Simple Feng Shui Secrets

Transcription

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2 Simple Feng Shui Secrets by Diane Ronngren k k k

3 Copyright 2012 ETC Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author and publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and articles. Published By ETC Publishing ISBN Cover design by Gary Dunham Concepts presented in this book derive from traditional Chinese, European and American metaphysical and folk lore. They are not to be understood as directions, recommendations or prescriptions of any kind. Nor does the author or publisher make any claim to do more than provide information and report this lore.

4 Contents Why Feng Shui?... 5 Getting Started Feng Shui Ba-Gua Health Career Knowledge/Self-Awareness Family/Ancestors Wealth Fame/Reputation Love/Relationship/Marriage Children/Creativity Benefactors/Helpful People/Travel Feng Shui Cures Missing Life Stations Chinese Astrology Chinese Zodiac & Element Chart Feng Shui Grid House Diagram... 52

5 5 k Chapter 1 Why Feng Shui? Have an argument with a friend or a co-worker? Making a presentation for a client? Have a date with someone new? Signing the paperwork for a new car? Going on an interview for a new job? Meeting your future mother-in-law? These are easily identifiable stressors that all of us encounter from time to time. What about the simple things, like running late to an appointment with an important business contact or speaking up at a weekly meeting at work? Or having to get your child ready for school when they want to sleep in? These and many more regularly occurring stress factors disrupt your peace of mind, create static in your personal energy field and disturb the flow of your routines. Any feeling of STRESS impacts both personal and environmental energy levels. Stress is one of the most common indicators that a life is out of balance. Many of us encounter stress on a daily basis in our jobs, in our relationships and in our homes. Something as simple as getting out of bed five minutes after the alarm clock goes off can cause us to feel like we are running late everywhere in our lives that day! Challenging life experiences (like a divorce, filing bankruptcy, losing a job, being in a car accident, learning that you have a lifethreatening disease, etc.) cause even greater stress! Some things make us feel good. Think about how it feels when you receive a raise or promotion. Remember when you graduated from school, received some recognition for community service, or your children made you feel proud? Have you had an adventure lately or enjoyed a fun-filled vacation? What about the simple things like celebrating a birthday or holiday with family and friends? Or, watching your child succeed at a new task, enjoying the evening with good friends and cherished others? Feelings of success, good fortune, being in love, being appreciated for your skills, having time to read a good book, finding that your investments are doing well or locating the perfect home to buy are pleasant ones. All of these happy experiences increase your satisfaction with life. The Chinese have an excellent word they use to describe the various kinds of energy that exist in all people, places and things: Qi. (You may see this word spelled: Ch i, Chi, Ji or, the way it

6 6 is in this book, Qi in every instance it is pronounced chee.) Qi is in the earth, in the mountains and rivers, in the cities, in towns and in villages where we live and it s in you and in me. This force circulates in our homes, in the traffic we encounter on our way from place to place, whether we are in our vehicles or on foot. Qi flows through the quiet countryside, along roads less traveled and in the places where we work, play and relate with one another. Qi is a word that can be used to describe the flow of personal energy in our bodies, in our lives and in the lives of those we love. Qi, the balance between Yin (the female, yielding energy) and Yang (the masculine, penetrating force) moves like a river of life through everything and every living creature on the face of the earth. Qi influences how we respond to our world, to the people, situations and experiences of our lives. Qi moves like the wind, like light and sound; it can even flow through solid objects. Qi is also like water, ebbing and flowing like the tides. Sometimes the energy is quick, strong. It impacts everyone who comes in contact with it. Sometimes energy is weak and meandering or unfocused. To describe the flow of this life force, the Chinese have taken the words for water and wind to create the concept, Feng Shui. Feng Shui is about identifying the Qi all around us in our lives, attracting the right Qi to where we want it to be, and encouraging it to move on if it collects somewhere we don t want it! The purpose of Feng Shui is to encourage Qi to provide positive strength in areas that benefit our lives, and to hasten its movement when it brings disruptive energy into them. When we can identify the energy around us, we can learn to bring balance and harmony into our lives. Using Feng Shui to encourage the movement of good Qi in our personal environments allows us to experience benefit in every aspect of our lives. In Feng Shui we learn to identify bad or negative energy (Sha Chi). We can see how it affects our health, relationships and prosperity. When we are able to identify problem areas in our lives, we can work to eliminate the Sha Qi, and enhance the flow of good Qi. In this way we can effect positive change in our lives. The practice of Feng Shui involves using both spiritual (or metaphysical) and practical tools. For instance, according to the Chinese tradition, a Feng Shui Practitioner or Master is likely to rely on Astrology to determine how people connect to their environment

7 7 and to the people in their lives and to study how an individual s Qi meshes with the universal flow of all energy. They rely on Numerology (the analysis of the power associated with numbers), on the significance of Color, on the Elements (Wood, Earth, Fire, Water, Metal), on Topography, on architectural features of the individual dwelling or business and the surrounding environment and on intuition. There are several methods or approaches modern Feng Shui practitioners use to study the flow of energy. For now, it is enough to know that there are several different schools of Feng Shui thought that have developed over time in China and in the East, most originating between years ago. These tried and tested methods are the ones most commonly referred to by the modern-day Feng Shui Practitioner/Master in this country. As well, there are fascinating schools of thought concerning the study of the flow (and balancing) of energy based on traditional practices, knowledge and wisdom available in almost every culture on earth! In addition to applying the skill of the Chinese art of Feng Shui, we can also access a wealth of historical, traditional and cultural roots linking back into the western traditions of Geomancy, art, architecture and interior design. Today it is possible for us to draw on the wisdom and traditions of the past, putting them to use in many of our professions and in our lives. We can access many ways of studying and affecting the energy that surrounds us all, i.e., defining and enhancing the quality of Qi (life force energy), in our individual lives, and in our environment as a whole! Today there are several popular systems for practicing Feng Shui here in the West. Some of them orient to the Ancient Chinese compass, finding the directions: North, South, East, West and the Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest directions from a geographical perspective, then analyzing all of the customary indicators associated with these directions. (For that reason you will find the compass directions included on the simple Feng Shui Ba-Gua on page 20 of this book.) Some methods adhere to other criteria. All can be used when assigning or assessing the location of a city, a neighborhood, an office building, a shopping mall, a parking structure, a home even designing a logo or business card and selecting and placing a piece of furniture within a specific environment!

8 8 In this book we will mainly follow the Black Hat Feng Shui tradition and teachings, and orient our Ba-Gua compass to the individual home/building/office, etc. This re-orientation of the compass is a popular way of working with Feng Shui, and is based on the concept that a structure itself affects the flow of Qi energy. No matter which direction the house/building faces, the Qi energy will come in the main door. Now, if there were no building on an empty lot, we would use true compass directions to orient the Ba-Gua. In other words, if there is an empty lot in the middle of an uninhabited area, you could enter the lot from any side, any angle even from above with a helicopter or a precise parachute landing. So we would orient ourselves North/South and East/West in the space itself. But if there is a building on a lot, there is a preset way to enter the building (through a door). If you are a guest visiting that building, you will probably use the main entrance. In the same way a guest would enter a building, Qi enters that space! Simple Feng Shui My first encounter with Feng Shui occurred many years ago. A friend made an appointment with a Feng Shui Practitioner to visit his home, to evaluate the Qi and offer some suggestions. He was starting up a new business at home and wanted to take advantage of every possible type of advice and information that could help to increase the likelihood of success. His Practitioner advised him to move his home office from one end of the house into his bathroom, and his bathroom into the garage. He also suggested adding a room to the back of the house in order to bring balance to the home and enhance the flow of energy to the projected business endeavor. These suggestions were, not surprisingly, difficult ones for my friend to consider, so he was left with the feeling that his business might not go as well as he had hoped. When I heard about the advice my friend had received, I decided that there had to be an easier way for those of us living in the western world to take advantage of the principles the Feng Shui Practitioner had discussed easier than re-building our homes or relocating the rooms in them! I had at that time spent a number of years learning a variety of techniques for identifying and balancing personal energy. The thought of being able to balance energy in someone s environment intrigued me and I found I became curious

9 9 about Feng Shui. So I went looking for books and teachers in order to learn more about this new (to me) concept. Now, after many years of study and practice, I have found wonderful and useful Feng Shui techniques we all can apply to the process of balancing the life force energy. I have tried and tested many techniques from the various schools of Feng Shui. I use and teach those I have found beneficial to create balance and harmony in people s lives and in their environments. And, I have incorporated techniques from Geomancy, from Astrology, from other western disciplines that work either by themselves, or together with the traditional Chinese and Eastern Feng Shui practices. The purpose of this book is to provide instant access to the ageold concepts of Feng Shui, allowing the reader to gain sufficient insight into the process to be able to immediately make beneficial changes to the energy flow in their environment. We will access information from several schools of thought on Feng Shui. We will include some Western traditions (mostly related to current interior design and functionality requirements common here in the West). But mainly we will follow the Black Hat Feng Shui tradition and teachings, orienting the Ba-Gua Compass to the individual home/ building/office or other space. Each chapter in this book contains questions, exercises, tips and suggestions for identifying your personal Feng Shui requirements. The best way to use this book is to browse through the questions in the various chapters and find which areas of your home (and how you personally) might benefit from the application of some Feng Shui techniques. Then, you will want to check back from time to time (if/when you notice that you are experiencing a lot of stress in your life) and make Feng Shui adjustments as needed. Circumstances change and the Qi shifts, so you may need to improve the balance in one or another area of your home to accommodate these energy shifts. Test and try the suggestions singly or in combination until you feel in balance. You can tell quite easily whether or not your relationships, financial circumstances, health and personal well-being improve! This useful guidebook will help you keep yourself on course, focused on improving your life and bringing benefit to the situations and people you encounter along the way.

