Inga continues to tweak the energy of our house using Chinese Feng Shui principles. If you’ve come over to the house this past year, you’ve no doubt seen the new fountain in the rose garden. It straddles the Knowledge/Self Cultivation and Career sections of the house. If you’ve been reading our newsletters for the past 6 months you’ll agree that a lot has happened in those areas of our life! If you are not up on this ancient practice, I can provide some background.

The term Feng Shui, pronounced fung shway, means Wind and Water and actually predates Confucianism and Taoism. As such, it has been practiced in China for over 3,000 years. It is referred to as an Art of Placement and its practitioners are known for being highly intuitive. They actually “join” with the Earth so they can be guided by the Elements in how to place and construct a building that is aligned with and protects the Ch’i, or energy flow.

According to Terah Kathyrn Collins, author of “The Western Guide to Feng Shui”, there are three basic principles that define Ch’i, the vital energy that animates, connects and moves everything through the cycles of life:

• Everything is alive: Ch’i, the living energy, flows through every object in the physical world: Earth, her inhabitants, our homes, our belongings and us.
• Everything is connected: Everything in the physical world is linked in a web of Ch’i. Therefore everything we do has an effect on our environment and conversely, our environment affects us.
• Everything is changing: As Ch’i flows, seasons change as do our emotions, our states of mind and our environment. Harmony comes from working with that energy flow.

Collins states that the real challenge for those of us in the West is to correct the imbalances caused by people constructing homes and buildings with little attention paid to Ch’i whatsoever. When she states the necessity to blend our energies with those of the five elements of water, fire, earth, wood and metal in order to balance the extremes of yin and yang, that sounds like a big challenge. But from my experience in this household, we can start the healing process by building a relationship with the Elementals that is focused on co-creating the environment we live in.

Inga’s latest Feng Shui effort has been in the Wealth and Prosperity Section of our home; a fishtank with live plants and one fish. His name is Larry and he’s a Dojo Loach. He’s one of those bottom feeder kinda fish with whiskers. We brought him home to get the tank started and to keep it clean. Little did we realize how much Ch’i and joy he would bring to our home. Larry is down right personable and quite the little clown.

Now with our other live-in Ch’i generators, the cats, you never know which one of them will take a fancy to what. In turns out that our youngest, Malcolm, has discovered the joys of fish watching which he indulges in about eight to ten hours a day. The other cats could care less. We’ve put them up by the tank while Larry was busy doing loops and barrel rolls and they’ve acted like he was invisible. But not Malcolm; he finds this infinitely fascinating. At first we were concerned that Malcolm’s intense staring at Larry would make the little fish nervous but then we observed what appeared to be Larry going out of his way to tease Malcolm.

We’re wondering what Malcolm will do when more fish move in once the tank chemistry is balanced. With that much excitement, he might blow a gasket! But for now, Malcolm and Larry are best friends and our bedroom has turned into a center of Ch’i activity. I can’t help but wonder how this infusion of playful energy will manifest itself in the Wealth and Prosperity area of our life. Of course, this isn’t about doing something and hoping it pays off. It’s all about exploring another way of achieving what we are all here to do:

• To create a world that harmoniously integrates the physical, astral and etheric realms.
• To create a world that is the manifestation of our loving, respectful co-creation with ALL the inhabitants of those 3 realms. To create a world where logic and magic, yin and yang are balanced and the needs of all are generously met.

I love how regardless of what you may call this, Feng Shui, Shamanism, Wicca, respect for God’s creation, etc., it’s all based on Divine Love, partnership, creativity, imagination, intuition and wisdom – certainly our best qualities.

If you’d like to learn more about this amazing Chinese practice, please give Inga a call. She also recommends two books by this author:

The Western Guide to Feng Shui: Creating Balance, Harmony and Prosperity in Your Environment by Terah Kathyrn Collins. The first of her books, it delves into the theory and history of Feng Shui and contains many illustrative case studies.

The Western Guide to Feng Shui : Room by Room by Terah Kathyrn Collins. In this book, the author guides you room by room through your living space and provides guidance on how to improve and balance the flow of Ch’i. Click here to read Inga’s review from our Cancer 2000 newsletter.

In the new year, may your home be a joyous expression of Earth energy, filled with Light, Love and friendship! */:-)