Thursday, February 28, 2008

Using Feng Shui to Your Advantage

While a lot of people have heard about Feng Shui, truly understanding it can be a challenge. Feng Shui literally translates to Wind Water, and it is an ancient Chinese concept of balancing elements and energies in a home. This balancing is done through the deliberate placing of furniture, and choosing colors and shapes that naturally reflect certain energetic qualities.

While it all seems a bit far fetched, many people attest that major positive changes can occur when they follow the advice of Feng Shui. Some people consult a Feng Shui expert before they even buy a home, and many interior designers and home stagers utilize Feng Shui philosophies. While certainly not everyone cares about a home's energy balance, it is an interesting concept, and one that can be fun to put into practice. Using Feng Shui might make your home more comfortable, and it may even make it more appealing to buyers when it comes time to sell.

Feng Shui can be very complex, involving an awful lot of aspects. Fortunately, many modern practitioners have filtered the art down to its essence, allowing the lay-person to practice some Feng Shui without being completely overwhelmed. Something that outlines Feng Shui is a simple way is the Bagua. The Bagua is like a map that helps you decorate or design your home.

Some simple concepts involve symbolism. Let's take love for example. Ideally, the master bedroom in a home would be in the love center, which, according to the Bagua map, is in the back right hand corner of a home. If you want to encourage relationships, decorate with pairs. For example, be sure to have two bedside tables, and two of each decorative object. Single candlesticks, statues or paintings of single people will encourage the owner to be single. If you are trying to find a partner, choose art that depicts happy couples, and decorate in colors like pink, red and white. Be sure not to let pink dominate in a girly way, as this discourages masculine energy. If you despise red tones and really don't want to decorate with them, adding just a touch of pink in a small but deliberate dose will help increase the love energy of the room.

The bedroom isn't the best place for plants, as their growing energy will disturb sleep. Plants are ideal in the wealth center, however, which is located in the back left hand corner of a home. If one wants renewed movement in their career center, adding water gets the energy flowing. Circular shapes and watery colors also add this energy if an actual water feature is impossible.

In Feng Shui, bathrooms, laundry facilities and even kitchen sinks are places where energy can literally go down the drain. If these are in the financial center of a home, the household may have trouble saving money. Similarly, if you can see the bathroom from your bed, you may wake up with depleted energy. Keeping bathroom doors shut, or at least toilet lids shut can help to balance this. If possible, rearrange furniture to avoid this energy drain.

There is so much to Feng Shui, I couldn't possibly explain it all in a short article. But keeping it in mind when designing and decorating a home is fun at the least, and life enhancing at best. You just might get offers to purchase your home from other Feng Shui believers!

Sea Salt and Its Many Uses in Attracting Wealth

Hello there once again! I hope you enjoyed yesterday's article that mentioned a few ideas to help bring in prosperity and more love into your life. I actually went out yesterday and purchased sea salt to help clean my crystals and add good luck to my home. I will share more about the ideas of sea salt and its purifying abilities among with sharing even more ideas in bringing wealth into your life.

So what's the big deal about sea salt, and won't any kind of salt help? Nope. Sorry to inform you, but it has to be sea salt. It has to do with the negative ions from the moving sea that will help stimulate negative (Qi) chi to move on and help attract the good kind of chi these exercises are determined to offer you. Table salt simply does not have these purifying properties. Haven't you noticed how the Japanese revel in their bathing rituals? There really is something about the negative ions from moving water removing bad chi from one's life and sense of well being.

So where do we start today? Let's first start with getting you some sea salt, I have located a few places to get sea salt at rock bottom prices online - see link below, but allow me tell you that Sea salt is an all important tool in applying Feng Shui exercises and tasks to your rituals in help healing and clearing while cleaning chi around you and your home. You can also find sea salt at your local grocery store, and do yourself a favor, do not try and get around by using table salt or even kosher salt, both of which I love using in my cooking -- but this is for Feng Shui use. Of course, by all means, if you are buying the sea salt, use it freely in your cooking. I prefer to use the course sea salt as with all the types of salts I may use.

So you have now got your Sea Salt, what next? Here are a few tips on how Feng Shui practitioners recommend their clients to use in helping bring their clients luck and wealth.

  1. Place a teaspoon of sea salt and wrap it in plastic and place in your wallet in a secret compartment. Replace every ten days to ensure its potency. This is said to bring the owner of the wallet wealth...
  2. Place sea salt on the center and back side of your entrance door, this is said to also bring luck and wealth to all those who enter - and yes the changing it every ten days rule also applies here as well in ensuring its potency of bringing wealth luck and good chi.
  3. Also if you really are in a jam, placing sea salt in all the corners of your house - simply use little plastic containers - say the ones you may get when you ask for salad dressing on the side at a restaurant. Place the sea salt in them, cover them if you can, then place them in every corner wherever two walls meet. You may need an extra box of sea salt for this - but since sea salt is relatively inexpensive and you are in need of attracting wealth, this really helps absorb any negative energy you house may be harboring. Again, change every ten days.

The best time to do any or all of these tasks is on the start of the new moon. Since energy grows as the new moons grows into a full moon, where as energy dies down after the full moon.

There are many other uses for sea salt besides making your dishes taste great while helping bring wealth luck to you and into your home. Remember that yesterday I discussed the importance of cleaning up and removing any and all clutter from your home just prior to the Chinese New Year. This is also the best time to take any crystals, quartz and stones you may use to bring good energy into your home.

Wash crystals with soap, then, place in a bowl of salted water made from sea salt. If you can, even better is to let them soak overnight under the light of the full moon. The next day, you should also allow at least four hours in the sun to finish the cleansing process. This is said to remove last year's energies and replenish to good chi in your crystals and stones you have placed in your home.

The use of sun catchers also work great as do crystals that reflect all the colors of the rainbow. By hanging these in your windows where the sun shines in, the multi-faceted colors help keep and bring good chi into your home. This is especially important in your home office and bedroom along with your kitchen areas of your home.

As of this month's new moon, I did several of the rituals I have already mentioned here. I placed a dark blue mug and filled it to the brim with sea salt and placed it in my kitchen in a dry area which is said to bring happiness to couples. I also grabbed a little sea salt and placed it in plastic and placed it in my wallet. I also marked on my calendar when the ten days will be up so that I can recall to change the sea salt. I also did a few other rituals which I have been doing for months and that is going around on Fridays with burning incense to each of the rooms in my place and blessing each room and all who enters with health, happiness and harmony along with prosperity.

Any effect so far? Well, yes! I am pleased I was finally able to purchase today some very needed domain names prior to them being picked up by others. Some of these will be very important to me in the coming months as I have several projects I am now organizing and the need for these domain names in setting up these works online is extremely important. My outlook is very good and confidence high. I also noticed that my fellow and love of my life was suggesting new and interesting dinner ideas to help spruce up our dinners at home last night. Our relationship is smoother than ever and I am more confident with every day passing that I am in a "right and good" relationship that is healthy and harmonious. And hey, who doesn't want that in their life?

So try some of these fun wealth attracting tips today and see their positive effects in the coming weeks. Mind you, these have been used for years both in China and Japan and by serious Feng Shui Practitioners and followers.

Leah Quinn is a writer who specializes on providing informative and entertaining articles on food, health, well-being and entertainment and is a multi-media artist living in New York.

Leah Quinn - EzineArticles Expert Author

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Twins

Should twins have the same destiny just because they share identical astrological charts? How come twins can be so different, one being rich, the other one poor, one being successful, the other one a failure.

