Where Energy Flows

As Interior Alignment™ professionals, we become observant of symbolism and metaphors in a home. I recently met with a Feng Shui and Space Clearing client, we have been working together for a few years. My client is ready for a lifestyle change as she moves into retirement in a few short years.  She knows that her home can support her plans for after retirement.

As we sit in her home, I look around and see that nothing has changed in the last 3 years. The same photos are up, the furniture is in the same places and nothing new really has been added to her home. We begin by talking about what is going on currently in her life.

My client states that everything is status quo, not much has changed. She is in the same job position, no change in salary and no change in her social life. I share with her my observations that her home has not changed since she employed the feng shui suggestions from our last consultation 3  years before.  She had not noticed this at all. 

So, we talked about how our homes and work spaces are a reflection of our lives. Our homes are metaphors for our life. As she looks toward a transition from her current job into semi retirement (really isn’t going to retire but begin to work on her art and music which she loves). We talk about how her home will begin to reflect this slow change from her corporate employment to self employment in the art and music world. Even just talking about this change I could feel her energy rise and her home’s energy rise in anticipation of a new support role.

You can begin to use the skill of observation by taking stock of your home and how it reflects your current life. What role does your home play in supporting your goals and dreams? As we partner with our homes to live our best life, we become more aware and conscious of the connections we have with our home and in our life.

© Yvette Neshi Lokotz, 2008. 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.