those patterns.

Morphic Resonance and Sacred Places

Many of the world’s religious and spiritual traditions behave as though morphic resonance exists, even if they use different language.

Consider sacred sites.

Pilgrimage destinations, monasteries, temples, shrines and churches often attract visitors who report unusual experiences.

Such places may be associated with:

  • peace
  • inspiration
  • healing
  • insight
  • devotion
  • transformation

Conventional explanations point towards architecture, symbolism, expectation, social influence and cultural meaning.

These factors are undoubtedly important.

Yet many traditions propose that repeated spiritual practice itself contributes to the quality of a place.

The site becomes progressively conditioned through centuries of prayer, ritual, meditation and devotion.

This interpretation closely resembles both space conditioning and morphic resonance.

The language differs, but the underlying principle is similar: repeated activity leaves lasting influence.

Collective Memory and Cultural Fields

Morphic resonance also offers an interesting perspective on collective memory.

Human cultures develop habits.

Languages develop habits.

Institutions develop habits.

Communities develop habits.

Neighbourhoods develop habits.

Over time, these patterns become self reinforcing.

People entering an established culture often adopt existing behaviours without consciously intending to do so.

The same phenomenon may occur in places.

A university develops traditions.

A monastery develops traditions.

A theatre develops traditions.

A marketplace develops traditions.

These traditions persist despite changes in individual participants.

The pattern survives because it exists at a level larger than any one person.

This idea resonates strongly with predecessor law.

A place may continue expressing certain qualities even when occupants change.

The continuity lies not necessarily in individuals but in the pattern itself.

Similarities Between Morphic Resonance and Feng Shui

Although Sheldrake did not develop his theory from feng shui, several interesting parallels exist.

Both perspectives emphasise:

  • pattern rather than isolated events
  • relationships rather than objects
  • continuity across time
  • influence beyond immediate physical causes
  • the importance of repeated activity

Both also challenge purely reductionist explanations.

Feng shui proposes that environments contain qualities that influence human life.

Morphic resonance proposes that systems inherit influence from previous similar systems.

Neither theory can be reduced solely to physical structure.

Instead, both emphasise dynamic relationships unfolding through time.

There are, of course, important differences.

Classical feng shui focuses on qi, form, orientation, landscape and environmental relationships.

Morphic resonance proposes broader fields operating throughout nature.

Nevertheless, both encourage a shift away from viewing the world as a collection of isolated objects and towards viewing it as a network of interconnected processes.

Criticisms of Morphic Resonance

As with Tiller’s work, a balanced discussion requires acknowledging criticisms.

Many scientists reject morphic resonance because proposed mechanisms remain unclear and robust experimental confirmation has proven elusive.

Critics argue that:

  • the theory lacks sufficient empirical support
  • many observations can be explained through conventional biology
  • experimental evidence remains inconclusive
  • morphic fields have not been directly detected

These criticisms are significant.

At present, morphic resonance remains outside mainstream scientific consensus.

However, it is worth noting that the theory continues to attract attention because it addresses questions that conventional explanations do not always fully resolve.

Even critics often acknowledge that Sheldrake has raised important questions about memory, habit and organisation.

Whether his answers are ultimately correct remains an open matter.

Morphic Resonance and the Future of Place Research

Perhaps the greatest value of morphic resonance lies not in providing definitive answers but in stimulating new questions.

If places repeatedly produce similar outcomes, why does this occur?

Are recurring patterns entirely environmental?

Entirely psychological?

Entirely social?

Or do additional organising processes exist that have yet to be adequately investigated?

Scientific progress often begins with anomalies.

People notice something unusual.

The phenomenon is initially dismissed.

Later, improved methods reveal mechanisms that were previously invisible.

History contains many examples.

Germs were unknown before microscopes.

Electromagnetic fields were unknown before suitable instruments existed.

Circadian rhythms influenced life long before they could be measured.

Whether morphic resonance eventually joins or fails to join this list remains uncertain.

The important point is that genuine inquiry requires curiosity as well as scepticism.

Morphic Resonance and Predecessor Law

Among all modern theories discussed in this article, morphic resonance may be the closest conceptual relative of predecessor law.

Both propose that repetition matters.

Both suggest that patterns can become established.

Both imply that history influences probability.

Neither requires absolute determinism.

Patterns can change.

Habits can be broken.

New tendencies can emerge.

This distinction is crucial.

Predecessor law is often misunderstood as a fatalistic doctrine suggesting that the future must repeat the past.

A more sophisticated interpretation sees predecessor law as describing tendencies rather than certainties.

The past influences the present, but it does not completely determine it.

A building associated with conflict can become a place of healing.

A struggling business can become successful.

A neglected house can become vibrant.

Patterns persist, but they can also be transformed.

This insight provides a natural bridge to the next stage of our discussion: space clearing and feng shui interventions.

If places can accumulate patterns, how can those patterns be changed?

That question lies at the heart of both traditional feng shui and contemporary space clearing practice.

Conclusion to Part 4

Rupert Sheldrake’s theory of morphic resonance remains controversial, yet it offers a compelling framework for thinking about predecessor law.

The theory proposes that nature develops habits and that repeated patterns become increasingly likely through resonance with previous occurrences. Applied to buildings and places, this suggests that locations may develop tendencies shaped by their histories.

Whether interpreted literally, metaphorically or as a useful heuristic, morphic resonance encourages us to take the history of place seriously. It reminds us that repetition matters, that patterns accumulate and that continuity often extends beyond individual occupants.

Most importantly, it suggests that predecessor law is not fundamentally about fate. It is about probability, habit and pattern.

The next section examines how those patterns may be consciously transformed through space clearing, ritual, symbolism and feng shui practice.

Part 5: Space Clearing, Feng Shui Interventions and the Transformation of Place

If Places Can Accumulate Patterns, Can They Also Change?

The previous sections explored a series of increasingly complex explanations for predecessor law. Environmental psychology demonstrated that places influence behaviour, health and wellbeing. Building biology revealed how hidden environmental conditions can generate recurring patterns across generations of occupants. Space conditioning suggested that repeated intentions and activities may gradually influence the quality of a place. Morphic resonance proposed that habits and patterns may become self reinforcing through repetition.

A natural question now arises.

If places can acquire patterns, can those patterns be changed?

This question lies at the heart of both feng shui and space clearing.

Indeed, one of the defining characteristics of feng shui is that it is fundamentally optimistic. Classical feng shui does not generally assume that people are trapped by the environments they inherit. Instead, it proposes that environments can be understood, adjusted and transformed.

This is an important distinction.

Predecessor law is not a doctrine of fate.

It is a diagnostic principle.

The history of a place may reveal tendencies, patterns and influences, but it does not remove the possibility of change.

In many respects, the practical purpose of predecessor law is not to predict the future. It is to identify what may need attention.

The Universal Practice of Space Clearing

Although often associated with contemporary feng shui, space clearing is far older and more widespread than feng shui itself.

Throughout history, human cultures have developed rituals for cleansing, blessing, renewing and transforming places.

Examples can be found on every continent.

Indigenous traditions have used smoke, herbs, prayer and ceremony to prepare spaces for specific purposes.

Christian traditions have blessed homes, churches and fields.

Buddhist traditions have performed purification rituals for temples and residences.

Shinto traditions in Japan have long recognised the importance of cleansing and renewing places.

Islamic traditions include prayers and recitations associated with homes and buildings.

Hindu traditions contain elaborate ceremonies for consecrating land, homes and temples.

Despite significant differences in belief and practice, these traditions share a common assumption:

Places are not entirely neutral.

They can become influenced by previous events, previous occupants and previous uses.

They can also be renewed.

This remarkable cross cultural consistency deserves attention. The specific explanations differ, but the underlying observation appears surprisingly universal.

What Is Space Clearing?

Space clearing may be defined as the intentional process of identifying, releasing and transforming undesirable patterns associated with a place.

The goal is not merely physical cleaning.

Physical cleaning is important, but space clearing extends beyond it.

The intention is to address the accumulated influences associated with a place, whether these are understood as:

  • emotional
  • psychological
  • symbolic
  • social
  • energetic
  • spiritual

or some combination of these.

