According to some, placing a pair of cry- stal ducks in the southwest (romance) corner of a property will guarantee a suitable partner within a matter of weeks or placing a frog with a coin protruding from its mouth at your front door will ensure a sudden and marked improvement in your financial status. Common sense should tell you that this is not traditional fung shui, but such cures prove attractive because they appear to offer miraculous remedies in a brief period of time. Symbols such as the choy mao ('wealth cat') and the money frog or toad are reflections of culture and tradition; not talismans for success. These figures have decorative purposes and also play a psychological role in that they encourage some people to be industrious or be reassured. They should never be viewed as a panacea for whatever problems we are experiencing. If gaining riches were really as simple as positioning a fung shui symbol at one's front door, wouldn't we all be fabulously wealthy? Fung shui is one of three influences over our lives, the other two being destiny, or luck, and effort.
