This plain and simple guide discusses how to:
- Declutter to clear the energy in your home
- Use the Chinese bagua (number square) to map out rooms to enhance energy
- Employ the five elements to harmonize the energy of your home
- Use feng shui for the exterior of your home and outside landscaping
This wonderful primer will be hailed by anyone interested in interior design, Chinese legend and lore, and the creation of healing and harmonious living spaces.
This plain and simple guide discusses how to:
- Declutter to clear the energy in your home
- Use the Chinese bagua (number square) to map out rooms to enhance energy
- Employ the five elements to harmonize the energy of your home
- Use feng shui for the exterior of your home and outside landscaping
This wonderful primer will be hailed by anyone interested in interior design, Chinese legend and lore, and the creation of healing and harmonious living spaces.
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Overview
This plain and simple guide discusses how to:
- Declutter to clear the energy in your home
- Use the Chinese bagua (number square) to map out rooms to enhance energy
- Employ the five elements to harmonize the energy of your home
- Use feng shui for the exterior of your home and outside landscaping
This wonderful primer will be hailed by anyone interested in interior design, Chinese legend and lore, and the creation of healing and harmonious living spaces.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781571747891 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Red Wheel/Weiser |
| Publication date: | 05/01/2018 |
| Series: | Plain & Simple Series |
| Pages: | 160 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.40(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.60(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Making a Start
Before you do anything, you must first clear away any negative or bad energy that's been dormant in the house, home, or workplace. If you want to start afresh, there's nothing like clearing out all the clutter and cleansing the spaces of your home and hearth.
Decluttering
To accomplish this task successfully, you have to be ruthless with yourself and your family, so approach each room in turn and decide whether you really need those things that are piling up in the closets. You might even have boxes full of things you've forgotten about stored in the attic or cellar, so don't neglect these areas, as they can harbor stagnant or negative energy. Before steaming in with the vacuum cleaner and the trash bags, though, understand why you are doing this, because understanding the process is as essential as doing it. Also bear in mind that while it may feel difficult to throw things out, once the junk is gone, it's remarkable how quickly you'll forget about it. The number of possessions you have is also a symbol of the type of person you are. The more junk you hoard, the more likely it is you need to reassess your values. Why are you so acquisitive? Do you feel insecure without possessions? Similarly, if you live in a minimalist cell, you might need to ask whether your values incorporate the needs of others.
Once you have decluttered your home, you'll feel not only virtuous but also excited about the fresh start you're making on this new phase in your life. Now you need to cleanse the empty spaces of your home and revitalize the home with positive energy.
Space-Clearing Techniques
There are many ways to clear away negative energy and revitalize the home. Here are some suggestions. If you don't like one idea, then try another that suits you better. Some individuals might like clapping, while others might like purging with candles or incense, so take your pick.
1. Burning
Cleanse a whole house or room by burning small perfumed candles in each room. Let the candle burn right down before you extinguish it. Alternatively, use incense — sandalwood, lavender, and geranium essences are the best fragrances, but this is a matter of personal taste. Candles burn away negative energy and reconnect vibrations and an atmosphere that is reflective of you. Use colors that are suited to your needs, for example, white for purification and clarification, red for passion, blue for career prospects, green for friendship, yellow for good communication.
Note: Be very careful not to leave any burning candles unattended when you leave a room, as this could present a significant fire danger.
2. Clapping
Walk around the room or house and clap your hands briskly and rhythmically. Don't forget to clap in dark corners and at ceiling height, too. The sound of your hands will become a mantra for the energy, and you will soon start to feel the energy shifting and becoming clearer.
3. Sweeping
In Malaysia, Feng Shui practitioners often used an old bird-of-paradise nest that they tied to the end of a piece of twine and then whirled around in the air. However, a broom or a large spray of dead branches will work equally well. Lift the broom and sweep it through the air to stir and disperse any negative energy. Another method is to move your hands with open fingers through the air; if you feel any resistance, just push it away with wide sweeping movements of your arms.
4. Laid-Back Space Clearing
Sit cross-legged on the floor. Write a letter to the room or home and tell it that the changes you are about to make are functional, beneficial, and spiritual. Convey that the energy needs to be channeled for the benefit of you, your home, your workplace, and the world. Once you've read your letter out loud to the room, burn it or bury it in grand ceremonial style.
5. Touching
Touch all the things you are going to keep. Give them a name and make them feel wanted and loved. Touch the walls and the floor, too. This emotional contact with inanimate objects may sound silly, but you are acknowledging the presence of everything in the home, which has its own hidden positive energy, too. This way any negative energy will be dispelled.
6. Bell Ringing
Hold a thought of goodness and clarity in your mind. Begin ringing a bell as you circle the room. The sound waves will carry your thoughts to every part of the room. Finally, close the energies of the room down by moving the bell in a huge circle or a figure eight shape in the middle of the room. For those of you who practice spiritual, psychic, or healing work, this is like closing your psychic center at the end of a session.