Where it concerns astrology, the subject of twins and their destinies has always been amongst the more teasing issues of life. To many people, the subject of twins is one of the more puzzling and subtle topics in their quest to understand destiny.

We can use the example of two brothers.

I would like to propose a consideration that may at least take us away from the Time aspect of astrology or horoscopes of twins and permit a different scope. In other words, once we raised the question of twins sharing or not sharing similar destinies, an accent has been put on the time aspect, i.e. the identical astrological charts. But an identical astrological chart is but one of the aspects that link twins.

The matter remains confusing as long as we concentrate on the time aspect and it is the time aspect that has been puzzling people. Well, the time aspect may be one of the lesser significant things Twins have in common, where it comes to understanding the difference in their destinies.

Mostly we will point to the time aspect to show how twins are or should be the same, but it is the same time aspect that confuses us when we see twins are dissimilar.

Just think what else, besides the same astrological charts, twins have in common. Right, twins have in common that their system developed inside the same mother.

If a woman falls pregnant, she becomes the biological-physiological recource for the child to be. Her constitution, condition, blood quality and Qi resonance will be tapped into by the embryo in a complicated cycle of development.

So the question becomes will the child be able to tap into the right resources, in the right proportions at the appointed time. If a woman is pregnant with two children, the question becomes, how are these resources shared. Are the resources devided equally over the two children, no they are not.

Nothing in our universe is equal. Something is always more yin than yang or more yang than yin.

We need a balance between yin and yang, but in order to reach a healthy, happy and successful life and build resistence against destiny, we need to be a little more yang. In order to have resistence against destiny - the limitations imposed on us by time and space we call problems - we need our constitution and condition to be a little more yang.

If the woman falls pregnant with one child, she becomes the resource for this one embryo. If the woman carries two embryo's, one of them becomes the more yang one.

This is not a study into biochemics as it suffices to say that the one child taps into the mother's Qi potential, where two children need to rely on the same Qi potencial. The attraction and repulsion laws of Qi move over indiscriminate paths and there will be thus unequal development in the two brothers.

So many question arise concerning twins. Why should one of them be filthy rich, the other one filthy poor. One of them successful and strong, the other floating about on bad luck. Maybe one of them even died at birth or at an early age, et cetera.

Where twins are concerned, I would be inclined to look at biological and physiological factors, much more than the aspect of timing of birth. Any which way, what came before the first breath - i.e. the deciding factor for astrological charts - becomes a fairly interesting pointer to further study and understanding the life of twins.

Only concentrating on horoscopes of twins, we may not be able to solve these problems. Looking at timing, we will not be able to satisfactory justify similarities in twins, just as much as we will not be able to justify certain differences.

A mother carrying one child only, can devote all her Qi potential to this one child.

The child can then furthermore 'identify' with and readily tap into all of her resources - protein, calcium, natrium -, undisturbingly extracting only the best and later this may also help him to live out his astrological chart to the fullest and enjoy an 'unsplit' destiny. The child tapped into his mother's best Qi available at that time and from this the child built up a strong 'resistence against destiny', i.e. a helpful tool to overcome limitations of Time and Space in this game we call Life.

But, as always, astrological chart and Destiny are not synonymous.

What triggers our chart is our initial breath. Our initial breath triggers our triple heater and this triggers other meridians and body systems.

It has been a misconception that twins share one and the same destiny, they do not. Charts may show archetypical similarities, but they are two different, authentic, individuals, with only their astrological charts in common.

It is a misconceptions that two identical horoscopes should produce identical destinies. It is also a misconception that Fate relies on astrological timing alone. Fate is in the entire build up of our physical and emotional make up, blood being the denominator.

There is an additional philosophical problem surrounding our idea that twins should have the same type of lives. The question arises, should we even wish for them to share the same miserable life, or should we wish for them to be equally successful. The trouble here is, why we would desire a 'good' life. We cannot desire merely good things in life, as this would go against the laws of Qi.

Our astrological chart merely identifies the structure of our astrological potential. Similar charts may show we are sharing the same roof, it did not say the other person was sleeping in the same room or even making the same decisions.

All apples hanging from the same tree can't be equally strong and tasty.

Our constitution, physical and emotional condition, talents for attracting certain destinies - or our ability to withstand, our resistance against, certain destinies if you will - largely originated from our tree.

Consequently - not at all ignoring genetic influence of father that may be more evident in either one of them or yet other factors even -, one way I came to look upon twins is they shared the same Qi resource, having come from the same mother.

We cannot say that two runners having been trained by the same coach, will be equally successful, eventhough their race starts on the same moment. How the training was consumed and how the tournament will fold out will be due to highly individual factors.

Much in keeping with yin-yang law of attraction and repulsion and during the course of pregnancy, either embryo may then have extracted more of mother's 'yang' maybe, consequently leaving less yang for the other.

If one of twins had heavier bones, it may mean he had been able to extract more of his mother's calcium, somewhat leaving the other with 'second best choice'. We may extend this.

The whole process may have left one of them with the stronger kidneys, so vital Qi, meridians and what have you, maybe one of them then being more resistent to waves of destiny.

Regardless of 'same' horoscope - and we may extend this to 'identical' house charts as in Xuan Kong Feng Shui -, what our astrological charts may not show is in what way our personal Qi (will) resonate(s) with the environmental Qi, at any given time.

Our chart does not show we had to share our potential with a sibling. Twins may very well be polar opposites not the least bit answering to assumptions of astrological determinism or reductionism, (one of them) perhaps not living their lives up to 'astrological expectation'.

One of the brothers may then be a more yin type, the other brother the more yang type. Together they probably make the perfect couple, but for the rest their destinies should not be mixed astrologically.

It is perfectly imaginable that one of them should be the successful one because of his inborn ability to 'tap into Qi' smoother than the other, but would it not be equally imaginable that the less successful of the twins may be in fact the one living up to his greatest potential, while the 'successful' one still hasn't a clue about authenticity or choice. What is a 'hundred percent' here, what is vital Qi here, and what is a good destiny?

On a side note, and much more unconventional, can we identify the 'good life' by comparing the 'successful' and the 'criminal' twin and proclaim the latter to have a less desirable destiny, or was destiny about doing-the-right-thing-at-the-right-moment-in-the-right-mind (et cetera) and would it then be conceivable that the criminal, but with a true sense of 'dream', was the one showing 'desirable' destiny.

Irrespective of the similarity of their astrological charts, surely each one of the twins would be autonomous from the moment of his or her initial breath, making his or her own choices.

At one point in my life and in understanding destiny, it became apparent that each one of us shares the same cosmic rights: the right to live or die whenever and however, be healthy or sick, or become a priest or criminal. Priests sometimes become criminals, criminals sometimes turn into priests, even when they are one of twins.

We may not assume twins experience similar destinies, make the same decisions, relate to their environments in an identical or even similar way or even assume similarity in the way parents, siblings and educators - or Life itself -, treats them. Both, having been faced with the same choice of either turning left or right, may have decided on a different gate.

Apart from same-sex and opposite-sex twins, there are three kinds of twins; identical or not identical twins born from the same mother and (non-genetic) astrological twins, people born apart from different mothers but in the same moment in time. Research has shown striking similarities in destiny of twins, yet other research has shown their lives have been as wide apart as can be.

Twins may have nothing more in common than their ancestors and their initial breath. What has been programmed in blood and Qi for either one, remains obscure.


