|
Mon 10 Sep 2007
September Almanac posted
Posted by Michael Hanna under Main
Leave Your Comments
Just a quick note to let you know that the
Almanac has been uploaded on the main site, click
here to view them.
Sun 12 Aug 2007
Make a wish tonight…
Posted by Michael Hanna under Main
[5] Leave Your Comments
An impressive meteor shower (aka Shooting
Stars) will be seen over the UK this weekend, if the clouds stay
away and tonight (12-13th August 2007) will be the most striking
because it will be a new moon and we should see a meteor every
45 seconds and possibly there could be much more than that. Unfortunately
the north of the country and Scotland may not be as good, as there
are heavy clouds and rain forecast although if you are patient
you should still see an exciting performance.
Try and drive out of town as artificial street and home/business
lighting will weaken the event so a lay-by on the side of the
road is perfect, I remember going out about 3am with my two sons
a few years ago and we saw the most incredible sights, it really
is worth staying up or getting up early and if you are superstitious
you can make some wishes at the same time. The year’s largest
display of meteors, although started Friday it peaks on the morning
of 13th August, when the Earth sweeps through the dust trail left
by the Swift-Tuttle comet in 1992.
The meteors can be expected after sunset, barring clouds, with
the north-east the best place to look because the sky will be
darkest. The display should be best between 12am and 4am - although
the bright and almost full moon will outshine some falling stars
- and around 10 o’clock tonight while the moon is low. If you
have never seen a meteor shower, this is a really good opportunity
to watch one. It should be spectacular.
The nice thing about it is that it is really easy to watch and
you do not need any specialist viewing equipment other than a
pair of eyes. You just have to get out of bed and look toward
the northeast and/or east. Even if you just watch for a few minutes,
you should see quite a few meteors.The Perseids are made up of
dusty debris shed by Comet Swift-Tuttle, discovered in 1862. Each
year the Earth’s orbit causes it to plough through the meteors,
which burn up as they shoot through the upper atmosphere.
Most of the meteors are no bigger than a grain of sand, but as
they shoot through the Earth’s atmosphere at around 135,000mph
they burn up in a bright light and many leave a glowing streak
in their wake. Occasionally they ignite into a bright fireball
as larger meteors shoot through. Chinese records from 36AD contain
the earliest reports of the Perseids. You should also watch out
for Mars, which will be especially bright in the northern sky
tonight. Have fun and sorry I only have an update for the UK,
try doing a www.google.co.uk
search for your area.
Wed 8 Aug 2007
Beam me up, Scotty!
Posted by Michael Hanna under Main
[9] Leave Your Comments
As I was driving up to the west Midlands
(UK) yesterday I was trying to think of something interesting
to write for the blog, it is actually quite hard to do sometimes.
I was revisiting an old client who has just bought an old barn
in the middle of nowhere to covert into a home and business, wow,
when I arrived it was breathtaking, the views were spectacular
and the barn which is around 3000 square feet with two acres of
land has so much potential along with hundreds of ceiling and
wall beams, all in all in my eyes it was perfect and from a Feng
Shui point of view also pretty good. It is a big project for both
of us but I look forward to this type of work.
On every consultation I do I take many photos so I build an electronic
library for when I speak to clients in the future and it also
helps me when I am writing their report up, as sometimes you cannot
see the woods for the trees and looking at the photos later may
show up some points that I will address with the client in the
report. Anyway, I was taking these photos thinking how great this
place was and will be and suddenly thought of a great article
for the blog…
At least once a week I will receive an email asking about the
negative effects of beams as someone has read in some book or
a website that if they sleep, work, eat or sit under a beam their
head will fall off in the next six months, okay last bit was slightly
exaggerated but not that far off.
If I had read that 25 years ago I suppose, I would have panicked
also, but nowadays having thousands of clients who have hundreds
of beams in their home and they live very happy, healthy and wealthy
lives. If you look at the photo below that I took yesterday you
will see some great examples. Think about the people you may know
who have beams; all those large country homes with beams that
would hold up a skyscraper, they’re really are not that bad.