In practice, space clearing often occurs:

  • after moving into a new home
  • following illness
  • after bereavement
  • following divorce or separation
  • after conflict
  • after business failure
  • after major renovation
  • when beginning a new phase of life

These transitional moments are significant because they involve shifts in identity and purpose.

Space clearing acts as a bridge between what has been and what is being created.

The Psychology of Fresh Starts

One reason space clearing may be effective is psychological.

Researchers studying behaviour change have identified what has been termed the “fresh start effect”. New beginnings often provide opportunities for behavioural transformation.

Moving house, changing jobs, beginning a new year, starting a relationship or renovating a property can create psychological momentum for change.

Space clearing may reinforce this process.

A ritual of clearing marks a boundary.

It creates a distinction between:

  • before and after
  • old and new
  • completion and beginning

Psychologically, such transitions can be extremely powerful.

Human beings have always used ritual to mark important thresholds.

Space clearing can therefore be understood as a deliberate way of helping occupants establish a new relationship with a place.

The Feng Shui Perspective

From a feng shui perspective, space clearing serves a more specific purpose.

Classical feng shui emphasises the movement, accumulation and circulation of qi.

When qi becomes stagnant, blocked or disturbed, difficulties may arise.

These difficulties may manifest in different ways depending upon the nature of the environment and the people involved.

Space clearing seeks to restore movement.

The intention is not merely to remove negativity but to encourage vitality.

This distinction is important.

Traditional feng shui is not primarily concerned with fighting negative energy.

It is concerned with supporting healthy patterns.

The emphasis is constructive rather than defensive.

A successful space clearing therefore creates conditions in which beneficial patterns can emerge more easily.

Karen Kingston and Contemporary Space Clearing

One of the most influential figures in contemporary space clearing is Karen Kingston.

Kingston helped popularise the idea that clutter and accumulated possessions can affect the psychological and energetic quality of a space.

Her work emphasises that environments influence mental and emotional wellbeing.

A cluttered environment often reflects and reinforces mental clutter.

An organised environment may support greater clarity and ease.

From the perspective of predecessor law, clutter becomes particularly interesting.

Objects often carry associations.

A room filled with reminders of previous relationships, unfinished projects, failures, disappointments or grief may continually reactivate those memories.

Removing such objects does not erase history, but it may reduce its ongoing influence.

This illustrates an important principle.

Sometimes the most effective form of space clearing is surprisingly practical.

Before considering subtle energies, it may be necessary to address physical and psychological clutter.

William Spear and Predecessor Influences

William Spear devoted considerable attention to predecessor influences within feng shui practice.

His approach recognised that previous occupants may leave more than physical traces behind.

Experiences associated with a property may continue affecting future occupants.

Spear encouraged practitioners to investigate property histories and to consider recurring patterns.

This perspective aligns closely with predecessor law.

However, Spear also emphasised transformation rather than fear.

The purpose of identifying predecessor influences is not to become trapped by them.

The purpose is to understand them so that new possibilities can emerge.

This distinction cannot be overstated.

A house with a difficult history is not necessarily a bad house.

A building associated with problems may simply require greater awareness and more intentional intervention.

Ritual as Environmental Technology

Modern readers sometimes dismiss ritual because it is associated with religion or superstition.

Yet ritual can also be understood as a form of environmental technology.

Its purpose is to influence behaviour, attention, meaning and intention.

When viewed this way, many space clearing practices become easier to understand.

Consider the simple act of opening windows throughout a property.

Physically, fresh air enters.

Psychologically, the space feels renewed.

Symbolically, stagnation is released.

The same action operates simultaneously at multiple levels.

Many traditional space clearing methods function in this manner.

Their effectiveness may not depend upon a single explanation.

Instead, they may work through several mechanisms at once.

Common Space Clearing Methods

Space clearing methods vary considerably between traditions.

Common approaches include:

Decluttering

Removing unnecessary possessions.

Cleaning

Deep physical cleaning of the environment.

Sound

Bells, chimes, singing bowls, chanting and music.

Light

Candles, sunlight and illumination.

Fragrance

Incense, herbs and aromatic substances.

Prayer

Invoking blessing, gratitude or protection.

Intention

Consciously defining the future purpose of a space.

Symbolic Actions

Opening doors, opening windows, rearranging furniture and introducing meaningful objects.

Although the methods differ, they share a common purpose: changing the relationship between occupants and place.

Space Clearing and Space Conditioning

The distinction between space clearing and space conditioning is one of the most important concepts in this article.

The two are related but not identical.

Space clearing focuses on releasing existing patterns.

Space conditioning focuses on creating new patterns.

A useful gardening analogy illustrates the difference.

Removing weeds is space clearing.

Preparing soil is space clearing.

Planting seeds is space conditioning.

Watering and nurturing those plants is space conditioning.

Both processes are necessary.

A cleared space that is never conditioned may gradually revert to previous patterns.

Likewise, attempts at conditioning may be less effective if underlying issues have not first been addressed.

This relationship is particularly important when considering predecessor law.

If a property has developed recurring patterns over many years, those patterns may need to be recognised, released and replaced.

Creating Positive Conditions

One of the limitations of many discussions about predecessor law is their focus on problems.

People ask:

  • How do I remove bad energy?
  • How do I clear negativity?
  • How do I stop repeating patterns?

These are understandable concerns.

Yet they represent only half of the equation.

The deeper question is:

What qualities do I want this place to cultivate?

A healing centre should cultivate healing.

A workplace should cultivate productivity and creativity.

A family home should cultivate connection, stability and wellbeing.

A meditation room should cultivate stillness and awareness.

Space conditioning shifts attention from removing undesirable patterns towards creating desirable ones.

This reflects one of the central insights of feng shui.

Nature abhors a vacuum.

Removing something is rarely enough.

Something new must also be established.

The Future Is Not the Past

The existence of predecessor patterns does not imply that those patterns must continue.

History influences possibility, but it does not determine destiny.

A house associated with illness may become a place of recovery.

A business associated with failure may become prosperous.

A neglected building may become vibrant.

A property marked by conflict may become peaceful.

This transformation does not occur through wishful thinking alone.

It requires investigation, awareness and action.

Environmental factors may need correcting.

Design may need improving.

Relationships may need healing.

Clutter may need removing.

New intentions may need reinforcing.

Space clearing and feng shui become valuable precisely because they recognise the possibility of change.

They remind us that places are dynamic rather than fixed.

Conclusion to Part 5

Predecessor law draws attention to the influence of history. Space clearing and feng shui focus on the possibility of transformation.

Across cultures and centuries, people have acted as though places can accumulate influences through use, memory, intention and activity. Whether interpreted psychologically, socially, symbolically, energetically or spiritually, the practical response has often been similar: cleanse the space, clarify its purpose and establish new patterns.

Space clearing removes.

Space conditioning creates.

Together they form a powerful framework for understanding how places evolve over time.

The next section moves from theory to practice through a series of detailed case studies examining recurring patterns of illness, relationship difficulties, business failure, creativity and healing.

Part 6: Five Case Studies of Recurring Patterns in Places

From Theory to Observation

So far, this article has explored predecessor law through several different lenses. Classical feng shui suggests that places can accumulate and express patterns of qi over time. Environmental psychology demonstrates that environments influence behaviour, wellbeing and identity. Building biology reveals how hidden environmental factors can generate recurring outcomes. Space conditioning proposes that repeated intention and activity may shape the informational qualities of a place. Morphic resonance suggests that habits may become self reinforcing through repetition. Space clearing and feng shui interventions focus on transforming inherited patterns.

The challenge, however, lies in applying these ideas to real situations.

When people encounter predecessor law in practice, it rarely appears as an abstract theory. It appears as a story.

A prospective buyer discovers that three previous owners experienced divorce.

A business owner learns that several previous companies failed in the same premises.

A family notices that multiple occupants have suffered similar health problems.

A retreat centre develops a reputation for transformation.

An artist’s studio seems to inspire creativity generation after generation.

Such stories do not prove predecessor law. Nor should they be dismissed automatically. Instead, they invite investigation.

The following case studies are not presented as scientific proof. Rather, they illustrate how predecessor law may be approached through multiple explanatory frameworks, including environmental psychology, building biology, feng shui, space conditioning and place memory.