10 10 One thing you will notice right away is that I use the word home to describe the environment as I introduce each concept. The energy all around you has a powerful effect on your personal, physical energy field. All of the suggestions in the book can be applied with equally good results to an apartment or condominium, a town house, a house, an individual room within a home, a home business or a separate business enterprise/office or office building, a retail (or wholesale) endeavor, a clinic/hospital, a recreational vehicle, holiday cabin or tent in fact, anywhere you spend time! In some instances I have successfully applied these basic techniques to the rearrangement of a desktop, a counter top, a mirror in a beauty salon, and other surfaces. Some clients have said they adjusted a number of the Feng Shui techniques in this book and applied them to their automobile or the interior of their briefcase. So, feel free to use these suggestions and find personal solutions. Now, take just a few minutes to get acquainted with the layout of this book. Chapters 12 and 13 contain an introduction to common cures you can use to improve the flow of Qi in your home. Chapter 13 explores various types of architectural challenges commonly encountered in homes here in the United States. You will find some helpful ideas in these chapters on how to create good Feng Shui solutions. You will find three useful diagrams: a sample floor plan we refer to regularly in the book is on page 52; the Feng Shui Ba-Gua is on page 20 and a Feng Shui Grid is on page 51. The Ba-Gua and Grid may be copied and enlarged to make them easier to work with. Check out the Chinese Zodiac & Element Chart on page 49, and read about your personal Qi element and Chinese zodiac sign in Chapter 14. Based on your individual element, some areas of life may offer more challenges to you than others, just as some areas of your home will present a greater number of Feng Shui challenges to work with than others! You will also find a Bibliography that lists additional texts you may want to explore. k k k

11 11 k Chapter 2 Getting Started Give yourself a bird s eye view of your home. For instance, if you want to improve the flow of energy in your home by applying Feng Shui techniques, begin by studying the house itself from an architectural perspective. Get out a pencil and eraser and concentrate first on drawing the perimeter walls of your living space. Start with a rough assessment (graph paper can help). Advanced Exercise: Include attached garages, porches or patios (if enclosed or with an attached roof, however, not open ones). (Note: If you live in an apartment or condominium or are planning to apply the rules of Feng Shui to your office which is located in a business complex, first draw the outline of your building. Then, on a separate sheet, draw the outline of your own apartment/office.) Helpful tip #1: If you are not skilled at drawing floor plans, you may want to see if there are any pre-existing ones available to you. Building plans for existing homes/businesses have usually been filed with the City Planner s office at Town Halls all across the U.S.A. and are available upon request for a nominal fee. You can contact your city s Bureau of Taxation to find out where your floor plans may be found. If you live in an apartment or condominium, miniature floor plans may be included in the advertising literature (or online) for your apartment or town home complex. If you are preparing to work to improve the Feng Shui of your business or office, fire escape plans are often available from the owner or manager. These include emergency exit plans for each business in the complex. Helpful tip #2: If you already have a blue print for your house, apartment or office you can reduce the size using a photocopier; in fact, many large copy shops have copiers for blue prints and you can ask for help reducing the size to one that is easy to work with. If you have obtained a small diagram of the space you occupy from your landlord, it can be enlarged to the right size to make it easier to work with.

12 12 Using a Ba-Gua A Ba-Gua is the symbolic circle of life according to the Eastern tradition a kind of energy compass, originally based on the 8 trigrams of the I Ching. The cover of this book displays a Ba-Gua with the symbols of the Chinese Elements. Now that you have a diagram of your home, we are going to identify the various Life Stations of Feng Shui using the Feng Shui Ba-Gua on page 20. The easiest way to start analyzing a space using Feng Shui principles is to superimpose a Ba-Gua octagon over the space. If we are looking at a single story house, this is easily and quickly done. Simply place the part of the Ba-Gua identified as Career over the front door/entrance to the space. (If the house has more than one story, then draw each floor separately and lay the Ba-Gua octagon over each floor.) You can now clearly mark the other 8 areas of your home by noting where the different life stations on the Ba- Gua are, superimposed over your floor plan. (For instance, exactly opposite your front door and against the back wall of your home is the Fame Life Station.) Now your floor plan has been divided into 9 segments, each of which is named for a particular type of energy, a particular area of life. These areas are called Life Stations. For example, if you were to locate the center of your home using the exterior walls of the house as your boundaries, you would symbolically find yourself at the center of your home s Qi energy, the Health Life Station! Radiating out from this central life station are the eight basic slices of life that make up the Ba-Gua, the Feng Shui diagram (compass) of life energy or Qi. The life stations, moving in a clockwise direction, are: Career, Knowledge, Family, Wealth, Fame, Relationships, Children and Helpful People. The Health Life Station is in the center. Each of the chapters 3-11 provide information about one segment of the Ba-Gua. You will find the Chinese Element, important colors and body parts associated with the various Life Stations, cures and suggestions about what to do to enhance the flow of Qi in the specific Life Station. Check out your own personal element in Chapter 14. Again, based on your personal element, some areas of life may offer more challenges to you than others, just as some areas of your home will present a greater number of Feng Shui challenges to work with!

13 13 If your life is balanced, functioning exactly as you wish it would, then the Qi in your personal environment is balanced. If you are experiencing challenges or conflict in any of the areas of life, the Qi in the corresponding area (and in your life) is out of balance. The focus of Feng Shui is to energize and balance all areas of your life, to bring benefit to you from every aspect of experience. Now look at the Feng Shui Grid on page 51, where a single large square outline is divided into 9 equal parts. Imagine yourself stretching this diagram out to fit over the floor plan of your home. Each one of these 9 segments indicates 1/9th of the space in the home that can be identified with a specific life station in Feng Shui. As you read the following chapters, check the Feng Shui Ba-Gua to locate the individual slice or square of life, and picture your home (or look at the drawing/copy you made of your home), as if it were divided into 9 equal segments. Helpful tip #3 Sometimes, as you look at your diagram, one or another Life Station appears empty. (In other words, the outline of your home is not a perfect square/rectangle, nor is the main entrance in the center of the front wall!) Check the information in Chapter 13 for tips on how to work with this type of architecture. Helpful tip #4 Think of the Life Stations this way: Visiting guests are most likely to be invited to enter through your front door. In Feng Shui, this area is identified as the Career Life Station. (The Ba-Gua compass direction is read as if it were North whether or not the entrance faces true North). The easiest way to identify the Career Life Station is to imagine yourself holding the Ba-Gua in your hands, ready to study it, as you enter your home through the front door. Now, imagine yourself standing inside your closed front door with your back against it. Imagine the entire area of your home; mentally divide it into 9 equal parts. Now, as you stand still inside your front entrance, visualize the flow of energy, Qi, expanding to fill the appropriate 1/9th of the space of your home that comprises your Career Life Station. Move clockwise around your house, starting from your position at the front door. Identify your specific life stations as you go. Now you are ready to continue. Example: Turn to the diagram on page 52. As you can see from the arrows indicating the flow of energy in this home, the Qi enters through the front door (Career Life Station) and moves through the entire house (and each Life Station) in a clockwise fashion. Yet

14 14 each of the rooms of this house has its own specific purpose, its own mini-environment. For instance, certain activities take place in the kitchen or living room, and these are different than the ones that take place in the bedroom or in the study. Each activity is supported by the overall Qi energy flowing throughout the house. The overall energy available can be channeled to improve the Qi in each of the different rooms or areas of the house. Simultaneously, each room in the home has the potential to support each of the specific life stations. So, for instance in the House Diagram on page 52, there are Wealth and Relationship areas in the kitchen, the Master Bedroom, and in each room of the house! Advanced exercise: In addition to comprising 1/9th of the entire area of your home around the main entrance, the Career Life Station makes up 1/9th of the space immediately inside the entrance to any and every room! So, think about how you enter the various rooms in your home most frequently. For instance, as you can see from the outline of our sample house, it is possible to enter the dining area from two different directions, either through the kitchen or via the living room. If you have an area like this in your home, think about how you enter it most often, and work with the Feng Shui accordingly. After you have divided up the entire floor plan of your home into the 8 Ba-Gua Life Stations (and a center area, the Health Life Station), each of the individual rooms can likewise be divided into 9 segments. The complex diagram created in this fashion shows the potential for the movement of Qi in your life. The smaller divisions in each room/space allow for creating mini-environments where the movement of Qi can improve the energy of that room, and hence that area of your life. Take Immediate Action! Here are several things you can do right away! These are common suggestions that a good Feng Shui Consultant will offer on an initial visit. They are basic first steps to a successful Feng Shui process: Clean up, clean sweep, clean deep, clear out organize your space! Sha Qi grows strong in a mess! Organize and carefully clean the entrance area to your home. This area offers others a first impression of you and if the area is tidy,

15 15 clean and well organized, the stage is set for all future interactions with others. (Also, it feels good for you to enter and/or leave a space that is uncluttered and fresh each day!) Check any other utility areas in your home, e.g., the laundry or mud rooms, the hallway leading from your garage directly into your home, hallways leading from one part of the house to another, stairways and landings, porches, guest bathrooms, coat/guest closets, etc. Make sure that it is easy to navigate from one room to another, down hallways, through entries into each room without bumping into furniture or any accumulation of stuff/junk that doesn t need to be there. (If it is difficult for a person to move from one area of the house to another, you can be sure it will be difficult for the Qi to flow easily between these spaces as well.) If there are stacks of magazines, old newspapers, shopping lists, empty envelopes, half-completed projects on the surfaces of your tables and countertops, an overflowing laundry basket and disorganized closets behind every closet door, we can be sure that things are out of control in your world. If there are stacks of paper on the desk of your home or business office, disorganized file systems, books, computer disks, calendars still displaying important dates from two months ago well, this is another invitation to the Sha Qi to affect your life in a variety of unpleasant ways! In your home, organize your kitchen, counters and cupboards. Clear out old and unused items from your closets; donate or get rid of things you no longer love to wear; keep only the clothing and accessories that make you feel like a success in your life. Shoes with broken heels, scuffed and discolored surfaces, or ones you no longer wear because they are not the right size (or style) just don t need to take up space in your closet (or in your life). Find toys that the children no longer play with, games that no longer interest you, electronic or electrical equipment and household items you used 5-10 years ago and think you might use again sometime. Get rid of these things; you will buy new things in the future if you want them! (And, even better, you will have room to organize them neatly when that happens!) Clear out your bedroom. There s no need to keep anything you find in there that you haven t used and enjoyed in the past year. If in doubt, pack unused items in storage bins and organize them in your garage. Label the bins with the date you pack them, and