Chinese Food and Feng Shui – Eat Your Way to Improved Feng Shui

If you think about it, Food and Feng Shui go hand in hand. You can achieve improved energy by optimizing the Feng Shui of your food and by using food related items to your advantage. Elemental balance, Yin/Yang balance, Aromatherapy, and opportunities to increase prosperity and abundance are all important parts of Feng Shui and food.

Elemental balance in food can be achieved through use of colors. A plate full of monochromatic food can look pretty bland and probably wouldn’t get a seal of approval from a dietitian either (they usually advise a plate full of many different colors.) So a stir-fry made with yellow bell peppers, green bell peppers, orange bell peppers, red tomatoes, Chinese purple eggplant, and some pink shrimp would be a much better Feng Shui choice. Fruits and vegetables come in an array of colors; use them to your Feng Shui advantage. You don’t have to eat every color in the rainbow at every meal, but more colors in your diet will go a long way towards optimizing your Feng Shui.

The concept of Yin and Yang can also apply to your food. With food, Yin would be the milder flavors while Yang would be the bolder flavors. Chinese recipes already take advantage of this type of Feng Shui balance. Sweet and sour, hot and sour, and strong flavored dishes paired with plain rice are all examples of Yin/Yang balanced foods. When preparing these dishes the cook is always careful to balance the opposing flavors. Sweet and Sour Shrimp that is all sweet or overly sour wouldn’t be very pleasing to the palate and wouldn’t be good Feng Shui. And pairing a spicy dish with other spicy dishes would overtax the taste buds. Yin and Yang can also be used to explain the appeal of dishes featuring a mixture of soft or delicate foods with crunchy or crisp foods. Tofu dishes with chopped nuts or diced water chestnuts always balance these textural differences. A plate full of crunchy food could tire the mouth, while a plate full of soft food might not seem very fulfilling. Balance is very important in food and Feng Shui.

Aromatherapy is very important in Feng Shui because all senses need to be accommodated. Nothing is more pleasing to the nose than delicious smelling foods. Think about the scents when cooking Chinese food. Everyone in the house knows you’re cooking when the house is filled with the scent of toasting Szechuan peppercorns. And what a joy it is to smell a grinder filled with ground Szechuan peppercorns (toasted or un-toasted.) Aromatic seasonings like garlic, scallions, chilies and ginger often go into the wok near the beginning of the cooking process so they can lend their scents and lightly stir-fried flavors to the main ingredients. Plus, they are a treat for the cook to smell and they fill the home with a wonderful aroma. These wonderful scents rid the home of negative energy and fill them, and you, with positive energy.

In my Feng Shui practice I’ve found that prosperity and abundance are extremely common Feng Shui goals. There are many ways to increase your prosperity and abundance through food and food related items. One common Feng Shui recommendation is to use your stove (this is not about your oven or microwave, just your stove or cook-top) often. This is because your stove, and its burners, represents wealth. More burners would be better than less (so having a stove with five burners would represent extra wealth luck while one with only two burners would symbolize diminished wealth luck.) You need to have any broken burners repaired as soon as possible, because they would represent economic troubles. Using all of your burners evenly is much better than using one or two ‘favorite’ burners every day while ignoring the rest. Stimulating your wealth energy by using your stove often (hopefully by cooking meals using most or all of your burners throughout the day) can even be done by just turning on your burners every day for a few minutes. Gas stoves are better Feng Shui than electric stoves, though I would never recommend changing stoves or cook-tops for that reason alone. Wasting money is never good Feng Shui!

The dishes you serve your food in can also increase your prosperity and abundance. Ornate or expensive looking dishes carry wealth luck. Chinese or Asian dishes with fish designs or other wealth related designs also improve your wealth energy. Crystal glasses also improve the energy of your dining room table. The best way to serve up a meal that symbolizes prosperity and abundance is to set up your dining room table with your favorite fancy setting and crystal or crystal-like glassware, fill your table with an abundance of wonderful food (more food, more money), and double the food (thereby doubling your wealth) by hanging a mirror that reflects your dining table.

So now you’re ready to use all of your burners every day, cook elementally and Yin/Yang balanced Chinese meals, fill your home with amazing aromas, and sit down to a glorious meal at your prosperous dining table.

Feng Shui and Love

Alicia is a sophisticated, attractive and eligible woman. One would never guess that she is still single and in her mid-thirties. She enjoys her career, makes a good income, drives a nice car and lives comfortably. However, she has no luck in romance and is lonely without a partner in life. Her relationships never last very long. She has tried very hard to find a husband without any results. At the end of her rope, she wonders if her house's Feng Shui has anything to do with it. She asks me if Feng Shui affects love and if there are houses that create loneliness.

A house's Feng Shui can influence its resident's love relationships. However, the effects vary because everyone is unique and lives in different houses. Nonetheless, there are some general characteristics that create single or lonely people such as life long bachelors and spinsters or widows and widowers.

Houses that sit on a slope where the left hand and right hand sides are not even causes for an imbalance of masculine (yang) and feminine (yin) energies respectively. When the masculine side is lower, these energies tend to descend or have nothing to contain it. This balances the energies in favor of the feminine side or the females of the house. The results on the residents are stronger females who are dominant and weaker males who find it hard to excel here. Vice-versa. Similarly, living in a house located on a hill top, in a basin, at the end of an alley, or in a high rise all lack yin and yang energies. This makes for short relationships and loneliness. Also, depending on what year you are born, your house or bedroom may "sit" in a certain direction that places you in a frequency that causes difficulty attracting the opposite sex and getting married. For example, if you are born in the year of the ox and your house or bedroom "sits" in the "ying" direction (between 52 to 67 degrees of north); or if you are a dragon and your house or bedroom "sits" in the "si" direction (between 142 to 157 of north); or if you are a sheep and your house or bedroom "sits" in the "shen" direction (between 232 to 247 of north) - being in these frequencies may be causing you difficulty in finding a mate.

We must also look at a person's birth chart. Sometimes, it is their own frequencies that are not compatible with the opposite sex so that it is hard for them to have relationships. The Chinese birth chart or "ba zi" (literally translates to mean eight numbers) is a statistical record calculated from the eight numbers from the day, month, year and time of your birth. It is similar to an astrological chart that tells you what position the stars and planets are in at your specific time of birth and how their energies affect your life cycle. The information is highly accurate for those who know how to read it. However, the effect it has on you is minimal because it is still only one of 30 factors that influence your life. It may be your personality, your background, your culture, your career, your attitude or your health that makes it hard for you in finding a partner. So, it is important for us to look at as many factors as possible in both the person and their environment.

Usually a person settles down in a place where they feel most comfortable and secure, where the house's energies or chi is similar to their own. Very often, it is the person, who by nature has difficulty with relationships that live in a house where the Feng Shui creates loneliness or singularity. Also, most of us do not realize that the house can affect their love life and do not select their houses according to Feng Shui.

Alicia's birth chart indicates that her connection with men is weak. Although men do pursue her, it is usually very superficial. She is innately a strong-minded and independent person. Because of this nature, it is not surprising that she finds herself most comfortable in a house that sits on a hillside where the left side is lower than the right side - where male energies are weak. She also sleeps in a direction that aligns her with frequencies that are very positive for her career. Thus, her energies are focused and stronger for her career than her love life.

Consequently, being beautiful and wealthy does not always guarantee that one will have love in their life and easily find a spouse. Sometimes, successful relationships also depends on how well you understand the type of energies you possess and how the energies of your environment affects you. Then, can you realize how to best adjust yourself or your Feng Shui to create frequencies that are conducive of love.