Case Study 1: The House of Repeated Divorce

One of the most common examples cited by feng shui practitioners concerns homes associated with repeated relationship difficulties.

Imagine a property that has housed four couples over a period of thirty years.

The first couple divorced.

The second separated.

The third experienced chronic conflict before eventually moving out.

The fourth begins noticing similar tensions.

At first glance, predecessor law appears obvious. The house seems to carry a pattern of relationship instability.

However, a careful investigation reveals several possibilities.

The physical layout places the master bedroom directly above a noisy garage entrance. Sleep quality is consistently disrupted.

The house contains very little acoustic privacy. Conversations are easily overheard.

The main living area is poorly connected, encouraging family members to retreat into separate rooms.

The property receives limited natural light during winter months.

From an environmental psychology perspective, these factors may contribute to stress and reduced relationship satisfaction.

From a feng shui perspective, additional concerns may emerge. The bedroom door aligns directly with the bed. Sharp architectural features point towards sleeping positions. Relationship areas of the property may be weakened or neglected.

A space clearing practitioner may also note that each couple left behind unresolved emotional associations.

A space conditioning perspective might suggest that repeated conflict gradually reinforced a particular pattern within the property.

The important point is that multiple explanations coexist.

The recurring pattern deserves attention, but no single explanation should be assumed automatically.

Case Study 2: The Property Associated with Illness

Consider a house in which successive occupants report unusual health problems.

The first family experiences chronic respiratory symptoms.

The second family reports persistent fatigue and headaches.

The third family notices recurring allergies and poor sleep.

Neighbours begin referring to the property as an unhealthy house.

Stories accumulate.

Rumours spread.

Predecessor law appears to be operating.

However, a detailed environmental assessment reveals significant mould growth hidden behind internal walls. Water ingress has remained undetected for years.

Ventilation is inadequate.

Indoor humidity remains elevated throughout much of the year.

In this case, the recurring pattern is entirely real.

The house genuinely produces similar outcomes across multiple occupants.

Yet the mechanism may be biological rather than energetic.

At the same time, the social history of the property also matters.

As the reputation of the house grows, new occupants may become increasingly sensitive to every symptom. Expectation and anxiety may amplify existing concerns.

The result is a complex interaction between physical conditions, psychological expectations and place history.

This case illustrates one of the most important principles of predecessor law:

The pattern may be correct even when the explanation is wrong.

Case Study 3: The Business That Repeatedly Failed

A retail unit in a busy town centre changes hands several times over twenty years.

A gift shop fails.

A clothing retailer fails.

A specialist food shop fails.

A travel agency fails.

Local people begin referring to the premises as unlucky.

Potential tenants become hesitant.

The site acquires a reputation.

A predecessor law interpretation might suggest that failure has become embedded within the property.

A business consultant, however, might notice several practical issues.

Pedestrian visibility is poor.

The entrance is partially obscured.

Parking is limited.

Foot traffic naturally bypasses the location.

Signage opportunities are restricted.

The layout inside the premises creates navigational confusion.

From a feng shui perspective, the entrance may fail to attract and gather qi effectively.

The frontage may appear closed, neglected or unwelcoming.

The property may sit at the receiving end of a fast moving road or other environmental feature traditionally regarded as problematic.

Over time, the physical disadvantages generate repeated commercial difficulties.

The reputation of failure then reinforces the pattern further.

Future tenants become cautious.

Confidence declines.

The story of failure becomes part of the property itself.

Again, predecessor law may be operating, but through several interacting mechanisms.

Case Study 4: The House of Creativity

Not all predecessor patterns are negative.

Imagine a large house occupied over many decades by writers, musicians, artists and designers.

Each generation appears unusually creative.

Visitors frequently comment on the atmosphere.

The property develops a reputation as a place where ideas flourish.

Several explanations are possible.

The house contains abundant natural light.

Views of nature are visible from most rooms.

There are quiet areas for concentration and larger spaces for collaboration.

The building encourages both privacy and social interaction.

Environmental psychology would predict many positive outcomes from such conditions.

Yet there may be more to the story.

The house also carries a cultural legacy.

New occupants know about previous artists who lived there.

Their expectations change accordingly.

The place becomes associated with creativity.

A space conditioning interpretation would suggest that decades of creative activity have gradually reinforced a creative field.

A morphic resonance perspective might propose that repeated creative behaviour strengthens the likelihood of future creativity.

Regardless of interpretation, the pattern appears positive and self reinforcing.

This case reminds us that predecessor law concerns positive inheritances as much as negative ones.

Case Study 5: A Healing Centre Transformed

A final example illustrates the possibility of change.

A rural property previously functioned as an institutional care facility.

Many people associated the building with loneliness, illness and decline.

When the facility closed, the atmosphere felt heavy and neglected.

Several years later, the property was acquired by a group intending to create a retreat and healing centre.

The transformation occurred gradually.

Environmental improvements were made.

Natural light was increased.

Gardens were restored.

Communal spaces were redesigned.

Extensive decluttering took place.

Space clearing ceremonies marked the transition from the previous use to the new one.

Meditation, education and therapeutic activities became regular features of the site.

Over time, visitors reported a very different experience.

The building acquired a new reputation.

The story changed.

The atmosphere changed.

The pattern changed.

From a conventional perspective, the explanation may involve renovation, environmental improvements and social reinvention.

From a feng shui perspective, the flow of qi had been transformed.

From a space conditioning perspective, new patterns gradually replaced older ones.

Whatever explanation one prefers, the outcome illustrates an important principle:

The history of a place matters, but it does not have the final word.

Common Themes Across the Case Studies

Several themes appear repeatedly across these examples.

First, predecessor law is rarely explained by a single factor.

Physical, psychological, social and environmental influences often interact.

Second, reputation matters.

Stories attached to places can influence future experiences.

Third, recurring patterns deserve investigation rather than immediate belief or dismissal.

The pattern itself may be real even when the proposed explanation is incomplete.

Fourth, positive patterns are just as important as negative patterns.

Many places become associated with healing, creativity, learning, prosperity or spiritual development.

Finally, change remains possible.

Patterns can persist for years or even generations, yet they are not necessarily permanent.

This insight lies at the heart of feng shui.

Good feng shui is not about predicting an unavoidable future.

It is about recognising patterns and creating conditions for more desirable outcomes.

What These Case Studies Teach Us About Predecessor Law

Taken together, these examples suggest a more sophisticated understanding of predecessor law.

Places are not blank slates.

They accumulate histories.

Those histories may include:

  • physical influences
  • environmental conditions
  • behavioural patterns
  • social narratives
  • emotional associations
  • symbolic meanings
  • cultural memories

The longer a pattern persists, the more influential it may become.

Yet persistence is not destiny.

The future emerges through the interaction between inherited conditions and present choices.

A property’s history should therefore be regarded neither as irrelevant nor as absolute.

It is information.

Useful information.

Potentially important information.

But ultimately only one part of a much larger picture.

The next section moves from examples to practical application by examining how homeowners, business owners, researchers and feng shui practitioners can investigate the history of a property and assess whether predecessor law may be operating in practice.

 

Part 7: How to Investigate the History of a Property and Assess Whether Predecessor Law May Be Operating

From Belief to Investigation

One of the greatest weaknesses in discussions of predecessor law is the tendency to jump immediately to conclusions. A family discovers that previous occupants divorced, and the house is labelled unlucky. A business fails in a location where several previous businesses also failed, and the premises acquires a reputation for misfortune. A property develops a local legend and the story gradually becomes accepted as fact.

Such reactions are understandable, but they are rarely helpful.

A more rigorous approach is to treat predecessor law as an investigative framework rather than a belief system. Instead of asking whether a property is lucky or unlucky, it is often more productive to ask whether there are recurring patterns associated with the place and, if so, what factors might be contributing to those patterns.

This approach is remarkably consistent with both traditional feng shui and scientific inquiry. Classical feng shui began with observation. Practitioners examined landscapes, watercourses, settlement patterns, building forms and historical events before drawing conclusions. Similarly, science begins with observation and then seeks explanations through systematic investigation.

The same principle can be applied to predecessor law.

The question is not whether a place has a history. Every place has a history. The question is how that history might be influencing the present.

Begin with the Physical Environment

The first stage of any investigation should be the physical environment.

