4/10/04
BY THE YARD
This is the time for burning permits where we live, and it’s a mad rush to gather all the clutter from the yard to burn before it rains again or before the permits are nixed until next year. So we’ve been raking, pruning, and gathering fools. And it FEELS SO GOOD! De-cluttering the yard is important because as the weather gets better, we begin to move outside. So as you begin to locate hammocks, volley ball nets, trampolines, love seats, grills, waterfalls, trees, shrubs and vegetables, remember that the yard should be divided into nine equal sectors. We have our yearly burn pile in Fame & Recognition where it can do the most good. The green hammock is in Family. The fountain in the perennial garden is also in Family where Water supports the Wood. So take your Ch’i sheet outside!

6/8/03
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Before you set up the badminton net or the horse shoe set, consider dividing your yard into the nine equal sectors to see where to put all that summer stuff. The movement of any game is a great activator of Ch’i. You can pick you life issues and set up the games in the places of your life that need the most activation. Let’s say you and your husband have been trying to get pregnant. If so, then set up the horse shoes in the middle right one ninth of the yard. This is the Children sector. Remember to orient the bagua on the front walk to the front door. Another way to look at placement is by elements. Anything metal like horseshoes would go in the Children’s sector, also in the Career sector. The basketball hoop should probably go in Family, even Fame, as it is tall and resembles a tree. Volley ball and badminton nets stretch horizontally like water and would work well in Career or Family. The grill or the fire pit would go best in Fame or Health. Use your imagination and have fun! Afterall, it IS summer!!

4/20/03
BODY PARTS
Not only is each sector of the bagua associated with colors, shapes, materials, and nature’s wonders, they are also linked with parts of the body. So if your gall bladder is galling you or your back was better a week back, look at your home as both the potential problem as well as the cure. We’re not guaranteeing miracles here, but it’s worth a look. Here’s the gua by gua breakdown. Hips are Wealth; eyes, heart, and small intestines are Fame; reproductive organs are Love; stomach and spleen are Health; mouth is Children; head is Helpful People; ears, kidneys, and bladder are Career; hands are Wisdom; and feet, liver, and gall bladder are Family. Even more interesting is the analogy of the back and the roof line of your house. Imagine your head at the front door and your tailbone at the back. That means that you’re crouched in froggy pose with your feet to the left and right of the back of the house. If your front and back doors don’t align, you might end up with a few extra unwanted twists and kinks. Plumbing problems can effect the intestines and bladder. Electrical messes can foul up your nerves. So tell us what you think and e-mail us a little “bio” feedback.

1/26/02
DESTRUCTIVE CYCLE BASICS
Get out the wrecking ball guys and girls! It’s time for the destructive cycle. Is this the bike that Evil Knievel rides? No, class! First it’s about NOT doing any harm first. Then we’ll talk about actively destroying as a good thing. Certainly you are tired of hearing this, however, clutter is most destructive to good Feng Shui. Clean up! Next, you want to look into each sector of you home or office for colors, shapes, and elements which are harmful where they are. For instance, the middle one-ninth is about Health. It’s color is yellow, it’s shape is square, and it’s element is earth. Think yellow terra cotta tiles, or square clay pots with yellow flowering plants. What is supportive of your health in this sector is anything red, pointy, or fiery. Try those red candles you forgot to burn during the holidays, or some gold stars. What’s destructive here and has the potential to harm your health are tall columnar things, green things, and wooden things. So that big armoire that you painted antique green is a big no no in the middle of the whole house. Put it in the Family sector, left middle, or even in the Fame sector, far middle, where it can do some good. Refer to your Ch’i Sheet for the rest of the this information. If you don’t have a Ch’i Sheet, you can donwload it from our website. Okay, now we can start thinking about destroying things. Let’s say you have a bathroom in the Fame sector of your whole home. That “water closet” in the far middle has the potential to destroy or diminish your fame and reputation. So if you really want to get on the Leno show this year, think about how the water puts out your fire. The thing to do is to “destroy” the water that is there by introducing the color, shape and/or element that will destroy water. That element is Earth. If you have a boggy section on your land and want to get rid of it, you’re going to call for someone with a bulldozer and a couple truck loads of dirt. So if you bring in yellow tiles, yellow or earth tone towels and square things to that bathroom in Fame, you’re going to tone down the water. So that’s how it works. Remember that water puts out fire, fire melts metal, metal chops wood, wood uproots earth, and earth soaks up water. Class dismissed.

