The history of feng shui covers at least 3,500 years before the invention of the magnetic compass,[27] therefore defining authentic feng shui as having a "compass school" and a "form school" misses the point.
Feng Shui developed thousands of years ago in little villages of the Orient. It was called Folk Feng Shui[28]. Their livelihoods were dependent on it. They studied the formations of the land and ways of the wind & water to determine the best setting for their survival. Good Feng Shui would produce bountiful harvest, healthy livestock and abundant life. Harsh winds would destroy their crops, leaving no food for their family and their animals. Violent storms would tear down their homes and villages.
The elements, water, rain, wind, fog, sun were believed to be the energy of heaven and earth. These shaman-kings had knowledge of landforms and weather, that could drive back the elements that threaten a village. This divinization of land forms was the beginning and foundation of Feng Shui.
Landform Technique is the fundamental basis of feng shui. Compass Feng Shui originated after Landform techniques. Compass Feng Shui uses the compass and magnetic north for all of its readings.
In his fieldwork in China, Ole Bruun[29] noted that these ancient methods of feng shui all used a compass.'Traditional' and 'Classical' feng shui is what is practiced and taught in Asia today and while both do use a compass and base their theories and applications on their understandings of Chinese literature about feng shui it is not the methods of ancient feng shui masters.