Where Energy Flows

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.

Interior Alignment™ is a blending of many belief systems that provides a depth and wealth of knowledge.  As practitioners and teachers of Interior Alignment™ we are also trained to create Altars that bridge the seen and unseen worlds in which we work. I am asked quite often about front door altars. I thought I would share one of my favorites kind of altars, Kuan/Kwan Yin for the front door.

Front door altars from a Feng Shui perspective assists Chi to floor through the door as the altar invites Chi in and from a Space Clearing perspective, the front door altar can provide protection from unwanted energies coming to your home.  So Front door altars provide both a welcome and protection at the same time.

I recently found a book by Daniela Schenker called Kuan Yin, Assessing the Power of the Divine Feminine.  Ms. Schenker goes into great depth about Kuan Yin. I appreciated this depth and sharing as I have a fondness and connection to Kuan/Kwan Yin. I have to say that this book also held another surprise gift. The forward was written by my teacher, Denise Linn. I had no idea that Denise had written this forward where she called for Kuan Yin to come and help with the birthing of her friend’s baby.

Kuan/Kwan Yin is a bodhisattva known for her deep compassion for all sentient beings as she heard the cries of the world.  Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have attained the wisdom of Buddhas but have postponed their final “liberation” or ascension. Instead they provide compassionate support to sentient beings in this world until the sentient being can achieve their own ascension.  She is also known as the protector of women and children. What I did not know was that is 33 images of Kuan/Kwan Yin for contemplation.  So there are 33 different images of Kuan/Kwan Yin to select from for your front door altar. 

The front door altar would be considered a guardian altar as it will face the front door but not directly
across the front door. The best placement is off to one side across the front door. The image you choose of Kuan Yin will protect the entryway of your home.  She will welcome visitors at the same time she will conteract any lower vibrational energies such as negative thoughts from entering your home. As you select items to add to the altar be aware of the significance of the items and your intention for the altar. You may want to add a special candle, flowers, or incense.  A special addition would be peacock feathers. The peacock is known to be Kuan/Kwan Yin’s guardian and will protect us from accidents, other disasters and can absorb negative energies.

Possible images of Kuan/Kwan Yin for the front door altar are with her using a protective mudra which is arms lifted to her chest height and the palms of her hands are parallel and facing each other; or a fearlessness mudra which is the right hand is raised and the open plam faces forward. Images using these mudras are the Four-Armed Kuan/Kwan Yin and the Kuan/Kwan Yin with a Halo of Fire (Kuan/Kwan Yin of Complete Light).

May Kuan/Kwan Yin bless your home.

© Yvette Neshi Lokotz, 2008. All rights reserved. 

Staying in a hotel when on vacation or business trip can be uncomfortable from a feng shui and space clearing perspective.  I just returned from a trip to New Mexico.  I traveled with my friend and fellow teacher, Deb Swingholm. 

Deb and I shared a room while attending a shamanic course in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  When we entered our shared room we both had the same feeling, “get a different room”.   Deb did inquire but there was not another space as nice! We knew that we had to do some Feng Shui and Space Clearing in order to feel comfortable in the room.

As we went out to our rented car, I turned to Deb and said, “we are moving the bed from the extra room into the larger space”.  The extra room was next to the bathroom and felt isolated.  So, that is exactly what we did.  We dismantled the single bed and it moved between the fire place and a large walk in closet which was in the main room.  We also moved the small club chairs.  One chair was moved to a corner we had designated for reading and the other chair next to the fire place.  The second bed was in an windowed alcove that opened into the main room.

After we finished moving the furniture around, I placed one of my shawls over the full length mirror that hung on the walk in closet door.  We stood back and assessed our work by tuning into the energy of the room.  The room felt so much better as the Energy flowed with balance and harmony.  We used the room off the bathroom as a dressing room and storage for luggage.  This worked out so well as the extra room also had a door that we could close.  I also placed a sheet over the bureau mirror at night which comes from my Native American culture.  This transformed the main room as the room felt like a safe haven in the evening.

When we were finished arranging furniture, we set up a small altar.  Deb and I set our intention for the space and began a space clearing Ceremony.  We used our Drums and a [tag[bell[/tag] to space clear the rooms.  This is the first time Deb and I have worked together as a space clearing team.  I have to admit it was so much fun.

The bell is one of Deb’s primary space clearing tools and watching them work together was magical.  We transformed a space that began as a confined with stale energy to one of beauty and easy to take full deep breaths in.  And, we did all of this in less than an hour. 

We all know that keeping a sense of humor is vital. Well, Deb and I wondered what it would have been like to video tape this feng shui and space clearing to show on YouTube. We would have entitled the video, “What do Two Feng Shui Teachers Do on Vacation?!”