4/13/02
HOTEL HOCUS POCUS
Who says you have to put up with the Feng Shui bloopers that well meaning hotel decorators have foisted upon you while you’re out of town? What color is your luggage? We’re taking a three-day rest and renew in Albany. How wonderful that the reservation clerk “knew” to give us a room with a left hand entry. We will be stimulating spirituality and wisdom every time we go in and out. Both black suitcases went in Career to the right of the door. A gray backpack was tossed in Helpful People, and my black computer bag could have stayed next to the suitcases in Career, but why not support Family and Basic Money by putting it in the left middle one ninth? The red cooler went in the far middle, which happened to be in the bathroom. That will ensure our impeccable reputation while we’re here. Unfortunately, Fame AND Love is missing because of the bathroom being in that far middle and right sectors. Hey! It’s gotta be somewhere. Luckily I brought a hot pick tee shirt. My reading glasses are hot pink and green and our cell phone is red. We placed them on the nightstand in the love sector of the room with intent. We said out loud, “May this weekend bring harmony and love to our stressed lives.” No matter where you go, use your imagination. Look around your temporary space. Use what’s there as well as what you brought to support your hopes for your time away. And even though your on vacation or even on an important business trip, watch the clutter. And remember, while you’re away, the good Feng Shui that you have done at home supports you no matter where you are.

3/23/02
MONEY MATTERS
There are two sectors in the Black Hat School of Feng Shui grid that deal with money. One is Family, which governs over the money it takes to make your monthly bills. The other is the Wealth sector which deals with the money it takes to go away on vacations, eat caviar, and drink thirty year old Champagne. Don’t activate the Wealth sector until you’ve got the basics covered. The Family sector is the middle left one-ninth of any space. Make sure there are not a lot of metal objects, white things, or round things. Remember to remove all reminders of poor times, throw away broken or tattered things, clean up, and de-clutter. Then you should bring in tall, green, and/or wooden things. Add a touch of water, black, and undulating shapes. But if you think you are done, you’re not. One of the most important things to check for is leaking pipes. The metaphor is that your money can be leaking out of your life. Spend the money to fix the plumbing. It will be worth it. If your basic needs are met and you’re looking for wealth, do the same in the far left one ninth. This is where the tall, green, wood things work well. Don’t put water here. It’s too close to Fame and could water down the fire. You can use red, pointy, fiery things, but how about GOLD & SILVER things? Think of putting your most expensive items in the wealth sector of the whole house/office building as well as in that sector of each room. Or how about pictures of your dreams for the future? And if the bathroom is in the Wealth sector, make sure the lid is down and the door is kept shut. Bring in some purple towels and some expensive gold accessories, but don’t go overboard. The bathroom is not the place to over decorate. And don’t bring attention to the toilet! Are you done? Not quite. Now go outside and lay the grid over the property. The mouth of Ch’i is the front walk to the front door. Are you composting in Wealth. Did you create a huge metal windmill in the adult ed classes over the winter and place it proudly in the middle left sector of your yard. Move it to the middle right or front right. Just remember that there can be things holding you back outside as well as inside.

2/23/02
BALANCING ACT
We try to balance our work with our family and friends, our need for money with our spirituality. Yin and Yang is the philosophy of balance. Yin is feminine. Yang is masculine. Whether you’re a man or a woman, it’s important to strike a good balance between your masculine and your feminine sides. Red is a good color, a powerful color, but a house full of it is a house out of balance. Red is very Yang and is for enhancing Fame. It helps Health, but it destroys Creativity. If your house is a wood frame house with lots of fancy wood furniture, gleaming wood floors, and intricately carved wood trim, it may feel comfortable to Paul Bunyan, but his health may suffer. All that wood will tend to uproot the earth which is necessary for good health. Everything in balance! If you have a high stress Yang job, you want to come home to a more calming Yin house. Perhaps you need to be greeted by a gentle waterfall first thing in the door. Soft colors and soft edged furnishing would help relax you. But you don’t want it to be too Yin. Everything in balance! If you work at an ashram and meditate all day, you may want to jazz up your home a bit. Bright colors and hard edged designs may balance the overly Yin surrounding at work. In every case, think of balancing warm colors with cool colors, places that are full of stuff and places that are more spare. Create cozy warm spaces for intimate conversations, but also space to dance free. Mix bright lighting with dim light or candle light. Another way to keep things in balance is to use all five elements. Remember that you have at least three ways to represent the five elements. You don’t have to have a wood table with a lava lamp sitting on a ceramic tile with a copper bowl of water nearby. You could simply have a wood table painted red and yellow with a three black stones. The elements only need to be represented in some way even if by numbers. Use your imagination!

