Feng Shui in My Library

I moved recently... tracking away from a home on the lake with fabulous views to a home in town.  There's a lot to be said about moving into town - my husband and I'll be spending much less time maintaining out outside space since the lot size is of course, town-size.  We've been under extreme renovations since the move in August and now the main floor is complete.

My favourite room in the house is the library.  Do I spend tons of time there?  Not quite as much as I'd like.  Based on the Feng Shui bagua, my library is in the area of my house that would be about health, family and community.  So it's appropriate within that space that I have a massage chair which certainly focuses on the health of my body (and my husband's), and a number of pictures of family members who I don't see very often.     Probably one of my favourite things also about this room is the colour - it's a very dark, warm brown - accented by white shelving.   There's a healthy plant under the window, in the fame, reputation & social life part of the bagua, plus appropriate other items which highlight what I want highlighted in my life.

So far, my books are higgly piggly all over the place.  I've not yet had the time to organize them as I like, which is alphabetically by author.   No... I'm not anal... I just like finding what I like to find without wasting time.  I'm pretty careful with my books - if they've been read and I'll either read them again or would like to keep them for someone else to read, I'll keep them.  If they've been read and I'll never read them again, they go to the local library fundraiser sale.   Of course, I'm looking forward to a new e-reader from my honey (he has no secrets LOL).

Love, love, love my library.

Gaylle

The Whispering Path

Feng Shui & Steve Jobs

I came across a quote form Steve Jobs about design recently and it tickled my brain because it was a perfect way of describing how a home or business space becomes when designed with feng shui in mind.

"In most people's vocabularies, design means veneer. It's interior decorating. It's the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service."


Of course Jobs was talking about a different product than we're usually doing here, but it still fits.  By designing your space to include the fundamentals of feng shui it's more than curtain fabric and sofa choices - it's about the ultimate energy produced by those choices.

gaylle@whisperingpath.com
wendy@whisperingpath.com

The Whispering Path

Creating a Spash with Feng Shui

I've recently moved and while I'm just coming out of reno-mode (at least on the main floor of my bungalow) most of the rooms are now complete and painted.  Most of the artwork is up and I've found a home for most of the other decorative items.

Every room needs a focal point or special piece.  It might be something that anchors the room by tying in the main colours within one piece, or it may be a delightful piece of hanging art that draws the eye or a small piece that sits on a counter that defies you to miss it.

Take a look around each room in your home.  Walk in to each room with a critical eye.  What pops?  What invites your eye?  Oh my gosh... I hope SOMETHING does... and I HOPE it's not the TV!  Maybe you already have something fun or colourful that's just in the wrong place.  Try moving things around.

Have some fun with this... and enjoy the process!


gaylle@whisperingpath.com
wendy@whisperingpath.com

The Whispering Path

Top 5 Tips in Feng Shui for Wealth

Whenever possible, if wanting to attract wealth into your home, use the following tips:

1. Use the colour green - obviously, the colour usually associated with paper money
2. Use the colour gold - again, obviously the colour of gold
3. Make sure all the plants in your home are green and healthy - pick off old brown leaves, trim off any dead twigs.  If you have to, replace them or replant.  You don't want any struggling scrawny plants in your house.
4. If you're in the process of buying a new home, buy one where the inside stairs don't feed directly down to the front door - choose ones that off-set this placement.
5. Keep the toilet lids down all the time.

gaylle@whisperingpath.com

The Whispering Path

Feng Shui for Internal Peace

Sometimes I find myself reassurred and calmed by my surroundings.  As you can surmise, my home incorporates  all the elements of Feng Shui that are possible.  Probably the only think missing in my house is an internal water fountain or display, but then again, I don't worry about it too much because we live on a lake, and every window save one in the house looks out onto the lake from one direction or another.

So, I was just thinking about the new home I'll be moving into.  There is no lake.  So I'm in the midst of designing my own water feature.  The sound of water trickling brings such internal peace - it's also good for meditiation.

