What will my year be like? What is my fortune for 2015? Will I find love, wealth and a better job in 2015?
2015 is the Year of the Wooden Sheep or Goat in the Chinese Zodiac, or Lunar Calendar. The sheep is seen as a symbol of peace, balance, harmony and calmness. 2015 is also an “8” year in Feng Shui, which means there’s a lot of wealth to be made this year for most in both their personal and professional lives.
The Chinese New Year doesn’t officially begin until February 19th this year, but that shouldn’t keep us from getting prepared right now!
2015, like any other year, will not be the same for everyone. Just look at your friends and family. Some had a great 2014, while it may have been awful for others. We need to break it down by when you were born – the more precise, the more descriptive the fortune.
Here is general snapshot of 2015 for each of the Chinese Zodiac signs. Please note that I can provide more detail if you give me your accurate birth date and time. If you are interested, please learn more about a Birth Date Numerology Analysis. You will get a month-by-month breakdown of your year specific to you.
These Chinese Zodiac forecasts are good little guidelines to see how you should be presenting yourself in 2015 and how you should arrange your home to make sure you are boosting the energy you need and protecting the areas that needs protecting, like the Health Area of your home.
Year of the Rat: You should watch out for anything you will regret or be blamed for. Ensure you are doing everything right in your Fame & Reputation Area.
Year of the Ox: You should be cautious of any confrontations. The Year of the Sheep and Year of the Ox naturally have jealous energy towards each other, so this year may seem a little confrontational to you. Boost your Helpful People Corner.
Year of the Tiger: You should really keep a close eye on your health and finances. Make sure you don’t have any plumbing leaks and check on your Health Area and Prosperity Corner.
Year of the Rabbit: This is a great year for you! It is the perfect time to make job changes and begin business ventures you have always dreamed of. Just make sure you do what you need to do in your Career Area. Before making any significant moves, find out which months are best for you with a Birth Date Numerology Analysis.
Year of the Dragon: You should take extra care in decisions you would like to make this year. Make sure that all the T’s are crossed and I’s are dotted. Use the appropriate areas of the Feng Shui Bagua to maximize your goals.
Year of the Snake: You should be able to overcome all obstacles you confront and become very successful. Travel is in the forecast this year. You need to keep a close eye on your finances so they don’t get out of control. Make sure that your Helpful People & Travel Area of your house is in good order. Also make sure you quickly resolve any plumbing leaks.
Year of the Horse: You can make your dreams come true this year, especially in love and in your career. You will get the recognition you deserve. Make sure that your Fame & Reputation Area is in good order. It wouldn’t hurt to look at your Love Corner and Career Area, while you’re at it.
Year of the Sheep: This is your year, but you should keep a close watch on your health. Use your mind more than being physically active to solve problems. Boost that Health Area of your home.
Year of the Monkey: You should have positive outcome in nearly all aspects in life: career promotions, love and stable finances. To really get the most out of your year, make sure everything is in order in your Career Area, Love Corner, and Money Area.
Year of the Rooster: You need to keep singular focus on the goal you want to reach. You can get a bit distracted this year with a lot of changes coming your way. Just remember to keep focus on what you really want. Use the appropriate area of the Feng Shui Bagua to maximize your goal.
Year of the Dog: You will be driven by your family’s and loved ones’ happiness more than your career. Take a look at your Family Area for some tips on how to maximize your efforts.
Year of the Pig: You will have a happy and stable year. Go ahead with your business or life plans you have been planning, but make sure to double-check your health. Ground yourself by making improvements to your Career Area and Health Area first. Before making any significant moves, find out which months are best for you with a Birth Date Numerology Analysis.
Use these Chinese Zodiac forecasts as a guideline to make sure that your home has good Feng Shui to support the energy it needs to boost your energy or protect your energy.
Next Steps
Again, if you want a month-by-month detailed analysis of 2015 based on your birth date and time, please learn more about a Birth Date Numerology Analysis. This is especially important if you are looking to make big changes this year.
Contact me right now to inquire about a Feng Shui Consultation so I can help you add harmony and balance to your life. It will be the best investment you ever make. I am a 3rd generation Feng Shui expert that has helped thousands of people improve their lives through Feng Shui.
Increasing foreign investment into U.S. homes and shifting demographics has forced home builders to consider this untapped energy.
By Jessie Kim
Communities across the country are experiencing an influx of potential buyers that have a certain sixth-sense about an unseen energy. They’re not interested in square footage and upgrades. It’s about this energy. They will often walk in and immediately out of a model home – without saying a word – if this energy isn’t right. Basic model designs that had been popular for years are no longer top sellers. Large cul-de-sac or corner lots sometimes require a discount rather than fetching their normal premium. What is to blame for these recent trends? Foreign investments? Shifting demographics? Maybe FengShui is to blame.