16 16 if you haven t opened them and used the items you packed away within the next six months to a year get rid of whatever is in the bin. You certainly don t need these things taking up space in the room where you spend more of your personal time than any other as you sleep! They no longer benefit you or your life in any way. Clear out your bathroom(s), scrub the tub, the sink, the toilet, the floors, even the walls and mirrors if necessary. This room should sparkle and shine, clean and fresh. Make sure that the lids on the toilets are down, and keep the door to the bathroom(s) closed at all times. Dust, vacuum and polish in your living and dining rooms. Organize the art or collections you display in these rooms. Remove or get rid of anything you no longer enjoy. Don t fill these rooms/spaces with things you have moved there from other parts of your house because you don t have room for the stuff in the other areas. Don t hold onto gifts you have received from others if the gifts don t fill you with delight! You need to feel that you can relax and enjoy your own company or that of the people you love (even the things you enjoy) when you are in these rooms. Cleanse and clear the atmosphere by letting in fresh air. Decorate with flowers or plants. Improve ambience by using herbs, incense or potpourri, an air purifier or air freshener. Open the doors and windows several times a day to let in the fresh air and Qi. Flowers or plants in our home or office remind us of the essence of life and growth. These lighten the mood and the spirit. A pleasant scent or fresh, clean air enhances breathing and good health. Certain scents simply make a room feel good to us. Choose ones that have pleasant memories or associations for you, and you will feel much more energetic and creative during the course of your day. Helpful tip #5 As you read a chapter on a specific Life Station and apply the information to your own home, check Chapters 12 and 13 for suggestions that will help you make the right choices for personalizing the activities or cures in a particular area of your home. Jot down your thoughts right in the back of this book, so you can easily refer to them later. Remember, the best way to improve the flow of Qi through any area of your home is to keep it clutter-free and clean!

17 17 Cures for Common Feng Shui Challenges: A one-word concept you will encounter often as you work with this book (in fact, any book on Feng Shui) is: Cure. A cure is an item you can place in a specific location in your home or an activity you can carry out in a specific area that will improve the flow of Qi in your environment and hence, in your life! These items or activities have historically been proven to enhance the movement of Qi in/through the specific life stations. If you look at the Feng Shui Ba-Gua on page 20, you will see important special suggestions for cures associated with each Life Station. Cures consist of colors, elements, symbols or arrangements. Further ideas on how to enhance the flow of Qi in your life can be found in the following chapters as specific suggestions for the various life stations. Or order a copy of Sage & Smudge The Ultimate Guide which offers many suggestions for clearing out Sha Qi and creating a pleasant ambiance in your personal space. (For more information about obtaining your own copy of the book, see page 54.) Our modern-day kitchens, bathrooms and laundry facilities/rooms present challenges to good Feng Shui. In Western homes, the kitchen is likely to occupy one of the corner areas of a home. This was not the case in China and other Eastern cultures during the centuries the practice of Feng Shui was evolving. In those days, kitchens were often located in areas outside of the main complex, sometimes in the courtyard, or in a special building near, but separate from the larger main residence. From the perspective of Feng Shui, kitchens present a number of important considerations. For instance, one of the main functions of this room is to provide a cooking surface, i.e., a stove and/or oven. It is now our custom to have running water available to us as we prepare foods for consumption, i.e., the sink(s) and often a dishwasher. Additionally, this room is usually designated as the place where the refrigerator, cabinets and pantries for food storage and numerous electrical/electronic devices reside organized along the walls, on/under/above the countertops. Additionally, modern kitchens sometimes incorporate other housekeeping and cleaning functions, such as the family washer and dryer, a garbage disposal or compactor, etc.

18 18 There are two ways to look at the modern kitchen from the perspective of Feng Shui. One way is to identify potential problems and try to work around them changing the architectural layout. The main difficulty would certainly be the concentration of Water Element representations in a part of the home where other elements may need to have a stronger presence. Another way is to visualize how the Qi flows in the area and to place cures where the movement is blocked, for example, by modern appliances and plumbing. Similar challenges can be encountered relative to the movement of Qi in bathrooms. (Also, think about the way modern electric lighting, heating and air-conditioning can impact the overall natural movement of Qi through our homes!) The Chinese equate water (the Water element) with the flow of money through our lives. Accordingly, the flow of the Water element into, through and out of a space (represented every time we turn on a faucet or start the dishwasher or washing machine or flush a toilet) carries with it the vital Qi force associated with Wealth. Every time we use our faucets, sinks, drains, dishwasher, washing machine, garbage disposal, etc., we energize exit points for the Qi energy from the home via our drains and indoor plumbing. On the other hand, simply having a kitchen or bathroom with running water available to us 24 hours a day is a sign of enormous wealth from the perspective of the traditional Chinese teachings. Indoor plumbing/bathing facilities and kitchens were the prerogative only of the extremely wealthy. You can see the dilemma here! While one can, for example, confidently represent Water Qi in the appropriate part of a kitchen through the placement of a sink or dishwasher in the right spot from the perspective of Feng Shui, in many homes the existing design may not accommodate that choice. Then we can place a fountain or aquarium in the correct Ba-Gua position in the room to represent the movement of Water, while also representing containment of the Qi. But that doesn t change the problems inherent in having the sink/dishwasher or other representations of water draining the Qi out of the space! Then there is the issue of the Fire element. Several of the modern conveniences we enjoy, such as central heating or small space heaters, gas and electric stoves/ovens, microwave ovens and fireplaces are common representations of this element. While Fire

19 19 Qi enhancement is quite appropriate in the Fame Life Station, for instance, it may not be easy to conform with the rules of Feng Shui in the kitchens or other rooms in all homes! Even though there will be a Fame Life Station in every kitchen and every room in the house, this may not be the location of your oven/stove or microwave, and it may not be possible to reposition your appliances to accommodate the correct Feng Shui requirements without totally demolishing your kitchen or relocating it to another area entirely in your home. And since the modern Western kitchen has both water and fire representations, sometimes placed in close proximity to one another, even if you were to move the kitchen to an area of the home that corresponds to one or the other of these elements, you will still have the remaining issue of the one that is not in the right place in the new space! In addition to considering the Feng Shui Water/Fire challenge with regard to this very important room in our homes, the purpose of a kitchen is to offer a healthy environment in which to store, prepare and provide food. It is the room where groceries are stored before use, meals are prepared for the family, and where maintaining a clean environment to protect against bacteria and disease is a prime concern. So, special attention is necessary to assure that good Qi moves in and through the space to ensure the health and strength of those who live in the home! Read this section again as you apply the appropriate cures in the life station where your kitchen is located. Of all of the Feng Shui challenges one can encounter in the process of organizing a home, the Water and Fire Element placements almost without exception present challenges to the practitioner. The kitchen and bathrooms are the rooms most likely to require a considerable number of attempts to identify and place cures that will ease the quality of the Qi flowing into, through and out of the space. Example: In our House Diagram on page 52, you will notice that the kitchen is in the Knowledge/Self-Awareness Life Station. To read about the kinds of cures suggested for this sample kitchen, turn to Chapter 5. k k k

20 20 Feng Shui Ba-Gua Blue,Green,Red Purple,Gold Southeast/Wood Finances/Hip WEALTH Red/Orange South/Fire Reputation/Eye FAME Red,Pink,Peach,White Southwest/Earth Love/Organs MARRIAGE Green East/Wood Ancestors/Foot FAMILY HEALTH Yellow Earth Middle Body CHILDREN Silver,White West/Metal Creativity/Mouth Awareness/Hand Northeast/Earth Blue,Green,Aqua KNOWLEDGE Career Life s Work/Ear North/Water Black/Blue BENEFACTORS Travel/Head Northwest/Metal White,Grey,Black

21 21 k Chapter 3 Health Earth Element, Color: Yellow In the middle of your home is the Health Life Station. The Health Life Station, like our physical body, is often taken for granted until something happens to make us pay attention to how important our health is to maintaining a successful and happy life! Health, wellbeing, physical comfort and a positive outlook are important, some would say the main ingredients of successful living. Consequently everyone needs to pay attention to this life station, to make sure that life affirming Qi flows through this area. However, be very aware that using the tools of Feng Shui to enhance or improve the flow of energy in your life does not take the place of seeking attention from medical professionals if you are currently experiencing health issues, illness or psychological disturbances. In these instances, find professional help, and know that balancing the Qi in the Health Life Station(s) in your personal environment will help the process. Here are some specific questions you may want to consider before deciding whether you need to focus a lot of attention on the Health Life Station in your residence. Take a few minutes to answer them, thinking both of your own current circumstances and those of any others who live in or share the same space: 1. Are you starting an exercise program or diet regimen? 2. Are you thinking about quitting smoking or dealing with any other type of addiction? 3. Are you feeling overly tired, depressed, frustrated, angry? 4. Are you experiencing illness or physical symptoms that require medical attention? Have you been diagnosed with a chronic or disabling health condition? 5. Have you spent time lately with family members who are ill? 6. Have you visited a hospital or other health facility for any reason in the past few months? 7. Have you experienced the death of a cherished pet?