I'll keep you apprised of what I learn from the process and come up with.

Gaylle & Wendy
The Whispering Path

Feng Shui - Where to Buy Stuff

I think that if you've got a morsel of creativity, you can probably find the items you decide you need to bring good Feng Shui chi into your home.   If, however, you're a bit stuck, try these folks:

 

http://www.fengshui-supply.com/store/home.php?gclid=CLnnyaSkwqkCFcIUKgodXlRAJg

Gaylle & Wendy

The Whispering Path

Feng Shui Colours

This week I had a discourse on colours to use in your home.  Please listen here...

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/whisperingpathtarot/2011/06/14/feng-shui-with-the-whispering-path

Look for the next one on the schedule :)

Gaylle & Wendy
The Whispering Path

Feng Shui and Pets

If you have a pet who is hostile toward you or other people, short of hiring the Dog Whisperer, you might try a little Feng Shui magic.  Locate the family area of your home.  This area lies in the Eastern part of the house (about where 9:00 would be on a square clock face if you were standing at the front door).  Add a table top fountain to the family area, a couple of jade plants, and something black.

And of course, don't forget to give your pet plenty of love.

Gaylle & Wendy
The Whispering Path

Feng Shui and Children

If you have children, the best area in Feng Shui lies in the Western part of the house, or, if you're standing in the front door, on the right hand side of the home, in the middle opposite the family area (at 3:00 if you're thinking about a square clock face).  If your kids are hostile or angry, use anything yellow in that area - flowers with round leaves, curtains, linens, quilts, whatever feels right.  Symbols for children and creativity are also good here, as are music, bells and lights.

Once the negativity in the children's area is purged, put a white crystal or white flowers somewhere in the room.  It helps to balance emotions.

Gaylle & Wendy
The Whispering Path

Feng Shui to Increase Your Prosperity

Here's a quickie:  In Feng Shui, purple, violet and lavender are associated with wealth and prosperity.  Standing at your front door, locate the farthest left0hand corner of your home.  That's your prosperity area.  Select 12 plants with purple blooms. and place your plants in that room if it has enough light.  If it doesn't, place the plants as close as possible to that room.

Gaylle & Wendy
The Whispering Path

The Golden Dragon in Feng Shui

There aren't too many people in the West who have a Golden Dragon hanging around in their house, but the celestial Dragon is the ultimate good luck symbol. This wonderful creature features in all the Chinese divinitive sciences and is central to the practice of feng shui.

Places with excellent feng shui are said to enjoy the dragon's cosmic breath. Thus placing a dragon image in the office is ALWAYS said to bring great good fortune. The EAST is the place traditionally associated with the dragon... thus placing the dragon image on the East always represents excellent feng shui. 


If you do have a dragon image of some sort - either in 3D (and made of ceramic, crystal or wood please) or a picture, place it on the east side of your office/den.  Never put the dragon inside your bedroom.   You can also simulate the green dragon of the east in your garden by having flowering plants set in a winding flowerbed on the east side of your garden.  Another way to incorporate the dragon into your decor is to have a table or end-table with a dragon carved into the legs.  For most Western homes, this is the most acceptable way of bringing the good luck and energy into your home.


Gaylle & Wendy
The Whispering Path

Feng Shui for the Bathroom

The bathroom is the room where you dedicate yourself to cleansing your body, and water is wealth in Feng Shui.  So this room, is the third of the important triumvirate (kitchen, bedroom, bathroom) for bringing good chi and wealth into your home.

The very presence of water not only refreshes you, but cleanses your emotional state, which goes hand in hand with good chi.   Now the toilets themselves are a concern of course.  Water going down the drain, or down the toilet is synonymous with wealth going out of the house, so 1/ make sure your toilet seat is always down and 2/ make sure your bathroom door is closed.  If you're lucky enough to be remodelling, try to make the toilet as inconspicuous as possible - sometimes in high-end homes it's in a small room by itself within the bathroom - but many of us are not in this lucky circumstance.