Feng Shui at the Office for Productivity and Profits

Feng shui expert and author Robyn Bentley suggests that managers take a good look at how the work environment is affecting the staff and the impact the office atmosphere is having on company moral and productivity. A healthy work environment is supportive and nurturing, not harsh and draining. According to Bentley, some of the negative things you’ll be looking for are invisible. And she says it's okay to roll your eyes about that but to understand that this invisible negativity is costing your company money in the long run. If you have a negative and harsh work environment, you're going to have a morale problem which lowers productivity. When staffers leave you're going to waste time interviewing their replacements. You're going to waste money for training time. And until the new people get the hang of their new responsibilities and the flow of things, productivity will be slower around the office. This cycle will continue until you take care of the source of the negativity. Here are a few basic things you can suggest to your staff to create a more supportive work environment for them.


GET OUT OF THE LINE OF FIRE

Don't sit directly across from an entrance door. Make sure you are sitting off to the side of the door. Every time someone comes into the office, energy or 'chi' comes with them and hits whatever is across from the door. Standing in the doorway, if someone can toss a ball straight ahead and hit you in your chair, energy flowing into the office will also hit you and this is very draining for you. Low energy is bad for your mental and physical health. When you don't feel good at work, you may not like your job as much.


COVER YOUR BACK

Sit with your back to a wall. If there is activity going on behind your back and you can't see it, you won't be relaxed on the job. You'll be more tense than you need to be and this will stress you out and drain your energy.


REDUCE YOUR EXPOSURE TO EMFS

Electromagnetic Frequencies from computers and other electronic equipment in the office lower your body's melatonin levels. Melatonin is a hormone that controls our mood and sleep. High exposure to EMFs can cause you to be moody, angry, or depressed. Turn off your computer monitor when you are not using it (the new LCD flat monitors put out lower levels of EMFs). Stay five feet away from the microwave in the break room while it's heating your lunch.


ALWAYS REMEMBER 'YOU ARE NOT YOUR JOB'

Work is just one part of your life and it's very important for you to remember while you're working that you have a life outside of your job. Make sure you support yourself psychologically in your work space by displaying photos of the special people and pets in your life, things having to do with your favorite hobbies and activities, and any awards or credentials you may have. This kind of support system will help keep your spirits up during the most stressful days.

When the staff is happy while they're working, they're more productive and this benefits the company. Therefore, it's in the best interest of the company to make sure employees are not unnecessarily drained on the job because it lowers morale and decreases company productivity. Which in the end costs the company money.


Expanding Your Family - Fertility and Feng Shui

So many of you are looking for a little help in increasing your odds (or that of a family member) of becoming pregnant. But how can Feng Shui help you in your fertility quest?

One way to increase your odds of adding to your family is by refraining from disturbing the energy in your home. When trying to conceive, avoid any remodeling, major or minor, in or around your home. Try to keep your home as calm as possible. And don't agitate the energy around your bed. Don't sweep or dust around or under your bed during conception attempts and pregnancy. A dusty bedroom could just equal a baby in your future!

Keep the area under your bed clear and clutter free. In Feng Shui it is always recommended that the area under the bed be clear so energy can circulate under you while you sleep, this is even more important when trying to conceive and while pregnant.

Another way to pump up your fertility is by getting an elephant. No, not a real one! A representation of an elephant. Elephants have been considered a fertility symbol for thousands of years. Place a lovely elephant figurine in your bedroom. Rub your elephant to bring more children into your family. Some other items to add to your bedroom (or wear as jewelry) include Rose Quartz Crystals and Kwan Yin (Goddess of Compassion) statues. Both are known to increase fertility. And Kwan Yin will come in handy after you have your baby, because she guards the souls of children. Prolific bunny rabbits are excellent symbols of fertility. Additionally, add nine stalks of bamboo plant to the Children and Creativity Bagua area (the right center area) of your bedroom. This adds healthy growth to this Bagua area. Make sure to take care of your plants. If any of your bamboo plants show any sign of ill health immediately discard the stalk and replace them. Sick or dead plants are sources of negative energy, something you are trying to avoid. Another thing to add is a brass wind chime to the entranceway to the house. This will stimulate the energy and bring it into your home. This is very important when trying to bring a new life into your home. Hang a crystal in the Children and Creativity Bagua area (the right center area) of your bedroom.

So stop dusting and start buying positive symbols of fertility for your home. Once you have that new bundle of joy you will know that it was worth that little bit of trouble for that lifetime of joy.


Feng Shui Money Tips

Do you know where your financial "power spots" are? The contemporary methods of feng shui associate prosperity issues with the back left corner of any space. Stand at your front door facing into the house; your wealth area is at the back of the house on the left-hand side. There's also a wealth area within each room: facing in from the doorway, it's the corner area in the back of the room on the left-hand side. Where are the wealth areas within your office, living room, kitchen, and bedroom? Now that you've identified your money power spots, here are some quick and easy ways to apply feng shui to these spaces:

1. Clear out any clutter from these important areas. Clutter is a sign of stagnant energy, and clutter in your money power spots can clog up your cash flow. Getting rid of clutter is one of the most powerful ways to shift the energy of your power spots into high gear.

2. Fix things that are broken. Anything that doesn't work as it should is a sign of something wrong in the area of your life that corresponds to that part of your space. Examine each of your money power spots to look for anything that needs repair. It's time to do something about that loose doorknob, non-working light switch, stuck file drawer, or clock that doesn't keep correct time, to name just a few possible examples. Remove items like these from your power spots or fix them so they work properly.

3. Enhance your power spots with symbols of prosperity, such as a bowl of coins (add your loose change to it every day), a "lucky bamboo" plant, or anything that symbolizes success and prosperity to you. There are lots of Chinese luck symbols available, but you don't have to use them unless you want to. A picture of your dream house, or a model of that luxury car you long for, is an effective money symbol because it has personal meaning for you.

4. Accent your money areas with the colors green and purple. Green symbolizes vitality and growth, and purple is the color of wealth. Place a bowl of green and purple grapes (real or artificial) in the wealth area of your kitchen, to symbolize abundance filling your home. If you use real grapes, it's okay to eat them, just add more from time to time so the grapes remain fresh and the bowl is always more than half full.

5. Pay attention to how you handle money every day. Do you keep paper money neatly sorted in your wallet or money clip, or is it jammed in there any old way, or crumpled up at the bottom of your pocket? Clean the clutter out of your purse and wallet, and start handling your money as though you value it.

6. If you neglect your money, it will neglect you, so be sure to balance your checkbook regularly and pay your bills on time. Put your checkbook in an attractive cover (choose green, purple, red, blue, or black) and keep it in the wealth area of your desk - that's the rear left corner again -- or in the wealth area of your office.

7. Live generously. Money is a form of energy, and it needs to flow through your life, not just into it. Hoarding and scrimping work against more coming in, while giving generously within your means makes space for even greater abundance. If you don't yet have ample money to share, give as generously as you can of your time, energy, compassion, and appreciation.

8. Take a few moments every evening to think about all the good things that happened to you today and to express your gratitude for what you have received. Small things count, too, so it's okay if there's little of the spectacular on your list most of the time. It's not what happened that's important; it's getting in the habit of focusing on the positive side of things every day that matters. The more you notice, appreciate, and express gratitude for blessings received, no matter how small, the more good things will come your way, including money.

A true experience of prosperity is determined not by how much money you have, but by how well you notice and enjoy what is already present in your life. The formal name for the wealth area is "fortunate blessings" - as you de-clutter, repair, and accessorize your money power spots keep this broader meaning in mind. When you celebrate being rich in friends and family, or rich with laughter, or the richness of your spiritual life, or even being rich in air and sunshine if nothing else seems to be going well for you today, material blessings will come to you more readily as well.