The books and websites need something to fill the pages and they
do tend to exaggerate problems, which in my opinion is not fair
as it worries so many people. I have had people crying over the
phone with worry that their child has been sleeping under a beam
and they may have caused them an illness or caused them to be
bullied at school or similar trauma.
Let me tell you what is good and what is not good…
If you look at photo #1 and #3 below you will see a large beam
that I have marked with a red arrow, these types of beam you should
avoid sleeping, working or even just sitting under, this will
cause you problems and it is like sleeping under a guillotine.
Photo #2 is the more common beam, these are fine to sleep under
and I have hundreds of clients who sleep under these and it causes
them no problems at all, just avoid big heavy low beams, it is
common sense really.
I have been to so many homes where they had a Feng Shui Practitioner
come along and advise the client to paint the beams the same colour
as the wall which is normally a ceiling standard white colour,
I don’t know about you but the attraction of beams to me is the
fact that they are a dark or wood colour standing out from the
ceiling, I think they look lovely and add character, if they are
in a modern home they do not have the same affect for me but we
all have different tastes.
It is far more important to sleep, work and sit in a good magnetic
compass direction which is calculated from your personal Min Gua
(life Trigram). This is one of the reasons why we produced our
Feng Shui
software so people can instantly calculate their best four
directions, colours, elements and so much more; this is real traditional
Feng Shui not the Mickey Mouse Feng Shui that is so often written
about. I will be doing an article on good and bad directions very
soon or if you are impatient have a look at our software
that calculates this and many many other valuable formulas for
good Feng Shui.
Having studied Feng Shui for 27 years I find myself constantly
looking at land formations and buildings and I was in a coffee
shop in Bicester (UK) a few weeks ago called “Pret
a manger” apparently they are a large chain, I am not sure
if this was standard décor for them but this place was decked
out in great big shiny stainless steel beams and large old style
ventilation pipes the type that would most Feng Shui books and
websites would be spitting blood over, this place was heaving
though and the quality of food and coffee was pretty good too,
but if they had read the Feng Shui books about this type of décor
they would have had condemned this business and according to my
son Daniel they are extremely successful.
Try and think of all the homes you know with beams, they normally
belong to manor style homes with fairly wealthy owners, how many
old English successful pubs with beams? How many successful businesses
do you know with beams all over the place? If you really think
about it they cannot be that bad, just think carefully where you
would place your bed, chair or desk, do not let it sit right under
a large heavy beam and if you are not sure hang a pair of bamboo
flutes or crystal spheres to dissipate some of the negative energy,
it will not be the perfect cure but it will help.
If you are the author of a book or website and you have written
about beams in a negative way please do not write to me condemning
me with a “who do you think you are” type attitude, I have heard
it all before and will not reply unless you can convince me of
a case where you can prove it has caused a problem, believe me
I have been proved wrong before, I only write what I think is
true based on results I have personally experienced and can account
for.
The reason for this article is so you do not get too hung up on
small things as the power of the mind is exceptionally powerful
and if you have something in your mind that is negative you can
make small things grow into very large monsters.
I am off to work in France tomorrow (8th August 2007) and need
to pack my suitcase now (and also make a list of a few wines I
want to buy, ohh and some olives, ohh and some cheese, ohh and
some…) so bonsoir et vous parlent en quelques jours (good evening
and speak to you in a few days).
Sun 5 Aug 2007
This week…
Posted by Michael Hanna under Main
[4] Leave Your Comments
I had a call this week from an old client/friend
who said how trilled he was to hear I had a Blog, that is until
he looked at it and said how disappointed he was. He said he was
expecting more of a journal/diary type blog with daily entries,
hmmm. Not sure I can do daily but I will see how things go. Jo
(my wife) liked the idea as she said she could look at the blog
to find out where I am, now should I be reading anything into
this comment?