On the last morning that we stayed at the Inn, we had breakfast with a few of the other course attendees.  I asked them how they liked their rooms.  Their response was their room was fine and loved the view of the mountains. Deb and I told them that we were Interior Alignment™ Master Teachers and that we incorporated feng shui into our room by changing the furniture around and doing a space clearing ceremony. Their reply was, “I wish you could have done my room too I could have slept better!”

I believe the important thing to remember is that if you have a basic feng shui knowledge you can create a comfortable place for your soul and physical body anywhere you go.  If you add a space clearing ceremony to that same space, you create an intentional sacred space. 

All Rights Reserved. Copyright, Neshi Lokotz, April 2008.

I sit at my desk, working at my computer, typing another draft letter for my supervisors to edit before final signatures.  My office space is a small cubicle on the third floor of a government building.  The building is grey cement with large windows on the exterior.  The interior of the third floor is grey blue.  All you hear in the office is the clicking of keyboards and some low voices in discussion.  The room is very quiet as people diligently work.

This is short description of my past workspace.  My cubicle was unlike most others as I had color in mine from well placed pictures and flowers.  My favorite place in my cubicle was just to the right of my computer screen.  I had a “special” place arranged with a picture of my husband and our dog, a small fairy figurine, a stone that I found on a walk, a special amethyst crystal and a small vase of flowers.  While most of my colleagues listened to music through headphones, I played my flute music CD’s at a very low volume. 

I had a fair amount of visitors to my cube.  If there was a short discussion on a project, informally, we met in my cubicle.  Friends would stop by on their break and spend a few minutes with me.  They always said that they felt so good in my space.  My cubicle was my Sacred Space.

Since I worked for a state government there were specific rules about religion.  So my “special” desk arrangement was not called an altar, but it was a work place altar and I knew what each item represented and the specific placement on my desk.  I knew the Feng Shui of my desk.  This was the Helpful People area of my desk according to the bagua.  My helpful people were my family, my canine spirit helpers, stones and crystals, the fairy and to honor all of them…flowers.

Most people have a way of placing items on their desk, such as family pictures, mementos, and “lucky” items.  I believe that arranging these types of items is natural and we do this arrangement by instinct or intuition.  When we begin to understand that every item we place has a special energetic meaning, then we step into the world of Spirit and we then consciously select those items and their placement. 

I am very grateful for my education through Interior Alignment as creating altars is integral in Space Clearing.  But even more important is that when we consciously create our own altars, our own “special” arrangements, we invite Spirit consciously into our lives.

© Yvette Neshi Lokotz, 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Valentine’s Day Thoughts…. 

As I sit here watching yet another beautiful snowfall, I wonder about Valentine’s Day and its meaning.  I wonder about how its meaning has affected my personal life.  Ahhh….and then memories of the early days of my marriage drift through my mind. 

Paul and I have been together for 29 years and married for 28 years.  That is a lot of years and a lot of memories.  Some of those memories were caught on film and others are found only in the recesses of my mind.

We were so very young when we married in 1979.  Both Paul and I were 19 years old, just mere children.  Of course at that time we were convinced that we knew what we were doing and we were old enough to begin our married life despite what some of our parents thought and said. In each of the dwellings we called home, I always had a special area for our wedding picture, a candle and small mementos like special stones from special places we had been together.  In those early years I had no conscious knowledge that I was creating an altar to and for our union. I had no conscious idea that the intuitive creation and placement of the Marriage Altar created a certain loving energy that helped us to have a stronger partnership and marriage.  All I knew at that time was that it felt so good to have a special place in our home that reflected how we felt about each other.

I now know that the placement of the marriage or romance altar is very important.  Placing this type of altar in the Relationship area of your home or room can enhance the items placed on the altar and most importantly carry an extra surge of energy for your intentions for your relationship.  In Interior Alignment™ we believe that everything has a consciousness.  This means that everything has a life force, even the stones and the wax of the candle.  This also gives reason to deeply consider what items are placed on an altar.  The items energy or vibration becomes your ally or friend to add energy to your intentions for the altar, for your life.

Some of the WhereEnergyFlows Blog authors will have blog articles about the Bagua and the Relationship gua.  There are also past articles about the Bagua and its placement to identify what area of your home is the Relationship area.  The mechanics and application of feng shui and space clearing information is truly important, but in my mind, not quite as important as your reasons, thoughts and intention as to why you want a particular altar. Take time to sit with a cup of tea, watch the snowfall and remember the reasons why you love the person you love, remember all the good and fun times together, remember the words of the vow you said to each other.  And, then go and create a meaningful and loving altar to your union.

Happy Valentine’s Day,
Neshi.

All Rights Reserved.  Copyright Neshi Lokotz, 2008.