Mirrors are always a big part of a bathroom and circulate good energy (they're somewhat like water in this way), but you definitely DON't want to enlarge bad chi which will happen if you can see your body while on the toilet.  So if you're tempted to put mirrors on the shower enclosure, think again if it means you will see your reflection while on the 'can'.

Other than keeping this room spotlessly clean and neat, rubber stoppers are a good idea to use when the bathroom is idle to stop the wealth leaving down the drains and a healthy plant within the room (always placed higher than the toilet).  Good luck with the bathrooms in your home.

Gaylle & Wendy
The Whispering Path

Feng Shui of the Bedroom - the Good

I thought I'd take this lovely picture of an elegant bedroom and describe the wonderful things about what makes it have good chi within the parameters of Feng Shui, and also what doesn't work within the properties of Feng Shui.

First of all, the entrance to the bedroom isn't directly opposite the foot of the bed, it's at the side so that when one is in bed, there's no direct flow from the head of the bed, through the foot and out the door.  There's a nightstand on each side of the bed, which sets up balance and equality for each person occupying the room.  The colours are fabulous.  First of all, outside of Feng Shui even, red and gold are THE two colours to mix together to promote lots of healthy sexual activity between the two players occupying the bedroom.  But within Feng Shui, the red is a very good colour for a good relationship and high passion.  There are no clocks in this bedroom, so this is good for the chi in the room.

The entrance to this room is through the Helpful People & Travel bagua, and the colours in that area are mirrored in the colour of the room - white, and that colour along with the white and gold travelling along the same wall (throughout the Creativity & Children bagua) also fit well.  

The mirror over the bed is not good Feng Shui - it can bring bad chi into the room, so that's an element that doesn't fit well here.  It looks great but don't do it under the principles of Feng Shui.

Overall, the chi in this room is good, and if the owners removed the mirror to another placement, it would be just perfect.

Gaylle & Wendy

The Whispering Path

Learn Gemstone Feng Shui

There are not too many folks out there that join gemstones with Feng Shui.  Here's a link you might like if you're interested in learning how that works.

Gemstone Feng Shui  

In Feng Shui semi precious crystals an gemstones can be used to attract the energies of the Baqua's 5 elements.

Sandra Kynes www.kynes.net/gemfs.htm Gemstone Feng Shui: Creating Harmony in Home & Office Sandra Kynes combines the ancient art of Feng Shui with the positive vibration of gemstones and crystals to counteract negative energy and fill your living space with positive harmonious energies.

Feng Shui and Fashion

The five elements of Feng Shui can be used when constructing your wardrobe as a whole, or even for empowering you for a particular special day.  Learn the following tips to enhance your Feng Shui fashion.

The element of fire - even if you don't know Feng Shui you can guess the colour - reds.  Wear it for passion and sexiness.  Wear it when you need to be charismatic, when you're entertaining, when you need to be flamboyant or when you want to be more spontaneous.

The element of water - think black or blue.  Wear these colours when you want to enhance your introspective, sensitive nature.  Wear them when you want to be free-spirited, artistic and creative.

The element of earth - browns and yellows.   Wear these colours to ground yourself, when you're wanting to be solid and stable.   These can be very nurturing colours as well, so use them strategically with your children.

The element of metal - white, gold or silver.  Obviously any metallic material will add an element of elegance.   Use these colours when you need to be detail-conscious and meticulous.  This element is also about being precise or focussed.

The element of wood - green is the colour here.  Include this colour in your wardrobe when you're ready to stretch yourself athletically, when you want to be energetic or competitive.   Green is the colour for when you want to be inspired and decisive.