Last week I was in north Wales (revisiting old clients in same
home from 2003), London and Wolverhampton (old clients from 2001,
now in a new home).
This coming week I am in Newcastle, Wolverhampton and Le Touquet
(France). I am just so glad the weather has improved, it makes
so much difference and a real bonus when I sat on the beach Monday
evening soaking in some sun and then going for a swim and a sauna
in the hotel spa afterwards, have a look at the photo below to
see if you recognise where in the world I was Monday? Answers
on a postcard please or leave a message at the bottom of the page.
Have a lovely week.
The sunset photo below I took Monday evening (30th August) and
had to cheekily pull into someone’s driveway to take it, if it
was your driveway, please accept my apologies but I could not
let the Kodak moment pass.
Fri 3 Aug 2007
August updates for
Flying star and Chinese animals
Posted by Michael Hanna under Main
[4] Leave Your Comments
Just a quick note to let you know that the
monthly updates, almanac, twelve animal and Xuan Kong flying stars
have been uploaded on the main site,
click here to view them.
Sat 21 Jul 2007
Feng Shui and Doors…
Posted by Michael Hanna under Main
[20] Leave Your Comments
Leave your comments by clicking on this
link… Forget about placing three legged Toads, Buddha’s and making
your home or office look like a Chinese restaurant (unless of
course you are a Chinese restaurant) and concentrate on the Feng
Shui essentials that are so often overlooked. The main entrance
door is probably one of the most important areas of a home or
office, it is where the qi (ch’i) enters the building and the
quality of the qi is dependant on the quality of the door area,
hall and driveway.
Qi (energy) enters the building through doors and windows. However,
the front door of your house is where the major part of Qi enters
and therefore this door plays an important role in determining
the quality of Feng Shui experienced by the household or office.
Its location within the house is extremely important.
Most homes have two main doors. One that was built originally
by the architect (front door) and the other, which could be a
kitchen, garage or side door, that is sometimes preferred by the
occupants due, for example, to the convenience of its location.
How far do we take all this information? I teach Feng Shui to
hundreds of Feng Shui Practitioners and students from all over
the world and sometimes I do not always practice what I preach
but believe me when it comes to doorways, halls, driveways etc
our home and business is kept spotless, we replace doormats as
soon as they start to wear, Doors, frame, paintwork and the area
around door outside is cleaned weekly, brass door furniture polished
when needed, hinges oiled when needed, glass cleaned every few
weeks. Think of your door no different to your mouth, it is where
the food (qi) enters the building and the cleaner the mouth (door)
area the better the quality of nutrition entering the building.
The problem with Feng Shui nowadays is it has been romanticized
with thousands of books and websites depicting it as a quick fix
to all your problems with placing a Buddha statue, Mandarin Ducks
or a three legged Toad here and there and low and behold your
dream date knocks on the door with a case full of money along
with a miracle cure for rejuvenation. Sorry to disappoint you
but if you placed your three legged Toad on top of all the dust
in your hallway by the main door and you have not cleaned this
area in a few months do not expect anything great to happen, the
energy of these symbolic cures and enhancers work with the environment
they are placed, so a nice clean area will synchronize better.
Must try and make some money out of this website instead of putting
people off buying things.
It really is no different to your body, if you smoke 60 cigarettes
a day, drink 2-3 bottles of wine a day, eat junk food daily, do
not think by taking a vitamin C tablet daily that it will counteract
all the damage these products will be doing to your body. Please
do not think I am standing on a pedestal and making out I am whiter
than white, I love good wine and because of my travels I sometimes
eat junk food but it is all done in balance and moderation. Do
not take Feng Shui to the extreme just get a good balance in the
home or office and spend some time looking through this website
and blog, there is some good advice here and you do not have to
spend hundreds of pounds, it’s all free.