This may seem obvious, yet it is often overlooked. Many people become fascinated by stories of previous occupants while paying insufficient attention to the condition of the property itself.

If recurring illness appears associated with a building, environmental explanations should be explored first. Hidden mould, poor ventilation, radon, water damage, air pollution, excessive noise, inadequate daylight and poor thermal comfort can all produce recurring patterns across generations of occupants.

The same principle applies to commercial properties. A business that repeatedly struggles may suffer from poor visibility, awkward access, inadequate parking, confusing circulation or other practical limitations.

This does not invalidate predecessor law. Rather, it expands our understanding of it. The history of a place may reveal recurring outcomes, while environmental investigation helps explain why those outcomes occur.

A useful question to ask is:

If I knew nothing about the history of this property, what physical factors would I identify as potential strengths and weaknesses?

This encourages observation before interpretation.

Examine the Architecture

Buildings influence behaviour.

Environmental psychology has repeatedly demonstrated that layout, visibility, privacy, circulation, light, scale and spatial organisation affect how people feel and behave.

A property associated with repeated relationship difficulties may contain architectural features that increase stress or reduce opportunities for positive interaction.

A workplace associated with repeated burnout may create constant distraction, noise or sensory overload.

A home associated with poor sleep may contain lighting, noise or environmental conditions that interfere with restoration.

The key point is that architecture creates tendencies.

These tendencies do not determine outcomes, but they influence probabilities.

From a predecessor law perspective, recurring patterns may emerge because the same environmental pressures affect successive occupants in similar ways.

Investigate the History of Occupancy

Only after examining physical and architectural factors should attention turn to the history of occupancy.

Questions worth exploring include:

  • How long did previous occupants remain?
  • Why did they leave?
  • Were there recurring themes across different occupants?
  • Did significant life events repeatedly occur within the property?
  • Has the building served different functions over time?

A single negative event may have little significance. Multiple similar events occurring over many years deserve greater attention.

For example, if one occupant experienced financial difficulties, this may simply reflect individual circumstances. If six unrelated businesses operating from the same premises experienced similar problems, the pattern becomes more interesting.

The emphasis should remain on observation rather than assumption.

Patterns matter.

Stories alone do not.

Researching Property Histories

Modern researchers have access to resources that would have been unavailable to most traditional feng shui practitioners.

These include:

  • Land Registry records
  • local archives
  • planning records
  • census records
  • newspaper archives
  • historical maps
  • electoral registers
  • business records

Such sources can reveal changes in ownership, use and occupancy over extended periods.

Historical investigation often uncovers surprising patterns. A property may have previously functioned as a school, workshop, religious building, care facility or commercial enterprise. Understanding previous uses can provide important context.

A former monastery, for example, may carry very different associations from a former prison.

A building’s previous function may be as important as its previous occupants.

Listen to Local Memory

Not all information is found in official records.

Neighbourhoods possess collective memory.

Long-term residents often know stories that never appear in documents.

Some of these stories may be inaccurate or exaggerated. Others may contain valuable insights.

Listening carefully to local narratives can reveal how a property is perceived within its wider social context.

This matters because reputation itself can become part of predecessor law.

A building known locally as successful, creative, unlucky or troubled may influence how future occupants experience it.

Place identity exists not only within individuals but also within communities.

The Importance of Repetition

One of the most useful principles when investigating predecessor law is to focus on repetition.

Single events may be coincidences.

Repeated events deserve attention.

A useful distinction can be made between:

Isolated Events

A single divorce.

A single business failure.

A single illness.

A single accident.

Recurring Patterns

Multiple divorces across unrelated occupants.

Repeated commercial failures.

Recurring health complaints.

Repeated reports of similar experiences.

The more independent examples that exist, the more interesting the pattern becomes.

This does not prove causation.

However, it increases the value of further investigation.

Multiple Layers of Explanation

Throughout this article, one theme has appeared repeatedly: there is rarely only one explanation.

Consider a property associated with recurring relationship difficulties.

Possible contributing factors might include:

  • environmental stressors
  • poor sleep quality
  • architectural design
  • symbolic associations
  • inherited narratives
  • space conditioning
  • morphic resonance
  • feng shui factors

Several layers may operate simultaneously.

The mistake is to assume that only one explanation must be correct.

Reality is often more complex.

Places influence people through multiple channels at once.

A Feng Shui Investigation

A feng shui investigation introduces additional questions.

These may include:

  • How does qi enter the property?
  • Where does qi accumulate?
  • Where does qi disperse?
  • How has the building changed over time?
  • What major renovations have occurred?
  • How does the property relate to its surroundings?
  • What patterns emerge when previous occupants are considered?

Importantly, predecessor law does not replace other feng shui analysis.

It complements it.

The history of a property becomes another source of information rather than the sole basis for interpretation.

Confirmation Bias and the Need for Caution

A balanced investigation must also acknowledge the possibility of confirmation bias.

Once people believe a property is unlucky, they may begin noticing only evidence that supports this belief.

Contradictory evidence may be ignored.

This tendency is well documented within psychology.

For this reason, predecessor law should be approached with curiosity rather than certainty.

Questions are often more valuable than conclusions.

The goal is not to prove that a building carries a particular pattern.

The goal is to understand the property as fully as possible.

The Most Important Question

After all investigations have been completed, one question remains.

It is arguably the most important question in predecessor law.

Not:

What happened here?

But:

What is happening here now?

The history of a place matters.

However, present conditions matter as well.

A property may carry a difficult history and yet function beautifully today.

A property may have a positive history and yet be deteriorating.

The present always remains the point at which change becomes possible.

For this reason, predecessor law should be viewed as information rather than destiny.

Its value lies not in predicting the future but in helping people understand the patterns that may be influencing it.

Conclusion to Part 7

The investigation of predecessor law requires both openness and scepticism. A property’s history should neither be ignored nor treated as unquestionable truth. Instead, it should be examined alongside environmental conditions, architecture, social history, psychological influences and feng shui analysis.

The most useful approach is to think like a researcher. Observe patterns, gather evidence, consider multiple explanations and remain willing to revise conclusions.

By doing so, predecessor law becomes far more than a superstition. It becomes a sophisticated way of exploring the relationship between people, places and time.

The next section examines an often overlooked question: if places can inherit difficult patterns, can they also inherit positive ones?

 

Part 8: Can Positive Histories Be Inherited? The Overlooked Side of Predecessor Law

Why Predecessor Law Is Usually Framed Negatively

Mention predecessor law in most feng shui discussions and the examples are often strikingly similar.

A house where several marriages ended in divorce.

A property associated with illness.

A business premises where successive companies failed.

A building linked to accidents, financial problems or misfortune.

Such examples are memorable because they evoke concern. Human beings are naturally attentive to potential threats and problems. Psychologists sometimes refer to this tendency as negativity bias, the observation that negative events often attract more attention than positive ones (Baumeister et al., 2001).

As a result, predecessor law is frequently discussed as though it were primarily concerned with inherited difficulties.

Yet this emphasis may obscure a more important question.

If places can inherit negative patterns, can they also inherit positive ones?

The logic of predecessor law suggests that they can.

Indeed, many of the world’s most enduring institutions appear to operate on precisely this assumption. Universities, monasteries, libraries, temples, retreat centres, healing sanctuaries and family homes are often valued not only for their physical qualities but also for the accumulated history associated with them.

People frequently seek out such places because of what has happened there before.

In other words, positive predecessor effects may be more common than negative ones.

They are simply less likely to be noticed.

The House That Supports Family Life

Consider a family home occupied by several generations.

Children grow up there.

Relationships flourish.

Celebrations occur.

Family traditions emerge.

The house becomes associated with stability, continuity and belonging.

When future generations visit the property, they often report a strong sense of connection.

Part of this response can be explained through memory and attachment. Family stories, photographs and personal experiences create powerful emotional bonds.

Yet the physical environment may also contribute.

The layout may encourage interaction.

The garden may support gathering.

The kitchen may function as a social centre.

The house may possess qualities that consistently support family cohesion.

Over time, these physical, psychological and social influences become intertwined.

The result is a place associated with positive family experience.

This is predecessor law operating in a constructive rather than problematic form.

Universities and the Accumulation of Learning

Universities provide another interesting example.