2/2/02
ST. BRIDGETT VS. THE GROUND HOG
According to the Celts we should light thousands of candles to let the world know that Spring is coming instead of watch some furry little creature for a sign of his shadow. St. Bridgett of Ireland is said to have started that brilliant, fiery tradition. Talk about good Feng Shui! Candles are fire and can increase your Fame. Becoming a Saint ain’t too shabby! Not only that, but candles are very Yang. This masculine energized Ch’i is a welcome change from the wet, cold Yin of winter, especially back in those drafty castle days. During these shortened wintry days, the ritual of lighting candles when you come home from work can help chase away the blues, increase romance, stimulate new ideas for bringing greater wealth, or simply brighten up a darkened corner. The only place where you do not want an overabundance of candles is in the Children/Creativity sector which is the middle right one-ninth of any space. Because the element here is metal and fire melts metal, it has the power to destroy. If you want a candle or two here, go for round white ones. Because fire creates earth, candles in the middle one-ninth are fabulous. They can be a wonderful stimulation to robust health. Go for yellows, oranges, reds, and earth tones here. Obviously the corner sectors of Wealth, Love, Helpful People, and Wisdom can benefit by lighting candles of appropriate colors, purple for Wealth, pink for Love, silver of gray for Helpful People (but not too many here) and blue for Wisdom. Remember to always light the candle with intent. Think what it is you would wish for, just like on your birthday, then light the light.

12/15/01

YOU ANIMAL, YOU!
The place for Fido is the far middle or Fame/Reputation sector of any yard, home, or room. Think about the metaphors...a pride of lions...proud as a peacock...survival of the fittest. So that’s why we feed our dog in the dining room, not because it’s where we humans eat but because it just happens to be located in the far middle one ninth of our whole house. We’ve put her food dish is in the far middle of that room so her presence is a double whammy for our Fame and Reputation. She activates this part of our lives simply by her nourishing activities there. Her fancy, cone shaped dish (the point being the proper shape here) sits on a wooden (Wood feeds Fire) pedestal. Her water dish is in the front middle sector of that room in Career. Originally we placed her water dish next to her food dish but quickly caught our mistake. Water puts out Fire, and Ginger doesn’t seem to mind crossing the room to wet her whistle. Out in the yard, Ginger is on a run activating Wealth which is somewhat missing where our home indents. Where there are missing sectors, it is important to make up for the loss in other places. Call us crazy, but we have her in a purple harness.

11/24/01
CREATIVE CYCLE BASICS
From time to time all of us need to be reminded of basic Feng Shui principles of living in harmony with nature. That means that we need to remember the Creative & Destructive cycles. Feng Shui as well as Chinese Medicine works with the five elements. They are Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood. The Creative Cycle is simply this: Fire burns and leaves or creates ash which is Earth. Earth under pressure creates Metal. That means that rocks are Metal elements. Then the Metal creates Water which condenses on its surface. And Water nourishes the trees, or Wood Element. Finally, the Wood feeds the Fire and thus a circle is created. The destructive cycle is not simply this in reverse. Now that you have a circle, the destructive cycle forms a star inside the circle if you draw a line from one to the next. Here’s how it goes. Fire melts Metal. Metal chops Wood. Woods uproots the Earth. Earth soaks up Water. Water puts out Fire. It makes sense, right? Putting two elements together that are destructive diminishes the power of one of them. The classic example is putting the refrigerator or the sink next to the stove. The close proximity of a Water features diminishes the power of the Fire box. In this case a simple fix would be to place a wood chopping block between the two. The Water would feed the Wood which would feed the Fire. Often you will see water fountains with candles in them. This is not a good thing since the water puts out the Fire; but if ALL of the elements are present in the feature, this is good. So if the fountain is made of clay with a bamboo spout for the water which splashes onto rocks, all is in harmony. Now take a look around your environment and see where there is a disharmony and where there is harmony. Chances are you feel instinctively edgy or comfortable.

