Where Energy Flows

 ”The loss of my mare is not necessarily a bad thing. All will be shown for its true worth in time.” ~ from The Old Man of the Steppes Finds a Horse, Chinese teaching story

As a feng shui and space clearing practitioner and teacher I know I have touched many people’s lives, but it is not something I am comfortable talking about. This is at times difficult because many feng shui books are written from a ’success story’ point of view, and people love to hear success stories. They are fun and bring a sense of hope and wonder into the world. But I don’t focus on success stories  because the nature of energy is that we do not know what the final outcome will be. In my studies with Denise Linn, she shared an ancient teaching story about an old Chinese man and his horses. You may have heard it. The moral is “it isn’t good, it isn’t bad: we do not know the whole story.” Eckhart Tolle also shared a version of this story in The New Earth Webinar series.

Here is a story that illustrates this point. I often work with people who want to have a new romantic relationship in her life. This is a story about Sally. When I did a feng shui consultation for her, I saw that she had her desk set up in the relationship bagua area of her home (therefore on an energetic level, her relationship was with her work.) We moved the desk a few feet away into the reputation area, set up a beautiful altar dedicated to love and romance in the relationship area, as well as making several other enhancements and in addition to the manifesting work she was already doing.

A week later Sally called me very excited and happy because the energy shift happened almost immediately: not one, but several men were suddenly interested in seeing her and she had been going out on dates. It was an exciting and heady time for her, and she wanted to give me (and the feng shui) credit. It is tempting: It feels good to be thanked and to feel I have personally done something that has brought happiness, but in the back of my mind I heard those words “it isn’t good, it isn’t bad, you do not know the whole story.”

I didn’t hear from Sally for awhile but when she finally got in touch with me, it was to tell me she had began a serious relationship with one man, but some problems were coming up: the types of issues that often have to be worked through when two people begin to merge their separate lives together. Questions about roles and boundaries, and personal space. And now her gratitude for me has cooled because suddenly she has new and serious problems that she didn’t have before. As a feng shui practitioner, am I responsible for the problems? No, no more than I am responsible for the success, which is to say that my role is to help bring a change in the energy. No matter how strong my intention that the change be for the highest good of the client, I know only a small part of the story. The work may have brought up relationship issues that were there before, waiting for the opportunity to be healed. And I don’t know anything about the story and energy of other people involved in the story.

In my role as a feng shui practitioner, I don’t know how it is going to turn out, as none of us ever do. What I know is that each action we take changes life for another person — often many people. This is what feng shui teaches us: that everything in our universe is made up of constantly changing energy fields which have a type of consciousness (different levels depending on what it is.) We are a part of everything and everything we do touches and affect everything else. What happens is far too complex with so many levels and variables that it is clear that labelling is a problem. From where we stand there is such limited information available to us. All that we do simply is; not good and not bad.

© Deborah Redfern, 2008. 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.