A Feng Shui Chat on the Palace of Versailles, France

This article was posted on the public account this past July; images omitted—those who wish to see them may follow the “Daoist Talisman Yin Talisman Culture” public account. I. The Building of Versailles The world-renowned Palace of Versailles sits in the town of Versailles, 18 km southwest of Paris. Its interior architectural style is Baroque with some Rococo, famed for its golden splendor and magnificence. Yet as a palace for living, its feng shui is truly terrible: since Louis XIV moved the French royal court into Versailles, the French royal house began its decline. The reason Louis XIV decided to move to Versailles was the great Fronde rebellions in Paris from 1648 to 1653, together with Paris’s truly poor environment at the time; so after on-site investigation he decided to move the royal court out of the chaotic, clamorous capital to Versailles. Originally Versailles was only a temporary rest stop for hunting—forests and marsh wasteland. In the Middle Ages, forests and marshes carried not only fantasy and mystery but also beauty. In 1667, Le Nôtre designed the gardens and fountains of Versailles; Le Vau added new palaces to the west, north, and south of the hunting lodge, enclosing the original lodge. The east side of the original hunting lodge was kept as the main entrance, forming the Marble Courtyard. The Palace of Versailles c. 1688 by Pierre Patel By 1668 the main construction of Versailles was complete. One can see that although a straight road charges from behind, a river was built along the central road, rising in tiers from far to near, greatly reducing the impact of that direction. At that time the front of Versailles also had some road rushes, but they were soft and gentle, not so forceful; together with the outer bow formed by the woods, they formed the stance of Versailles drawing a bow and shooting outward. For France, then the hegemon of Europe, this was originally a fine stance. However in 1674 the architect Mansart took over the Versailles project from Le Vau; he added the north and south wings, the chapel, the orangerie, and the grand and small stables, and built three radial avenues before the palace. These three avenues became the clear mark of Versailles—and became the strong road rush facing it. II. The Reign of Louis XIV After years of construction, on May 6, 1682 Louis XIV declared the French court removed from Paris to Versailles. Oil on canvas by J.B. Martin, 1690 This oil painting of 1690 depicts the view looking outward from the front of Versailles. One may note that the outward bow formed with the woods has disappeared, while two curved buildings were built on the left and right of the distant road. In architectural structure this is still elegant, but in feng shui it is disastrous: after splitting into two bows left and right, the stance of drawing the bow and shooting outward was lost, and in reverse a long-spear-like road rush aimed straight at Versailles formed. These three roads have been preserved into modern times; modern photographs show how they were first built. With a compass, Versailles clearly commits a major taboo: the entire palace axis sits at Xin-Xu facing Yi-Chen, dead center. In other words, the sitting mountain lies between the Qian and Dui trigrams—this is clearly “leaving the hexagram,” and leaving the hexagram in feng shui is a most dangerous ending-of-male-line formation. Moreover, the whole palace is built on soft sandy-mud ground, so in some places the foundation sinks, further worsening the feng shui; and because of construction problems Versailles is very cold, which plainly does not meet feng shui’s requirements for livable places. In ancient terms this is a baleful site, unfavorable for begetting sons. The Versailles palace is U-shaped; the railings at the door can offer a little relief, yet against the fierce road rush before them they are useless; and the three great roads charging head-on plainly form an ominous formation for Periods Two, Three, and Six. After Louis XIV moved in 1682, in 1684 the Upper Yuan First Period began, and thereafter each twenty-year period advanced. As the stance showed, Louis XIV’s fortune also began to run out; though France had strong foundations and army, the following wars still dragged down the French economy. The Nine Years’ War (War of the Grand Alliance, also called the War of the League of Augsburg) from 1688 to 1697 with the Holy Roman Emperor still fell within the First Period—it only caused France to lose its hegemonic stance while remaining a great power. Yet soon after, four years later, the War of the Spanish Succession from 1702 to 1713 erupted. In this war natural disaster also lent a hand: the great cold of 1709 and soaring war costs dragged down the French economy; mass deaths among the starving pushed society to the brink of collapse. France’s population may have fallen from about 21 million in the 1670s to under 