Some golden rules when it comes to main entrance doors:
1) Decide on which door to use and use this one door only. Having
two main entry doors can often cause unnecessary bickering and
arguing amongst occupants, that it is why it is important to just
use one door to enter and leave, it is okay to use the other door
if it leads to the garden and you want to access it or throw your
rubbish away. If you live in a home that has two or more doors
but you can only enter through the main front one as it could
be terraced or semi-detached, it is fine to use all the doors
as the main entering and leaving will only be through one door.
2) Make sure the size of the door is in proportion to the size
of the property. If the front door is too big, opportunities will
slip you by and if it is too small, it can cause disharmony within
the household. If you feel your door is too big or small hang
a faceted crystal sphere on the inside of the door. In traditional
Feng Shui there are auspicious measurements for doors and one
of the reasons why we introduced auspicious dimensions in our
Feng Shui software; this automatically tells you exactly what
sizes are good and bad. These auspicious measurements are used
for doors, windows, desks, beds, furniture and every item you
can think of and taken very seriously is China and other eastern
countries.
3) Strictly speaking a solid front door is always preferable to
a glass-paneled one. If you have a glass door do not worry just
hang muslin, voile or a similar cloth over the glass. Personally
I prefer a glazed door as I prefer natural light so please do
not concern yourself if you have a glazed door although you should
really avoid glazed paneled doors like below as they represent
a cutting energy.
The photo below was taken by me a couple of weeks ago in London
and gives a superb example of how you should NOT keep your doorway,
notice the shape of the caged type door and the wheelie bin beside
the door and also right below a window and before you email me
saying they probably did not have an option with the bin, they
had many options and chose the easy route. The home actually tells
even more stories which I will be publishing very soon.
4) Ideally a front door must be bigger than the back door encouraging
Qi to enter through this aspect. If you have a larger rear door
hang a crystal faceted sphere here. 5) I visit a lot of City properties
all over the world and many of the homes I see store their waste
bins right beside the main door (see picture above) most because
they no choice, if you do have a choice please try and store it
as far away from your door as possible. If you think of it logically,
it is obvious if you leave such a smelly and dirty bin beside
your door the smell alone is not good so you can imagine what
the quality of the energy is like. If you do not have a choice
make the sure the bin is cleaned and disinfected every week. A
Chinese belief is if you have your wealth area where you have
a bin it will bring in stinky money (a Chinese saying for money
that has been obtained illegally or immorally) and if you have
your relationship area where you have your bin it will bring…
you get the picture?
6) A front door needs to open inwards to allow beneficial Qi to
enter. There is no cure for this one it must open inwards.
7) It is important that the front door opens easily without obstacles
or difficulties. Broken door furniture must be replaced. Hinges
should be oiled regularly. The front door must be well maintained
and clean. Brass (metal) door furniture should be gleaming and
paintwork or varnish should be in good condition.
8) Make certain that the name or number of your house is clearly
visible by day and night in order to maintain harmonious relationships
with callers.
9) The most vital thing to do is to make very certain that this
door is not being hit by anything sharp or angled. This is what
is considered ‘exterior poison arrows’. These structures can transform
quality energy into a bad one and you would not want this transformation
at your front door. If you feel you have poison arrows directed
at your home place a Ba
Gua mirror above the door.
10) Make sure the front door bell is easily located and works
at all times. It should also have a nice ringing tone to it. I
have stood waiting outside many front doors and had to use my
mobile phone to call in as the doorbell was not working.
11) Numbers and Feng Shui. Every month we get to visit many homes
and businesses on consultations and it amazes us as how far our
clients take Feng Shui almost to paranoia, which is not good.
The Chinese are very superstitious when it comes to numbers; they
choose telephone numbers, house number, business numbers, car
number plates and anything that has numbers in very carefully.
If you have inauspicious door numbers like #4 do not worry about
it, as I will show you how to eliminate the inauspicious effects.
Click on the banner below for more details.
