Where Energy Flows

Yesterday, I went to the local market here in Chiang Mai (Thailand) and had an interesting Feng Shui experience.  The market is a trove of Feng Shui eclecticism and as I walk along, shopping at the various stalls, I always watch for brightly decorated altars, unusual good luck charms and other Thai variations of Feng Shui application.  But, today’s lesson was a little different…

When I bought the first item on my list, the vendor gave me change, and one of the coins she handed me was rather old and discolored.  The woman was reticent to give it to me.  She shook her head and was quite apologetic, saying that it was “mai suai”- not beautiful.  But, I smiled, said I didn’t mind, and went on my way. 

Later at another stall in the market, I pulled this same coin out of my purse pocket to pay for a basket I was buying and was shocked when the vendor rather abruptly handed it back to me.  “No, I cannot take this”, she said, putting it back in my hand and literally pushing it away. 

She was willing to lose the sale altogether, rather than take the discolored coin.  But, after some negotiation, she agreed to let me pay less - an amount that included a different, shiny coin.  After a few moments of confusion, I understood.  This was about luck.  This was about the Feng Shui of money!  My purchase was her first sale of the day and she didn’t want to tarnish her luck with a tarnished coin.   

I walked away smiling, intrigued by this exchange, and began to wonder about how to apply this in my life.  Even though much of traditional Feng Shui symbolism is related to money, luck and good fortune, I had never considered how Feng Shui might relate to the contents of my purse. But, this encounter with a tarnished coin made me think about how to use Feng Shui to increase our wealth, starting with our wallets.

 Here are just a few ideas: 

• Consider your wallet or purse as an extension of your Wealth/Abundance Gua.  
• Be mindful of the way you treat your wallet, your purse and your money.  For example, do you treat your purse like a place that protects your wealth or does it become a handy place to toss candy wrappers and wads of receipts? 
• Organize your wallet.  Cut up expired credit cards, remove old receipts, etc.
• Try to use new bills and coins, even if this means an occasional trip to the bank to exchange worn, dirty money.  There is something very uplifting about giving and receiving “beautiful” money…..
• Carry an amount of cash that feels like “enough”.  Nothing says “I’m not abundant” like an empty wallet.
• Keep something in your wallet that symbolizes money-luck.  This could be a gold or silver coin, a pearl or a stone such as citrine, aventurine or emerald (I carry a small polished emerald in my wallet).

I am sure you can come up with more ideas for bringing good Feng Shui to your wallet.  And, may you be blessed with good fortune and an abundance of bright, shiny coins!

  Deb Swingholm, 2008.  All Rights Reserved.

Creating an abundance altar in your home or on your property is a great idea during these times of recession.

When creating an altar intention is very important.  Begin by identifying what abundance, wealth, and prosperity means to you personally.  This is a definition 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. Identify what kind of life do you want to live. Identify what is important to you in your life.

Once you identify your definition for abundance and what kind of life you want to live, look for symbols that will hold these definitions for you.  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 Prairie 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 sustenance 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.  Your symbol of abundance needs to mean something to you in order for the symbol to have power.

Consider placing your abundance altar in the Wealth area of your home for the maximum 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 or career.  This symbol of your personal business or career may be your business card or a brochure. You may even want to write out your intention on a beautiful card to place on your altar. 

As you receive payment for service to your clients or have your paycheck automatically deposited, place the payment or your payroll receipt 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, a lingam stone placed in a red glass bowl filled with sand so that the lingam can stand upright. I also have citrine stones which are known as the merchant stone for abundance. And, I have my business card in a prominent place on the altar as well. 

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 and hold the intentions for your life as Chi or life force energy flows through your home, may your altar receive the attention from the Universe. 

© Copyright Yvette Neshi Lokotz, August 2008, All Rights Reserved.

What gives a site good feng shui? 

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As Interior Alignment™ practitioners we actively use the form school in urban settings by using structures that are found in cities. For example tall trees or higher buildings in the back of your home represent the Pillow Mountain. Smaller buildings or plants on either side of the home represent the tiger and dragon.

