During one of my recent public talk, a member of the audience asked me if it is bad Feng Shui to place cactus plant indoor. She went on to ask whether it is okay if the cactus plant is located outside the house in the garden.

I had attended many Feng Shui course during my time from many different masters/teachers. In none of these courses was the cactus and its placement ever mentioned or discussed.

I do remember however reading a book a very long time ago where the author mentioned that it is bad Feng Shui to have a cactus plant indoor but perfectly okay or even favourable to located it outside the house in the garden.

What is my take on this? Let’s go back to basic principles.

What is a cactus? It is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Most cacti live in habitats subject to at least some drought. Many live in extremely dry environments, even being found in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on earth. Cacti show many adaptations to conserve water.

Most species of cacti have lost true leaves, retaining only spines, which are highly modified leaves. As well as defending against herbivores, spines help prevent water loss by reducing air flow close to the cactus and providing some shade.

In the absence of leaves, enlarged stems carry out photosynthesis. Transpiration, during which carbon dioxide enters the plant and water escapes, does not take place during the day at the same time as photosynthesis, but instead occurs at night.

To summarize, a cactus is a plant with spines and transpiration (think generation of “qi”) takes place at night instead of during the day.

One of the most common uses of plant is to generate “qi” and to activate a certain sector of the property. Based on the above definition, a cactus should work like any other plant, although I agree it maybe not as efficient as a leafy plant.

What about the spines? Let’s go back to first principles. The spines do generate “sha qi” or “killing energy” just like any larger pointy structure. However these spines, in my opinion, generate very little energy and can be ignored.

However these spines can be dangerous physically. You can accidentally hurt yourself and the danger is compounded if and when there are children in the house.

So that is my take. If you are a cactus enthusiast and must have them in the house, do so but place is out of reach of the children. Otherwise you are likely to get greater efficacy from a leafy plant.

What about cactus in the garden? Go ahead and plant some if you must. It may even help protect you against intruders!

Otherwise a leafy plant is better.