About Yin and Yang
Yin and yang are complementary energies in Chinese philosophy. They are the source of the Ch'i as it flows through the universe. The Taoist Tai Ch'i symbol, a circle, creates a unity between the black and white areas. Yin is dark and passive, usually associated with the feminine and receptivity, and yang is white, positive, extrovert energy and usually associated with the masculine. Within each section, there is also the circle of its complementary energy, so in yin we find yang and in yang we find yin. The symbol reveals that nothing is ever totally yin or totally yang, but a combination of them both.
Yin's qualities traditionally have been associated with water, the moon, stillness, cold, and darkness, whereas yang relates to the sun, fire, bright light, and movement.
In the earliest Feng Shui schools, the environment was more important than the home itself. Yin represented the north side of a mountain, lakes, or shady places where not much sun was found, while yang landscapes were south-facing slopes and sunny places.
Mountains are usually yin and water is usually yang, because water moves (unless it's a still lake or pond; then it's considered yin).
In modern Feng Shui, assessing yin and yang energies is useful for getting the general feel of the home. Is your home more yin or more yang? Does it have lots of light or not enough? Traditionally a home is considered to be more yin than yang. This is because it is usually a place of calm, peace, and retreat from the world. Nowadays many people work from home, so it's important to activate a more dynamic yang feel to the office or work area with yang colors such as reds and orange and bright lights to balance the yin feel of the home.
If you live in the countryside, there will be more receptive yin energy around you, but if you live in a city center surrounded by skyscrapers, in a town, or in the suburbs, then the environment will be highly charged with yang energy. If you live in a city, you need to encourage more yin into your home by introducing soft furnishings, fabric wall hangings, huge, comfy cushions, and soft, earthy colors. You can also enhance yin with soft music and lighting, but don't negate all the yang energy. You need some in the main living space for positive well-being, so yang items such as glass dishes, metal ornaments, stone sculptures, and mirrors can be included in the living or dining room. Keep yang items, including electrical goods, televisions, stereos, and work-related machines, out of the bedroom. Encourage positive yang energy in the kitchen and the hallway by hanging wind chimes, using bright lighting or electrical gadgets, or hanging metal objects on the kitchen wall.
Harmonizing the two qualities of yin and yang throughout the home will encourage the Ch'i to flow more easily and can create happiness and good relationships in your life. These are the basics of good Feng Shui, and they'll get you off to a balanced start.
CHAPTER 2
The Bagua
Apart from yin and yang, there are two very important keys to Feng Shui. One is called the "Bagua" and the other relates to the five elements of Chinese astrology. The relationship that connects the five elements, the Bagua and the direction of your home is the key to harmony. First let's look at the Bagua.
The Bagua is an instant map for finding out where to change things for the better in your home. This ancient grid system (usually pronounced boogwo; also spelled PoKuo) represents the invisible patterns of energy that are contained within anything from a city block to a landscape, a house, a room, or even a bed. By using this grid, we can see which areas need attention.
The Bagua is based on an ancient Chinese magic number square, the Lo Shu. According to tradition, about four thousand years ago, a tortoise emerged from a river. On its back were special markings, which were interpreted as being the numbers 1 to 9. When these numbers are placed in the magic square in the proper formation, every row, whether horizontal, vertical, or diagonal, adds up to 15, and this mathematical "accident" supposedly renders the magic square and its uses magical.
One reason this is an auspicious number is that 15 is the number of days between the new moon and the full moon, which also marks the twenty-four phases of the Chinese year. This highly regarded time cycle was used in ancient traditional divination methods to determine auspicious times to sow seeds, work on gardens, or build houses.
When these same numbers are used to create the octagonal shape of the Bagua, each of the numbers correlates to a keyword.
Note: The Bagua is based on the traditional feng shui Lo Shu. This means that the south sector of the Bagua map is always at the top of a layout, the north at the bottom. This is because the north defines the front side of your home, even though your front door may actually be located in a different directional sector.
The Nine Bagua Energies
The keywords listed below correspond to the nine energies or pathways according to their compass points on the Bagua.
Most schools of Feng Shui use only the eight compass-point energies, but several use the center of the Bagua, which I've called the core. This area is very important in the home because it represents the heart of the home and the essence of you. When we enhance this area of the home, we're energizing our innermost selves.
We all have vitality and energy, and the Ch'i flows through us as it does around our homes. That's why we need to remember that when we're working on areas in our home, we're balancing and empowering ourselves simultaneously.
How to Use the Bagua
The next thing to do is to line up the Bagua over a plan of your home or just the room you're trying to improve. By following these easy steps, you can find out where the nine Bagua energies are located in your home. Start by deciding which areas of your life you feel need improvement or development. Next, you can apply simple Feng Shui enhancers to promote happiness, harmony, and well-being.
1. Draw a rough plan of your home or room.
2. Find the central point of the room or house. If it's irregular, square off the missing areas to make an imaginary regular shape.
3. Draw two diagonal lines from the corners. Where they cross is the center of the space and corresponds to the core area of the Bagua.
4. Find out which direction your home faces so that you can align your plan with the Bagua's north, south, east, and west.