Institutions such as University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and Harvard University are not merely collections of buildings.

They are repositories of intellectual history.

Students often report feeling inspired simply by being present within these environments.

Part of this response reflects reputation. People know that generations of scholars studied there.

However, the effect may be deeper than reputation alone.

Academic traditions, architectural settings, social expectations and institutional culture combine to create environments that encourage learning.

The places themselves become associated with inquiry, reflection and intellectual achievement.

Successive generations inherit not only buildings but also patterns.

Whether one interprets these patterns through environmental psychology, place identity, morphic resonance or space conditioning, the outcome remains similar.

The institution develops a recognisable character that persists across time.

Libraries as Memory Structures

Libraries occupy a particularly interesting position within discussions of predecessor law.

A library is, in one sense, a physical embodiment of memory. It preserves knowledge across generations.

Yet libraries often possess atmospheres that extend beyond their collections.

Many people describe feeling calmer, more focused and more reflective within libraries than in other public spaces.

Part of this response can be explained by architecture, acoustics and social expectations.

Part may arise from repeated patterns of use.

Generation after generation enters with the intention of learning, researching, contemplating and studying.

The environment becomes associated with these activities.

Over time, the place acquires a distinctive identity.

This example illustrates an important principle.

Predecessor law may involve not only specific events but also recurring intentions.

Monasteries, Temples and Sacred Places

Perhaps the strongest examples of positive predecessor effects come from sacred sites.

Across cultures, people have long believed that repeated spiritual practice influences the quality of a place.

Monasteries, temples, churches, mosques, shrines and pilgrimage destinations are often regarded as possessing special qualities.

Visitors frequently report:

  • peace
  • stillness
  • clarity
  • inspiration
  • emotional release
  • spiritual connection

Sceptics may attribute such experiences to architecture, expectation and cultural conditioning.

Believers may interpret them as evidence of sacred presence.

Environmental psychologists may emphasise atmosphere, symbolism and behavioural cues.

Space conditioning theorists may point towards repeated intentional activity.

The important point is not that everyone agrees on the explanation.

The important point is that people consistently report similar experiences.

The recurrence itself is noteworthy.

It suggests that repeated human activity may contribute to the emergence of enduring qualities within places.

Healing Centres and Therapeutic Environments

Healing environments provide another compelling example.

Hospitals, clinics, therapeutic retreat centres and wellness facilities often develop reputations that extend beyond their technical functions.

Some places are repeatedly described as nurturing, supportive and restorative.

Others feel institutional, stressful or impersonal.

Research within healthcare design has demonstrated that environmental factors influence patient outcomes. Natural light, views of nature, noise reduction, privacy and supportive design can all contribute to recovery (Ulrich, 1984).

However, many healing environments also develop cultures of care.

Staff, visitors and patients participate in patterns of compassion, support and attention.

These patterns accumulate over time.

The environment becomes associated with healing.

In predecessor law terms, this represents a positive inheritance.

Creative Environments

Artists often speak about places that inspire creativity.

Writers describe favourite cafés.

Musicians become attached to particular studios.

Painters return repeatedly to certain landscapes.

Creative communities frequently emerge around specific locations.

Environmental explanations are often available. Light, acoustics, social networks and architectural qualities all matter.

Yet creativity also appears to attract more creativity.

Once a place becomes known for artistic activity, further artists are drawn to it.

The pattern reinforces itself.

The history of the place becomes part of its future.

This dynamic resembles both morphic resonance and predecessor law.

Repeated activity increases the likelihood of similar future activity.

The Positive Feedback Loop of Place

One way of understanding positive predecessor effects is through feedback loops.

A place supports a beneficial activity.

The activity strengthens the identity of the place.

The strengthened identity attracts more of the same activity.

The cycle continues.

For example:

A meditation centre attracts practitioners.

Meditation becomes associated with the site.

The reputation grows.

More practitioners arrive.

The association becomes stronger.

Over time, the place develops a stable identity.

The same process can occur with learning, healing, creativity, hospitality, community or spiritual practice.

The pattern becomes self reinforcing.

Feng Shui and the Cultivation of Positive Patterns

This perspective aligns closely with one of the deepest aims of feng shui.

Popular discussions sometimes portray feng shui as a system for avoiding problems.

Classically, however, feng shui is equally concerned with cultivating beneficial conditions.

Good feng shui supports:

  • health
  • relationships
  • learning
  • prosperity
  • creativity
  • wellbeing
  • spiritual development

The goal is not merely to remove difficulties.

It is to create environments in which desirable patterns can flourish.

This distinction is essential.

A house free from problems is not necessarily a thriving house.

A workplace free from conflict is not necessarily creative.

A building free from stagnation is not necessarily vibrant.

Positive predecessor effects remind us that the highest aim is not simply the absence of negatives but the cultivation of positives.

What Would a Positive Predecessor Law Look Like?

Imagine approaching a property not by asking:

What went wrong here?

but by asking:

What went right here?

Questions might include:

  • What achievements occurred here?
  • What qualities did previous occupants develop?
  • What positive traditions existed?
  • What strengths became associated with the property?
  • What beneficial patterns might be worth preserving?

Such questions shift the focus from fear to possibility.

They recognise that every place possesses not only problems but also resources.

The task of feng shui may therefore involve identifying and strengthening existing positive patterns as much as correcting negative ones.

A More Balanced View of Place History

A mature understanding of predecessor law requires balance.

History can burden.

History can support.

History can constrain.

History can inspire.

The same property may contain both positive and negative inheritances.

The role of investigation is not to reduce the history of a place to a single narrative but to understand its complexity.

Places are rarely entirely fortunate or unfortunate.

Most contain layers of experience accumulated over time.

Recognising these layers allows more informed choices about how to engage with them.

Conclusion to Part 8

Predecessor law is often framed as a warning about inherited difficulties. Yet many of the most remarkable places in human history suggest a different possibility. Positive patterns may also accumulate, strengthen and persist.

Family homes may cultivate belonging. Universities may cultivate learning. Libraries may cultivate reflection. Healing centres may cultivate recovery. Sacred sites may cultivate contemplation. Creative environments may cultivate innovation.

Whether explained through environmental psychology, place attachment, space conditioning, morphic resonance or feng shui, the underlying observation remains similar: repeated activities appear capable of shaping the identity of places over time.

This positive dimension is perhaps the most hopeful aspect of predecessor law. If beneficial patterns can accumulate, then every action contributes not only to the present experience of a place but also to its future possibilities.

The next section brings together the practical implications of the entire discussion through a comprehensive question-and-answer guide addressing the most common concerns about predecessor law, space conditioning and the memory of place.

 

Part 9: Frequently Asked Questions About Predecessor Law, Space Conditioning and the Memory of Place

What is predecessor law?

Predecessor law is a modern feng shui concept proposing that the history of a place may influence its future. The central observation is that similar events sometimes appear to recur within the same property across different occupants and over extended periods of time.

Examples often cited include repeated business failures, recurring relationship difficulties, repeated health problems, or, conversely, recurring success, creativity or healing.

Predecessor law does not necessarily imply that a building causes these outcomes directly. Rather, it suggests that the history of a place may contain valuable information about patterns associated with that environment.

Throughout this article, we have seen that such patterns may arise from multiple factors, including environmental conditions, architectural design, social narratives, place attachment, space conditioning and, according to some theories, morphic resonance.

Is predecessor law scientifically proven?

At present, predecessor law is not a scientifically established theory in the conventional sense.

There is no universally accepted body of scientific evidence demonstrating that events experienced by previous occupants directly influence future occupants.

However, several areas of research provide partial support for aspects of the idea.

Environmental psychology demonstrates that places influence behaviour, wellbeing and identity (Gifford, 2014).

Building biology shows that hidden environmental factors can generate recurring health outcomes.

Place attachment research demonstrates that places accumulate meaning and emotional significance (Altman & Low, 1992).

Theories such as space conditioning and morphic resonance attempt to explain additional aspects of place memory, although these remain controversial and are not part of mainstream scientific consensus.

Consequently, predecessor law should currently be regarded as an interpretative framework rather than a scientifically proven law.

Does a house literally remember previous events?

The answer depends upon what is meant by memory.

