MAKING WAVES WITH FENG SHUI

Flowers And Phones

 by Dennis Fairchild

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Now that spring is in full bloom, let’s hear it for Feng Shui (pronounced “fung schway”), which has been around 3,000 plus years advising how to create the best living and working environments for your fullest potential. Feng Shui is a melange 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 loads of fun!

Let’s peek through the post and pursue some recent letters.

Dear Dennis,
I’ve been following your phenomeNEWS Feng Shui column for years and always learn something new with every installment. A few years ago, you wrote about the “ungood” vibes (your words) a big tree generates to property dwellers when it’s situated exactly in front of the main door of the house, like the dying, lightning-struck one that my new home had a couple of years ago that came with the property.

At first, I liked the privacy factor, but in the first couple of months of moving in, I got terribly ill, lost my job and was very unhappy. So after a long time of “ungood” suffering, I had it pulled out and ground to dust and had stump removed. Now, five months later, my misfortune is replaced with everything positive and lucky. I breathe better and sleep sounder. Plus, my house feels less stressful too.

Now that everything seems to be going much smoother for me, should I be fearful of the telephone pole on my property in the northwest? It’s far from my front and back doors and I never paid it any attention to it until I started experimenting with Feng Shui. I doubt that the phone company would move it because my Feng Shui guy told me to, but am curious if where it’s located is good or bad.
John T; Northville MI; internet

Dear John:
Old trees are considered sacred and holy and, provided that they’re healthy, should only be cut down if diseased – otherwise, add a bird feeder or outdoor decor to the big guys. In a way, trees were humankind’s first temples. Think of their shapes and how their branches reach to the heavens. How the roots spread out beneath the ground like huge spindles, connecting the energies between the earth and sky.

Healthy trees act as a home and its dweller’s protectors. Dying trees portend ill-health to residents, particularly the elderly.

Today, in many parts of America, a birch, fir or pine tree shelters newly built houses as a talisman for a happy marriage. Trees such as elm and olive around a home are said to protect places from lightning. The evergreen yew has a lush reputation for immortality and protection, too.

And, yes, it’s unlikely that the phone company will relocate your pole, but give it a try! I always decorate around the base of my pole with colorful annuals and consider the pole as a healthy tree.

On a land plot, north areas are associated with the Feng Shui element water and loves odd-shaped flora and fauna, bird feeders, fountains; its colors are blue and black. South is what’s called the fire element/phoenix and should always be well-lit; spikey and scarlet plants with abundant green leaves are best. The west enjoys round-shaped leaves, metal chimes or bells. In the east, ornamental trees – especially bamboo – are favored, as well as flowers with huge bud displays, like hydrangeas.

The southwest plots of land enjoy pebbles and rocks and stones rather than plants. Ditto for the northeast. The northwest is also a good place to hang your metal windchime or display a metal sculpture or long, long-leafed greenies. The southeast is called small wood and prefers tiny little blossoming plants like tea-roses, dandelions, lillies-of-the-valley.

In closing, where in your house is your phone situated? Telephones represent communication, of course. When located in the north of your major floorplan, it suggests help for career; in the south, luck from peers; the east, tips for health; west, involvement with kin and family; northeast, kid and credential attraction; northwest, help from those in other cities and luck with travel; southeast, for extra bucks; southwest for better personal talk with lovers.

To “energize” your phone, contemporary Feng Shui-lore suggests taping three gold dollar coins or Chinese I-Ching coins to the underside of the phone to bring prosperity and personal joy to residents. (Same goes for a fax machine with a phone attached.) But do remember to save a few coins for the phone bill when it arrives.

You don’t have to be Ma Bell, a master gardener or Ma Nature-buff to enjoy Feng Shui-flora and fauna. Grow with the flow.

Dennis Fairchild is the Royal Oak author of many books on divination. Call 248- 546-6912 for info about individual intuitive tarot, astrological or Feng Shui consults.