The easiest way to link the Bagua to your home is to use a compass. Once you have found north, mark it on your drawing, and then add east, west, and south in the appropriate spots. Next, you can write in northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest.
Even if you don't have a compass, you can figure out which direction your home faces by watching the sun and noting where it rises (east) and where it sets (west). Mark these locations on your home plan, and then you can align your Bagua to these compass points.
Next, copy or trace a Bagua illustration onto tracing paper, or photocopy it onto the kind of transparency you would use on an overhead projector, and then place it over the plan of your home. Make sure you match up the compass points on your plan with the Bagua directions. For example, if your front door is facing south, line up the south/fire/fame part of the Bagua with the front door on your house plan. Then, obviously, the north/water/career area of the Bagua corresponds to the home's kitchen.
Missing Spaces and Projections
Some rooms and many homes don't form simple rectangles or squares, so you may have to contract or expand the Bagua to fit unusually shaped homes or rooms, or houses with extensions. For example, a house may have a missing space due to two extensions; this means that the west area of the Bagua, which relates to creativity and children, falls outside the home.
Mapping Out Rooms
You can use the Bagua to map out an individual room in order to enhance specific energies relevant to that room. For example, you might want to create a more passionate or loving intimacy in the bedroom, so placing specific enhancers in the southwest corner (2) of the room (which corresponds to marriage, love, and romantic happiness) would be beneficial.
In the kitchen, you might want to create an atmosphere that encourages great home cooking and good family conversations, so placing specific enhancers in the east (3: family and well-being) and northeast (8: education and knowledge) corners would be beneficial.
CHAPTER 3
The Bagua Sectors
The nine sectors of the Bagua relate to nine areas of your house, and these in turn link with nine aspects of your life. If an aspect of your life is making you unhappy, you'll find out how to link that aspect to a relevant sector of your house. You will then find out how to make a start on changing things for the better.
Answer the Following Questions
1. Do you want to get ahead in your career or change it completely? If the answer is yes, reinforce the NORTH area.
2. Do you want your talents to be noticed, or do you want to have great success from one of your skills? If the answer is yes, reinforce the SOUTH sector.
3. Do you feel you have too many money problems or you just want to be more prosperous? If the answer is yes, reinforce the SOUTHEAST area.
4. Do you want family relationships to work better, or do you just want a general improved sense of well-being for yourself and all who live on the premises? If the answer is yes, reinforce the EAST area.
5. Are you keen to have children? Do you have creative urges or want to create something new in your life? If so, reinforce the WEST area.
6. Do you want to meet the perfect partner or find new romance? Do you want to improve your intimate love relationship or find a better balance and harmony between you and your lover? If so, reinforce the SOUTHWEST corner of your home.
7. Do you want to improve your mind? Do you seek wisdom or want to explore spiritual or intellectual philosophies? Do you want to pass an exam or achieve something in education? If so, reinforce the NORTHEAST corner of your home.
8. Do you want to improve communication channels, make new contacts, or boost your interactive skills? If so, reinforce the NORTHWEST corner of your home.
9. Do you want to know yourself better, begin to live out your true potential, and feel at one with yourself? If so, enhance the CORE of your home.
Find the area that you want to improve, but don't try to do too much at once; Feng Shui is about balancing energies, not overdoing one at the expense of others.
North: Career
Key element: The north sector of your home is reinforced by a water enhancement.
To make your professional life work more smoothly or to promote beneficial energy in your career, use a simple water feature such as images of fish, an aquarium, or a blue bowl.
Harmony in the North Sector
The north sector of your home probably has much less light than the south, so it's important to avoid drabness. Don't use dark blue and black, colors that are associated with the water element. Also, it's important not to overemphasize water, or you'll find yourself working day and night. If you have too great a water enhancement, your career might take precedence over every other aspect of your life, a belief that can be detrimental to relationships.
Metal and wood elements are both compatible with water, so you can introduce a little of both to balance the general atmosphere of this part of your home. A small feature of trickling water over stones and some small upright plants is one possible choice. Alternatively, brighten up the north sector of your home with metal items, such as stainless steel objects, gold- or silver-framed pictures, or a bowl of coins, all of which are highly auspicious for financial success in your career.
The bedroom is a special case, as you want to avoid anything to do with commerce and careers in this area. Avoid medium or dark blue colors if your bedroom is in the north of the home. The bedroom should be a place of rest and calm, and blue can evoke bad dreams and erratic sleep patterns.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Feng Shui"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Sarah Bartlett.
Excerpted by permission of Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Introduction: What Is Feng Shui? 1
1 Making a Start 7
2 The Bagua 15
3 The Bagua Sectors 25
4 The Five Elements 39
5 Kua Number: Your Personal Best Direction 49
6 The Environment 57
7 Harmonizing Ch'i in the Home 65
8 Your Elemental Energy Type 81
9 Creating a Sacred Corner 93
10 Love and Relationships 101
11 Prosperity and Career 119
12 Career Choices 129
13 Balancing Energy through Décor 139