We also use the principles inside the home, or the office to create ideal placement of furniture and energy flow, so that people feel secure and supported.

© Copyright Deborah Redfern, 2008. All rights reserved.

I have two tall beeswax candles in my bedroom which is also in the Health area of my home. They are a lovely golden color, they give off positive ions, and they smell ever so slightly sweet.

They are really bugging me and I need to take them down.

But I haven’t.

You see, I am leaving them there because they:
1. fill up an empty wall well
2. are the perfect Health enhancer (Earth color and Fire that supports Earth Energy)
3. were really expensive
4. give off positive ions

They are bugging me because I convinced myself I needed them, and that once I had them I would feel good. So these poor, innocent candles now represent stuff that I think I need in order to make myself feel better. Stuff isn’t the answer of course. The answer is learning how to feel better without buying anything. This isn’t all that easily done – it takes lots of practice, time, patience, and love.

I am worth it though gosh darn-it!

The candles stay for now. I do like the way they smell. I also like how you have to work at shaping beeswax candles as they burn. You have to keep pushing down the wax, yet without causing an overflow.

I find this extremely symbolic of inner strength and health. You have to keep at it, pay attention and stay in the flow. Just remember not to push too hard and too fast because you might cause an overflow.

© Copyright Elise Rebmann, 2008. All rights reserved.

Working with the bagua in feng shui is a fascinating and multi layered process. One way to get to know the nine areas of the bagua more deeply and make them personal for your own home and life is to make a collage bagua.

To do this start with a piece of posterboard. It can be any size you choose. You can either draw an octagon on it to represent the traditional shape of the bagua or you can create a rectangular bagua to represent the shape of most modern homes. Either way divide the poster into nine areas. If working with a rectangle you can do this by visualizing a tick tack toe board.

Starting at the bottom center area and going clockwise you will have a space for each area as follows: Career/Life Path, Self Knowledge & Cultivation, Family & Ancestors, Wealth & Abundance, Fame & Reputation, Relationships, Creativity & Children, Helpful People & Travel. In the center is Health.

As with any collage there are many ways you can go about this. One way I’ve found fun and insightful is to go on a hunt for images that represent the ultimate meaning of each area of the bagua for me. For example if you are someone who loves books and learning new things from them, you could use images of books in your Self Knowledge and Cultivation gua. Or if you are someone who is determined to turn over a new leaf with your diet and start eating more healthy food, your health gua could be collaged with lots of veggies.

Each area of the bagua has a corresponding range of colors so you can play with this as well. You can use different color papers as backgrounds for each gua and then layer your symbolic images on top of the corresponding color.

And as always when you are surfing your magazines and other sources for images stay open to what catches your eye. This is how the multiple layers of the bagua will reveal themselves to you and how you will begin to learn more about yourself and your home. Remember: feel with your eyes and give your left brain a break.

© Donna Thompson, 2008. All rights reserved.

I’ve written on the Helpful People area of the bagua  a fair bit, since it is one of my favourites. It is interesting because while most of the bagua trigrams are a mixture of yin and yang energy, Helpful People is all yang, which means it is very strong, action-oriented , male energy. 

It is a big force in our lives. Some people think the Law of Attraction is the same as the Helpful People area. I believe Helpful People is one aspect of the Law of Attraction — the creative part, what some call synchronicity, when the desires we put out in the universe begin to be answered.  The trigram for Helpful People means Creative Heaven. Help often comes in creative ways such as:  

• that meaningful dream you had
• those times when you just ‘know’ what is going to happen
• when signs show up in your life (the appearance of animals or objects that have special meaning to you)

Help (or signs) can also in the shape of other people who become heavenly helpers when they show up at precisely the right time in your life offering help or guidance, or put you in touch with the right people at the right time. Some believe this is an angel, or an angel acting through a person.

Synchronicity is also part of the Helpful People area. Syn is the Greek word for together and Chronos means time. Synchronicity is when seemingly random and unrelated events occur together in a way that has special significance to you. Synchronicity can happen at the everyday mundane level or through amazing and spectacular ‘coincidences’. We could fill a post just on spectacular coincidences. My personal favourite was the hawk that showed up in my garden the morning of a vision quest. Hawk is big medicine for me, being one of my totem animals. 

