What is Feng Shui?
Feng Shui gives a new perspective for viewing your life and the space where you live and work. It supports change. In many cases Feng Shui involves just plain common sense: if the faucet is leaking, call a plumber; if a light bulb is burned out, replace it; if a door sticks, fix it; if you want a new job, send out resumes and network. But in addition to these mundane changes, using the Feng Shui principle that “your space reflects your life,” you can begin to ask what besides the faucet was “leaking” out of your life, what else has “burned out” in your life, what issue is “sticky” for you right now.
The Chinese have a poetic yet literal way of looking at issues. If you want to call something or someone into your life, use a bell or a chime. If you want to stop money from running out the front door, put an empty basket inside the door to catch the flow of wealth before it leaves your house. If you want some project or relationship to blossom, place a healthy, lush plant in the appropriate area to represent growth and vitality.
The adjustments for Feng Shui can be small and subtle and are usually affordable. An adjustment may not even be visible—-a mirror placed in a closet or a business card tucked behind a picture can be as effective as rearranging the living room furniture. The power of the adjustment does not depend on the object as much as the intention with which the object was placed. The stronger the intent, magnified by Feng Shui, the more dramatic the shifts that will manifest in your life.
In Feng Shui, the bagua is a mental tool or map that is used to determine the placement of nine life issues as they are represented in your space. When the bagua is appropriately placed over a space and enhanced, your life can manifest good fortune. This map can be placed over the main floor of a building or a home, an individual room, or even a desk top. The orientation is determined by the position of the entry door, the architecturally intended front door—-one which you may not use all the time. The front of your home will always be in Knowledge, Career, and Helpful People.
Include anything in the bagua that has a roof and sides, like an attached garage or a screened-in porch. A deck, an open porch, or any overhangs would not be part of the layout since they do not have both roof and sides. After including all the parts of the space that need to be considered, divide the space into three equal area left to right and three equal areas front to back. Each area corresponds to one of those shown on the bagua map. As you first begin to lay out the bagua, do not concern yourself with the interior walls. Be most concerned with mapping out the different bagua areas on the overall layout. Once you have located the nine areas, you can then observe the different rooms in relation to the bagua. The Wealth area is in the back left corner of your space; the Partnership area is in the back right corner; Health is in the center, etc.
When you lay out a bagua over an individual room, determine the front entry to that specific room in order to orient the bagua. Most often the bagua areas of an individual room are in a different orientation than the bagua of the whole house or building. It is not important that they match.
Each area of the bagua is represented by a color, which can be used in the corresponding part of the bagua. If Wealth is currently a problematic situation, you can integrate something purple or lavender in that area. Since colors are so personal, it is important you use a color and a shade or tone that you love.