Gaylle & Wendy
The Whispering Path

Feng Shui for the Internal Life

Lately, I've been considering my own day-to-day life in terms of what Feng Shui can bring to me internally.  Of course on the very outside, certainly what is in order around me, brings calmness and order to my internal self as well.  Right now, in sort of a very quick time, my husband and I decided to put our house up for sale and become 'townies'.  All sorts of good reasons for the move of course.  The thing is, while my home was always pretty neat and tidy, we've still had some pre-packing to do just to stage the house... obvious things like personal pictures and mementos.

I've also had to remove most of the crystals I've had throughout the home and I'd have to say it's leaving me feeling a little bare in my internal life.  The correct placement of the crystals in my home, both in accordance to the properties they themselves bring and within Feng Shui principals have always brought me what I wanted. 

So instead, now I'm using other items to maintain that good flow of chi throughout - houseplants, and other acceptable decorative accents that work well for the staging of the home for showings to prospective purchasers.  I accept internally that these items aren't on my 'druthers' list, but that they do work for us right now.

Gaylle & Wendy

The Whispering Path

Outer Space/ Inner Space with Feng Shui

The environment in which we live is just a reflection of our inner selves - hence the outer space around us tells others of the status of the inner space between our ears.  Feng Shui attempts to tame the outer manifestations of our home or office - to bring a calming peace to our environment.  So, if you walk into your home or office, and in your line of sight is a pile of boxes or paperwork that has been haunting you for weeks/months/years, is it not causing you internal grief?   When you look at it, the procrastinator within both cringes (knowing how long you've been putting off tackling this job) and puts it off again... thus causing more self-embarrassed internal shrugging.  

What DO you say to yourself?

"Well it's been there a while, so it won't hurt to stay a little longer" - nope.... YOU know already it WILL hurt to stay a little longer - perhaps you avoid inviting guests over because you know your place looks a shamble.
"I don't know what to do with it" - well, actually you DO know what to do with it.  Seriously, if it hasn't been used in a dog's age, then pitch it or donate it.  If you want to keep it put it where it will be used.
"Well I should keep it for my kids".  - if your kids are grown up with space of their own, ask them if they want the item.  If they do, give it to them.   If they don't, pitch it or donate it.

If your space is in turmoil, so is your head.  Your energy has GOT to be blocked.   Time to get at it.

If you'd like help clearing up your space, give us a shout.

Gaylle & Wendy
The Whispering Path

Take Care of the Office with Feng Shui

Here's a good link to support what our previous blog was talking about - set your office up properly with Feng Shui.

http://www.thespiritualfengshui.com/office-feng-shui.php

Gaylle & Wendy
The Whispering Path

Learn Feng Shui

Perhaps you're thinking that you'd like to learn Feng Shui.  In Canada there are a number of places to learn the craft.   I've included a link to the Canadian Schools of Feng Shui here.

Feng Shui for Your Office Design Part 1

When you think about the office you work in, how do you feel?  Do you feel comfortable in your surroundings?  Are you slightly embarrassed with the shabbiness when brand new clients come in?  Let's look at some Feng Shui for your office.

Many of haven't put much thought into the showcase that our office can be to our clients, and in some instances, when your business is simply done by phone or by internet, we think it doesn't matter.  But it does.

In the former, when you have clients coming through your door on a regular basis, the tone is set from the moment they pull up to park.   Here's a quick checklist
1.  Is the outside clean - windows sparkling, and entrance swept.
2.  How is the signage?  chipped?  broken?  taped?
3.  Do you have a spot for cigarette butts or garbage?  Is it emptied frequently?
4.  How does your front door look?   Long dead stickers from old associations with corners curling?  Faded signs that have been up for more than 6 months?  Too much information on product?

Your entrance to your place of business should be as inviting as the one to your home.   While we're not exactly looking for the warm homey look, we are looking for a professional feel.  After all, if you don't care about what you look like, prospective clients will certainly feel that you probably don't care too much about anything, and therefore will choose someone else over you.   That's something that you don't want to happen.

It takes so little to spruce up your frontage, and KEEP it looking good.  Take the time.

Gaylle & Wendy
The Whispering Path