Five Feng Shui Tips for Home Offices

Feng Shui--said "feng shway"--is the Chinese art of design and placement. It literally means "wind and water," and refers to the principles of flow and easy movement in both indoor and outdoor places.

Here are five fast Feng Shui tips to improve your home office.

1. What you see is what you get. What's the very first thing that a visitor to your home office would notice? Is it clutter? Is it the great view out your window? Both can be detrimental to your business.

Your visitors should see one, important object or focal point, which is a symbol of your business successes and your expertise. It could be a display of your awards. It may be a painting or a poster showing the best of what you sell. But, it should evoke a mental "Oh, how wonderful!" response from visitors, and remind you daily of your business achievements.

2. Display nothing higher than eye level. Many people maximize available space by using the tops of cabinets and bookcases for storage. Tall storage fixtures are fine, as long as there is visible evidence of their stability. One solution is fancy hardware that holds the fixture to the wall.

However, Feng Shui suggests that anything that could land on someone's head during a dramatic earthquake--no matter how unlikely--can send a subliminal message of "something's about to fall on you."

Have you ever felt an uneasy sense of "loose ends," or as if something is about to land on you, out of the blue? This could result from objects stored too high overhead. In your home office, it's vital to find alternative storage, out of sight.

3. Keep your entry as open as possible. From the "wind and water" viewpoint, it's important to leave maximum space around entering visitors. A coat rack or literature display may seem a practical idea, but if it's too close to the door, it can reduce the inflow of business and income.

Pretend that you're wearing a huge, fluffy raccoon coat when you enter your workplace. Or imagine that your aura extends at least a foot from your body in all directions. Enter your home office and walk around. Would your coat (or aura) get snagged on anything? If so, put it somewhere else. You and your office visitors should feel entirely at ease as they move around your office.

4. Keep your desk as clean and uncluttered as possible. Some people think that a stack of papers makes them "look busy." Remove all but the most essential tools from your desk. A fresh flower or two is fine; otherwise reduce desk decor to a minimum. The space that you create on your desk also creates space for greater success and new business.

5. Remove all clutter from your office. Even if you work alone at home and no one sees your workspace, the clutter has got to go. Whether it's one small pile related to a project, reference books stacked on the floor, or a chronic storage problem throughout your home office, clutter symbolize snags and snarls in the flows of your business.

April Fool's Day is the signal for spring cleaning! Set an alarm for 15 minutes daily, and do nothing but clean and organize your home office. By keeping your office fresh and clutter-free, you'll improve the general sense of well-being--and professionalism--in your work. You'll feel better and your business will benefit.

Try feng shui for romance

Some lonely hearts are eschewing Internet dating and instead putting their faith in feng shui in a bid to find their romantic soul mates.

It is not a common sight yet to see feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of geomancy, advertised as a romance enhancer, but it may not be long before it becomes an accepted part of dating in big cities where singles frequently battle to find love, devoted practitioners say.

People like Los Angeles advertising art director Alicia Schiefer insist that feng shui works to improve one's romantic life.

"It's worth it to do it," she said. Using the peach blossom technique in feng shui, she entered into what she says was a very satisfying long-term relationship.

The 44-year-old Schiefer, who went through a difficult divorce, business doldrums and a death in the family, was on the verge of returning to her native Peru to be near relatives, but a judge barred her taking from her sons out of the country.

The hard times came crashing down as Schiefer hired Janice Sugita, a feng shui consultant and interior designer, to jump-start her business.

Sugita, noticing her client's single status, told Schiefer that romance could be hers with a few easy feng shui techniques.

Feng shui is increasingly becoming accepted in the West as a way of increasing business prosperity and maintaining health, harnessing the universal energy of life, or qi, to create a harmonious environment.

"Not only will you be able to improve your surroundings to attract romance, but you can increase your personal energy that will make you feel more energized and attractive," according to Sugita's E-book "The Feng Shui Equation."

The formula for stirring up romantic energy is simple enough. Fresh flowers are placed in water in a wide-necked vase. The colour of the flower and the vase must be the same and can be determined by checking a person's birth date on a feng shui chart or by having a reading done.

The chart also determines the best direction for the flower arrangement. Then, one must sit back and wait.

Schiefer lived in a rental for a year and never met anyone. Her peach blossom was in place, but she planned to move. Within a few weeks, a prospective tenant asked to meet her because of how she had decorated the space.

Five years later, she and her partner, Brad Amster, are still together.

"This guy rang my bell. What are the chances you meet someone that comes to your house?" said Schiefer.

Benoit Hug and Ines Beyer have also become believers.

Hug, a baker, was single when he set up his flowers in the bedroom. Three days later, a woman asked him out.

"It was fun to try it out. I had a good experience," he said of the relationship, which lasted a few months.

Within one or two days of putting her flowers in place, Beyer says she got a call from an ex-boyfriend. One week later, two men she had met earlier called her. Feng shui practitioners point out that the technique does have its down side. The random personal attraction created can bring ex-boyfriends and ex-husbands back on the scene.

"It only improves what you were meant to have," said Betty Stone, assistant to Feng Shui Master Larry Sang of the American Feng Shui Institute.

But if you ask Pat Linse, co-founder of the Skeptics Society, an organization devoted to the promotion and better understanding of science, she will not be giving up Internet dating anytime soon.

To her, feng shui romance sounds "charming and poetic. It appeals to the emotions. It could make a person happier and more receptive to a relationship." Linse said it would be interesting to test the technique scientifically by gathering 100 people who do not know the ritual and having 50 of them practice the correct ritual while showing the wrong ritual to the other 50, and then observing whether there is a difference in the groups' outcomes.

Meanwhile, enthusiasts of the ancient art are finding that they can increase their understanding by doing a feng shui travel tour.

The 10-day tour, organized by Feng Shui Masters, takes the faithful to a series of ancient sites in China that represent feng shui's early beginnings.

Locations are beautifully landscaped in accordance with feng shui principles, and special lecturers explain their significance along the way.

"Each person has a different reaction (to the trip), depending on their cultural background," said Johnathan Ng, executive director of Feng Shui Masters.

"A visit to the Hangzhou temple has moved people to tears," he said. "They feel so great, so very positive."

Feng Shui for Love and Romance – Improve your Love Life through Feng Shui

Are you and your romantic partner not getting along – is there a lot of disagreement conflict when there used to be love and togetherness? Or, do you not have a romantic partner in your life but wish you could find one? Properly applying the principles of Feng Shui might be just what you need to fix that relationship or find a new one, and it might be as simple as making a few simple adjustments. Feng Shui helps with many important life goals, including career, wealth, education, etc. One of the most important, and popular, Feng Shui goals is Love and Relationship. You can use Feng Shui to find a partner or improve your existing relationship. The back right corner of any room or home is the Feng Shui Love and Relationship corner, but your bedroom is the best place to start to improve your Feng Shui Love and Relationship energy.

Examine your bedroom, especially the back right corner of your bedroom, right now and see what items are there – next to your bed, on your walls, in the corners. Is there a garbage pail there? Is that why your love life is in the garbage pail? Do you have a picture of your ex-love there? Is that why you can’t move on? Do you have a picture of your mom there? Something else that is not very romantic? Remove anything that doesn’t scream love and romance to you.