Just what is FengShui, though? Literally translated, FengShui means wind-water. That says a lot about the 3,000 year old Asian practice of FengShui, even as it is used today in home layout and design in the United States.
FengShui is all about the flow of energy, much like how water flows and wind blows. When you open up the front door to a house, how would an incoming stream of water or a gust of wind flow around and blow through the house? Would it make its way through every room or would it stagnate and collect all in one area? We cannot survive without the energizing nature of water and air. As these are two of the main elements to the building blocks of our human existence, so too is a similar energy referred to inFengShui as Chi or Qi.
In FengShui, we see the front door of a home as the mouth of incoming energy. From there, an ideal flow of life-giving Chi would cycle through different areas of the home represented by important elements to our existence, starting with the front door: water, wood, fire, earth and metal.
Think of it this way: Chi that flows into your home starts by energizing water. Water, in turn, nourishes wood trees. Wood then fuels fire. Fire rejuvenates earth. Over time, earth and its processes create metal. To renew the cycle, metal gives water a path through which to flow.
This is what is called a creative cycle in FengShui and it should flow in a clockwise motion in a home’s layout, starting with the front door. A well-energized and free-flowing creative cycle will provide harmony and balance in the lives of its occupants. This is where the placement of doors, stairs and walls in the floor plan can be crucial for the energy flow.
Moreover, it is important to have items representing these elements in corresponding areas of the home. For instance, a stove or fireplace in the fire area is ideal. When staging a model home, small trees could be placed in the wood area. Metal picture frames could be placed on walls in the metal area.
When one element is overpowering the home, however, it could have disastrous effects. Too many items representing fire, for instance, causes FengShui energy to “burn up.” In turn, residents feel burned out and get hot-tempered. Arguments can flare up. Too many items representing water in the home, on the other hand, will give residents the feeling of drowning, which can be overwhelming. That feeling will eventually translate into a lack of motivation. Rarely will projects get started, let alone be seen through completion by residents of such a home.
In FengShui, it is all about creating balance. Creating a balanced energy in homes is important so that future residents living in the space can live healthy, harmonious and fruitful lives.
When potential buyers walk into a model home, they need to feel like it is a home where they can be creative, can be active, can be good at what they do, can get the recognition they deserve and can have happy and healthy relationships with their friends and loved ones. From site design to staging with proper FengShui in mind, a model home will make prospective buyers feel a positive and relaxing energy that is crucial to health and prosperity. It will be like a refreshing drink of water or a rejuvenating breath of cool air. Whether they believe in it or not, FengShui energy will invite buyers in to experience more of their future home – without saying a word.
Ms. FengShui, Jessie Kim, is a 3rd generation FengShui consultant who primarily works with developers. She can be reached at [email protected] or visit https://www.MsFengShui.com.
Last week, I told you that within days of upgrading my desk, a reporter I didn’t previously know asked to highlight it in an upcoming article in Coast Magazine.
Why Feng Shui Your Desk?
Your desk is the domain of your career, which is the gateway to your life path.
Proper Feng Shui should help energy called Chi (or “Qi”) power up your desk as you would have it energize your home. This energy can amplify your business success, as well as improve various aspects of your life.
Desk Feng Shui
The secret to adding Feng Shui to your desk is all in the Bagua. The Bagua is the center of the Black Hat Feng Shui universe and understanding it is crucial to making sure your desk serves your career goals and life path.
Simply layout your desk as if a Bagua were drawn on top, with the Career Area against the side where your chair sits. If it helps, you can think of your desk broken up like a tic-tac-toe board.
This means that as you sit at your chair, your left hand will touch the Knowledge, Family, and Prosperity/Wealth areas as you reach across your desk.
The middle of your desk will be your Health Area and across your desk directly in front of you should be the Reputation/Fame area.
The five elements of water, wood, fire, earth and metal in their creative cycle.
The colors and elements (water, wood, fire, earth, & metal) you use should be consistent with those of the respective areas of the Bagua that you would use in your home. Be sure to read up on the Feng Shui Bagua for more information on this.
Symbolism you might use, however, could be relatively unique to you and your profession.
The Bagua Sections of the Desk
Career: This area is right in front of you — the bottom center square of your tic-tac-toe board. The primary element is water and the color is black. Ensure this space is clear for new work to flow in. If you have a desk with a glass top, you can insert a picture of a stream of water flowing in. Without a glass top, you can simply tape that picture underneath your desk. You don’t need to see the item for it to help you.
