Where Energy Flows

The Creativity area (also called Creativity and Children) is about experiencing joy in your life. We can all think ‘abstractly’ about what brings us joy. The challenge as I see it, is to be devoted to experiencing joy. 

The pace of life is such that for many of us, joy is the last thing on our list after all we have to do has been taken care of.  What a small world we then create for ourselves! I have observed in my own life that I am often my own ‘make-work project’, but those projects that seem very important and even urgent at the time, are quickly forgotten. And I observe is that they take me away from what is truly important in life.

The effect of the Creativity area is to wake us up, for many people feel fully awake and alive when they are experiencing joy. These are the moments where we are ‘being’ instead of ‘doing’. Getting more done will not feed your soul — most of the time we can not even remember what we have done. Taking time to experience, for instance, a beautiful sunset can be an experience that stays with you forever. And experiencing joy in your life supports your health on all levels. The gift of Presence is the biggest we can give to ourselves and to each other.

~*~ When to Enhance the Creativity Area ~*~
You can enhance the Creativity area of your home according to the bagua enhancements for this area, but better still, why not ‘be’ creativity? For many of us we will need to practice:

• putting yourself first
• avoid overbooking or creating more ‘busy’ work for yourself
• learning to delegate and say no
• identifying what brings you joy (a daily walk in nature, painting, reading a book, spending time with a friend, watching the sunset….there are endless possibilities.
• making time for joy a priority.

© Deborah Redfern, 2008. All rights reserved.

If you are a Lord of the Rings fan, as I am, maybe you will recognize this passage from The Return of the King:

Then taking two leaves, [Aragorn] laid them on his hands and breathed on them, and then he crushed them, and straightaway a living freshness filled the room, as if the air itself awoke and tingled, sparkling with joy. And then he cast the leaves into the bowls of steaming water that were brought to him, and at once all hearts were lightened. For the fragrance that came to each was like a memory of dewy mornings of unshadowed sun in some land of which the fair world in Spring is itself but a fleeting memory. — J.R.R. Tolkien.

As an English Major, I can remember the days when I would have so much fun interpreting this, and other passages from the book. It is an important symbol: it is a sign of accepting one’s gifts, of stepping into leadership and service. Only the true King was said to have healing powers such as this, of taking a medicinal herb, combining it with inner resources to make something greater than the two separately.

This has great significance for using essential oils in Space Clearing. Is there a difference between getting a bottle of an essential oil, let’s take lavender, for example, and using it to scent the house, and using that same bottle of lavender for space clearing? Yes. The difference is Intent.

When I did Interior Alignment training with Denise Linn, we were learning about Holy Water – the kind used in church and religious ceremonies. Denise asked if we knew where Holy Water came from. We pondered. Did it come from sacred wells, or was it water with special healing properties? The answer – well it might be, be but generally speaking water is Holy because someone has blessed it. There again, it is intention.

There is a difference in using essential oils when they are used with Intent. Used with Intent they become sacred tools.

Imagine for a moment the life of a flower. Imagine a rose. Although the plant in which it grows may live for years, the flower, once fully open, lives but a few days or weeks. And in those few weeks they are true healing agents. The fragrance lightens hearts, the colours strengthen the energy field.

When you reflect, isn’t it something or a miracle that the essence of those flowers can be contained at all though distillation? Think of the fragility of a flower, the fleeting nature of the scent – and then the ordeal of being distilled at very high temperatures … I find it incredible. Through using essential oils with respect and awe, they become sacred tools.

Combined with our inner resources — our Intent, a synergy between practitioner and tool is created. This is where we step into our own majesty, into a role of leadership and service that Tolkien talks about because in Space Clearing, it is not the tool that does the work: it is the synergy of tool and practitioner, how the two combine to create healing energy.

In order to really understand Space Clearing let us look first understand about space.

