MAKING WAVES WITH FENG SHUI
Holiday Q & a
by Dennis Fairchild
 

In Feng Shui, a good life is preferred over good luck.

Chinese proverb

As we slide into 2006, let’s hear it for Feng Shui (pronounced “fung schway”), which has been around 3,000 plus years globally-advising how to create healthy living and working environments. Feng Shui is a mélange of Buddhism, Taoism and rural magic with roots in ancient agrarian China where farmers worshiped harmony with nature. It has endured because it works – combining common sense, tradition, superstition and the power of self-fulfillment. Plus, it’s a gas and loads of fun!

Let’s peek now through the internet-post and pursue some recent queries.

Dear Dennis,

Christmas is also my wedding anniversary and I hope your Feng Shui tips can help make my marriage merrier.

I’ve been married for what seems like forever and, recently, things have been slow in our love life. I bought a Feng Shui tabletop water fountain because I thought watery objects make one more focused and sensitive. I put it in my bedroom’s southwest love sector.

Help! Since putting it in our bedroom, my hubby has began sleeping on the living room couch.

Jenny and Lenny, Toledo; internet

Dear Jen and Len,

Yep, having water objects in a room are said to make one more focused and sensitive and as 60 percent of our body is made up of water, Feng Shui assigns this element to the kidneys and bladder. But in the bedroom, I wouldn’t be surprised if the wet drip-drip sound also drives you into the bathroom more frequently too. Right?

However, fountains, aquariums and other water features are not Feng Shui-effective in bedrooms – the space assigned for repose, relaxation. Best to transplant it to a southwestern spot in either the family/great room, library or den. Replace it with something either hanging on the wall nearby or within eyesight that features “two” of something: two love birds, two mandarin ducks, two geese, two bucks. Well, you get the idea.

The water element is also assigned to money, love and health. And any other human essential requiring attentive, loving nurturing. To view a good selection of fountains and other classical Feng Shui stuff, dive into www.fengshuiessentials.com and www.fengshuiemporium.com.

Dear Dennis,

Recently, I relocated from New Mexico to the midwest and brought with me many cacti for my new apartment. Is bringing plants from an old home into a new one good or bad Feng Shui? I placed them in my southeast window.

Gloria, Royal Oak, MI; internet

Dear Glorious Glo,

Feng Shui gives two green thumbs up to healthy, broad-leaved plants, particularly flowering varieties – especially when placed in southeast sectors which are associated with prosperity, wealth. Spiky, dried or sickly-looking flora signify death and should be mulched, not displayed. To achieve economic and romantic happiness, avoid featuring cacti or plants with thorns indoors. The common jade plant is heralded as a Feng Shui “money magnet,” particularly when on stage in southeast areas of the living room, den or home office.

According to tradition, round-leaved plants resembling a pocketbook or coin (especially flowering types) are better than pointy ones. Affluent Asian homes display an ornamental “tree” made from real jade to stimulate wealth, although ones with blossoms of green glass is said to be fine too. Miniature orange trees are Feng Shui faves – whether real or artificial silk – as oranges symbolize gold coins and, therefore, abundant bank accounts.

Curly-leafed ferns are considered to bring good luck when hung in southern areas of a home. An odd number of 9, 11 or 17 daffodils is said to improve domestic communications when displayed in the northeast of kitchens. A dozen red roses is said to generate pettiness amongst homeowners. Too many of these scarlet beauties attract thorny disagreement. However, yellow roses act as magnets to attract intellectual discussions and objectivity.

Enjoy your first Michigan winter. Once they begin, they hang for a long while!

Dear Dennis,

My friends call me Prudish Paula because I rock no boats and am very conventional, especially concerning decor. I am intrigued by Feng Shui, but put off with the idea (from the books I’ve read) about hanging crystals or wind chimes and upside-down flutes to attract happiness. Any “white bread” Martha Stewarty-Feng Shui suggestions? Like many of your readers, I’m seeking extra profits.

Paula, Downriver; internet

Dear P-pal,

Indeed, not everyone wants their home interior looking like the local chop suey palace – nor does Feng Shui advocate strictly ancient Asian motifs as “remedies” or “enhancers.” Not all churches or places of worship look alike, but similar mystical decor elements prevail. Ditto with Feng Shui. (By the way, ever noticed how many Feng Shui and Asian symbols look like Pennsylvania hex signs?)

Classical Feng Shui symbols for attracting the almighty buck include displaying fresh pineapple, pomegranate or tangerines (colors resembling rubies and gold coins) on the dining room table (hopefully, one round, oval or octagonal). Paintings featuring peach blossoms or deer, as well as wooden statues of one or three deer – especially when placed in a room’s southeast – is said to make dollars grow. Ditto for paintings of a pine tree-filled landscape featuring a flock of cranes, either flying or elegantly standing on one leg. Displaying odd numbers of glass eggs in a crystal bowl is Feng Shui cheap but chic for creating cash flow too. And, rather than hang a small crystal from the ceiling from a red ribbon, why not scout local flea markets for a used-chandelier?

Whatever Feng Shui fixers you use, always appreciate and acknowledge them daily: “Hello, lovely peaches. I welcome your prosperity-bringing energy.” “Good morning, pine trees. May my income be ever green.”

Read all of Feng Shui-savvy Louise Hay’s fabulous affirmation books – every one – for upbeat, honest energy about how to honor you as well as your stuff. Haunt local art galleries and art fairs for contemporary versions of centuries old Feng Shui realism.

We shape our dwellings and afterwards, our dwellings shape us.

Sir Winston Churchill

Dennis Fairchild is one of phenomeNEWS’ longest-running columnists and one of Michigan’s best-selling authors on divination. For information about personal Feng Shui or astrological consults, phone (248) 546-6912. To submit a question for consideration in a future mailbag installment, e-mail DenFairchild@aol.com.