22 22 8. Have you been involved in an accident, tragedy or crime, or has someone close to you been involved in one recently? 9. Do you feel as if you are surrounded by negativity? Or, do you feel victimized by circumstances beyond your control? If you answer Yes to any of the above questions, you will want to spend a little more time making sure to enhance the flow of Qi to the Health Life Station in your home. In addition to making sure that this life station is clutter-free and clean, choose cures that resonate with the color yellow, to the Earth element and to the middle body. The middle of our sample house consists of parts of the hall, the Master Bedroom, the smaller bedroom and Living Room. Lots of energy flows through this space on its way to other parts of the house, so there is a possibility that the people living in the home may feel that they are always on the go, on their way to or from one or another scheduled event. They may tend to eat on the run, taking something with them from the kitchen as they head out to another activity in their busy lives. They may eat out often or pick up something to eat on their way home from an activity. They may have other people coming to share meals with them on a regular basis. So much energy flowing through the center of their home will indicate a challenge to the overall health and well-being of the family. They probably can maintain this level of activity as long as the middle of their home remains neat, organized and tidy. Since the Health Life Station is at the center of any environment, locate which area, exactly, is the center of your home. In many instances, this is a challenging proposition! If your Health Life Station has many walls, and is the hub of the house, it is likely that people are constantly coming and going, entering and leaving the various rooms that are part of this space. It would be difficult to place a piece of furniture in the Health area that wouldn t cause problems! Blocking or inhibiting the movement of members of the household is not conducive to the flow of Qi in any case, so some other type of cure is necessary, especially if they are experiencing any kind of physical concern and/or focused on maintaining their good health and well-being. One cure that might be considered in this type of home is the use of throw rugs

23 23 in earth tones, with at least some yellow (placed strategically so no one trips on them, of course). When we encounter this type of floor plan, it is generally difficult to place a cure in the center of the house itself. Then it becomes more important to place cures in the Health Life Station in several rooms in the house. For instance, there may be a coffee table in the center space of a living room, in front of a sofa or as part of a sofa group. We could focus our attention on that coffee table. A lovely cure for the center of a living room table might be a terracotta bowl (Earth element) or vase with yellow blooms, or fresh flowers from the garden. (Note: Always be sure to remove any dead or dying flowers or plants, as this is not good Qi!) And, if there is an armchair in the center of the living room, draping a pretty (earth tone) throw or afghan over the back and arm of the chair or placing a comfortable gold pillow in the chair would be excellent cures. If there is a dining room in the home, there is usually a table and chairs in the middle of the floor. An excellent cure in the dining room might be to choose a tablecloth or napkins in the color yellow (or a shade of yellow). Or, we could place an assortment of fruit in a bowl in the middle of the dining room table (the more yellow and orange fruit in the bowl, the more Qi is attracted to this life station). If the fruit can be placed in an earthenware bowl all the better! Both of these rooms are important to our health (the food we eat in the dining room hopefully nourishes us and our guests; relaxing in the living room reduces stress). A bedroom may be another room to focus on. Usually at least part of the bed is in the middle of the room, and hopefully the bed stands at least 5 inches off the floor (this allows the flow of Qi to move under the bed as well as over and around it). It may be possible to accessorize with attractive bedding/pillows in earth tones, amber or the color yellow, or shades/nuances of yellow and gold. Add a soft extra blanket in earth tones (with just a little yellow or gold) or drape an attractive throw over the bedspread across the center of the bed. Also, if we want to enhance the Health Qi in the home, we would want to make very sure that the bed was quickly and neatly made up each morning.

24 24 k Chapter 4 Career Water Element, Color: Black Visiting guests are most likely to be invited to enter through your front door. In Feng Shui, this area is identified as the Career Life Station. Here are some specific questions you may want to consider before deciding whether you need to focus a lot of attention on the Career Life Station in your residence. 1. Are you looking for a new job? 2. Are you starting a new job or a new project at work? 3. Do you have problems getting or keeping a job? 4. Do you feel that your career is going somewhere? Have you been offered a promotion recently? 5. Do you feel as much satisfaction with your work as you imagined you would when you were starting out in your current career? 6. Have there been recent changes in leadership, problems at work or with the people involved in current projects? 7. Is your job stressful? Are you concerned about your interactions with co-workers? 8. Are you seeking a leadership role in a club/organization? 9. Do you feel confident and successful in your endeavors? If you answer Yes to questions 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, and/or No to questions 4, 5 or 9, you will want to spend a little more time making sure to enhance the flow of Qi to the Career Life Station(s) in your home. Make sure that this life station is clutter-free and clean and note that the Career Life Station resonates to the Water element, to the colors black and dark blue and to the ear. The easiest cures to this life station would be the types of things that resonate to the Water element (see also Chapter 12). You might place a fountain on a table or a stand in the area, or an aquarium or fishbowl with some black and gold goldfish. (These all represent moving water). You might arrange a selection of coral on a hall table (black coral especially, to incorporate both the water element and the color). You could place a selection of

25 25 shells you have collected on a trip to an ocean destination (perhaps arranged in a black serving bowl), a miniature of a ship, etc. You might consider hanging black and white prints on the walls, or choose prints of flowing water, hanging them in black picture frames. Hang pictures in multiples of two or four, ideally in a fan shape for greater harmony. Since one of this area s correspondences is the ear, this life station might be a good place for a piano or other musical instrument to stand. Or, this may perhaps be a really ideal place for your CD player (CD or DVD collection), stereo or television. You might also, if you have a very open space immediately inside your front door, hang a wind chime with a pleasing sound. Remember to open your front door a few minutes now and then and allow the Qi to flow into your space on a regular basis. Although this book does not address the various aspects of locational Feng Shui, you can refer to the Bibliography for book selections that will answer questions about possible cures to be placed outside your front door cures that can attract good Qi to your home. Personally, I like chimes. It is such a pleasure to hear the movement of the Qi touch the chimes on it s way into the environment! k Chapter 5 Knowledge/Self-Awareness Earth Element, Color: Blue, Green, Aqua One of the most important life stations for personal growth and transformation is the area identified as the Knowledge/Self- Awareness Life Station. Here are some specific questions you may want to consider before deciding whether you need to focus a lot of attention on the Knowledge/Self-Awareness Life Station: 1. Are you having trouble concentrating, studying or meditating? 2. Do you want to expand your area of expertise through study? 3. Do you like to (or need to) teach or mentor others? 4. Are you looking for the right Church or pursuing a new spiritual path? Do you seek wisdom and understanding?

26 26 5. Are you studying for final exams, attending college/ university to obtain a degree? Are you actively pursuing a certification or advanced degree program? 6. Have you recently moved away from home to further your education? 7. Are you pursuing an online degree/certification, struggling with distractions that limit your study activities? 8. Are you following a course of self-study on any topic? (This may include reading or using the internet to learn about a medical condition, entrepreneurship, relationships, retirement, Feng Shui, self-improvement, spirituality or personal growth, and many other topics!) If you answer Yes to any of the above questions, you will want to spend a little more time making sure to enhance the flow of Qi to the Knowledge/Self-Awareness Life Station(s) in your home. In addition to making sure that this life station is clutter-free and clean, choose cures that resonate to the Earth element, the colors black, blue and green and to the hand. In the House Diagram on page 52, you will notice that the kitchen is in the Knowledge/ Self-Awareness Life Station for the residence. (You can find specific information about kitchens in Chapter 2.) Originally the home had a yellow kitchen, heavily accented with dark brown cabinets and shades of orange and red the colors of the Fire Element. The resulting challenges this family faced included a lack of time for one family member to focus on their studies, constant interruptions that distracted all family members from completing tasks, an accumulation of newspapers, magazines and mail they never quite had time to finish reading and multiple minor but challenging health issues. Working with Feng Shui to improve the Qi in their home, the main interior design changes to this kitchen included an emphasis on shades of the colors blue and turquoise. First the entire space was organized and cleared of all clutter (which in this life station can indicate/cause mental or spiritual distraction). All appliances were checked to make sure they were in working order, and any that were not (as well as those the family used only very occasionally) were either repaired, donated to a charity or stored underneath the counter to clear off top space. Tiles were replaced on the countertops, the walls were painted,

27 27 accessories and were selected to harmonize with the appropriate color scale. If at some time in the future the family needs to replace their refrigerator/stove/oven/microwave/dishwasher, etc. they will purchase black ones. Herbs and plants were placed in the window to bring the energy of growth and green to the space. Since this life station vibrates to the hand, several artworks were selected displaying hands (among them, their child s hand imprint from an early age) and pictures showing people doing things in a kitchen with their hands chopping, baking, etc. It is appropriate to have books or other representations of information and learning in this Life Station. In one area of the kitchen, there was room for a mini-desk/workspace. Shelves and a desktop were installed. Now both a computer station and a television encourage access to information and offer a convenient place to manage the household finances. The home owner had a collection of family recipes that were organized and placed in attractive boxes on the shelves. Cookbooks, nutrition/health books and collections of favorite home and garden magazines were arranged, joining the family recipes on a shelf. k Chapter 6 Family/Ancestors Wood Element, Color: Green The Family/Ancestors Life Station is important to your relations with all of the members of your family with the exception of your spouse and/or children. (There are specific Ba-Gua directions for these life stations.) Here are some questions you may want to consider before deciding whether you need to focus a lot of attention on your Family/Ancestors Life Station. 1. Do you have unresolved issues with your parents? Do these issues arise out of childhood conflicts or are they ongoing? 2. Do you have unresolved feelings of sadness or pain in relation to your grandparents or other elderly family members (living or deceased)?

28 28 3. Is there a lack of harmony or distance between you and your siblings? Do you regret not having siblings, or losing contact with a sibling for any reason? 4. Are you currently experiencing unresolved emotional conflicts with other members of your family: aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. (not including your spouse/children)? 5. Are you experiencing tension with your in-laws? 6. Some include members of a spiritual family in this category. Do you have a sense of being connected to God? 7. Is your relationship with your pastor or spiritual leader a good one? 8. Do you feel welcome in your spiritual community, as a valuable member of your congregation or spiritual family? 9. Do you have as much time as you need to nurture your own spirit, to pray or meditate, to read scripture or to concentrate on other uplifting works? 10. Are you proud of your moral and ethical choices, of your goals in life? If you answer Yes to questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and/or No to questions 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10, you will want to spend a little more time making sure to enhance the flow of Qi to the Family/Ancestors Life Station(s) in your home. Make sure this life station is clutter-free and clean; and choose cures that resonate to the Wood element, to the color green (or possibly blue; blue represents the Water element and Water feeds Wood.) This Life Station s physical attribute is the foot. In our sample house, this life station includes parts of both the kitchen and dining rooms. In the previous chapter I mentioned a mini-workspace and the types of items placed on the shelves and desk surface. One of the important items was a box of old family recipes. This recipe box is arranged on a shelf that is partly in the Knowledge/Self-Knowledge Life Station and partly in the Family/ Ancestors Life Station in this home. From this location, it facilitates the flow of Qi from the one life station to the other. If you have an area like this in your home, think about how Qi flows there. The easiest cures to this life station would include furniture or decorative items that resonate to the Wood element (see also Chapter 12). You might place healthy living plants or pictures of