If memory refers to physical traces, then the answer is clearly yes. Buildings retain evidence of their histories through materials, wear patterns, renovations, environmental conditions and structural changes.

If memory refers to psychological and social influences, the answer is also yes. Places accumulate stories, identities, reputations and associations.

The more controversial question is whether places retain informational, energetic or non-physical memories. This possibility is proposed by some traditions and theories discussed in this article, including space conditioning and morphic resonance, but remains an open question.

A useful way of approaching the issue is to recognise that place memory may operate at several levels simultaneously rather than requiring a single explanation.

What is the difference between predecessor law and space clearing?

Predecessor law and space clearing address different aspects of the same issue.

Predecessor law concerns the observation that places may carry patterns associated with their histories.

Space clearing concerns the intentional transformation of those patterns.

In simple terms:

Predecessor law asks:

What has happened here before?

Space clearing asks:

How do we create a different future?

One is primarily diagnostic. The other is primarily practical.

What is the difference between space clearing and space conditioning?

Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, they describe different processes.

Space clearing focuses on removing, releasing or transforming existing patterns.

Space conditioning focuses on establishing and reinforcing new patterns.

A useful analogy is gardening.

Removing weeds, clearing debris and preparing the soil resemble space clearing.

Planting, cultivating and nurturing desired plants resemble space conditioning.

The two processes work best together.

What is space conditioning?

Space conditioning is a concept associated primarily with the work of William A. Tiller and his colleagues.

According to this theory, repeated intentions and activities may gradually influence the informational qualities of an environment.

A place used repeatedly for meditation, learning, healing or creativity may become conditioned towards those activities.

Likewise, places repeatedly associated with conflict, stress or dysfunction may develop different tendencies.

Although the theory remains controversial, it provides an intriguing framework for understanding how places might acquire enduring characteristics over time.

What is morphic resonance?

Morphic resonance is a theory proposed by Rupert Sheldrake.

The theory suggests that patterns in nature become increasingly likely through repetition. Systems inherit influence from previous similar systems through morphic fields.

Applied to predecessor law, morphic resonance suggests that places may develop habits. The more frequently certain activities occur, the more likely similar activities become in the future.

This idea remains controversial within mainstream science but continues to attract interest because it offers a possible explanation for recurring patterns that appear difficult to explain through conventional mechanisms alone.

Is morphic resonance accepted by science?

No.

Morphic resonance is not part of mainstream scientific consensus.

Many scientists criticise the theory because proposed mechanisms remain unclear and robust empirical confirmation has proven difficult to obtain.

However, the theory continues to be discussed because it addresses important questions concerning memory, habit and organisation.

Its value may lie as much in the questions it raises as in the answers it proposes.

What role does environmental psychology play in predecessor law?

Environmental psychology provides some of the strongest evidence that places influence human experience.

Research has demonstrated that environments affect:

  • stress
  • attention
  • mood
  • wellbeing
  • behaviour
  • identity
  • social interaction

These findings help explain why similar outcomes may recur in the same buildings.

A property that repeatedly generates stress may do so because of environmental conditions rather than because of mysterious forces.

Environmental psychology therefore offers an important foundation for understanding predecessor law in practical and evidence informed ways.

Can a building contribute to relationship difficulties?

A building cannot create relationship problems in isolation.

However, environmental conditions can influence factors that affect relationships.

Examples include:

  • poor sleep
  • noise
  • crowding
  • lack of privacy
  • chronic stress
  • inadequate personal space

Over time, such conditions may increase tension and reduce resilience.

From a feng shui perspective, additional considerations involving layout, qi flow and symbolic relationships may also be relevant.

The key point is that buildings influence context rather than directly determining outcomes.

Can a building contribute to illness?

Yes.

There is substantial evidence that environmental conditions can influence health.

Examples include:

  • mould
  • poor air quality
  • radon
  • inadequate ventilation
  • noise pollution
  • insufficient daylight

Consequently, recurring illness associated with a property should always be investigated carefully.

Before assuming energetic explanations, physical and environmental causes should be examined thoroughly.

This approach strengthens rather than weakens feng shui practice.

Should I avoid buying a property with a difficult history?

Not necessarily.

The history of a property is important, but it is only one source of information.

A difficult history may indicate environmental, architectural, social or symbolic issues that deserve investigation.

However, many properties with challenging histories have later become successful homes, thriving businesses or valued community spaces.

The critical question is not:

What happened here?

but rather:

What conditions exist now, and what can be changed?

History informs decisions. It should not dictate them.

Can positive predecessor effects exist?

Absolutely.

In fact, positive predecessor effects may be more common than negative ones.

Family homes often cultivate belonging.

Libraries cultivate learning.

Universities cultivate scholarship.

Retreat centres cultivate reflection.

Healing centres cultivate recovery.

Creative environments cultivate innovation.

Such examples suggest that places may accumulate positive qualities through repeated use and intention.

This perspective provides a valuable counterbalance to fear based interpretations of predecessor law.

How can I investigate the history of a property?

Useful sources include:

  • Land Registry records
  • local archives
  • historical maps
  • planning records
  • newspaper archives
  • census data
  • conversations with neighbours
  • previous owners where available

The goal is not to collect dramatic stories but to identify recurring patterns.

Patterns are generally more informative than isolated events.

What would a feng shui practitioner investigate?

A feng shui practitioner may consider:

  • site history
  • surrounding landscape
  • orientation
  • building form
  • internal layout
  • movement of qi
  • previous occupants
  • major renovations
  • recurring life themes associated with the property

These factors are then considered together rather than in isolation.

A skilled practitioner typically looks for patterns rather than relying upon a single indicator.

Is predecessor law about fate?

No.

Perhaps the most important lesson from this entire discussion is that predecessor law is not fundamentally about fate.

It is about patterns.

Patterns influence probability.

They do not eliminate choice.

A place may possess tendencies shaped by its history, but tendencies are not destinies.

People continuously interact with and reshape the environments they inhabit.

This principle lies at the heart of feng shui.

The purpose of understanding a place is not to become trapped by its history but to participate consciously in its future.

Conclusion to Part 9

The questions explored throughout this article reveal a recurring theme. The history of a place matters, but it does not stand alone. Environmental conditions, architecture, social narratives, personal behaviour, symbolic meanings and intentional practices all contribute to the experience of place.

Predecessor law is best understood not as a supernatural certainty or a scientific law, but as a useful framework for recognising patterns that might otherwise be overlooked.

Most importantly, it reminds us that places are not merely locations. They are relationships unfolding through time.

The final section of this article brings together the major themes explored throughout and considers what predecessor law may teach us about the deeper relationship between people, places and history.

 

Part 10: Conclusion – The Memory of Place and the Future of Feng Shui

A Different Way of Looking at Buildings

Most people think of buildings as objects.

A house is a structure.

An office is a workplace.

A school is a collection of classrooms.

A library is a building that stores books.

Viewed in this way, buildings are essentially containers within which human activity occurs.

Yet throughout this article, a different picture has emerged.

Places are not merely containers. They are participants.

They influence the people who inhabit them, while those same people simultaneously influence the places they occupy. Over time, a continuous relationship develops between occupants and environment. The history of a place becomes inseparable from the experiences that unfold within it.

This perspective lies at the heart of predecessor law.

Whether one ultimately accepts predecessor law as a literal reality, a useful metaphor or a practical investigative framework, it directs attention towards an important truth: places matter.

They matter physically.

They matter psychologically.

They matter socially.

They matter culturally.

They matter symbolically.

And perhaps, although this remains open to investigation, they may also matter in ways that science has not yet fully understood.

The Central Question Revisited

At the beginning of this article, we asked a deceptively simple question:

How are patterns stored, reinforced, transmitted and transformed within places?

The answer, as we have seen, is unlikely to be singular.

Environmental psychology demonstrates that buildings influence behaviour, attention, stress, wellbeing and identity. Architecture shapes opportunities for interaction, privacy, restoration and focus. Building biology reveals how hidden environmental conditions can generate recurring patterns of illness or wellbeing. Social narratives influence expectations. Place attachment links memory and identity to specific locations.

Beyond these established explanations lie more speculative possibilities.

