How do we change the perception in the mind of the general public if by a simple search for the term "Feng Shui", it renders a picture of this particular object and voila - you are promised all the riches of the world - if you just buy this item, put this color on your wall, or hang this object on your wall?

This object is commonly associated with Feng Shui.  It is probably the most frequently used object when somebody wants to do “Feng Shui” on their property, their office or piece of land. 

Unfortunately, what it is being used for and what it’s supposed to be representing is two different things.

This is Not the "Be All and End All" of Feng Shui.  It is far more than just an image and aligning your house / office in accordance with these 8 quadrants.   

But there are 2 versions of the Ba Gua. There is what is known as the Early Heaven Bagua which envisions perfection. It was intended to be a model of all the elements in complete balance and depicts the cosmos as it should be according to the sage Fu Xi [approximately 2800BC in China]. This Ba Gua was modelled after a dragon-headed Horse with carp-like scales which he spotted in the Yellow River. It had strange and unique markings on its body which he noted down and studied in depth. The sages then came up with the model of dots called the He Tu. The He Tu combined with the Trigrams formed the model of the universe – known as the Ba Gua.

The Ba Gua is a mathematical depiction of the world without imperfections or chaos. It is static and does not change. But we no longer live in 2800BC! As the world increased, and it did no longer just consist of Ancient China, it was observed that the world is full of imperfections and chaos.

A change in the Early Heaven Ba Gua was necessary to create the Later Heaven Ba Gua, which does take into account these imperfections and chaos in the universe and places the Trigrams in a manner that takes into account the fluctuations and changes in the energy flow and patterns.

This change in the energy flow and patterns is what was observed after more careful scrutiny of the world at large. One of the trigrams changed to form what we know now as the Later Heaven Ba Gua. 

Which one to use? It depends on the goal for which you are doing your Feng Shui analysis. But one thing is for sure – you cannot just place objects in locations and expect a miracle. It simply does not work that way.

Action – goal oriented, driven, strategic action – that yields the results from the energy which is there naturally.