29 29 gardens or forests, adding the color green to this life station. A good cure to this area might be to place your wood-framed family pictures on a wall or a shelf. You might place a wooden table, end table or shelf unit in the space, or polish and care for any wooden items already in the space. By placing, for instance, a heavy and solid desk or table in this area, you add the energy of strength and solidity, grounding and securing your relationships with your family, bringing things down to earth to be handled in a positive and heartening manner. Some people like to trace their descent or study their family s history. If you are intrigued by the thought of your genealogy, you might like to hang a family tree on the wall to indicate this interest. Or, if your family has a coat-of-arms, you might want to display it here. All ethnic groups treasure items that signify their heritage. Find suitable symbols to display in this life station. In the Chinese tradition, the Family/Ancestors Life Station is considered to be highly significant. In fact, they believe that one s destiny is determined by the time and the place their ancestors were buried! When practicing Feng Shui to enhance their personal potential for power and success, the circumstances of the ancestors, their burial place and how the family celebrates the life and times of their ancestors are a most important consideration. Since one of this life station s correspondences is the foot, make sure that if you hang pictures of your family, you try to find at least a few where the feet are included! One client has a treadmill in this life station in her family room, another has her bedroom closet along this wall, and is careful to keep her shoes well organized on a shoe rack in the closet! k k k

30 30 k Chapter 7 Wealth Wood Element Color: Red, Gold, Purple, Blue The Wealth Life Station is enhanced by the choice of colors used in this area, especially jewel tones: red, purple, blue, and gold or black (because black is associated with money in Feng Shui). The part of the physical body associated with this life station is the hip. Here are some specific questions you may want to consider before deciding whether you need to focus extra attention on your Wealth Life Station: 1. Are you having trouble balancing your checkbook? 2. Are you concerned about your current financial circumstances or your financial future? 3. Are you unemployed, or feeling a lack of financial stability? 4. Have you spent money you don t have (or more than you can comfortably afford) using credit cards? 5. Do you feel there is more monetary outflow than income, that you never have enough money to satisfy your needs? 6. Do you feel that no matter how careful you are, there is never enough money to spend on the things you want? 7. Are you applying for a new job, a line of credit for your business? Or, are you planning to retire soon? 8. Are you selling your house or car, holding a garage sale, listing something on ebay? If you answer Yes to any of these questions (or similar ones occur to you as you read the list), spend a little extra time enhancing the flow of Qi to the Wealth Life Station. In addition to making sure that this life station is clutter-free and clean choose cures that resonate with the Wood element and the colors: red, purple, blue, gold, and black. Depending on the layout of your floor plan, this life station may make up part of one or more rooms in your home. Think about

31 31 the room or part of your home where you spend the most time in your Wealth Life Station. Where do you sit as you handle your finances, pay your bills, keep your bank books and other financial statements? Where do you keep your most valuable possessions, the ones that symbolize wealth to you? If you are experiencing lack in your life, spend a little quiet time in the Wealth Life Station, thinking about your relationship to money. We attract what we concentrate on! So, imagine what might be attracted into your life if you often think thoughts like, There is never enough! or, These bills are overwhelming! or, Money is the root of all evil. Money is an energy like all other energies, it represents part of the overall flow in our lives. For example, fire is also an energy, one that can keep you warm and cook your food. But fire can become the flame that burns the house down! Fire itself is neither good nor bad, it s energy will express itself whether it is used constructively or destructively. In addition to bright jewel tones, black is one of the colors that can be used to attract Qi to this area. Black is associated with the Water Element. The Chinese equate water with the flow of money, so they often use fountains, fish ponds, or aquariums to evoke this Qi. Also fish, thriving in the waters, multiplying, simultaneously enriching and benefiting from the environment they live in, are thought to represent Wealth Qi. For that reason you might consider placing an aquarium in this life station, containing goldfish (or other jewel-colored fish) swimming in it. Or, you might decorate with the colors associated with the Wealth Life Station and find that your financial circumstances feel more balanced, you feel energized and optimistic about attaining your goals. Another excellent cure to the area would be to place healthy living plants there. (Plants always represent growth.) But, if you do, make sure you take time to remove any dead or dying leaves or flowers. Remove any plants that do not thrive in the Wealth Life Station. To stabilize your finances, consider adding heavy brass or goldcolored items. Place mirrors in this area to reflect valuable items (a mirror appears to multiply whatever it reflects). You will find more suggestions and ideas in Chapter 12. Be sure to keep this area tidy and clutter free under all circumstances, and you will experience rewards in your life on a regular basis!

32 32 k Chapter 8 Fame/Reputation Fire Element, Color: Red, Orange The Fame/Reputation Life Station is located along the wall opposite the Career Life Station (the main entrance to your home). Its direction is designated as South on the Ba-Gua. According to Feng Shui, South is the most blessed of all the directions. It rules Heaven, and is the bringer of good fortune, courage and strength. If you are ever in doubt about any aspect of your life, activate the South direction to receive that which will be for your highest good! Here are some specific questions you may want to consider before deciding whether you currently could benefit from focusing a lot of attention on your Fame/Reputation Life Station: 1. Do you often feel a sense of purpose and clarity as you pursue your life goals? 2. Are you happy? Is your heart filled with eagerness and joy when you wake up each morning? 3. Are your days filled with exciting and stimulating opportunities for personal growth? 4. Do others (both on a personal level and in the community) think well of you? 5. Have you received recognition and respect for your accomplishments, or been acknowledged and rewarded for your achievements? 6. Do others offer you opportunities worthy of your talents? 7. Are you lucky? 8. Do you go to bed at night with a smile on your face and a feeling of satisfaction/gratification in your heart? If you answer No to any of these questions, you will want to spend a little more time making sure to enhance the flow of Qi to the Fame/Reputation Life Station. In addition to making sure that this life station is clutter-free and clean, choose your cures with care. In general, the Fame/Reputation Life Station resonates to the Fire element, to the colors red, orange I like gold here, as well! This life station also vibrates to the energy of the eye. The Chinese

33 33 believe that this energy reveals how you see the world, and how the world sees you. With this perspective it is easy to see how the eye has become the symbol for this life station. When considering Feng Shui for this life station, it is extremely important that no representation of water be included (Water quenches Fire). Of course, it is ideal to have a fireplace in the Fame Life Station, though not all of us are fortunate enough to own or live in homes where that is the case. However, you can decorate with bright reds and oranges, the colors of flame. Sometimes the easiest way to encourage the flow of Qi to the area is to display (and light) candles red/orange/gold or scented candles would be ideal. You might also consider pillows, throws, afghans and rugs in the flame colored tones or artworks in bright hues of color. Anything representing fire, such as incense burners, a representation of the Sun, etc., makes a good cure in the Fame/Reputation Life Station. To add energy to the Fame Life Station, add wind chimes or sweet bells, bright pillows or decorative wall hangings, pictures framed in brass (painted in the colors that resonate to this life station). If you hang pictures depicting people or other living creatures, be sure that the eyes can be seen (that they are not closed or downcast) and you will satisfy the requirements of the Fame/Reputation Life Station. k Chapter 9 Love/Relationship/Marriage Earth Element, Colors: Red,White,Pink,Peach The Love/Relationship/Marriage Life Station represents the way you interact with a significant other. Other relationships are supported by the flow of Qi in the Family/Ancestors Life Station and in the Children/Creativity Life Station. Here are some specific questions you may want to consider before deciding whether you need to focus a lot of attention on this life Station: 1. Do you have unresolved issues with your spouse or significant other? Are these ongoing?

34 34 2. Do you have unresolved hurt/pain, feelings of sadness or disappointment in relation to a spouse/lover/significant other? 3. Are you feeling a lack of harmony between yourself and your lover/spouse/significant other? 4. Is there a noticeable distance between you and your loved one due to both of you being too busy with your individual careers and other activities? And do you miss spending time together the way you did when you were courting? 5. Do you regret the loss of a former lover/spouse. Do you have a difficult relationship with a former lover/spouse, and do you wish it could be otherwise? 6. Have your life circumstances changed recently as a result of a breakup, separation, divorce or death of your significant other? 7. Do you long for a committed, loving relationship? 8. Are you dating, but find it difficult to attract Mr. or Ms. Right? 9. Are you happy living the single life and yet others you care about (family, friends, your children, etc.) keep encouraging you to try and find a mate? If you answered Yes to any of these questions you will want to spend a little more time making sure to enhance the flow of Qi to the Love/Relationship/Marriage Life Station in your home. Think about the places or the room where you spend the most of your waking (or sleeping) time in this life station. For instance, as you can see from the outline of our sample house, this life station includes parts of both the Master Bedroom and attached bathroom. (Re-read the section on bathrooms in Chapter 2.) Take a look at the information in Chapter 14 to determine your element and your Zodiac Sign. Think about the colors you like. This information will help you make the right choices as you personalize the activities or cures in this life station. In general, the Love/Relationship/Marriage Life Station resonates to symbols representing the reproductive organs and to the colors: red, white, pink, peach and orange. Many of these colors are popular today among designers creating beautiful and comfortable Southwest style decor. You will be able to find a multitude of interior design

35 35 tips as you look through popular magazines or shop in convenient home or household goods venues near you or online! In the previous chapters I have mentioned how to enhance an area within the home by adding cures, etc. Sometimes it may be necessary to first remove some object(s) from a space before making an effort to enhance the flow of Qi. For instance, when working with your Love/Relationship/Marriage Life Station, check to see whether you have an odd or even number of pillows on your bed or in your sofa. If there is a tabletop in this area, check whether you have an odd or even number of items on top of it. If there are pictures on the wall, count them to see whether you have an odd or an even number hanging there. If you have an odd number of articles/pictures/pillows, remove one of them to another area. Next, look around carefully to see whether you have representations of death in the life station. Many people have decorative dried (dead) flower bouquets or garlands, heads or horns (even skins) of (dead) animals as part of their decor. Sometimes people have decorated with death masks purchased on their travels overseas where these items are popular acquisitions among tourists. Sometimes there are guns, swords or other representations of violence. If located in the Love/Relationship/Marriage Life Station, these are particularly poor decorating selections. If you are uncertain about the message one of your decorative choices might convey or translate to the Qi flowing through this area, consider whether you would be willing to embrace it, encounter it or incorporate the energy it represents in your daily life! For instance, in one home, the Family Room was in the Love/ Relationship/Marriage Life Station of the home. In the corner of the Family Room that also represented this life station, the family had placed its collection of antique guns and pistols in a specially built case; on the wall were hung five animal head trophies and an assortment of souvenirs from their hunting trips (including pictures and various hunting gear memorabilia). This family was experiencing conflict between the children and the parents. The couple were going through a rough patch in their marriage. Both felt the other was unable to understand them, was too busy and involved with their individual interests and activities and took little time for communication or intimacy. The couple had even, in the context of a recent altercation, raised the subject of divorce!