19 million by 1712. This war crossed from the end of the First Period into the Second; France formally entered its decline. Though in name still Europe’s first power, after the harsh Treaty of Utrecht was published the French were bitterly disappointed with the outcome—Louis XIV’s once-great image and super-high popularity were lost in his later years; the people no longer compared the king to the sun, and the title “Louis the Great” vanished from French speech and memory. Later Voltaire remarked of Louis XIV in 1751: “In the last three years of his life, the great and memorable deeds he had accomplished in his course had, in the minds of most of his subjects, been utterly lost.” Louis XIV and his queen had three sons and three daughters, but except for the dauphin who grew to adulthood the rest died young; among them the second son, the Duke of Burgundy, was born after the move to Versailles in 1682. Under a poor fortune, people often do foolish things that make things worse. Had things stopped there, problems would not have appeared so swiftly. The worst was the Royal Chapel begun in 1700, completed only on June 5, 1710. As said earlier, road rush causes problems in Periods Two, Three, and Six; and the years 1704 to 1724 all fall within Period Two. In Period Two the Five Yellow direction is Gen, and in 1710 the annual flying stars likewise place Two in the center, with Five Yellow again flying to Gen. The doubled Five Yellow force is greatly strengthened; at the same time 1710 was a Geng-Yin year, and building this royal chapel was in the Yin sector—also the Tai Sui direction. When the annual Five Yellow arrives one must not build; one must not break ground in the annual Tai Sui direction either. More importantly, Louis XIV himself was born in a Yin year—so Louis precisely disturbed this direction, and disaster was swiftly triggered. In 1710 Louis XIV had one son, three grandsons, and two great-grandsons. 1711 (Xin-Mao): Louis XIV’s eldest son the dauphin died; the Duke of Burgundy succeeded to the succession. February 1712 (Ren-Chen): the Duke of Burgundy’s wife died of smallpox; a week later the Duke of Burgundy died, and was succeeded by his eldest son, the Duke of Brittany. March 1712 (Ren-Chen): the heir apparent, the Duke of Brittany, died in the same year. 1713 (Gui-Si): France and Britain signed the Treaty of Utrecht. 1714 (Jia-Wu): the late dauphin’s child, the Duke of Berry, died in a fall from horseback. 1715 (Yi-Wei): Louis XIV died of gangrene, bequeathing the throne on his deathbed to his grandson. In five years three generations of grandfather and grandsons nearly all died out, leaving only one sole grandson—the later Louis XV. Louis XV’s birth was not smooth either: after being born in 1710 he nearly died of illness; luckily he received good care, and was only five years old when he inherited the throne. FRANCE: VERSAILLES, 1714. Plan of the palace The image above is a 1714 construction plan for Versailles: the upper part is the rear garden in an inverted cross shape, while the lower part of Versailles resembles a human figure. This construction foreshadows great changes for later France; the symbolic meaning is mentioned at the end of this essay. III. The Reign of Louis XV When Louis XV was seventeen he returned to Versailles in June 1722 and began his reign; during this period he made some interior adjustments to the palace, and his greatest hobby was planting large numbers of rare plants collected from around the world in the rear gardens. Louis XV did not live permanently at Versailles, for he found it very uncomfortable and too cold; he usually lived among several residences, spending more time rotating among Versailles, Fontainebleau, and the Petit Trianon (built later, behind Versailles). This was in fact his good fortune; had he taken Versailles as residence long-term, he rather than Louis XVI might well have gone to the guillotine. Louis XV’s misfortune showed in his children. Princess Louise-Élisabeth of France (14 August 1727 – 6 December 1759), married her cousin-uncle Philip, Duke of Parma, in 1739. One son and two daughters; died at 32. Anne Henriette of France (14 August 1727 – 10 February 1752); died before turning 25. Marie Louise of France (28 July 1728 – 19 February 1733); died young before age five. Louis, Dauphin of France (4 September 1729 – 20 December 1765); died at 36. Philippe of France (30 August 1730 – 17 April 1733); died young before age three. Princess Marie Adélaïde of France (23 March 1732 – 27 February 1800); lived to 68. Sophie Philippine of France (17 July 1734 – 3 March 1782); died at 47. Thérèse of France (16 March 1736 – 28 September 1744); died at eight. Louise Marie of France (5 July 1737 – 23 December 1787); died at 50. Louis XV’s children mostly died young or early; only one princess married, and the other princesses never did—on the flimsy grounds of lacking dowries. One may notice that these ten children were all