Knowledge: The bottom-left box of your tic-tac-toe board is for knowledge. Blue is the primary color here. You could have books related to your profession in the drawers under or a small bookshelf on this corner of the table. Having something blue here will help you concentrate and make better decisions.
Family: This area can be found in the middle-left box of your tic-tac-toe board. The primary element here is wood and the ideal color is green. Portraits of your family, friends, or colleagues in a wooden frame would be ideal in this side of the desk. Adding green here will help you feel more at ease with your family and coworkers.
Prosperity & Wealth: The upper-left corner of your desk is for prosperity and wealth. Gold, purple, and green are prosperous colors. You should also have elements here that remind you of wealth. A money plant, a picture of a dream home, or some golden trinkets would do the job in this corner.
Reputation & Fame: The top-middle square of your tic-tac-toe board is here. Fire is its dominant element, which is also represented by the color red. Candles and lights are ideal here. Company awards or even your nameplate would also be well-placed here. You should place your business cards in this area.
Love & Relationships: This area can be found in the upper-right corner of your tic-tac-toe board. Pink and love symbols represent this area well. Items in pairs represent love, as well. A photo of your spouse or a hidden description of your ideal mate fits well in this corner. I added a pair of small turtles to signify me and my husband.
Creativity & Children: The middle-right area is where creativity flows. It is represented by metal and black & white items. This is another great spot for pictures of your kids. If you are looking for an infusion of creative energy, add a metal pendulum or a picture of something creative that inspires you, such as the Sydney Opera House for an architect.
Helpful People & Travel: The lower-right corner of your desk is where you call upon the help of others, which we can always use. This is best represented by silver or grey objects. Recent business cards that you have collected or your Rolodex can work well here. Create a handwritten note detailing how someone will help you achieve your goals and hide it in your desk drawer in this corner. Swap it out periodically. You could also place a small globe or pictures of your vacation goal here.
Health: This area falls in the center square in the tic-tac-toe board. Earth is the element here and it is represented by earth tones, especially yellow. You could tape a big round yellow circle under your desk here or have objects signifying the earth, such as a jar of decorative stones. Otherwise, ensure that the center of your desk is clutter-free.
Feng Shui Desk Shapes
Rectangle: This shape is ideal for most offices where you want to accomplish individual work. A rectangular desk helps you concentrate.
Circle: Circular desks are good for brainstorming and creativity. Thus, they are ideal for group meetings.
Curved: If you have trouble concentrating because people are frequently disturbing you, it may be wise to change to a curved desk. If you are inside of the curve, in the concave area, you will concentrate better. The convex area where it curves out will keep others from approaching too often.
Feng Shui Desk Material
Wood: Desks made of wood are sturdy, solid, supportive, reliable, and long-lasting. This is my first recommendation for most job functions.
Metal: Desks made of metal are sharp and penetrating. They provide lots of mental energy and concentration, but they can be draining to the body.
Glass: A desk made of glass can be very revealing, meaning that you have nothing to hide. However, energy passes through a glass desk very quickly. Be sure to slow the energy with wooden accessories or plants. Glass desks may be ideal for those in sales who want to show customers that they can be open with them.
Laminate: Desks made of laminate materials are the vanilla of desks. They do not provide much positive or negative energy.
Feng Shui Desk Colors
Black: A black desk will attract energy inward, which encourages introspection and creates opportunity.
Brown: A brown desk stabilizes and strengthens the body, but does not energize the mind.
White: A white desk activates the mind, but drains the body of energy.
Gray or Metallic: A gray desk gives you more focus, but drains your physical body.
Green: A green desk is a good balance of body and mind. It is especially good if you have drawn-out projects.
Earth Tones: Lighter earth tones will increase your mental focus, and will drain your physical body of energy less than gray.
Bright Colors: Bright colors such as yellow, orange and pink will draw a lot of attention but make the body and mind restless. I suggest bright desks in rare circumstances, such as for reception areas.
Wooden Colors: Medium-toned wood colors provide stability and strength to the body. Using lighter tones will help energize the mind. Pine, ash, oak and birch colors should be a good balance while providing just the right amount of contrast with white paper to alleviate visual strain.
Additional Feng Shui Desk Tips
Proportions: Ensure that the size of your desk is proportional to the amount of and space of work you need to do. For instance, if the extent of your work is data entry, you likely wouldn’t need as big of a desk as someone who is an architect with drawings that need to be spread across the desk. Ensure that you can reach everything without allowing your desk to look cluttered.
