Where Energy Flows

Do you have an abundance altar in our home or office? Did you know that an abundance altar energizes the area of your home or office that the altar resides in? Why of course you did, but let’s share about a certain idea.

As a Master Teacher and Educator of Interior Alignment™ Certification courses, I share with my students about how an abundance altar is helpful in their own professional practice.  As with any altar creation, intention is very important.  Begin by indentifying what abundance, wealth, and prospertity means to you personally.  This is a definintion beyond Webster’s dictionary.  Once you have a clear meaning for abundance, wealth and prosperity, you can begin to clarify your intention for your abundance altar. The time and energy that you take to define abundance, wealth, and prosperity is worth the effort as you will begin to accept that your definition may not mean abundance to another person. 

For instance the energy of Buffalo (the American Bison) is a symbol of abundance for many Native American Nations.  I have a statute of a Buffalo with her calf on my abundance altar.  (I am Prarie Band Potawatomi and my Nation takes the stewardship of the Buffalo so seriously that we have a herd on our reservation to stay connected with the Wisdom of Buffalo.)  The symbol of Buffalo means health and vitality, life force, to many Native peoples. Not only did it provide sustance but Buffalo also provided shelter - a home, clothing and luxuries.  The Annishabe Nation, you may know this Nation as the Ojibiwa Nation, may use the symbol of wild rice in their definition of abundance.  What is your definition of abundance, wealth and prosperity?

Consider placing your abundance altar in the Wealth area of your home for the maxium assistance from your home to support your intentions, life goals and desires.

As you place thoughtful items on your abundance altar, consider including a symbol of your personal business.  This symbol of your personal business may be your business card or a brochure.  As you receive payment for service to your clients, place the payment on the abundance altar for a few days so that you may show your gratitude and also bless the payment.

I would also suggest placing a candle of your favorite color and scent on the altar. You may want to research the energetic qualities of colors (see Deborah Redfern’s IA blog articles about color) and the energetic qualities of certain flower essence or essential oils scents to add another layer of intention to your abundance altar. 

On my abundance altar, I have a candle with the essence of Angel Wings, my lingam gifted to me by my teacher, Denise Linn, which is in a red glass bowl filled with sand so that the lingam can stand upright. I also have citerine stones on my altar that were gifted to me by friend and co-Master Educator Rainy Jordon.  Citerine is known as the merchant stone for abundance. And, I have my business card in a prominent place on the altar as well.  (Please see picture)

Each time I light the candle I have in my mind and heart all that I am grateful for and that I am open to all the positive abundance and prosperity flowing to me from Spirit. 

May your abundance altar energize your home.  Blessings, Neshi.

Copyright Yvette Neshi Lokotz, 2007.  All rights reserved

Your bedroom — it is the first room you see every morning, the last one you see at night.  It sets the energy for a peaceful, rejuvenating slumber and then sets the tone for the day.

So the first question is, do you sleep well in your bedroom? (Some people sleep well, but only after they get up and move to another room.)  If there are sleeping difficulties, do you lie awake trying to get to sleep or do you fall asleep easily but wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep?

What is your mood in the morning? Does your bedroom help you easily start your day or does it immediately set up roadblocks and obstacles, (e.g. you trip over objects on the floor, can’t put together an outfit, and then discover something isn’t clean or needs to be ironed, you discover a run in your last pair of hose and your shoes need polishing.) But hopefully not all of these on the same morning…

Where a professional organizer or clutter clearer would help you with organization, a feng shui consultant’s role is much broader. As a feng shui consultant, my job is to educate and suggest solutions on a wide area of topics, and also to work with your agenda — what you have called me in to help you with. While generally (in the Interior Alignment™ school of feng shui anyway) we won’t poke around in your closets to see if you are neat, if closet organization is on your agenda we will. But we will also look at the colours in your bedroom, the layout of furniture, artwork, symbols and how you use your bedroom - for example is it also a home office?

And while it depends on what your agenda is — what you want to work on — there is a universal ‘good feng shui’ bedroom formula. It goes like this (in no particular order):

1. Restful colours.

2. No TVs, computers, or exercise equipmement.

3. Matching or equal-sized bedside tables and lamps.

4. Artwork that is uplifting and symbols that support your goals and dreams.

5. A room layout that creates a feeling of safety and support.

6. A room that reflects who you are at this time in your life.

Copyright Deborah Redfern 2007. All rights reserved.

Sacred drumming is an exciting part of my personal and professional life.  As a Native American woman who was raised in what is known as a “traditional Indian home”, becoming a sacred drummer was not a common occurrence in the culture that I was raised in.  The culture happens to be Ho Chunk (Winnebago) and Potawatomi. 

My mother happens to be the North American Indian and we lived among my mother’s side of the family.  I was taught that a female was not allowed to touch a drum or drum stick.  Drummers were only male tribal members.  I did the next best thing and that was to learn how to dance to the beat of the drum, the sound of Mother Earth.  I became a sacred dancer at age 5.  I became a sacred drummer at age 42.  How did this occur you may be wondering?

I attended my Advanced Interior Alignment™ course with Denise Linn.  In that particular course, Denise, taught us how to make a Native American hand drum.  I was just a little nervous, okay a lot of nervous.  I explained to Denise my feelings and she was so gracious and such a great teacher.  She offered to make the drum for me, or if I chose to start the drum and found I couldn’t finish the making of the drum, that she would do that for me.  Denise made it safe for me to explore the possibility of making my own drum. 