Every month we get to visit many homes and businesses on consultations
and it amazes us as how far our clients take Feng Shui almost
to paranoia, which is not good. The Chinese are very superstitious
when it comes to numbers; they choose telephone numbers, house
number, business numbers, car number plates and anything that
has numbers in very carefully. If you have inauspicious door numbers
like #4 do not worry about it, as I will show you how to eliminate
the inauspicious effects. Click on the banner below for more details.
Every month we get to visit many homes and businesses on consultations
and it amazes us as how far our clients take Feng Shui almost
to paranoia, which is not good. The Chinese are very superstitious
when it comes to numbers; they choose telephone numbers, house
number, business numbers, car number plates and anything that
has numbers in very carefully. If you have inauspicious door numbers
like #4 do not worry about it, as I will show you how to eliminate
the inauspicious effects. Click on the banner below for more details.
Every month we get to visit many homes and businesses on consultations
and it amazes us as how far our clients take Feng Shui almost
to paranoia, which is not good. The Chinese are very superstitious
when it comes to numbers; they choose telephone numbers, house
number, business numbers, car number plates and anything that
has numbers in very carefully. If you have inauspicious door numbers
like #4 do not worry about it, as I will show you how to eliminate
the inauspicious effects. Click on the banner below for more details.
12) The colours of the door should reflect the compass direction
it faces according to the Five Elements and/or be in balance with
the elemental properties of the energies of the sector where the
door is located. I have listed associated colours below for doors
facing towards the:
Ø South (Fire) = Reds, pink, burgundy.
Ø Southwest (Earth) = Yellows, beige or browns.
Ø West (Metal) = White, silver, copper or gold.
Ø Northwest (Metal) = White, silver, copper or gold.
Ø North (Water) = Blacks, grey or blues.
Ø Northeast (Earth) = Yellows, beige or browns.
Ø East (Wood) = Greens.
Ø Southeast (Wood) = Greens.
Note: If you have had an authentic Feng
Shui consultation, the recommended colours given to you may
well be different from above, as your Feng Shui Practitioner will
know which elements are needed to weaken or enhance this area
and if done correctly it will be done from a flying star (Xuan
Kong) analysis. Our Feng
Shui software also recommends the perfect colours for all
areas of the home but you will find it may be different to what
I have listed above as it goes into the analysis of the elements
so much deeper and this means you get better results.
13) Do not keep shoes near your front door; they constitute clutter
and create stagnant energy and not forgetting they are extremely
dirty. If you have to keep them by the door place them in a shoe
box so the negative energy is contained.
Leave your comments by clicking on this link…
Wed 18 Jul 2007
It will be
Posted by Michael Hanna under Main
1 Comment
interesting to hear the teenagers of today
tell their children what they had to do without when they were
young.
Mon 16 Jul 2007
Quote of the week.
Posted by Michael Hanna under Main
Leave Your Comments
Nourish the mind like you would your body.
The mind cannot survive on junk food.
Thu 12 Jul 2007
Chinese culture, etiquette
& protocol, a must read…
Posted by Michael Hanna under Main
[5] Leave Your Comments
A superb artical on everything you need
to know about Chinese culture, etiquette, protocol, visiting,
doing business and communicating in or with China. I was born
in Hong Kong and I know that there are many protocols, values
and traditions that the Chinese hold close and since I still travel
a lot in Asia on Feng Shui consultations and teaching. Follow
this link for More details…
Sat 7 Jul 2007
“If it ain’t broken
don’t try and fix it”
Posted by Michael Hanna under Main
[3] Leave Your Comments
Dear Michael
I recently had a feng shui practitioner visit my home and after
three hours of her being there I felt like I was living in the
worst house in the world. She told me because the front door was
lined up with the rear door it meant we would always have money
problems. Our car parking area at the front of our home was blocking
any energy coming in. The drains outside the front ran from left
to right or whatever she said meant that my husband would be unfaithful
and arguments and disputes within the family were inevitable,
the list went on.
