Where Energy Flows

A while ago I wrote a series on the impact of colours in feng shui and it was suggested that I bring all these posts together in one place. So here it is!

© Deborah Redfern, 2008. All rights reserved.

The Relationship Area is about nurturing relationships, traditionally it includes those with a spouse or partner. The most important relationship of all however, is the inner relationship you cultivate with yourself. Many of us go through life doing what is expected, what other people want us to do, while putting our innermost dreams aside. You are a precious being and you truly deserve unconditional love, especially from yourself. Buddha said, “You, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

How do you take care of yourself? Do you make time for yourself? Do you think nurturing yourself would be a good investment of time? What might the rewards be?

And, on the other hand, what might it cost you personally to not take care of yourself — to give yourself your love and affection?

~*~ When to Enhance the Relationship Area ~*~

To improve relationships of all kinds, practice taking care of your own inner needs first, and you will have more to offer to your relationships with others. 

~*~ Colours to Use ~*~
Traditionally, the colour for the Relationship Area is red, pink and white, but I encourage my clients to consider the colours that give them a feeling of being loved and taken care of.

~*~ Element Symbols ~*~
The Element is Earth (Gaia, Mother Earth, nurturing energy).  Put objects in this area that represent love to you, especially those you have a personal association with, such as wedding and anniversary photographs and gifts, as well as flowers, cupids, and heart shapes. For improved relationships with family, display happy photos of you with people you love.

~*~ Life Symbols ~*~
Use any objects and items that give you a sense of your own self worth.

~*~ How to Use ~*~
Use any of the enhancements of colour, element symbols or life symbols in the Relationship area of your home.

© Deborah Redfern, 2008. All rights reserved.

The nine areas of the bagua map can be applied to any room in the house. When applying it to an infant’s room we soften the intentions, making them age appropriate with a loving influence. As you gently energize all areas of the room you encourage your baby to grow in a well balanced way. Keeping the room and closets clutter free and child safe is most important. Keep colors soft and the content of all pictures or art loving and positive. Most of the time your infant will be sleeping in this room so remember to keep the themes of toys, art and wallpaper non-moving and restful. If you have items you wish to display in the room think of the following suggestions:

Prosperity. Intentions here support a wealth of unconditional love for your baby. A good spot to put a special piggy bank.

Fame or recognition. Help your baby to feel recognized for who they are as individuals and family members by placing items representing firsts for them.

Relationships. Baby’s first relationships are with family. This could be where Mom and baby sit for feeding time.

Family. Place family photos here that were taken when everyone was happy or items that represent your culture that are warm, friendly and infant appropriate.

Health. Try to keep this area open so that chi can move freely. Remove obstacles to growing up strong and healthy.

Creativity. This would make an excellent play area. Store a small number of toys here that are favorites and rotate new toys in that are at the next challenging level.

Self knowledge. This area can display books or be arranged as a reading corner to foster an early love for learning.

Career. Your baby’s job is to learn about themselves and their world. Educational toys that are age appropriate and safe could be stored here.

Helpful People. Gifts from god-parents, babysitters or items from anyone with a special supportive role in your child’s growth and development could be placed here.

Copyright 2008  Brenda Rosenberg  All rights reserved. 

White is technically not a colour — rather it encompasses all colors in the rainbow spectrum. It is often the colour of choice in healing work (when directing colour to the person being healed) because the person can take whatever colour they need out of white light.

The cultural meanings of white are not straight forward. On the one hand white represents new beginnings, purity, innocence and cleanliness. White is often used to represent ’goodness’ or the right side of the law, e.g., a white knight, the ‘good’ cowboy in the white hat. There is also a religious or sacred connotation of white: it can represent divine realization and humility.

On the other hand, white represents ambiguity and falsehood, e.g. telling a white lie, or to whitewash something, meaning to cover up the truth with lies. A white elephant might be the classic definition of clutter: something you do not use or love.

~*~White in decorating~*~

There is a reason why many books on selling your home recommend painting the walls in your home white: in feng shui we say white walls are a like blank canvas. So prospective buyers can more easily imagine their own colour schemes rather than being influenced by the seller’s choices. However I have found as a Feng Shui Practitioner, that when people do not change the white walls, as they face that blank canvas day after day, it is a little like writers block — or creativity block.

And this is interesting because in the bagua map, white is related to the Children and Creativity gua, and the element of metal, so you would think having a white colour scheme throughout the entire house would make you wildly creative. And it might do that — if you are a person who has a lot of metal energy — someone who has a personality suited to it. But there are four other elements other than metal: fire, earth, water and wood. For these people a little bit of white — such as decorative trim, contrast colour or even just one white wall – as well as a little metal, will help with creativity and decision making, but not four white walls plus ceiling!

Another interesting thing is that white is yang, which is outgoing, extroverted and expansive. But colour healing experts say that large expanses of white can be isolating and make it more difficult to make decisions and take action — and I have observed that to be true as a feng shui practitioner. If you feel lonely or cut off, that your energy is ’scattered’; if you want to be more out-going or make decisions more easily, try bringing in colour.

If painting is not an option one thing you can do is to hang coloured textiles on the wall with curtain rods or other means of attachment. This could be curtains, a quilt or even a rug. Another idea is to bring in warm accessories (think earth tones) that will cast a warm reflection on stark white walls. Having art work hung on white walls is very important as it will help lift the ‘blank canvas’ feeling. 

The colour experts say that white is good in bathrooms and kitchens, but not good in children’s rooms or dining rooms.

© copyright 2008 Deborah Redfern. All rights reserved.