36 36 The suggestion I offered was to move the gun case containing weapons (made of metal) and representing violence and killing along with the souvenirs and pictures from their travels down along the west wall of the home and the room itself, into the Children/Creativity Life Station (which resonates to the Metal Element), and to remove their trophies (representations of death ) altogether, temporarily. I suggested they find representations of the Sun (they had a lovely pottery one crafted in New Mexico hanging in a hallway in another part of the house) and some woven Native American art in bright red/orange and other Southwest colors to hang in the Love/Relationship/Marriage Life Station in the family room. I noticed that they had a painting in another part of the house depicting a peaceful country scene at sunset. And they had a couple of lovely carved birds, collected on a trip they remembered with pleasure. I suggested these be moved to the Family Room and hung on the wall near one another in the Love/Relationship/Marriage Life Station. Six weeks later, the couple confirmed that much of the irritation and frustration they had experienced with their children had subsided and that the kids were not fighting as much with one another. And the couple had begun planning a trip just for the two of them, arranging for the children to stay with their grandparents while they were gone. In another instance, a female client had been searching for someone to love for a couple of years. She had dated people introduced by both friends and her family, and even posted her profile on one of the computer dating services, to no avail. In this instance, her bedroom was in the Love/Relationship/Marriage Life Station of her home, and her desk at work was in the part of the office also designated Love/Relationship/Marriage! She was advised to place a plant with bright pink blooms on her desk (and to keep it healthy), to take her morning coffee in a bright red mug. I noticed that she had a stylish plastic box in the shape of a heart (representing both an internal organ and love ) which I suggested she take to work and place on her desktop and use to house her paperclips instead of the square metal paperclip holder that currently served that purpose. Her bedroom was decorated in a Southwestern theme, so that was good the colors and fabrics were pleasant and welcoming, and

37 37 she had an even number of pillows on her bed. However, she felt a strong affinity with the Native American symbolism of the wolf and had a large picture of a lone wolf on a cliff looking out over a deserted southwestern landscape on one wall. On another wall in the room, she had hung a dried bridal bouquet, one she caught from her friend following the friend s wedding a couple of years ago. She also had other dried flower and herbal arrangements in various locations in her bedroom. I suggested she replace her lone wolf picture with one depicting a couple involved in some activity, or with birds a representation of love between a man and woman (and happy relationships in general) according to the Chinese tradition. I also advised her to remove the dried bouquet from its place of honor on her wall, to find pictures of growing flowers or brightly colored flowers to hang in its place and to replace most of her other dried arrangements either with living plants or with fresh flowers on a regular basis. Six months later I heard that she had received a promotion at work and that she had been dating someone on a regular basis for the past couple of months. She felt very content and happy with her life at the time. The easiest cures to this area would encompass the types of things that resonate to the symbolism of the Sun. Bright colors like red, golden yellow, orange and peach represent this energy. This life station also vibrates to the darker reds, pinks and dusky rose shades associated with the internal organs. Flowers provide an excellent cure in the area, whether real or silk, especially if they are red, pink, peach, rose or white. All plants symbolize growth and fertility which makes them a good choice for the area as well. The Chinese tradition suggests birds as a cure here as birds symbolize the union of true lovers, two hearts coming together to build a home and a life together, i.e., happy relationships! Therefore, never choose to display a single bird, as this will suggest a man or a woman alone! Hanging chimes in the area is a good cure, the sound of music is a pleasant and uplifting one. Or, if you have a musical instrument in your home, this may be one area to consider when placing it to attract good Qi. Since one of this life station s correspondences is the reproductive organs, pictures of dancing people (showing hip, stomach or lower

38 38 body movement), hearts (symbols of love here in the West) or a couple embracing might be a good choice for this life station. Find something that suggests romance, love, closeness and intimacy to you, and place it in the Love/Relationship/Marriage Life Station in your life. Then watch the harmony between you and the one you love increase and bring satisfaction and happiness. k Chapter 10 Children/Creativity Metal Element, Color: White,Silver,Gold Find the Children/Creativity Life Station on your Ba-Gua, and identify where this life station is located in your home. Now, here are some specific questions you may want to consider before deciding whether you need to focus a lot of attention on your Children/Creativity Life Station. 1. Do you take time on a regular basis to be playful and creative, to express your inner child? 2. Do you communicate your thoughts and ideas, hopes and wishes to others easily and with flair? 3. Do you dream of having time to write, teach, paint, dance, travel and explore possibilities, to weave, make pottery, or take pictures of the people and things you love? 4. Are you involved in creative and stimulating activities in your career or in your personal life? And do you feel that your efforts are appreciated? 5. Do you have time to explore your own creativity, to focus on your hobbies? Do you find yourself smiling frequently, happy with the course of your life? 6. Are you attempting to become pregnant/adopt a child? 7. Are you experiencing frustration and other negative emotions as a result of the way you interact with your children (whether they are living at home now or living their own lives elsewhere)? 8. Have you been informed that your child is having difficulty interacting with classmates and friends? (Is your child being bullied, or is he/she a bully?)

39 39 9. Do you feel that your children are always fighting or are they abusive to one another? 10. Would you like your children to be more attentive to your requests, to be obedient, appreciative of your efforts as a parent, respectful of other adults? If you answer Yes to questions 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and/or No to questions 1, 2, 4, or 5, you will want to spend a little more time making sure to enhance the flow of Qi to the Children/Creativity Life Station(s) in your home. Choose Feng Shui cures that resonate to the Metal element, to the colors white, silver and gold, and to the mouth (think: smiles). Review Chapter 14 to determine your personal element, and think about your favorite colors (and those of your children). This will help you make the right choices as you personalize the activities or cures in this life station. For instance, as you can see from the diagram of our sample house, this life station includes parts of the Master Bedroom closet, the entire full bathroom at the end of the hallway, and part of the second bedroom. This family would need to maintain good order in these areas to ensure that there would be an abundance of joy and fun in their lives. And since one of the rooms is a bathroom, keeping it immaculate and selecting white linens with silver or gold accessories would be a good idea. Displaying tubes of lipstick (mouth/lips/smile) and perfume bottles (with gold tops) would be good Feng Shui. Unlike the Family/Ancestors Life Station, this one vibrates to the Metal Element, and the two elements (Wood and Metal) are not compatible with one another. So, if you need to enhance the Children/Creativity Life Station, try to avoid wood in the space. Our example house has a lot of wood cabinets, a wood linen closet and wooden towel hangers in the full bathroom. Immediate, easy cures to this area might be to replace the towel hangers and other bathroom accessories with shiny metal ones. Along the walls in the second bedroom, the family could hang pictures, paintings or prints in metal frames. And the walls in all of the spaces could be painted white. Both the bathroom and the second bedroom wall (which make up part of the Children/Creativity Life Station in the sample house) could be decorated with metal art, or depictions of playful activities.

40 40 Silver or gold candlesticks could be arranged on the bathroom counter, or on a white, silver or gold (metal) shelving unit placed along the wall in the bedroom. The challenge in the bedroom remains, however. While the wall to the left of the entrance to that room represents part of the Children/Creativity Life Station for the house, it also represents the Career and Knowledge/Self-Awareness Life Stations for the room itself. So good Feng Shui for this bedroom area needs to include representations for all three! Perhaps hanging several black and white prints in metal frames on the wall would be a good tip, as well as including a metal bookshelf filled with books on hobbies and special interests in a variety of colors. The above-mentioned candles would activate Qi in the space. Enhancing the Children/Creativity Life Station will be of great importance to you if you need to be creative in your occupation, or if you enjoy hobbies that require a lot of creative energy! If you are an artist, writer, graphic designer, sculptor, you design websites, jewelry or clothing, do crafts, beadwork, embroidery or needle-work, architecture, interior or landscapting design, this is an excellent place to have your easel, desk or computer station. k Chapter 11 Benefactors/Helpful People/Travel Metal Element, Colors: White,Gray,Black The Benefactors/Helpful People/Travel Life Station is as important to your success in life as is the Wealth Life Station! Benefactors can be members of your family who help you financially or in other ways that support your daily life. Often they are mentors, people who encourage you by showing you how to do something more creatively or successfully. They can be teachers, advisors, professionals who provide good health or dental care, career, financial or investment advice. And they can be the UPS delivery person, the guy who repairs your car, the car insurance representative who looks after your automobile and home insurance needs. Since this life station also represents Travel, all of the people and agencies that provide travel services or who make traveling possible, comfortable and convenient are represented here.

41 41 A benefactor may be a friend who listens to you when you need to talk, or one who lends you their best jacket when you are going on that all-important interview! Helpful people can be the Real Estate agent who helps you buy (or sell) your home, the broker or banker who helps you line up a good mortgage, etc. A good example of Helpful People, if you are in business, might be the people who speak well of you, refer you to others through good word-of mouth. And they can be the reliable employees who care about the business as much as you do, making sure that the day-to-day work flows smoothly, that your customers or clients are happy, etc. For all of us, these benefactors and helpful people can present themselves as angels or kind and encouraging others who support our spiritual growth. If you are ever in need of help in any area of your life, activate the Benefactors/Helpful People/Travel Life Station to receive the support you need from willing, capable and supportive others. Here are some specific questions you may want to consider before deciding whether you currently could benefit from focusing a lot of attention on your Benefactors/Helpful People/Travel Life Station. 1. Do you feel that others support your career and life goals? Are they happy with your success? 2. Do you have the kind of friends you can call at any time, and who enjoy spending time with you? 3. Would you say that your relationships with friends, lovers and co-workers are fulfilling? 4. Are you satisfied with your bank, accountant, tax professional and investment advisor? 5. Have you built a satisfactory network for your overall health management, dental care, etc.? Or do you need to establish new contacts? 6. Do you need to consult with a professional on any matter? 7. Do you need to find a good lawyer for any reason? 8. Are you relocating? Or, have you relocated in the past months? 9. Are you planning a vacation? Do you travel often for business? Are you planning a trip now?