Strong Foundation: Desks should have strong legs that are built of strong materials. The legs are the foundation of your desk, and thus the foundation of your career and life path.
Modesty Panel: I usually recommend a modesty panel that prevents someone from seeing your legs from in front of the desk. This provides greater security and establishes boundaries. A desk with an open front might feel more intimate, however, and will allow others to feel more comfortable approaching you. Unless you are in human resources or a pure leadership role, I recommend a modesty panel.
Face Toward the Door: If your desk faces a wall, window, or partition, you need to try to move it. Though employers love to be able to look over your shoulder, it adds stress if your back is to the door. If possible, turn your desk to face the doorway, but do not have it in line with the doorway. In other words, if someone were shining a light straight into your doorway, it would not line up with your desk, but you would be able to see the light coming in.
Windows: Try not to have your back toward windows, as you can be overwhelmed with energy. This may be unavoidable in some circumstances. There are cures to help minimize the effect of windows.
Power Position: Your desk should be in an area of your office where you can see as much of the room as possible.
Keep It Positive: On your desk and in your office should be objects that are uplifting and empowering.
Add harmony and balance to your desk with this handy Bagua mouse pad. Complete with a description, element and color for each Gua, this mouse pad will help you achieve more health, wealth and luck.
Feng Shui Mouse Pad: For a boost of positive Chi and a reminder of how the Bagua should be laid out on your desk, look into getting a Feng Shui mouse pad.
Clutter: There is simply no room in Feng Shui for clutter, especially on or in your desk.
Home Office or Workplace: Be sure to Feng Shui the desk in your home office, as well as the one at your workplace. They both represent your career and your life path in general.
Next Steps
Looking for a Feng Shui consultant you can trust? Learn a little more about me and how I can help you add harmony and balance to your home or office the Feng Shui way. Contact me today!
Colors can be as important as elements in Feng Shui.
Colors can excite, enhance, or even disturb the energy around you. And they can represent emotions as well as goals.
Here are some common colors and what they mean in Feng Shui:
Black: Career
Blue: Knowledge
Green: Family
Purple: Prosperity & Wealth
Red: Reputation & Fame
Pink: Love
White: Creativity & Children
Grey: Helpful People & Travel
Yellow: Health
As an example, if you are looking to get noticed for your accomplishments, throw on a red blouse or shirt. Ready to advertise that you are looking for love? Try on a pink hat or tie.
When it comes to adding the above colors to your home to make changes with Feng Shui, there is no need to overwhelm your space with a color by painting an entire room.
Rather, test it out first with some fresh-cut flowers or throw pillows with the colors you are looking to add. Then, you can paint picture frames, change curtains or add some artwork if you like the results.
Most importantly, in your home or office, be sure to add colors to the appropriate area of your home, as represented by the Feng Shui Bagua.
Don’t be afraid to use color!
Next Steps
To learn more about how colors play a part in Feng Shui, I suggest you read through my free information on the Feng Shui Bagua.
Feng Shui is all about harmony and balance. Make sure that as you make changes to one area of your Bagua, balance it out with changes to other areas, as well.
I broke a major Feng Shui rule the other day. Yes, me. And I’m a Feng Shui consultant!
Gratitude and Value
We should always exchange gratitude in advance of getting something, whether it be from a person or the life-giving energy of Feng Shui called Chi.
We also exchange value for services or goods provided, regardless of our need for what we receive. We can pay for those goods or services with money, return of other services, other goods, etc. But, nothing of value in life comes for free. The same is true with Feng Shui.
Along with a sad story, an acquaintance recently asked me to take a look at their home and provide Feng Shui advice for free. And I reluctantly agreed.
I get these sad stories and requests all of the time. After all, rarely do people seek out Feng Shui advice when everything in life is perfect. Many people seeking a Feng Shui consultant’s advice are having difficulty with money and have relationship or career challenges. These are the aspects of their lives that they want to change.
From my experience, those who don’t pay consulting fees don’t truly value the consultant’s experience and expertise in Feng Shui. They tend to second-guess their consultant’s advice, which often makes things worse. It happens every time.
But, when people truly follow good Feng Shui advice, they seriously end up with more wealth, improved health, stronger relationships, etc.
Road Map to Success
As it pertains to your personal life, think of professional Feng Shui advice as a road map. If you were at your hotel and received directions from the concierge on how to drive to the local 5-star restaurant, you don’t stop following the directions after the first or second turn.
Rather, you need to follow the directions until you reach your desired destination. Otherwise, you may end up someplace else entirely… and potentially in a very unsafe neighborhood!
Feng Shui is like a road map with directions to get from where you are to where you want to be. Just as with Google Maps, there are multiple ways to get to your destination.