Note the color of your walls, carpet and sheets. If they are depressing, dark, or just not romantic you might want to change them, or improve them with highlights like romantic colored sheets or curtains. What are romantic Feng Shui colors you ask? Romantic Feng Shui colors are pink and peach. Use these colors liberally in your bedroom and Love and Relationship area of your home for optimal romance in your life.

In Feng Shui two of anything represents a harmonious and balanced relationship, and items that are pairs or couples bring good couple energy into your home and life. Do you have two identical nightstands on either side of your bed with identical lamps? You should. Make sure there are two pillows on your bed with matching pillow cases. Is there a picture on the wall? If there is it should be a pair or couple, not one figure, whether it’s an animal, person, or thing. There should not be a picture of a single person or animal in your bedroom because it represents isolation, the opposite of what you are trying to achieve. Your bedroom should represent to you the romantic ideal you seek. Same thing with any statues or figures – they should be matching pairs. Pairs of anything are good to have in your bedroom, especially a Feng Shui romantic cure like love candles or hearts. There should not be any pictures that are not romantic in your bedroom – no photos of children, or sad people. The ideal picture to hang on the wall in your bedroom, if you have a partner, is a photo of you and your partner, preferably a romantic photo or one that reminds you both of a happy and romantic time in your relationship.

Do you have room on either side of your bed, or do you and your partner have to squeeze into bed from the same side? Make room on both sides so you both have room to go to bed, and if you don’t have a partner there will be room for one to enter your life. You want your entire room to have the look you expect it to have when your ideal partner becomes a permanent part of your life and your bedroom. And for some extra powerful romantic energy hang a Marriage & Union Hanger in the back right corner of your bedroom. This double coin hanger represents the perfect blending of partners, and brings good luck to marriage and relationships.


The Art of Feng Shui and the Feng Shui of Art

A question that comes up often during a feng shui consultation, is how to interpret the effects of art in our home or work place. Here are my thoughts:

1. Art is subjective: if you like looking at a particular piece of art and it makes you feel good, then that is good feng shui in one sense.

2. When an art object or painting or photograph is boldly one color, then it will emanate the element associated with that color. Example: a giant red canvas on the wall is the fire element. (That color may or may not be good for that particular area, but if you have good reason to believe that a certain element is appropriate for that area, then a large display of it via color will enforce the effects.)

3. A picture which has several or many colors will NOT be strong enough to represent one or all of those colors--the energy gets dissipated.

4. Art should not conflict with the function of the room. Example: I once had a client who had a large painting over her bed. It was brash and modern with the actual words "LISTEN TO ME NOW!" sprawled across it. Perhaps a joke, but not exactly the kind of message you would normally want to display for the new boyfriend!

5. Placing a series of pictures along the wall or walls of a room with frames all at the same level will create a subtle second ceiling to the room. Air currents travel along walls, ceilings and floors. This could be good for rooms with ceilings that are too high.

6. In general, placing pictures a little higher on the wall will make the room feel bigger.

7. Art pieces, such as bronze statues or sculptures are definitely feng shui metal remedies.

8. Having an attractive paining on an otherwise blank wall can be a feng shui remedy for a congestive entrance.

9. Having pictures of landscapes can be good for rooms with no windows.

***Recommended Reading: a new feng shui book by Master Gahle Atherton (Feng Shui: The Perfect Arrangement) has now joined the ranks of one of my favorite authentic feng shui books. (A grand total of six!) It is not in stores in America yet, but you can get signed copies from the author by contacting her at www.fengshui.com.au Don't forget the "au" part of the domain name or you won't get Gahle's site. I have a few copies, and I'm ordering more. $20.00

Question from a student: Are new houses better than older houses? Answer: A newer house may be in better structural condition. This contributes to good feng shui. A newer house will statistically have had fewer past occupants. The result is less lingering energy of past occupants, or even the potential for one of them to return as a ghost. These are just a couple of advantages of the newer house. But there are many older homes that still have good ch'i, even better than the new homes which were built against feng shui principles.

Second part of the answer: Houses go through cycles that last 180 years, broken down into 9 construction cycles that last for 20 years. Once a house reaches 180 years old, then its ch'i gets renewed, as if it were a new house again.

Question: What's the best color for the exterior of a house?

Answer: We have eight basic house types, each one associated with a direction. That direction is asociated with an element, and that element has a color. If you paint the house the same color as the element which defines its orientation, then you have an exterior color that supports the house instead of undermining it. You can also use a color which is "productive" to the element that matches your house.

As an example: Your house faces East, therefore it "sits" in the West. The real nature of the house is that it is a West type house. West is associated with Metal. Metal colors include grey and white. Those would be good colors for the exterior. Also, since Earth makes Metal stronger, then earth colors would also be strengthening to the house. Earth colors are beiges, oranges, and yellows.

What would be a bad color for the metal house? Well, fire melts metal--so a house that was reddish in tones, or salmon colored, would not be an ideal color for this orientation of house.


Feng Shui At Work - Climbing the Walls

Empty walls devoid of art --or any decoration-- are depressing, aren't they? The only thing less uplifting than bare walls is ugly walls that have stains and peeling paint where the art should be. Feng shui is about creating harmonious, peaceful, and inspiring spaces that improve one's quality of life at home and at work. If your work environment is depressing, chances are your workers are going to be depressed and not as creative and productive as they should be.

Art need not be expensive to be effective at lifting ch'i (energy). To paraphrase Mae West, art just needs to be good looking and well hung. If your budget does not allow you to buy Andy Warhol originals--or even limited edition prints--you might consider purchasing original art from some local fine artists instead. Attend local art fairs and small galleries to get a feel for what is available. Another inexpensive alternative is framed poster art.

For the work place, art also needs to send the appropriate message. Thought should be given as to what the corporate message actually is. Paintings of naked ladies in the classical style could work beautifully as part of a wellness spa's decor but may not be right for a labor union office, for example. Art in the work place can simply be used to beautify a space, or, it can motivate workers.

Several poster companies even specialize in motivational sayings designed to promote leadership qualities for managers. Health care professionals tend to have their walls plastered with care related images.

Many professional offices prefer to hang diplomas, awards, and credentials in their office spaces. To enhance feng shui, these items should ideally be located in the "Fame & Reputation" area of the office. But these can be depressing, too, if they are poorly framed and displayed, and if they are the only wall art in the room. It's important to have a balance with art for art's sake. Maps, mirrors, tools of your trade and other common objects...all of these can be artfully hung on a wall to create an uplifting ambiance. Use your imagination!

Feng Shui Interprets Exposed Beams

What constitutes a balanced room according to feng shui theory involves not one, but several aspects. Some of those aspects are non-obvious while some aspects are immediately palpable, such as the flaw of a room which is chronically dark or cold.

The look of exposed beams can be architecturally stunning, but when large looming beams hover over a person's bed, they can create an unbalanced flow of chi (air currents) within the room. This can have a predictable affect on the person sleeping below. For example, if a large exposed beam hovers over your waist, it could undermine fertility or cause digestive problems. A large beam that crosses over the knees could trigger or worsen knee problems. When the beam travels length-wise over the middle of the bed, the couple sleeping below can feel divisive. It is as if an invisible curtain divides the connection between the two people.

Feng Shui is a 3,000+ year old metaphysical practice, originating in China, but relevant to everyone since it deals with energy, nature, laws of physics and the environments we all create. The harmful effect of exposed beams is well-documented and a basic feng shui principle is that flat, beamless ceilings are much healthier to sleep under.