William Tiller’s theory of space conditioning proposes that repeated intentions and activities may influence the informational qualities of environments. Rupert Sheldrake’s theory of morphic resonance suggests that repeated patterns may become increasingly likely through the development of habits within larger fields of organisation.

Neither theory has achieved mainstream scientific acceptance. Yet both attempt to address questions that many people continue to ask:

Why do some places seem unusually peaceful?

Why do some environments repeatedly support similar outcomes?

Why do certain locations acquire reputations that persist across generations?

Whether future research ultimately confirms, modifies or rejects such theories remains to be seen. What matters for the present discussion is that these questions continue to emerge whenever people pay close attention to the relationship between place and experience.

Feng Shui as the Study of Relationships

One of the most important conclusions arising from this exploration concerns the nature of feng shui itself.

As discussed earlier, the term feng shui literally means wind water. The absence of a conjunction in the original Chinese reminds us that feng shui is fundamentally concerned with relationships rather than isolated objects.

This insight extends far beyond linguistic translation.

Much popular feng shui focuses on individual cures, objects, colours and adjustments. While such techniques may have value in certain contexts, they can obscure a deeper principle.

Feng shui is not primarily the study of things.

It is the study of relationships.

Relationships between wind and water.

Relationships between landscape and settlement.

Relationships between buildings and occupants.

Relationships between past, present and future.

Relationships between people and place.

Viewed in this way, predecessor law becomes easier to understand.

The history of a place matters because relationships persist through time. Previous occupants, previous uses, previous activities and previous intentions all become part of the ongoing story of a location.

A building is never entirely separate from its history.

At the same time, history is never entirely fixed.

The relationship continues evolving.

The Limits of Reductionism

One reason predecessor law remains controversial is that it sits at the boundary between different ways of understanding reality.

A purely materialist perspective may attempt to explain everything through physical causes.

A purely spiritual perspective may attribute everything to subtle energies or unseen influences.

Both approaches risk oversimplification.

The evidence reviewed throughout this article suggests that places operate simultaneously at multiple levels.

A home may contain mould behind the walls.

It may also contain memories.

It may possess a stressful layout.

It may also carry a reputation.

It may suffer from poor ventilation.

It may also be associated with grief.

These explanations do not necessarily compete with one another.

They may coexist.

Human environments are complex systems. Attempting to reduce them to a single cause often obscures more than it reveals.

The most productive approach may therefore be one of layered understanding. Physical, psychological, social, symbolic and, potentially, energetic influences can all be considered without assuming that any one level provides a complete explanation.

This layered perspective is one of the strengths of both environmental psychology and classical feng shui.

The Importance of Investigation

A recurring theme throughout this article has been the value of investigation.

Predecessor law is most useful when it encourages curiosity rather than fear.

A property associated with recurring illness should be investigated.

A business premises associated with repeated failure should be investigated.

A house associated with relationship difficulties should be investigated.

The goal is not to confirm a preconceived belief. The goal is to understand the place more fully.

Sometimes the explanation will be environmental.

Sometimes it will be architectural.

Sometimes it will be social or historical.

Sometimes no obvious explanation will emerge.

In every case, investigation is more valuable than assumption.

This principle is particularly important because stories about places have a tendency to grow. A single event can become a local legend. A legend can become a reputation. A reputation can begin influencing future experiences.

The disciplined investigator remains open to possibilities while maintaining critical thinking.

The Forgotten Question

Much of the discussion surrounding predecessor law focuses on what happened before.

Who lived here?

What occurred here?

Why did previous occupants leave?

These are important questions.

Yet they are not the most important question.

The most important question is:

What kind of future is being created here now?

This shift in emphasis changes everything.

Instead of becoming preoccupied with inherited patterns, attention turns towards present action.

How is the space being used?

What activities are occurring within it?

What relationships are being cultivated?

What intentions are being reinforced?

What qualities are emerging?

Every day, occupants participate in shaping the future history of a place.

From this perspective, predecessor law becomes less about inheritance and more about stewardship.

We are not merely recipients of the history of a place.

We are contributors to its future.

Positive Legacy

Perhaps the most hopeful conclusion concerns the possibility of positive inheritance.

Much of the literature surrounding predecessor law focuses on problems. Yet some of the most extraordinary places in human history have acquired reputations for learning, healing, creativity, contemplation and wisdom.

Universities preserve intellectual traditions.

Libraries preserve knowledge.

Temples preserve devotion.

Retreat centres preserve contemplative practice.

Family homes preserve belonging.

Such places remind us that history can be a resource rather than a burden.

Positive patterns can accumulate.

Supportive environments can become stronger over time.

Beneficial traditions can be transmitted across generations.

This possibility deserves far more attention than it typically receives.

A New Research Frontier

From an academic perspective, predecessor law remains largely unexplored.

Environmental psychology has produced extensive research concerning place attachment, place identity, restorative environments and environmental influences on behaviour. However, surprisingly little systematic research has examined the broader question of how the histories of places influence future occupants.

This gap presents an opportunity.

Future research could investigate:

  • recurring patterns within residential properties
  • long term histories of commercial premises
  • healing environments
  • educational environments
  • sacred spaces
  • the effects of space clearing interventions
  • the relationship between environmental psychology and traditional feng shui concepts

Such research would not necessarily prove every claim associated with predecessor law. However, it could significantly deepen our understanding of how places shape human experience.

Final Reflections

The ancient traditions that gave rise to feng shui emerged from careful observation of the relationship between people and their environments. Long before the development of environmental psychology, building biology or neuroscience, practitioners recognised that places influence life.

Modern research increasingly supports this broad insight, even when it explains the mechanisms differently.

The deeper lesson may be remarkably simple.

Places matter.

They matter because they shape behaviour.

They matter because they influence wellbeing.

They matter because they support memory.

They matter because they contribute to identity.

They matter because they connect past, present and future.

Whether one interprets predecessor law through feng shui, environmental psychology, space conditioning, morphic resonance or some combination of these perspectives, the essential message remains the same.

The history of a place is never entirely separate from its future.

Every building contains traces of what has happened before.

Every occupant contributes to what will happen next.

In this sense, predecessor law may be understood not as a mysterious force but as a reminder that places, like people, carry histories. Those histories shape possibilities, influence probabilities and contribute to identity. Yet they do not determine destiny.

The future of a place, like the future of a person, remains an unfolding relationship between inheritance and choice.

That relationship is where feng shui begins.

 

References (Part 1

Alexander, C. (1979). The timeless way of building. Oxford University Press.

Altman, I., & Low, S. M. (Eds.). (1992). Place attachment. Plenum Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8753-4

Bruun, O. (2003). Fengshui in China: Geomantic divination between state orthodoxy and popular religion. University of Hawai‘i Press.

Huang, Y. P., & Srisuwan, P. (2024). Comparative analysis of Form and Compass Schools in feng shui architecture. Nakhara: Journal of Environmental Design and Planning, 23(3).

Kingston, K. (2025). The three most important times to do space clearing. Clear Space Living.

Low, S. M., & Altman, I. (1992). Place attachment: A conceptual inquiry. In I. Altman & S. M. Low (Eds.), Place attachment (pp. 1–12). Plenum Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8753-4_1

Norberg Schulz, C. (1980). Genius loci: Towards a phenomenology of architecture. Rizzoli.

Proshansky, H. M., Fabian, A. K., & Kaminoff, R. (1983). Place identity: Physical world socialisation of the self. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 3(1), 57–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(83)80021-8

Relph, E. (1976). Place and placelessness. Pion.

Spear, W. (1995/2010). Feng shui made easy: Designing your life with the ancient art of placement. North Atlantic Books.

Tuan, Y. F. (1974). Topophilia: A study of environmental perception, attitudes, and values. Prentice Hall.

Tuan, Y. F. (1977). Space and place: The perspective of experience. University of Minnesota Press.

Zhang, J. (2004). A translation of the ancient Chinese The Book of Burial (Zang Shu) by Guo Pu (276–324). Edwin Mellen Press.

References (Part 2)

Altman, I., & Low, S. M. (Eds.). (1992). Place attachment. Plenum Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8753-4

Appleton, J. (1975). The experience of landscape. Wiley.

Gifford, R. (2014). Environmental psychology: Principles and practice (5th ed.). Optimal Books.