42 42 If you answer Yes to question 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 (and No to the rest) you will want to spend a little more time making sure to enhance the flow of Qi to the Benefactors/Helpful People/Travel Life Station. In addition to making sure that this life station is clutterfree and clean, chose cures that resonate to the Metal element, the colors white, gray and black, and to the head. A very good cure for this area would be to place a Yin-Yang symbol in it. Of course, other black and white pictures or prints would also be very attractive. However, the Yin-Yang symbol represents both harmony and balance, so it could represent the type of energy you would like to experience in all of your relationships! One standard cure would be to place a bust of someone you admire in the area. If you were to place it on a pillar, mantle piece or another solid piece of furniture, this would ground and stabilize relationships between yourself and those you admire. Other cures might include pictures of people; since this life station resonates to the head, the pictures could be portraits. This is the life station to activate if you want more clients, better employees, loyal friends, etc., so hanging pictures that depict people enjoying one another s company is also a good choice. Or, if you are seeking a more profound spiritual relationship, choose some artwork to represent important religious figures or aspects of your belief. It would be very appropriate to hang or place them in this part of your home. If you yearn to travel and explore the world, to meet people from other countries and cultures, to expand your connection to the world at large, hang attractive maps and images from other countries and desired travel destinations; pictures of open spaces are a good idea, too. Of course, hanging a small mirror here, one where you can see your head as you enter the space or move around in it is an excellent way to enhance the flow of Benefactors/Helpful People/Travel Qi in your life. k k k

43 43 k Chapter 12 Feng Shui Cures There are nine categories of Feng Shui Cures. Each type has a different use. Some cures are effective in a variety of different situations, while others can only be used for very specific purposes or used only for a limited amount of time. The manner in which we place Feng Shui Cures is similar to the way an Acupuncturist places healing needles that stimulate personal Qi energy. If the cure is placed correctly, changes happen quickly; if it is not placed correctly, then nothing happens, or, in rare instances, things can get worse. However, even with this warning in mind, don t be afraid to experiment. Just be aware of your environment and trust your intuition as you work to balance the Qi in your environment. Should things take a turn for the worse, simply move the cure! As you place cures, Feng Shui tradition dictates that the placement must be aesthetically pleasing for the cure to be effective. In other words, if the cure doesn t look good, if it looks out of place, if you are bumping into it or banging your head on it, then your cure is in the wrong place! These are the nine categories of cures: Light Cures create light or reflect light. These include mirrors, candles and crystals. Light Cures move energy, send energy, or in a few cases, collect energy. We want to move energy when things feel slow, when we are searching for opportunities or when we feel unfocused. To send energy means to take it from one place and direct it to another; for instance, we can use a Light Cure to protect a house (or an area of the house). We can use this type of cure to increase the energy in a specific place. (Placing and turning on a lamp or letting in sunlight are ways of increasing the flow of Light Qi to an area.) Sound Cures make sound. These include bells, chimes and flutes as well as musical instruments. These items are selected for the specific purpose of harmonizing the Qi energy in an area or to call new, harmonious energy to a location. Sound cures are used when there is a lack of harmony in the house, when people fight or disagree or when the energy of the environment itself needs to be soothed.

44 44 Living Cures include plants and living creatures such as fish and birds but can be any living thing that spends the majority of its time in a cage, container or in a specific place. Living Cures help to attract growth energy, and cause the Qi in the house to be healthier in general. This helps not only enhance or improve the physical health of the people who live in the space, but also the health of relationships and finances as well. (Living Cures may also be representations or symbols of living things, i.e., silk plants instead of live plants and animal statues instead of real animals.) Moving Cures are things like flags, mobiles, fountains, kites, feathers, vehicles and fans (both the cooling, oscillating type and the paper, decorative type). Basically anything that does move or could move is a Moving Cure. These Cures cause beneficial Qi to circulate more rapidly. Choose this type of cure when the people who live in the space feel tired, disinterested in life or depressed, or when the house itself feels stale and stagnant. Heavy Cures are things like stone, marble, granite and clay. These Cures slow down the flow or movement of the Qi and thus stabilize energy in the environment. If the Qi moves too quickly, life can become a whirlwind of activity to the extent that you find indications of instability in such areas of life as jobs, relationships or finances. Heavy objects can help anchor the energy, creating stability and calm. Sometimes heavy objects are used as a temporary cure in the Life Stations where energy is found to be moving too quickly. Once balance is regained, the heavy objects can be put away until needed again. Scent Cures derive from such things as oils, incense, smudging with herbs or burning scented candles. They help clear stagnant energy and attract positive Qi. Often Scent Cures can be used to quickly change and lighten the prevailing energy in a space, and they can be used to clear rooms or houses of negative or Sha Qi, which affects the mood of everyone living in the house. Scent cures balance the Qi energy and bring it back to a positive state. (If you are sensitive to scent, however, it is recommended that you use an alternative cure.) Electric or Electronic Cures include your television, stereo and computer. These Cures stimulate energy and lighten the mood. However, too many electric or electronic devices in a space can be

45 45 distracting, so use them sparingly! In Feng Shui we want to balance the number of electronic devices with the size of the room so that the Qi in the space does not become over-stimulated. Living in the modern age as we do, we need to live in harmony with our electronic equipment and devices, so even they have a place in Feng Shui. Color Cures offer one of the quickest and easiest ways to change the energy of a room. Each color vibrates, creating a specific energy and we are affected by that energy in a nanosecond! There is much scientific research on the effects of color on our moods and physiology. Color cures stimulate energy, slow it down or balance it depending on the color used. Color can be added in small amounts as a decorative, eye-catching statement, or it can be used to decorate whole rooms. Color Cures create change, call and encourage the flow of Qi energy, and can even heal negativity. Symbol Cures form the ninth category of cures. Symbols are objects that have meaning or a story behind them. A symbol attracts similar energy to itself, based on the premise that: like attracts like. So, money symbols are used to attract wealth, relationship symbols bring opportunities for love and so on. There are symbols in every culture; and since Feng Shui is a Chinese art, we have offered a lot of suggestions in this book about using Chinese cultural symbols to attract specific Qi. However, it is always the best idea to choose symbols that mean something special to you (that represent an energy you wish to attract) for the most effective combination. k Chapter 13 Missing Life Stations If your home is not the shape of a square or rectangle, chances are that one or more of the Life Stations may be missing when you stretch the square diagram over your floor plan. Many homes (and rooms within a home) are shaped like an L, and I have seen the C, T and the E type homes. Many times the second floor of a two story home reveals a different architectural form than the lower level or visa versa. Sometimes when there is a built-on garage or an added room, the shape of the original outline of the house is changed. (This is something to consider if you are planning to add on rooms to your current home. The movement

46 46 patterns of the Qi through your home will change as well, and you will definitely need to work with the interior design and the Cures you are currently using to make sure they are appropriate when the add-on is completed.) It is also very common for people to move from one house to another, and to try and furnish their new homes in the same way as their old ones. If the floor plan of the new home is very different, it may be necessary to make a lot of Feng Shui changes as the family adapts to their new environment. If you live in an apartment/condominium, then your home is part of a larger building. This usually means that your home is in one of the Life Stations of the Ba-Gua. (It is probably not in the exact center of a building, because then you would have no windows.) Take your perimeter drawing of the apartment building. Place the Ba-Gua over the entire building, centering the segment marked Career over the main entrance to the building. Now locate your apartment in its corresponding Ba-Gua Life Station for the building. (Unless your apartment is next to or directly above the front entrance, it is most likely not in the Career Life Station of the building.) Since your apartment/condominium is in one parti-cular location in a larger complex, consult your Ba-Gua and know that you will encounter challenges relative to the corresponding Life Station. Make sure your own home is clutter free and clean, that you focus attention on the movement of Qi in the respective area of your own home, and that you carefully spend time in the other areas as well, to bring balance to your life. As you study your floor plan with the 9-Square Feng Shui Grid stretched over it, the first step is to identify any missing areas. You may be missing any one of the Life Stations. What if, for instance, your Wealth Life Station is missing (see diagram)? You may be struggling with money issues; money is not flowing into your life as easily as you would like, and it is probably leaving too quickly! (You may even discover that your belief in the possibility of prosperity is missing as well!) Once you have identified a missing life station turn to the appropriate chapter in this book and study the questions carefully. You are likely to identify major issues that are creating challenges in your life. Don t panic. Become creative about figuring out an appropriate Feng Shui cure! When a corner area is missing, obviously you could square off your house by building on a room or, if you have a deck in the missing area, you could close it in. However, this is not always a

47 47 viable solution. Less difficult but still quite effective is placing a living object at the missing corner. A living object attracts good Qi to the home. You might select a tree, large bush, or a group of plants. If the ground is not suitable for planting, you could place a fountain or a large garden box, pot or barrel in that corner, contain-ing a tree, bush or other flowers/plants. Less difficult still is installing a light. (It used to be difficult to run electrical lines to the light. But now, thanks to technology, you can pick up a solar-powered light for a reasonable price.) The light will attract Qi. If you have only concrete and no way to plant trees or place fountains, lights, and a planter in the space would be very inconvenient, you can still place a cure. It won t be as effective as what has been discussed previously, but it is a lot better than having nothing at all. Hang a wind chime from the corner of the house (either corner will do) in a place where it will chime occasionally. Be sure to select a sweet sounding chime that you will not tire of hearing over time! If a square (or more than one square) is missing, focus on the Feng Shui in each of your rooms corresponding to the missing square. For instance, if Wealth is missing from the house, each and every room in the home has a Wealth Life Station. Pay extra attention to keeping that area clutter free, neat, tidy and clean to enhance the overall Wealth energy in the home. A typical house A typical house with superimposed Feng Shui Grid k k k

48 48 k Chapter 14 Chinese Astrology Unlike Western Astrology which is based on Sun Signs, Chinese Astrology is based on the twelve animal years of the Chinese Lunar Calendar. Each year is represented by one of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs associated with a specific animal, whose general character traits are translated into human qualities and applied to all people born that year. Each year is also associated with a specific Qi element. On the next page you will find a list of the Chinese zodiac signs and elements for the years 1901 to Below is a brief description of the energy of each sign and each element: The Rat is charming, humorous, honest, meticulous. Born in the Year of the Rat, you are a good and wise adviser, yet have difficulty making choices for yourself. You are tempted by greed. The Ox works hard, is patient and methodical; enjoys helping others. You have an active mind and inspire confidence. You are tempted to work either too hard or not at all. The Tiger is courageous, active, self-assured, passionate, sometimes rash. An excellent leader and protector, you attract followers and admirers. You are tempted to resist the authority of others. The Rabbit is quick, clever, ambitious, sociable, tactful, sensitive to the needs of others. You are also very lucky in all your endeavors. You are tempted to walk away rather than finish what you start. The Dragon: To the Chinese, the most desirable year! Shrewd, healthy and vital, mystical, intuitive, artistic, blessed you are tempted to avoid reality, spending your days dreaming of good fortune. The Snake: In Asia sometimes called the little dragon, this is also a lucky year. Wise, philosophical, calm and understanding, attractive and sexy! You are tempted to be self-indulgent and lazy. The Horse is charming, cheerful, all-round likeable! Hard-working, brilliant, they ably acquire wealth and respect. You are tempted to be frank, often tactless and are very impatient!