What do you do if you have exposed beams in your house? Well, if the room is big enough to handle a four-poster canopy bed, the fabric draped over the frame can work as a faux ceiling and deflect away the downward pressure of the beam. Some people are actually able to drop the ceiling in a remodel and thus eliminate the exposed beams entirely. This is only recommended if you will feel comfortable with the lower height of the ceilings.

Exposed beams in other rooms of the house, such as a den or dining room, should not be a concern. The beams are only a potential problem if you sleep under them or work long hours under them.

Feng Shui Interprets the Haunted House

When we think of a classic haunted house, images from the movies come up. Sometimes the haunted house is depicted as a dark, dingy, old, dilapidated house, secluded and covered with cobwebs. Oddly enough, these really are some of the "yin" attributes which can contribute to a house attracting a ghost.

In feng shui theory, all environments can be described as "yin" or "yang." Yang aspects are lively, bright, airy, cheerful and warm. But "yin" aspects include still, dark, cluttered, stuffy, cold, or damp. Houses that have several of these yin aspects on a chronic basis are more likely to attract or harbor spirits inside.

There are also exterior circumstances which can attract a ghost to a house. This includes a house that is within view of a cemetary. There is a Chinese slang term, where a cemetary is called a "night club," because at night the cemetary gets very lively.

Even bright, cheery, brand new houses can harbor a ghost if they happen to have been built on top of old burial sites or battlefields. As an example, the Chumash Indians spent a lot of time in many areas of Southern California. I have been to a number of homes throughout Southern California where the presence of a Chumash Indian spirit seemed likely. One client even told me that after everyone went upstairs to go to bed each night, she'd smell the smoke of a "peace pipe" from downstairs wafting its way upstairs!

Houses that were built right into a mountainside can also be considered too yin. And sometimes a house will attract a ghost simply because a past occupant may be very attached to the property even though they have died. One client of mine, who lives in the Mt. Washington area of Los Angeles, had an interaction with a ghost on her property shortly after the 1994 earthquake. When she described the physical appearance of the ghost to a long-time neighbor, the neighbor confirmed that it was the man who had built the house many years previous. Perhaps he was just checking on the status of the house.

Is there a remedy to eliminate a ghost? By eliminating all the yin characteristics of a house, sometimes the ghost will leave of its own accord.

Sometimes it takes a willful, meditative dialogue with the spirit before it departs. And there are also some special feng shui remedies which involve opening up a certain door in the house. This is based on a little-known calculation derived from the age of the house and its compass orientation.


Feng Shui Interprets The Street That Ends At Your House

The house which sits at the very end of a cul-de-sac or T-juncture is going to be receiving more energy than the other houses on either side, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Most feng shui books illustrate how this is a very accident-prone or unhappy home and to be avoided at all costs, but occasionally it is the luckiest house on the block. Why? If the house is inherently good in its "unseen" influences, then all the chi rushing toward that house will activate the good features. So, this type of street alignment will only intensifiy whatever house type it is.

What are the unseen influences? These are the energies created inside the house based on when it was built and what precise directional orientation the house faces. As a concrete example: if you have a house that faces 345 degrees north and built in 1950, this house does not have a very good front door if it is smack in the middle of the front side of the house. It is a house type where the occupant could have head or lung problems. Now, if that same house has a street directly aligned with this front door, it would exacerbate this negative potential of the house. But what if that same house was built in 1990 instead? That house with a north door would have major prosperity energies in that location so a road directed toward it could make it even more active in a good sense.

This is just one of many examples of how the outside forces influence the inside forces and you cannot do a proper feng shui analysis without considering both the interiors and exteriors together.

If you have falllen in love with a house that happens to be at the end of a cul-de-sac, don't write it off as bad feng shui without looking at other important features to the house and getting a comprehensive evaluation to determine the real effects.

Even if it is not the type of house that can benefit from the street alignment, there could easily be some good landscaping remedies to off set this oncoming flow of air currents. With enough of a front yard, you could have a half wall, a hedge, a fence, an elevated sculpture, trees or plantings to buffer or re-direct the otherwise direct line of chi.

Symbolic of Your Success

We hate to think of ourselves as the kind of people who think in stereotypes, don't we? But even those of us with the best intentions are subconsciously influenced by our perceptions of certain archetypal symbols that represent either positive or negative emotions.

For example, most of us would react with disgust and repugnance if we walked into a potential employer's office and found a huge Nazi swastika on the wall. But did you know that Hitler borrowed that windmill shaped cross symbol from ancient Chinese and Tibetan cultures where it has an auspicious and benign meaning of good fortune? I'm not saying that we should suddenly embrace the swastika as a good luck symbol. My point is to illustrate how we imbue symbols with powerful energy for good or for evil with our collective perceptions.

This is an extreme example. From smiley faces and Valentine's Day hearts to Nike swooshes and Starbucks mermaids... in daily life, we are surrounded by iconic symbols that stir emotions within us.

Feng Shui teaches us that the intentions behind the symbols are what makes them powerful. With that in mind, wouldn’t you rather have your working environment filled with positive, upbeat, supportive symbols?

Look around your work space. Do you find any of these:

Feng Shui No-No’s

* Dead or scraggly plants.

* Unless you’re in the movie industry and equate movie posters in terms of the film’s financial grosses, having posters that depict the Titanic sinking, for example, would not be a positive symbol for a company’s success.

* Broken clocks symbolizing stopped momentum.

* Sports memorabilia from perpetually losing teams.

* Photographs of people or situations that make you feel sad.

* Dilapidated furniture.

Feng Shui Go-Go’s

* Healthy thriving plants (or faux silk ones that look real) and cut flowers.

* Any uplifting art that relates to your business or makes people happy to look at it.

* Images of successful people you personally relate to.

* Your beautifully framed degrees of higher education.

* Well maintained furniture and equipment.

* Awards and outward symbols of achievement (dollar bill from first sale, etc.).

* Motivational and inspirational calendars and posters.

Way to go!


The Use Of Flower Pictures In Creating A Feng Shui Environment

A flower picture, or most likely a selection of carefully placed flower pictures, with carefully chosen frames and borders can add to the harmony in your office and home. Believers in feng shui, the ancient Chinese practice of the arrangement and placement of objects in space, or space around objects, to achieve harmony with the environment, use it to affect the health, wealth and personal relationships of the people operating within that space.

Feng shui is closely engaged with nature. When it was first practiced in China over 2000 years ago, it relied on astronomy to find correlations between humans and the universe. Agricultural practice at that stage, and still today in some areas of the world, relied on natural guidelines for agricultural planning, such as planting in accordance with the phases of the moon. Indeed today still, whether furniture is being optimally arranged or flower pictures are being placed on walls, space, weather, astronomy, and geomagnetism are the factors underlying the feng shui decisions made.

Nature is integral to feng shui. Take the literal meaning of the word, which is "wind-water". In Eastern philosophy, spiritual practice and art, the shapes, textures and colors of trees, plants and flowers have always been central. Using flower pictures in any interior decorating project designed on feng shui lines, essentially brings together several strands of Chinese thought and culture. So many beautiful royalty free flower pictures are available online now, that can be resized, manipulated and refined and then well-framed to create perfect balance within a room or even a series of rooms.

It is advisable first to define the space you will be managing according to feng shui principles. The wall-color will then be chosen and it might then be a good time to plan flower pictures. There will be expanses of bare wall. One can decide on one or a series on a certain theme, with certain shapes and with a certain feeling they induce in the viewer. Identify the particular flower picture or set you will be using and then redefine them until they fit perfectly into the room or rooms, enhancing the harmony. They may even be framed and hung before proceeding with the rest of the furnishings.