Do you make an overall plan for the New Year? Most of us do.  Here is a simple guide for making plans that have great chances for success.

Your home acts as a mirror which reflects what is happening to you on an inner level. Whenever you make internal changes — or plan to, as in New Year Resolutions, it is a perfect time to scan your home and work environment to see how your home (or office) support those resolutions. 

Look to see if there is anything in your environment that might hold you back or sabotage your efforts to bring productive change in your life. You might find clutter, objects or photographs that have negative connotations, or energy blockages. Take steps to create a physical environment that matches where you want to go in life.

Add colors that are personally healing, forward looking and that support your progress. Use the bagua map to help you define and focus on goals. If improved diet or physical healing is your goal, start by checking the Health gua in your home. If abundance is your goal, check your Abundance gua. If finding your soul mate is your goal, check your Relationship gua and so on. 

Finally, to create plans for positive change that stick, write it down. When you write down goals and plans you act as witness to yourself. You can write it as a contract, as a commitment or as an affirmation. All of these steps will help you to create positive change and make lasting changes in your life.

Copyright Deborah Redfern, 2007. All rights reserved.

Black is technically not a colour at all. Rather, it is the total absorption of light. From a feng shui perspective, the qualities of black are power and stillness. Black is associated with power, strength, authority, and independence. Stillness evokes quiet, introspection, the night, dreamtime, the unknown, mystery, self-protection, and to go unnoticed. Black is also associated with beginnings and endings: beginnings - we are born into the light; endings - death, a return to darkness.

From the bagua map perspective black is the color for the Career gua.  The element for the Career area is water, and the trigram means ‘deep water’.  If you have studied feng shui, you may know that Career does not mean only what you do as your job; rather it also refers to the soul-searching that happens when you contemplate your purpose in life. From my book on the bagua Odyssey of the Heart,

Deep water means to go very deeply inside on an inner journey to find the quintessential nature that is you. I believe that through this journey you can find your personal alchemy which gives you the opportunity to turn your life around.

So if black represents finding yourself and your true purpose in life, those qualities of black (power and stillness) are important. For example, do you use your power in a constructive way? There are two types of power, one having to do with the misuse of it and the other having to do with self mastery. The misuse of power (having power over someone) explains one of the cautions I have read on wearing black. It is said to ’express hidden aggressive impulses and causes one to absorb unfiltered energies from the world outside’.

Do the qualities of black help you become more centered or still inside, or does it protect you in some way — to ‘disappear’ or go unnoticed?

Using Black

Black should not be used in young children’s rooms, therapy rooms, or living rooms. 

I sometimes do a feng shui consultation for someone who wants a black and white bedroom scheme. I try to dissuade them because while it might look dramatic and mysterious in the night, by day it depresses the energy. Have you ever been in a night club or restaurant with a black or very dark color scheme by day? Were they places you wanted to linger in?

Similarly, long term wearing of black, head to toe - almost like a uniform - is not recommended from an energetic perspective, but then too, there are colour/fashion experts who tell us that a lot of us just do not look good in black! Some wear black because it doesn’t show the dirt, but personally I find the opposite is true and my black clothing seems to need cleaning after each wearing. But there are times when it is useful:

• If there is a time in your life when you need self-protection or to go unnoticed
• When you are feeling extreme exhaustion
• To quiet an over-active mind.

© Copyright 2007 Deborah Redfern. All rights reserved.

There are different methods you can use to begin applying feng shui principles to your house, but the most common method in North America today is the bagua map. The bagua map is a symbolic tool that is sometimes called The Eight Aspirations because it divides living spaces into eight areas. Each area corresponds to different aspirations in life: Family, Abundance, Reputation, Relationships, Creativity, Helpful People, Career and Self Knowledge.

Using the Bagua Map
The first step in this process is to draw the floor plans of the home, including a separate plan for each floor, e.g. the ground floor, the basement, the upstairs. Next, apply the bagua map over the floor plan. The orientation of the bagua map is important. With the bagua map properly aligned over your floor plans, your front door (or entrance door to a room) will be in one of the three orienting bagua areas: Self Knowledge, Career or Helpful People. The bagua map can also be applied to each room, e.g., the living room, the kitchen, each bedroom, etc. Then map out where all the other areas are located on that floor or in that room. Unless your home is square or rectangular shape, you will find the bagua map won’t fit. A part of one or more of the grid will be missing.

Missing Parts of the Grid
Take a look at what is happening in your life in that area. For example, if you have a ‘L’ shaped home and the wealth area is the part missing, consider whether your finances are in good shape. If so, rest easy, especially if things are going very well in the corresponding bagua areas. It means you have extra energy flowing into your home in those areas. On the other hand, if you find yourself continually in the red or struggling financially, the chances are good - from a feng shui perspective - that it has something to do with the missing bagua part of the grid. But don’t panic, this can be easily fixed. It can be as simple as planting a tree in the corner where the walls would meet - if the house were square, or as elaborate as adding a patio or deck to fill in the area. There are countless fixes to suit every situation.

What Story Does the Bagua Map Tell You?
Once the structure of the house is attended to, you can begin taking a good look at what stories each of those eight areas have to say about your life. Are some rooms over-used while others are nearly empty? Do you have rooms used only for storage? Look at where the clutter accumulates in your home. Look in closets, in cupboards, under beds and on top of shelves. Look everywhere and makes notes as you go along. With your bagua map and notes in hand, you are ready to begin to make the feng shui changes that will guide you in rewriting your life story.

© Copyright Deborah Redfern, 2007. All rights reserved.