It has several meanings. It can refer to something physical which is personal to us. ‘Our’ space could be our area on the desk, or our own room. Then there is the non-physical meaning of space, when we say someone is ‘in our space’. This often means someone is physically too close to us.

In both cases we are talking about our energy fields. An energy field is a vibration. People often have difficulty with the concept of energy and vibrations because although most of us can’t see them, energy vibrations can be felt by most people, even those who believe they are not very sensitive to such things. We all have been somewhere where we felt wonderful, and we all have been in places where something felt off - in other words we picked up negative ‘vibes’. What is being picked up on is the ambient energy left over from people and events. This ambient energy is emotions.

Emotions

It is interesting that people can often tell what happened in a room before they got there. For example if you are visiting someone’s house where there has been an argument, many people can feel it, even if the hosts are acting normally. We pick up on good emotions as well. There are places that just feel good to be in. Most often I encounter them in places of nature. But people’s homes, offices, shops and restaurants also have good energy.  

Why is it we pick up on energy vibrations in rooms?  It is because energy vibrations also run through seemingly solid objects and gives them a history. Antique furniture, for example, often have definite personalities and energy patterns imprinted in them. Just touching them can give off feelings of happiness, or sadness.

We know from the Law of Attraction that happiness and joy is a higher energy field than one of sadness, grief, anger, loneliness -  that is, any energy pattern that feels negative. And with Space Clearing, we can change the energy imprint from a negative one, to a positive one.

What we do in Space Clearing is change the pattern through manipulating the space, so that any negative elements are removed. At the same time we are consciously putting back a different vibration.  Normally these are your intentions - all the good things you envision happening to you while you live there.

Another type of Space Clearing is to dedicate the space to the present owners’ wishes and dreams for their lives. Some Space-clearers call this a Blessing Ceremony and traditionally this was done when people move into a new home. Today we do this ceremony to help people consciously fills their homes and working places with tangible reminders of the joy and happiness they wish to honour in their lives.

© Copyright Deborah Redfern, 2008. All rights reserved.

I was thinking about what Eckhart Tolle’s book says in his book, A New Earth about flowers. He says,

“Without our fully realizing it, flowers would become for us an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred and ultimately formless within ourselves. Flowers, more fleeting, more ethereal, and more delicate than the plants out of which they emerged, would become like  messengers from another realm, like a bridge between the world of physical forms and the formless.

An “aha” moment!

This is why we use flowers in space clearing, on the altar or in the sacred ceremony. It helps us access the subtle realms of energy. Flowers can help us pay attention, be in the ‘nowness’ of life. One of my favourite artists, Georgia O’Keefe, painted the intimate world of flowers. In a passage as equally evocative as Tolle’s, she writes:

A flower is relatively small. Everyone has many associations with a flower - the idea of flowers. You put out your hand to touch the flower - lean forward to smell it - maybe touch it with your lips almost without thinking - or give it to someone to please them. Still - in a way - nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small - we haven’t time - and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time.

In the space clearing ritual we make - and take - time to experience the small and almost invisible thing of energy fields. It is a moment when all involved in the ceremony are awake — smelling the flowers so to speak. We really see the flower, which is ourselves and how we interact with the sacred space within and around us.

© 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.

Webinar 

Topic: Feng Shui for Love, Marriage and Romantic Happiness
Instructor: Deborah Redfern
Mode: Telephone & Internet. Click this Wednesday Webinars link for more information
Date: February 6, 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. PST
Cost: $10.00 CAD

Description:

Turn your bedroom into a romantic sanctuary for Valentine’s Day!

Your bedroom is the first thing you see every morning and the last thing you see every night — so it has the potential to have a large influence on how you feel about yourself, on the emotional and physical level.

Is your bedroom a retreat — a sanctuary where you can to go unwind at the end of a busy day? A place for awakening passion? This class explores furniture placement, colours, sound, textures, fragrances, styles of furnishings, and lighting to enhance the sensuality of your bedroom. 

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.