This is a particularly tasteful and controlled way to go about incorporating flower pictures in to feng shui décor, since flower pictures have no practical function as such other than to improve the quality of life. The feng shui designer will have his senses wonderfully concentrated going about a project this way. It is a more pure and harmonious way than placing the desk first, say, and then the couches and side tables and then finally fitting a flower picture onto the wall as an afterthought.

There are a number of variables that can be applied to any flower picture. A photograph can firstly be resized, then its color and intensity can be manipulated, which in this context can mean changing it completely or just changing the shades and tints. A flower picture can be cropped, zoomed in, textures removed or added, detail softened or heightened. Done with sensitivity this can create a flower picture that is utterly suitable to the environment it is planned for. The essence of the flower should remain, but it should harmonize utterly with other complementary flower pictures and the space around it as a whole. Be warned that to retouch a flower picture badly is just about the worst thing one can do to the energies of such a picture. Do exercise enormous restraint and discretion when doing this. Call on designers or artists to advise if you are unsure.

Equally important is the framing of a flower picture. Even a beautifully retouched shot can be mutilated visually by bad framing. Pay the extra dollars and get a highly creative framing shop to frame your feng shui flower pictures. The results will far outweigh the cost.


How to Avoid the Feng Shui Pitfalls of Illness and Misfortune in 2008

In this article, you will learn how to avoid illnesses and misfortune in 2008.

In flying star feng shui, there are 2 nasty stars that you must avoid. If they happen to be at the direction of your house main door or your bed room door, that year will be full of sickness and misfortune. In less serious cases, it would be flu, colds, fever or migraine. In more serious cases, it may be terminal illnesses.

One word of warning: Do NOT treat these 2 stars lightly. If they are at the direction of your house main door or bedroom door, you need to neutralize them immediately.

Don't worry about it, I will show you how to neutralize them. Besides, you still have a few days more to go. The Rat year officially starts on 4th February, 1901 hours.

In flying star feng shui, the 2 most deadly stars are the 2-Black and 5-Yellow stars. The 2-Black star is the star of illnesses. If you happen to be at the position of this star, you tend to fall sick easily. Another interesting aspect of this star is that it can cause a place to be haunted.

Let's say that there is a deserted house, with it's main door facing the position of the 2-Black star. And not only that, the whole place is very dimly lit. Once the 2-Black star comes into play, it will cause female spirits to inhibit the place. If you happen to see a female spirit, it is possible that the 2-Black star is at that position and the place is dimly lit.

Why female spirits and not male spirits?Because 2-Black is a Yin(feminine energy) star.

The other deadly star is the 5-Yellow star. The 5-Yellow star brings misfortunes. It can mean from losing your job, losing money, serious illnesses or even death.

Both the 2-Black and 5-Yellow stars should be neutralized immediately without fail. In the next section, I will list out their positions for 2008 and how to neutralize them.

In 2008, the 2-Black star is in the Northwest sector and the 5-Yellow star is in the South sector. Stand in the center of your house with a compass. Then determine which rooms are in the Northwest and South sector. Most importantly, check whether your main door is in either of these sectors.

If there are no important rooms in those 2 sectors, then you are quite safe. Just avoid moving anything in those 2 sectors.

But what if you main door is in either of those 2 sectors?

I will show you how to neutralize both stars. Both 2-Black and 5-Yellow are Earth stars. You can neutralize them by using metallic objects. Earth produces Metal. When you use metallic objects, the Earth from the stars are being neutralized.

The most effective way of doing it is to use 6 copper coins, with a square hole in the middle. If you are living in asian countries, you should not have a problem finding them.

If you are staying in western countries, you need to use other objects to neutralize the 2 stars. You can either use a metallic round clock, or a metallic statue of a rooster(rooster represents metal). A big metallic bell will also do the job. If you can afford it, you can use a striking clock. The sound from the bell will neutralize their effects.

I just thought of one more very important point. Only use Metal to neutralize the Earth from the 2 stars. Do not use Wood. Although Wood destroys Earth, it will make matters worse. In flying star feng shui, you can only neutralize by using the element that weakens it. Never use the element that destroys it.

Of course, don't use Fire. Fire produces Earth, and it will cause the 2 stars to become stronger.

I wish you a smooth sailing and prosperous Rat year ahead.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Finding Your Own Trigram And Directions

Finding your Best Feng Shui Orientation

To find out how best to position yourself at home and at work, please find your Trigram based on your birth date. Then look below to determine your favorable and unfavorable directions.

Feng Shui is based on the Solar Calendar, not the Lunar Calendar. The commonly known "Chinese New Year" is typically the Lunar Calendar. Some forms of Chinese astrology are based on the lunar calendar, but Feng Shui is based on the sun, which influence our seasons and dictate our climates.

The Chinese hold February 4th as the "Spring Establishment," or the time when the new solar year begins. If you where born before February 4th you belong to the prior year' s trigram. If you are born on February 4th or 5th, you should check with 168 Feng Shui Advisors for the exact Trigram based on the time of your birth.

Birth Year and Trigram Chart

Align yourself with your best directions:

Using the Chart below, find your Trigram. Then look at the directions across. These are your good to bad directions (from Left to Right). The second chart below shows the significance of these directions.

Ideally, you want to place your back to the A direction (receive support from this direction) and sleep with your head pointing to the D direction. The directions of A through D are beneficial and the directions of E through H are to be avoided. The D direction is your Trigram's native direction. It is also your most comfortable direction. This is a good direction for sleeping or relaxing.

Trigram
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
Chen
S
N
SE
E
SW
NE
NW
W
Sun
N
S
E
SE
NW
W
SW
NE
Li
E
SE
N
S
NE
SW
W
NW
Kun
NE
W
NW
SW
E
S
SE
N
Tui
NW
SW
NE
W
N
SE
S
E
Chien
W
NE
SW
NW
SE
N
E
S
Kan
SE
E
S
N
W
NW
NE
SW
Ken
SW
NW
W
NE
S
E
N
SE

Interpretation of the Directions

Direction

Interpretation


A

Good Fortune and Great Fame

Best

B

Good Wealth and Helpful Friendship

ß

C

Family Harmony and Good Public Relationship

ß

D

Peace and Good Management

ß

E

Arguments and Potential for Lawsuits

ß

F

Misfortune and Malicious Influences Likely

ß

G

Accidents, Disaster and Negative Influences

ß

H

Unproductive Career, Poor Finances, and Robbery

Worst

Do not take these as literal interpretations, but rather as indicators of the "potiential." Remember that the area of qi you are in has an effect and that can be stronger than the directions. In other words, if you are in a good area of qi and oriented to the negative direction, the qi has a more direct effect on you so you will prosper.

Use this chart as a guideline to finding your ideal directions and avoid orienting yourself to the negative directions. The study of Feng Shui is like an onion. You can peel away the layers one by one and discover that there are other influences on levels. Feng Shui is truly a lifelong study.

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This tutorial is brought to you by
Chris Shaul Chris Shaul
Co-founder of 168 Feng Shui Advisors, Chris provides Feng Shui services for large corporations, small businesses and individuals across the US and abroad. As a Senior Instructor at the American Feng Shui Institute, he has taught more than 1200 students the practice of Feng Shui from all over the world. Chris lectures at colleges, architecture and design schools, private organizations, and for businesses. He has written and is moderator of the American Feng Shui Institute's on-line correspondence course and is currently working on an advanced level Feng Shui book. He is a member of both the American Society of Feng Shui and the American Yi Jing Study Center.