Kaplan, R., & Kaplan, S. (1989). The experience of nature: A psychological perspective. Cambridge University Press.

Kaplan, S. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15(3), 169–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-4944(95)90001-2

Proshansky, H. M., Fabian, A. K., & Kaminoff, R. (1983). Place identity: Physical world socialisation of the self. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 3(1), 57–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(83)80021-8

Tuan, Y. F. (1974). Topophilia: A study of environmental perception, attitudes, and values. Prentice Hall.

Ulrich, R. S. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 224(4647), 420–421. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.6143402

Ulrich, R. S. (1991). Effects of interior design on wellness: Theory and recent scientific research. Journal of Health Care Interior Design, 3(1), 97–109.

World Health Organization. (2009). WHO guidelines for indoor air quality: Dampness and mould. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789289041683

References (Part 3)

Tiller, W. A. (1997). Science and human transformation: Subtle energies, intentionality and consciousness. Pavior Publishing.

Tiller, W. A. (2007). Psychoenergetic science: A second Copernican-scale revolution. Pavior Publishing.

Tiller, W. A., Dibble, W. E., Jr., & Kohane, M. J. (2001). Conscious acts of creation: The emergence of a new physics. Pavior Publishing. Read my summary of this book and it’s available via: https://archive.org/details/consciousactsofc0000till

Tiller, W. A., Dibble, W. E., Jr., & Kohane, M. J. (2004). Towards general experimentation and discovery in conditioned laboratory spaces: Part I. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 11(7–8), 95–119.

Tiller, W. A., Dibble, W. E., Jr., & Kohane, M. J. (2006). Some science adventures with real magic. Pavior Publishing.

Radin, D. (2006). Entangled minds: Extrasensory experiences in a quantum reality. Paraview Pocket Books.

Jahn, R. G., & Dunne, B. J. (1987). Margins of reality: The role of consciousness in the physical world. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Dossey, L. (2013). One mind: How our individual mind is part of a greater consciousness and why it matters. Hay House.

References (Part 4)

Sheldrake, R. (1981). A new science of life: The hypothesis of morphic resonance. Blond & Briggs.

Sheldrake, R. (1988). The presence of the past: Morphic resonance and the habits of nature. Collins.

Sheldrake, R. (2009). Morphic resonance: The nature of formative causation (3rd ed.). Park Street Press.

Sheldrake, R. (2012). The science delusion: Freeing the spirit of enquiry. Coronet.

Sheldrake, R. (2021). Ways to go beyond and why they work: Seven spiritual practices in a scientific age. Coronet.

Midgley, M. (2005). The reappearance of emergence. In P. Clayton & P. Davies (Eds.), The re-emergence of emergence(pp. 25–48). Oxford University Press.

Nagel, T. (2012). Mind and cosmos: Why the materialist neo-Darwinian conception of nature is almost certainly false. Oxford University Press.

Tuan, Y. F. (1977). Space and place: The perspective of experience. University of Minnesota Press.

Relph, E. (1976). Place and placelessness. Pion.

Norberg-Schulz, C. (1980). Genius loci: Towards a phenomenology of architecture. Rizzoli.

References (Part 5)

Kingston, K. (1998). Creating sacred space with feng shui: Learn the art of space clearing and bring new energy into your life. Broadway Books.

Kingston, K. (2008). Clear your clutter with feng shui (Rev. ed.). Three Rivers Press.

Linn, D. (1995). Sacred space: Clearing and enhancing the energy of your home. Ballantine Books.

Spear, W. (1995/2010). Feng shui made easy: Designing your life with the ancient art of placement. North Atlantic Books.

Turner, V. (1969). The ritual process: Structure and anti-structure. Aldine.

van Gennep, A. (1960). The rites of passage (M. B. Vizedom & G. L. Caffee, Trans.). University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1909)

Dai, H., Milkman, K. L., & Riis, J. (2014). The fresh start effect: Temporal landmarks motivate aspirational behaviour. Management Science, 60(10), 2563–2582. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1901

Tiller, W. A., Dibble, W. E., Jr., & Kohane, M. J. (2001). Conscious acts of creation: The emergence of a new physics. Pavior Publishing.

Sheldrake, R. (1988). The presence of the past: Morphic resonance and the habits of nature. Collins.

References (Part 6)

Alexander, C. (1979). The timeless way of building. Oxford University Press.

Altman, I., & Low, S. M. (Eds.). (1992). Place attachment. Plenum Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8753-4

Gifford, R. (2014). Environmental psychology: Principles and practice (5th ed.). Optimal Books.

Kaplan, R., & Kaplan, S. (1989). The experience of nature: A psychological perspective. Cambridge University Press.

Kingston, K. (1998). Creating sacred space with feng shui: Learn the art of space clearing and bring new energy into your life. Broadway Books.

Proshansky, H. M., Fabian, A. K., & Kaminoff, R. (1983). Place identity: Physical world socialisation of the self. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 3(1), 57–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(83)80021-8

Sheldrake, R. (1988). The presence of the past: Morphic resonance and the habits of nature. Collins.

Spear, W. (1995/2010). Feng shui made easy: Designing your life with the ancient art of placement. North Atlantic Books.

Tiller, W. A., Dibble, W. E., Jr., & Kohane, M. J. (2001). Conscious acts of creation: The emergence of a new physics. Pavior Publishing.

Ulrich, R. S. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 224(4647), 420–421. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.6143402

World Health Organization. (2009). WHO guidelines for indoor air quality: Dampness and mould. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789289041683

References (Part 7)

Altman, I., & Low, S. M. (Eds.). (1992). Place attachment. Plenum Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8753-4

Gifford, R. (2014). Environmental psychology: Principles and practice (5th ed.). Optimal Books.

Proshansky, H. M., Fabian, A. K., & Kaminoff, R. (1983). Place identity: Physical world socialisation of the self. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 3(1), 57–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(83)80021-8

Relph, E. (1976). Place and placelessness. Pion.

Sheldrake, R. (1988). The presence of the past: Morphic resonance and the habits of nature. Collins.

Spear, W. (1995/2010). Feng shui made easy: Designing your life with the ancient art of placement. North Atlantic Books.

Tuan, Y. F. (1977). Space and place: The perspective of experience. University of Minnesota Press.

References (Part 8)

Altman, I., & Low, S. M. (Eds.). (1992). Place attachment. Plenum Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8753-4

Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5(4), 323–370. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.5.4.323

Kaplan, R., & Kaplan, S. (1989). The experience of nature: A psychological perspective. Cambridge University Press.

Norberg-Schulz, C. (1980). Genius loci: Towards a phenomenology of architecture. Rizzoli.

Proshansky, H. M., Fabian, A. K., & Kaminoff, R. (1983). Place identity: Physical world socialisation of the self. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 3(1), 57–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(83)80021-8

Sheldrake, R. (1988). The presence of the past: Morphic resonance and the habits of nature. Collins.

Tiller, W. A., Dibble, W. E., Jr., & Kohane, M. J. (2001). Conscious acts of creation: The emergence of a new physics. Pavior Publishing.

Tuan, Y. F. (1974). Topophilia: A study of environmental perception, attitudes, and values. Prentice Hall.

Ulrich, R. S. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 224(4647), 420–421. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.6143402

Alexander, C. (1979). The timeless way of building. Oxford University Press.

References (Part 9)

Altman, I., & Low, S. M. (Eds.). (1992). Place attachment. Plenum Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8753-4

Gifford, R. (2014). Environmental psychology: Principles and practice (5th ed.). Optimal Books.

Proshansky, H. M., Fabian, A. K., & Kaminoff, R. (1983). Place identity: Physical world socialisation of the self. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 3(1), 57–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(83)80021-8

Sheldrake, R. (1988). The presence of the past: Morphic resonance and the habits of nature. Collins.

Spear, W. (1995/2010). Feng shui made easy: Designing your life with the ancient art of placement. North Atlantic Books.

Tiller, W. A., Dibble, W. E., Jr., & Kohane, M. J. (2001). Conscious acts of creation: The emergence of a new physics. Pavior Publishing.

Tuan, Y. F. (1977). Space and place: The perspective of experience. University of Minnesota Press.

World Health Organization. (2009). WHO guidelines for indoor air quality: Dampness and mould. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789289041683

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