born during the Third Period (1724–1744), matching the Third Period’s adversity, and many early deaths also occurred within it. On 20 December 1765 (Yi-You), Louis XV’s dauphin Louis Ferdinand died of tuberculosis at Fontainebleau at age 35. Louis XIV’s dauphin died in a Mao year, and Louis XV’s dauphin died in a You year—this is no coincidence with the road charging from the Mao direction. Yet although Louis Ferdinand died early, because the dauphin lived at Versailles only in his early years and thereafter always in the Princes’ Court at Fontainebleau, the four remaining sons were luckily unharmed by Versailles’s influence. [Note] It should be pointed out that Baidu Baike says Louis Ferdinand died in 1755—this is wrong. Cross-checked against Wikipedia and other sources, Louis Ferdinand died in 1765, the Yi-You year. In 1774 Louis XV added a theatre, and planted in the gardens; in the years before his death he often lived at the Petit Trianon with his mistress the Countess of Barre (Jeanne Bécu). That same year on May 10, Louis XV died of smallpox. The eldest son the dauphin had already died; one son remained, the Count of Provence, but because the dauphin had four sons, Louis XV’s grandson ascended the throne as Louis XVI. The Petit Trianon also had problems: when built in 1762 for Louis XV’s mistress Madame de Pompadour, she died four years before completion, after which it passed to the Countess of Du Barry; in 1774 after Louis XVI succeeded he again gave it to his queen Marie Antoinette—and in 1793 both Madame de Pompadour and the Countess of Du Barry were beheaded. IV. The Reign of Louis XVI After 1784 the Sixth Period began; Louis XVI’s situation grew grim, the domestic economy further worsened, and France also shouldered a huge national debt. A large reason was that French nobles and Catholics were tax-exempt, while the resources that create great social wealth lay in noble and Catholic hands—hard for the king to resolve. On July 14, 1789, rebels saw arms and ammunition stocks in the Bastille and went to seize them. At the time the prison held only eight persons including prisoners: apart from the governor, four smiths, two nobles held for moral offenses including the Marquis de Sade, and one murder suspect. The governor stepped forward to mediate and prevent fighting, but was dragged out, repeatedly stabbed with knives, and beheaded; the same day the chamber of commerce president who refused to supply arms was shot. Although France later declared this National Day—treating it as a great event and the start of the French Revolution—in fact the storming of the Bastille was hardly a just act; in essence it was a riot. By contrast, truly meaningful was the National Constituent Assembly resolution of August 4, 1789, which swept away the feudal lord powers of the Second Estate (provincial nobles) and the tithe-collection rights of the First Estate (the Catholic clergy). In the Civil Constitution of the Clergy passed July 12, 1790, clergy became state employees. An electoral system was also established for parish priests and bishops to determine remuneration; many Catholics opposed the system, for it negated the Pope’s authority over the French church; in 1790 the National Assembly began requiring all clergy to swear loyalty to the crown. In the Xin-Hai year 1791, Louis XVI became a victim of the struggle and was guillotined; his second son Louis Charles was declared Louis XVII by Louis XVI’s brother the Count of Provence. On July 27, 1794 Louis XVII was imprisoned. The next year the French government announced the death of the ten-year-old Louis XVII in prison of tuberculosis. The same year the Count of Provence proclaimed himself Louis XVIII, toured Europe—Prussia, England, Russia—hoping for restoration. Versailles was looted many times in this period until in 1833 King Louis-Philippe of the Orléans dynasty ordered the palace restored and converted into a historical museum. Also in 1871, after Thiers became French prime minister, the Thiers government also moved into Versailles; but Thiers had no children. V. The Great Feng Shui Influence of Versailles’s Cross Canal As mentioned earlier, the plan of Versailles looks strange: the gardens behind resemble a face; with the palace as the main body and the three roads below they form a human-like figure. At the top, the Grand Canal dug in Louis XIV’s time is cross-shaped—but if one looks carefully, this cross is inverted. This secret is rarely mentioned: the upper cross is inverted and does not match the common cross form. This inverted cross has been accused by some as a symbol of Satan—in fact incorrectly. An inverted cross like this is actually a papal emblem of the Roman Catholic Church. In Catholic legend, Saint Peter asked to be crucified upside down, feeling unworthy to die as Christ did—meaning penitence in religion. A century later the occult figure Aleister Crowley rejected the religious reading, holding that the symbol