We have lived in this home for almost three years, my husband
is wonderful as are our two children, I did not get this women
round to fix problems although maybe enhancing a little would
have been nice, I suppose I really wanted reassurance that all
was well.
She was here three hours, did not take any compass readings, all
of her report was done of the top of her head whilst walking round
with me and my husband. At first I thought seriously about selling
our happy home until I found your website and this reassured me
that maybe she was just a quack and knew very little, could you
please just take a little time to write me to assure my thoughts
or maybe (eek) tell me I should move, although I do not believe
we are living in the house from hell this person has unnerved
me somewhat.
Regards
Stephanie
Harrow
Dear Stephanie,
Dear Stephanie,Firstly let me assure you do not have to move at
all, my view has always been “if it is not broken do not try and
fix it”. It sounds like you have a happy home and a test of good
Feng Shui is if you, your partner and children are happy the Feng
Shui is good.
If she did not use a compass
she cannot practice traditional authentic Feng Shui and was no
doubt using the black hat method, her first point on the front
door looking onto the rear door is often written about in a negative
way, this in my opinion is utter nonsense as long as one of the
doors is kept closed it will not cause you problems. Her other
statement with regards to the outside drains is gobbledygook as
a drain that is covered is not really a water element and will
not cause you problems, there are times that drains are taken
into consideration but this is very advanced and you have to use
specialist compasses to advice.
To give you an idea I normally spend a whole day on a Feng
Shui consultation, the first hour or two is spent taking floor
measurements, compass readings, examining land formations and
then preparing the analysis, this sometimes can even be up to
4-5 hours as every home or office is different, there is no standard
Feng Shui. I use over £4000 (four thousand pounds) worth of compasses
and I also use different compasses for different parts of the
world as there are five different magnetic zones throughout the
world and they all need a calibrated compass.
Parking your car outside your home in traditional Feng Shui Xuan
Kong can actuallybe very good if you need mountain support and
if you have a #8 or other good mountain support outside the front
of your home your car is probably the reason your family is so
happy, so what is good for you is not always good for everyone
else, to make general statements like this without logic is irresponsible.
Think about it, most of the consultations we do are in London,
Barcelona, Singapore, Paris, Munich, KL or other large cities
or towns throughout the world and off road parking is extremely
common, we have hundreds of clients who lead very successful lives
in relations, finance, good health and have lovely children and
many will have off road parking right outside their home, front
and rear doors in a straight line, drains leading all over place.
I recently consulted on a home with five people living in it and
70% of the home according to the books and websites out there
said this is a nightmare in Feng Shui terms; they had pylons close
to the home (not always good but in this case worked well for
this home as a fire mountain support), busy road outside, front
and rear doors in a row, beams all over the place. It turned out
after a few hours in the home that it enjoyed an enviable compass
direction called a “combination of ten” and the outside land formations
were perfect. With a combination like this you can pretty much
do what you like inside the home and enjoy superb Feng Shui for
many years.
Take a look at how many people you know with homes that are normally
considered a Feng Shui disaster and see how good their lives are,
I am sure you will find a few, you cannot tell a book by its cover
and the same goes with Feng Shui, what is bad for one home may
be good for another.
Stephanie please please do not concern yourself, put this down
to one of life’s little costly lessons and do not even bother
getting another consultation as you clearly have a good life as
it is. I travel all over the world to consult and it is very rare
that we come across a home where we would recommend moving and
would never dream of presenting it in such a negative way, as
the power of the mind is incredible and once you are told something
is very bad it will become that, very soon.
There are some good books out there and a few good websites but
take most of what you read and see with a pinch of salt. Do not
also be put off with other Feng Shui Practitioners, we know there
are good ones out there, we teach many of them from all over the
world at our Feng Sui Academy in Buckinghamshire, just do some
research before employing them.
Kind regards.
Michael
« Previous Page — Next
Page »
|