Feng Shui Newsletter June 2013
Over the years I have read hundreds of books on Feng Shui, some good, some bad; the biggest problem is conflicting advice. One book will tell you that you should never place water in the south and another book will give you complete opposite advice and say you should, who do you believe?
I have 4 books sat on my desk at the moment; they were recently sent to me to review from a client. I was going to name the authors but I don’t fancy any legal battles. The first one has a Ba Gua on the front cover and has the trigrams the wrong way round; the second shows the Ying-Yang symbol again the wrong way round. Be very wary when buying books as they are made to look very colourful with stunning pictures inside but please remember that this does not mean it is a good book. Out of the four books only one has a synopsis on the author, try and do some research on the author first, the Internet is a goldmine for finding out information. Cutting my long story very short, I decided to combine some little known facts and some useful advice in this section:
The Ba Gua mirror also known as the Pa Kua, should always be hung with the
three unbroken lines at the top. The ones we sell on our site have a hook in that place so you cannot go wrong, however check yours if you have one, because I recently saw one in a shop with the hook in the wrong place. They should also never be placed inside your home or office as they deflect good luck when inside a building.
You should always replace them if they are weathered or especially if the mirror breaks. Remember if you live in an area that you do not want it to be visible or you can’t be bothered explaining to your neighbours what it is, you can always place them behind an object to hide it. It will lose part of its effect but will still be effective. Size doesn’t matter, big or small they all have the same effect.
Three legged Toads are a very powerful protector and enhancer of wealth. We receive so many e-mails asking which way to place a Three Legged Toad. Some will no doubt disagree with me on this as I’m sure there will be someone stating that he must sit on top of your head with a pint of Guinness by his side; that is quite an exaggeration but not that far off of some of the websites that I’ve seen in the past. The Three legged toad god must sit looking into your home/office (bum facing the door) standing on a table diagonal to the front door with the coin in his mouth at all times with the yang four Chinese symbols facing upwards.I know most have been told that they should take the coin out at night as he gets tired, face him in during the day and back at night, sorry, but this is all wrong. In China when you buy a Toad the coin will be fixed, either glued or with a bit of blue tac. You can have any amount of Toads in your home or office and they really can be placed anywhere in your home or office as long as it is not the bedroom or toilet. An ideal number to have is nine. We have introduced a new range of Toads on our site which you can read about more here: View our range of Three Legged Toads
North and South – which way is which in Feng Shui?
This question is another favourite of mine and is a really simple answer. The Chinese use south as north and this causes much confusion, it shouldn’t, magnetic north is the same all over the world, and so whether you are told to place a fountain in the south in China or the UK, providing you are using a magnetic compass the direction will be correct. Simple isn’t it.Any Feng Shui Master will tell you that a good compass is necessary when using Feng Shui in your home or office; you could end up causing problems by placing cures in the wrong area of your home or office. A good quality compass is essential when using Feng Shui. Please if you haven’t already got a decent compass, get one, if not from us go to a decent camping shop and ask for advice on what to buy. For more information on our compass range, click here
How do I find the centre of my home?
If you live in a lighthouse, this is an extremely easy job for you although if you live in an L shaped or other odd shaped home, you just treat the missing parts as if they were there. If you have a missing area of a home, you would include the missing part of the L shape.
Finding the centre of a property is very important when using Feng Shui as you will need to take directions from this point with a good quality compass. The missing parts of your home i.e. the missing part of the L need to be supported by placing a statue/pot plant or something heavy at the corner of the missing area. If you have our Academy of Feng Shui software, you can simply place your floor plan in the software and calculate your directions of your home or office at the click of a button. If you do not have a copy of the software, you can draw a floor plan as much to scale as possible and then measure from corner to corner which will give the centre of your home/office.
And now for something completely different and not entirely Feng Shui related…
This is probably one of the best tips I can ever give you. Every summer I am plagued with ants in my kitchen, well as I have said before I do not like using drugs or chemicals around the home where possible and I always try and use some sort of alternative way and soppy as it may sound, I don’t like the thought of pouring boiling water in their nest.
A few weeks ago I was looking through my essential oil Bible “the Fragrant Pharmacy” by Valerie Worwood and I happened to see a section on insects, and ants came up at the top of the category; Valeries book recommended using pure peppermint oil around the nest by using a few drops on a tissue and wiped around doorways etc. You could not see me for the dust, I ran upstairs, and yes I really did runl; I wiped the whole kitchen and the ants have been gone and have been for the last few years now and the kitchen smells wonderful as well! You need to apply every couple of days but it is worth it to have an ant free home.
I read an article in the Sunday Times a few weekends ago, saying how they thought essential oils were poppycock, what a load of rubbish; I have used them for 20 odd years and have had amazing results. I have treated impetigo to dandruff for our family. Always seek medical advice.We have recently relased our own range of Feng Shui Essential Oils which can be found by clicking this link
The point of this article is to not always believe what you read; for all I know, there will be someone using this post as a reference saying how absurd the use of peppermint oil is next week. Searching on Google for problems related to Feng Shui is very similar to going on Google and searching symptoms of a cold; there will be hundreds of websites stating that this can be life threatening and could cause problems unless you buy their medicines and this can be similar to Feng Shui websites scaring you in to buying their products. This is probably my most famous saying but one I find is so relevant and true, your home does not need to look like a Chinese Restaurant to benefit from good Feng Shui, there is always traditional and practical Cures for every situation; take a look at our Feng Shui Archive for more information and free advice.