9/29/01
COMPASS BASICS
While we practice mostly Form and Black Hat Schools of Feng Shui, we try never to overlook the influence of the Compass School. Although we have not found that orienting the nine square grid on the compass directions is quite as powerful as orienting it on the “mouth of ch’i”, or grand entrance, there are some simple ways to apply compass directions to your environment. Where we find the Compass School invaluable is sleeping and sitting directions as well as front door facing. Think first about the metaphor of directions. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. The South is sunny and bright, while the North is colder and darker. Imagine a hyperactive two-year old sleeping with his head pointing towards the enervating South. Holy Cow! Put on your running shoes! Better to put his head temporarily in the North to calm things down a little, then later an East facing for such a young child would be appropriate. The average teenager will do better with his/her heads facing West. But what if you want to retire and become more sedate after a busy life. Sleeping with your head in the North would be perfect. And as for the direction your front door faces, remember that this is the grand entrance of energy. That energy entering from a particular direction sets the tone for the whole house or building. Let’s say you’re looking for a location for your new business and you want a lot of quick recognition and Fame. Look for a building with a South-facing front entrance. A Southeast facing would encourage Wealth, while a Northwest facing would invite a lot of help from others. Now imagine if you will, the jockeying for seating at a business meeting where the participants revere the Compass School. No! No! I must sit there! East for my new project! There are even auspicious directions according to your birthday. But that’s a topic for another week.

8/4/01
JESS’S BIRTHDAY
Okay, so it’s my birthday. So what! Any of you feel that way? Too bad. Maybe it’s because I’m a Leo that I love a good party. Maybe it’s because there’s enough sadness and misfortune in the world not to find any good reason to celebrate. Maybe it’s because I have enough ego and self worth that I want one day out of three-hundred-and-sixty-five to be about ME, even if it’s only for an hour or two! It’s your one day to be FAMOUS!!! Oh, hey! The Fame sector. So maybe you don’t want to be famous like Julia Roberts, but maybe once in while you’d like to be singled out. Aha! Single! That’s the number of this far middle one-ninth of any space. So if you were forgotten on YOUR birthday, or people are spreading ugly rumors, look to the Fame/Fire sector. This is where you don’t want everything in pairs. That’s for the Love sector. Fame is where you want that big beautiful statue of Quan Yin, or that outrageous red and green piece of modern art that broke the bank last month. This is where the lava lamp goes. And Fame is the best place for animals. We put our dog’s food bowl here. It’s green, which supports this sector, and sits up on a little pedestal. We put her water bowl on the other side of the room so it wouldn’t put out the Fire here. Fame is where you put that faux fur recliner, the elephant collection, and perhaps you pet’s bed. Go ahead. This is the place where it’s appropriate to go a little WILD!

7/14/01
COW APPRECIATION DAY!
So what can I say on such a momentous holiday as this? Cows? Got milk? Okay, I got it. Milk goes in the refrigerator, right? So the refrigerator is a Water element. I’m on a roll here. Don’t stop me. The sink is a water element, too. Now the stove and the microwave are Fire elements. That means that the refrigerator and the sink have the potential to put out the Fire of the stove. That may not seem like a big deal, but it is! Think of the stove as a symbol of the cooker-upper of wealth in your life. Would you want to water down your financial opportunities? If not, you need to be cautious as to the positioning of the appliances in your kitchen. If the sink and/or the refrigerator is right next to a “cooker” put a barrier between the two. Anything from the Wood element will tend to soak up the Water so it won’t be so harmful to the Fire. Think green things, wood cutting boards, plants, columnar things. Then, too, the Wood things will "feed" the Fire. Of course, the best thing is to rearrange your kitchen so that Water and Fire are not conflicting.

6/23/01
SUMMER'S BLOOMIN'
Fresh cut flowers have a strong Yang energy and are best in the bedroom where potted plants are undesirable. Unlike a living plants, flowers will not “steal” oxygen at night while you're sleeping. Fragrant flowers activate ch’i more powerfully. Peonies are called the “king of flowers” and are associated with love, honor, and wealth. Geraniums and marigolds lift the spirits, while day lilies are said to be flirtatious. If you're looking for gardening books, try anything by Gill (pronounced Jill) Hale. And remember that the nine-sector bagua is laid over your yard just like your home. Orient it on the front walk to the front door. Water features and ponds are best anywhere in the front third of your yard and in the middle left sector. Try to keep the water from putting out the fire of the back middle sector. Perhaps the gas grill or chiminea should go there instead. Bird feeders, flags, mobiles, et al are wonderful activators, but remember! Your yard can get cluttered as easily as your home! Aim for beauty and balance.