It is important to note that many people are not comfortable with the idea of being guided by an intelligent force outside themselves — a force whose job is to provide help, because the ‘help’ often cannot be explained rationally, and feeling in control is much more comfortable and familiar. But are we ever really in control? Think of often plans turn out differently than we thought they would.

Helpful People area also shows that we can let go of the need to micro-manage all parts of our lives and instead have faith that all is unfolding as it is meant to. The real gift of Helpful People, as I see it, is the opportunity for inner growth as we open the door to the flow of creativity in our lives.   

Ideas for Cultivating more Helpful People energy in your Life.

• Record your dreams. Sometimes dreams come from mental processing of the days’ events, but sometimes they have deeper meanings. Recording your dreams is an effective way to tap into inner messages, but you need to be prepared by having a notebook and pen close to your bed. Write down the dream as soon as you wake up.
• Experiment in dreamtime. Write a question you would like clarity on in your dream notebook before going to sleep and the next morning record the answers that come to you while you are sleeping.
• Create an altar. An altar is a place set aside in your home or office dedicated to receiving guidance and giving thanks. An altar does not have to be religious, nor need it be a shrine. It can simply be a collection of objects that help you focus your attention in a special way. For more ideas, see my post “How To Create a Home Altar“.
• To invite more guidance and synchronicity in your life, locate the Helpful People area of your home and choose some of these feng shui enhancements in the Helpful People and Travel area. You can also use these enhancements for an altar in the Helpful People area of any room in your home.· Colours for the area are black, grey and white· Candles· Scent: incense, lavender or juniper essential oil (or your favourite essential oil), resins – I like frankincense and copal – or herbs such as sweet grass

  · Objects of nature: stones, crystals, flowers, plants, seeds, nuts acorns, pine cones, shells, feathers, salt, corn, wine, water, wood

  · Your written prayers, affirmations or blessings

  · Religious objects depicting the image of Buddha, Jesus Mary, Angels or Goddesses

  · Other objects that have a spiritual or sacred meaning to you

  · Photographs of yourself and/or other people in your life.

   

© Deborah Redfern, 2008. All rights reserved.

As a youngster, I collected rocks. That love has never diminished. Today, although I can often come home from a wander in the woods with more that one rock in my pocket, I continue to expand my collection with glorious crystals of all sources, shapes, colors and properties. Many of my clients ask about crystals and love to incorporate them into their home to enhance balance and harmony. Crystals are frequently the gift I give to clients.

In looking at the Feng Shui bagua, suggestions for locations for crystals include:

Gua                                                                               Stones

Helpful people/Travel                                                  Moonstone
Career                                                                          Black tourmaline
Knowledge                                                                   Lapis lazuli
Relationships                                                                Rose quartz
Fame/Reputation                                                          Garnet
Creativity/Children                                                        Clear quartz
Family/Past                                                                   Green jade
Abundance/Prosperity                                                  Amethyst
Health                                                                          Citrine

To attract abundance into your home, you could put a piece of citrine near your computer – especially if this is how you make your income. For communications, add a clear-quartz cluster in the family’s main gathering room and watch harmony replace disagreements. Watch your creativity spark when you carry a carnelian touchstone and invite relationship with rose quartz (this would be a great stone to tuck in your pocket as you attend the next networking gathering).

I place a moonstone on the ledge above all the outside doors in a house. This is said to keep out negative influences. Green calcite is another favorite protector from negative energy.

Do you ever find heart rocks designed by nature? These often show up on the banks of your favorite stream. They hold powerful energies of Peace and Love and can be placed anywhere. 

My preference is generally rough cut stones. However, others state that tumbled (smooth) crystals hold the same core energy properties.

A favorite book on Crystals and their properties is: “Love is in the Earth” by Melody. Her book has long been a classic on the topic.
 
Enjoy exploring and learning more about Earth Mothers percious gifts!

© Roberta Binder, 2008. All rights reserved.