49 49 Chinese Zodiac & Element Chart 1/30/1911 Metal Pig 2/18/1912 Water Rat 2/6/1913 Water Ox 1/26/1914 Wood Tiger 2/14/1915 Wood Rabbit 2/3/1916 Fire Dragon 1/23/1917 Fire Snake 2/11/1918 Earth Horse 2/1/1919 Earth Ram 2/20/1920 Metal Monkey 2/8/1921 Metal Rooster 1/28/1922 Water Dog 2/16/1923 Water Pig 2/5/1924 Wood Rat 1/25/1925 Wood Ox 2/13/1926 Fire Tiger 2/2/1927 Fire Rabbit 1/23/1928 Earth Dragon 2/10/1929 Earth Snake 1/30/1930 Metal Horse 2/17/1931 Metal Ram 2/6/1932 Water Monkey 1/26/1933 Water Rooster 2/14/1934 Wood Dog 2/4/1935 Wood Pig 1/24/1936 Fire Rat 2/11/1937 Fire Ox 1/31/1938 Earth Tiger 2/19/1939 Earth Rabbit 2/8/1940 Metal Dragon 1/27/1941 Metal Snake 2/15/1942 Water Horse 2/5/1943 Water Ram 1/25/1944 Wood Monkey 2/13/1945 Wood Rooster 2/2/1946 Fire Dog 1/22/1947 Fire Pig 2/10/1948 Earth Rat 1/29/1949 Earth Ox 2/17/1950 Metal Tiger 2/6/1951 Metal Rabbit 1/27/1952 Water Dragon 2/14/1953 Water Snake 2/3/1954 Wood Horse 1/24/1955 Wood Ram 2/12/1956 Fire Monkey 1/31/1957 Fire Rooster 2/18/1958 Earth Dog 2/8/1959 Earth Pig 1/28/1960 Metal Rat 2/15/1961 Metal Ox 2/5/1962 Water Tiger 1/25/1963 Water Rabbit 2/13/1964 Wood Dragon 2/2/1965 Wood Snake 1/21/1966 Fire Horse 2/9/1967 Fire Ram 1/30/1968 Earth Monkey 2/17/1969 Earth Rooster 2/6/1970 Metal Dog 1/27/1971 Metal Pig 2/15/1972 Water Rat 2/3/1973 Water Ox 1/23/1974 Wood Tiger 2/11/1975 Wood Rabbit 1/31/1976 Fire Dragon 2/18/1977 Fire Snake 2/7/1978 Earth Horse 1/28/1979 Earth Ram 2/16/1980 Metal Monkey 2/5/1981 Metal Rooster 1/25/1982 Water Dog 2/13/1983 Water Pig 2/2/1984 Wood Rat 2/20/1985 Wood Ox 2/9/1986 Fire Tiger 1/29/1987 Fire Rabbit 2/17/1988 Earth Dragon 2/6/1989 Earth Snake 1/27/1990 Metal Horse 2/15/1991 Metal Ram 2/4/1992 Water Monkey 1/23/1993 Water Rooster 2/10/1994 Wood Dog 1/31/1995 Wood Pig 2/19/1996 Fire Rat 2/7/1997 Fire Ox 1/28/1998 Earth Tiger 2/16/1999 Earth Rabbit 2/5/2000 Metal Dragon 1/24/2001 Metal Snake 2/12/2002 Water Horse 2/1/2003 Water Ram 1/22/2004 Wood Monkey 2/9/2005 Wood Rooster 1/29/2006 Fire Dog 2/18/2007 Fire Pig 2/7/2008 Earth Rat 1/26/2009 Earth Ox 2/14/2010 Metal Tiger 2/3/2011 Metal Rabbit 1/23/2012 Water Dragon 2/10/2013 Water Snake 1/31/2014 Wood Horse 2/19/2015 Wood Ram 2/8/2016 Fire Monkey 1/28/2017 Fire Rooster 2/16/2018 Earth Dog 2/5/2019 Earth Pig 1/25/2020 Metal Rat

50 50 The Ram is gifted, very intelligent, good-natured, often with artistic talents. You are likely to fare well in business, less so in family matters due to lack of attention. Tempted to avoid responsibility. The Monkey is likable, witty/comedic, inventive, quick-thinking. You solve problems easily and can do anything in business! Too clever for your own good, you can be tempted to be unscrupulous. The Rooster: Resourceful, ambitious, gifted and self-assured, the Chinese think of the Rooster as courageous, amusing and therefore popular. The temptation is to strut a bit too much, annoying those close to you. The Dog is faithful, honest, courageous, a good friend with a deep sense of justice and honor; can be generous and prosperous, yet is tempted to work too hard, never relaxing. Always on the go! The Pig is indulgent, loving, empathetic, intelligent and cultured, you can also be bawdy and earthy. Tempted to act helpless and unable to defend yourself. You are lucky, but can be lazy. Each of the Five Elements, Wood, Earth, Metal, Water and Fire have an impact on personality as well: Wood represents the ideals of kindness, generosity, loyalty and forgiveness. You can be as a young tree blowing in the wind, or an ancient oak, with deep roots and lots of determination. You listen to all sides of a debate; you consider and weigh the data; then you decide. Metal: This word can be translated gold as well, and represents righteousness. Meticulous, careful, fair, you want to say and do the right thing. You can be soft-spoken or opinionated, but your words matter! Principles are important, and you willingly help and care for others. Fire represents the energy of reason, logic, polite interaction with others and wisdom. You know when it is necessary to put your foot down, you know the power of anger and you understand passion. Yet, even when you are critical, you stop when you have made your point. Earth: In the best of circumstances you are honest and faithful to a fault, dependable, reliable and helpful. But you can be oldfashioned and stubborn as well. You try to improve whatever you find, and can help others to the point of self-sacrifice.

51 51 Water: There are two kinds of water one offering the element of insight and intuition, the ability to motivate and circulate, the other offering stillness and sometimes stagnation. Water can represent one with clarity, drive and effectiveness or one who is inarticulate and unclear. You get to choose what you wish to reflect. k k k Feng Shui Grid

52 52 House Diagram

53 53 About Diane Ronngren Diane Ronngren has taught Astrology, Feng Shui and personal growth classes/workshops for the last 18 years, first in Southern California, then in New Mexico and now, in Nevada. In the past few years Diane has written several books/booklets in the Mind/Body/Spirit genre. Her articles and series have appeared in popular magazines; she was a columnist for The New Mexico Light for four years. Her most recent book, Sage & Smudge: The Ultimate Guide, received the annual 2004 COVR Visonary Award for Best Book, General Interest. With degrees in business and languages, advanced certification in Astrology, Ericsonian Hypnosis and NLP, and many years of experience as a Feng Shui Consultant, Diane Ronngren is able to approach the many aspects of life with both understanding and common sense. Communication of all kinds, preferably traceable to antiquity, is Diane s special area of interest. Following a successful career in adult education, international corporate management and diplomacy, she started her own business in Now Diane is comfortably settled in Reno, Nevada. She maintains a busy schedule with her Feng Shui and astrology practice, writing, business consulting, motivational speaking and coaching. When she is not working, she enjoys spending time with her husband, maintaining a comfortable home and relaxing with the people and pets they love. Diane Ronngren is available for consultations, workshops, seminars and speaking engagements. You can contact her at diane@dianeronngren.com k k k Bibliography Feng Shui Form by Donna Stellhorn Feng Shui How to Achieve the Most Harmonious Arrangement of Your Home and Office by Angel Thompson Feng Shui, The Chinese Art of Placement by Sarah Rossbach Interior Design With Feng Shui by Sarah Rossbach Fuhl Dich wohl mit Feng Shui by Donna Tokunaga Feng Shui For the Home by Evelyn Lip The Western Guide to Feng Shui Creating Balance, Harmony and Prosperity in your Environment by Terah Kathryn Collins The Feng Shui Handbook, A practical guide to Chinese geomancy and environmental harmony by Derek Walters Dress Your House For Success by Martha Webb and Sarah Parsons Zackheim Feng Shui Basics, Make Your Home YOUR Home by David Nutter The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes by Theodora Lau Sage & Smudge The Ultimate Guide by Diane Ronngren The Mammoth Dictionary of Symbols Understanding the Hidden Language of Symbols by Nadia Julien Color Magic; Learn to Use Your Personal Color Power by Frank Don Color A Secret Language Revealed by Diane Ronngren

54 54 Sage and Smudge: The Ultimate Guide by Diane Ronngren 2004 COVR Visionary Award Winner! (General Interest Category) This guidebook gives you the secrets of more than 101 successful Sage & Smudge rituals Sage & Smudge: The Ultimate Guide combines Lunar timing, spiritual, herbal and cultural teachings past and present. Interesting anecdotes and easily accessible tips you can use today! Sage and Smudge by Donna Stellhorn Sage has historically and up until the present been a part of personal, religious and healing practices in cultures in China, Rome and the Americas. This book introduces you to this ancient knowledge and teachs you how to use it in your modern-day life. Chapters 12 and 13 serve as an introduction to the topic of Feng Shui cures. If you are interested in learning more about cures, read: Feng Shui Form by Donna Stellhorn. I have not found a more complete and comprehensive list of Feng Shui cures in the literature anywhere! Feng Shui Master Donna Stellhorn offers excellent directions on when cures are needed, how to use them and where to find them. Visit her website at: com. Feng Shui Form will be released in early 2005 and will be available at your local bookstore, or you can order your copy now, directly from ETC Publishing. Visit our website at