represents refutation of divine grace and distance from Christ’s grace. In rune meaning, the cross is actually a manifestation of sun-light worship; later it signified radiance shining in all four directions. The swastika (卍 and 卐) are rotations of the cross, representing the overflow of turning radiance. Aryans used this symbol painted on the body for protection; Indians in the Vedic tradition further mystified it for awakening-power practices; later both Buddhism and Nazism used it with their own interpretations. Etruscan pendant, Italy, 700–650 BCE On an Etruscan pendant of 700–650 BCE collected in the Louvre, four such symbols appear as amulets. In fact the true function of this symbol is dissolution—like the power of Heavenly Virtue and Monthly Virtue in Chinese traditional culture, able to dissolve all adverse factors. Like the radiance of the sun shining forth, it can drive out all darkness; in religion it is further extended as possessing redemptive power. Had Versailles’s design been a pure cross, there would be no problem; but against this cultural backdrop the cross and the human figure are separated. According to biblical legend Jesus suffered and died as substitute for all under heaven, so the cross bearing the crucifix possesses redemptive power. Understood from an occult angle, Jesus on the cross becomes a surrogate for the multitude; after blessing it can bear sin in men’s place. The metaphor of the cross-rune can dissolve those calamities. Of course in reality it cannot possess so great a power—but faith needs a lodestar; it merely happened to be chosen. Once the cross and the human figure separate, the figure here still metaphorically means the sufferer—signifying separation of man from the cross. Abstracted into reality, this points to the strong anti-Catholic will of the masses during the later French Revolution, and France’s formal declaration that the church should leave Roman papal rule and fall under national administration. Remember one principle: the landmark buildings of a region often influence that region’s cultural consciousness, which in turn further drives the behavior of the masses; and this drive need not be clearly perceived—only a subtle recognition within the cultural background—though the time required is much longer. This feng shui influence was originally only regional; but under the Louis family Versailles served as the political center, directly radiating this influence across the whole nation and affecting France’s national fortune. France has always been closely linked with Catholicism. Initially in the early sixteenth century the French king was the supreme head of the church, partly free of Roman Curia control; but by persisting in Catholic faith he opposed the Reformation. If one notes that the facing-sitting of this rune lies between Qian and Dui—Qian number six, Dui number seven—this made France undergo enormous change between the Sixth and Seventh Periods; while the strong road rush in front pierces through Versailles and the cross-shaped lake, cutting the entire palace and rear gardens in two. This is the meteoric rise of Napoleon between the Sixth and Seventh Periods. Contrary to popular belief, Napoleon was not of poor birth but of nobility; after his father squandered the family property in Rome the family declined—yet Napoleon was truly of brilliant talent, able to attend the noble military academy and become a second lieutenant in only one year. In 1793 Napoleon began to stand out, showing great military talent in many wars thereafter. Precisely because of this background the lingering forces of the Bourbon dynasty hoped to restore the dynasty by supporting Napoleon, and gave strong support in every direction. The masses’ extreme aversion to Catholicism in the French Revolution was regarded by the Roman Pope as disaster foreshadowed in the Book of Revelation, so he constantly stirred up domestic revolt in France, while also trying to influence Russia and Austria to intervene in the French Revolution. In fact after the Revolution ended, French anti-Catholic feeling was no longer so fierce—for after the Revolution, whether Girondins or Jacobins took power, both implemented cruel and dark oppression; for many French people life was in fact not better than before. Only under Napoleon did people’s lives slightly improve—but enmity with the Roman Catholic Church was already fixed. Under these circumstances, in 1798 France simply occupied Rome and captured the Pope, further deepening the severe confrontation with the Curia; after defeating the Knights of Malta—one of the crusaders—Napoleon seized Malta, and the remaining Knights fled to Russia for refuge. Later Napoleon declared himself emperor; at his height all European nations except Britain submitted or allied, forming the vast Napoleonic imperial system. But because no one lived at Versailles after the Revolution, later history has little further connection with the palace.