Feng Shui Shake-Down for Home Improvement
By Debra Blackmon
February 1, 2003 ushers in the Chinese New Year lunar calendar. But if you practice Feng Shui, the Year of the Sheep actually begins right on time at 1:57 p.m. February 4th (the beginning of the Chinese solar New Year).
That’s the time a home or business is given a Feng Shui shakedown and makeover, and here are the fundamentals…
There are seven basic steps to follow to create good Feng Shui…
Open the mouth of chi (energy)…which just means make sure you can get in the front door easily and unobstructed.
Clean the space.
Purify the air.
Remove the clutter.
Move the furniture into the proper geometric alignment (this is called Sacred Geometry).
Enhance the sheng (good) chi.
Remedy or cure the sha (negative) chi.
Simple enough except the last three items which can get a bit tricky. Sacred Geometry is somewhat easy to explain and understand, but less simple to implement properly. And good energy for some may be bad energy for others and vice versa! Feng Shui is many complicated layers, and that’s why practitioners were invented…to keep it complicated! And romanced! Because the less a client understands, the more a practitioner can charge! So beware!
Now you know why a Feng Shui Master/Practitioner was considered a necessary evil in ancient China. He could help enhance your life if he knew what he was doing and was honest. But he could rob you blind if he was a charlatan. Both of them demanded high prices! Well, it is very difficult to have to explain Black Tortoise, White Tiger, Green Dragon and Red Phoenix to a non-initiate…thus the expense, you see!
Sacred Geometry has long been considered the universal language of the divine, used for the construction of temples and holy spaces. Interesting, mysterious and esoteric, it is what makes a house a sanctuary. In a space that already exists, it deals only with the placement of furniture…since preplanning which way the house should face on the site isn’t a prerogative.
Consciously creating with Sacred Geometry elevates a space from the mundane into the spiritual. Its end product is balance, harmony and geometric proportion (all symbolic of being in right relationship to creation and the Creator).
Speaking of symbols…enhancements, cures and remedies are all just that…symbols, or metaphors for what we want to attract (or repel) from our lives. They can be dictated to you by a practitioner, or chosen by you intuitively.
Choose your symbols well (they are what you add to your home to enhance the good chi and remedy the bad).
There are divine principles at work in the Universe and in our environment that we can tap into, enhancing our lives, especially if we recognize the archetypal metaphors and symbols in our homes and never underestimate the power of their influence on us. Symbols and metaphors are extremely powerful allies or enemies (guess that’s why vampires are allergic to crucifixes).
You don’t have to be a believer, or even full understand these principles to experience the dynamic results of Feng Shui. Good design is good Feng Shui, and good Feng Shui is good design.
Now, just IMAGINE mental clarity, emotional balance and physical well-being radiating from your environment! Follow the seven basic steps as much as you are able…and INTEND the best, you will be doing well! Because intention is the single most important aspect of good Feng Shui.
Intend good…in your life, the lives of your loved ones (and the world while you’re at it). Your home and the elements inside it are basically a metaphor for your life…get the symbols right (intuitively) and have a great Year of the Sheep (or is that a goat?) 2003.
Copyright © 2003 Debra Blackmon, Interior Redesign & Feng Shui, “Transforming Mundane Space into Sacred Space”. All rights reserved. Reprinting this article: You are welcome to reprint, copy or distribute this article provided this copyright notice and a link to http://www.debrablackmon.com is included.