I have to admit, I was waiting for the lightning to strike or some thing awful to happen, but it didn’t.  It did however take me a whole year before I drummed in public or even shared with some Native American friends and a few family members that I owned a drum.

I know that I stepped so far past a belief.  I had to find out for myself if that belief that women couldn’t drum was a truth for me.  It is believed that the Creator chooses a drummer as they are the connection between Heaven and Earth as they drum the beat of Mother Earth. I believe I was chosen to be a sacred drummer as I did not ask to make a drum, but it was offered to me.  I didn’t even know that making a drum was to be a part of the Advanced Interior Alignment™ course until I arrived for the course!

And, now, 5 years later, I not only drum and use my drum for space clearing, I teach others how use a drum in space clearing and also teach others to make their own hand drums and assist in their intiation as a sacred drummer.

My mother is supportive of my drumming and teaching about drum making as long as I hold it sacred.  This I can definately accomplish.  

Yellow is an interesting colour that represents opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. On  one hand there is the association with the sun and all it represents - warmth, happiness, activitity and growth. The flip side is the association with cowardice (hence the terms yellow-bellied, or saying someone has a yellow streak). This is because yellow represents the third charka - the solar plexus or ‘will’ center, which is also the seat of fears, and when yellow is not functioning well, it respresents nervousness, fear, irrational behaviour, anger and cowardice.

When well balanced, the Will center is responsible for activating our ‘drive to thrive’ and propels us us forward in the direction we want to go. Unlike other yang colours (red and orange) it does this through the powers of thinking and reasoning. So yellow is connected with the power of rational thought, intelligence, discrimination, analyzing, studying and memory.

What happens when a person has too much yellow in their surroundings? Consider that we use yellow as a colour meaning ‘caution’ (e.g. in traffic lights and road signals). It doesn’t mean the person is cautious (though they might be); it means that we mght wish to be cautious around them because too much yellow can manifest in willful and manipulating behaviour. 

Physical effects of yellow include:

–> raises low blood pressure
–> strengthens the nervous system
–> stimulates the brain
–> increases liver activity

In the Chinese culture, yellow is for longevity and good luck!

Where to use yellow in your home: it is best used in areas that are active, such as kitchens, breakfast and dining rooms. Here it will be helpful for getting people up and going in the morning, and to stimulate lively discussion around the dinner table. It can help to have small touches of yellow in a bedroom if you have difficulty getting up in the morning — but only small touches because yellow bedrooms are very stimulating, increase mental activity and and can keep you awake. Consider adding yellow to home offices for increased concentration, organization, optimism and communication.

Copyright Deborah Redfern 2007. All rights reserved.

Adjusting feng shui for the southern hemisphere for the southern hemisphere makes sense when you consider the concept of yin and yang. Yin and yang come from daoist philosophy, on which feng shui is based. All matter is made of energy which is either more yin (feminine) or yang (masculine). Night time is the yin time of the day and winter is the yin part of the year. Day time and summer are yang. Midday is the most yang time of the day, when the sun is at its zenith.

In China a house is considered well sited if it faces the sun and has a hill at the back to protect it from the cold winds of the north. In the northern hemisphere the sun is in the south at midday, so a south facing house is ideal. House placement in the southern hemisphere needs to take into account that the sun is in the north at midday. Yang rooms like living rooms are sunny with big windows. Yin rooms like bedrooms are more restful in yin parts of the house.

In the northern hemisphere bagua, the fame sector, which is the most yang sector is placed in the south using compass school. Fame has the fiery energy of the sun. Career is placed in the north, relating to the yin water energy of contemplation. In the southern hemisphere it would be illogical to put fame in the cold watery south. The sold would put out fame’s fire. Fame sits best in the fiery north. The south is best suited to the career sector. The wood energy of the east and the metal energy of the west are the same in the northern and southern hemispheres, as the sun still rises in the east and sets in the west. Wood has the yang energy of morning, while metal has the yin energy of the evening.

I’ve been feeling particularly fortunate to share Interior Alignment™ Astrology with both student and client this week. Interior Alignment astrology is a western approach that focuses on the archetype of the signs, planets and houses.

My client commented that with traditional astrology readings it was ‘being told’, but with Interior Alignment™ astrology it was a conversation with give and take. Yes, I do some telling but with the purpose of introducing the archetype of the sign or planet we are working with. Then we look together to see how that energy — the theme — is presenting itself in your life. Since the client and I had the same sun sign we compared notes on how the sign manifests in our lives: what the joys are in the energy of that sign, and what the challenges have been. The result is being able to look at the same events and experiences in a new way. Then I give homework exercises: some of which focus on feng shui, others on space clearing and others that take on more of a life coaching aspect. The purpose of these exercises is to release past conditioning and go forward in life.

I’ve found Interior Alignment™ astrolgy particularly helpful for people who have had difficulty identifying with their sign. The IA astrology interpretation is like Interior Alignment™ itself: empowering. In Interior Alignment feng shui we believe there are no wrong houses: in IA astrology maybe we can say there are no wrong signs! I discovered this past week that I really love teaching IA astrology.  

Copyright Deborah Redfern 2007 All rights reserved.

 I am truly happy and excited about this new venue for Interior™ practitioners and teachers.  The IA Blog is a space where we can post information and articles that we are unable to post on our IA community e-group due the community e-groups intentions and mission.  What an opportunity to have two fantastic on line spaces to share and communicate together!

This IA blog space is like our playground where we can be creators/authors, readers and contributors/commentors. I would like to thank Deborah Redfern for creating this space for us.   I look forward to creating, reading and commenting on interesting feng shui, space clearing, healthy homes, energy, chi articles.