If you go to three different Feng Shui consultants, you may very well get three different schools of advice on how to change your life, just as you may get differing directions from three different hotel employees to get to that 5-star restaurant.
Does that mean that any of those consultants or hotel employees are wrong? Absolutely not!
Should you, however, take only part of any one set of advice or even take parts of everyone’s advice? Probably not. You may end up much worse than you started.
Your Next Steps
If you are looking to make real positive change in your life:
1) Find someone you trust, whether it is a Feng Shui consultant, a life coach or a potential mentor.
2) Offer them something of value to help you, whether it is their consulting or coaching fee, a few nice lunches, or a service like painting their garage.
3) When they accept to help you, take their advice seriously. Take notes, ask questions, and make sure you completely understand all of the steps necessary to make the changes you need to take.
4) Implement their advice — step-by-step. Do not skip anything.
5) Be patient and double-check to make sure you followed all of the steps correctly.
6) If you have questions, just go back and ask.
We’ve all heard that front doors opening directly to stairs are bad for Feng Shui. In fact, I’ve written about it in a previous post where I described that such designs lead to income problems.
Just as dangerous to a home or office’s Feng Shui is a spiral staircase or even a grand staircase. I want to get into why they can be so harmful and, of course, give you some remedies.
Feng Shui, translated as “wind-water”, is about harnessing the flow of a natural energy called Chi just as boulders in a riverbed work to temporarily divert the flow of water.
Spiral Staircase Dangers
When working with home builders, I always recommend against designs with a spiral staircase. Even though they are an efficient use of sometimes limited space, the benefits simply don’t outweigh the dangers. Potential buyers conscious of Feng Shui will see a spiral staircase and simply walk out.
Consider a spiral staircase to be like a corkscrew digging into a particular section of the Bagua in the home or office. Please also keep in mind that each section, or Gua, of the Bagua represents a part of the body.
As an example, a spiral staircase in the middle of a home, or Health Area, will figuratively dig into the heart of the Bagua. I have found that those living in such a home frequently have health issues related to the heart or blood pressure.
Many spiral staircases are made of metal, which only exacerbates the digging effect. The same goes for any staircases (spiral or otherwise) with metallic coloring, whether they are gold, silver, bronze, copper, etc.
Any staircase with the color red is morbidly characteristic of blood flowing down the stairs. Circulatory issues are common with residents of such homes.
Another problem related to most spiral staircases is the empty space between each step, preventing Chi, that natural flowing energy, from rising to the upper levels. Rather, energy only flows down — and painfully so.
Spiral Staircase Cures
What if you have a home that already has a spiral staircase? Certainly, replacing the staircase isn’t usually financially feasible.
First and foremost, find a creative way to cover the openings between steps. I suggest using wood because it has the energy of growing up, like a tree. Feel free to cover it in a fabric, such as carpeting.
Use neutral colors instead of black, red or metallic colors. It is better to use the colors of plants or trees.
Now, we need to find a way to work against the downward corkscrew energy. To do this, I recommend the use of lighting and plants.
The lighting should point upward from below, again pushing Chi up the stairs and working against that painfully downward force.
The use of certain plants and trees also move energy upward. Tall trees based at the bottom of the stairs will do the trick. Ivy along the railing will further influence the energy to move upward.
Grand Staircase Dangers
Luxury builders often want to utilize grand staircases. They are beautiful, opulent and, well, grand. They are also very dangerous to the Feng Shui of a home.
Because of their often circular nature, any energy that flows up the left staircase at the Family Area just goes right back down the right staircase at the Creative Area, completely bypassing half of the second floor’s Bagua.
Thus, grand staircases often prevent Chi from giving life to the upstairs offices and bedrooms representing the Wealth Corner, Fame Area and Relationship Corner. That’s simply bad for business and bad for the business of love.
The same rules apply here as with other types of stairs — metals and the colors of metals are bad. Likewise with the bloody effects of red.
When working with builders, I often suggest some very specific modifications to the design to ensure proper energy flow while maintaining the grand effect of the staircase.
Grand Staircase Cures
Again, what remedies are there to cure a grand staircase that already exists in a home (aside from tearing it out and adding the Helpful People, Career, and Knowledge areas back into the upper floor)?
First, add a red rug at the top of the right staircase. This works to slow the energy that is attempting to flow back downward.
Second, make sure that you have a large, shiny chandelier above the foyer and another shiny chandelier at the upper floor where the two staircases meet.
To keep with lighting, up-lighting or upward sconce lights along the staircase will help push and keep energy upstairs.
Just as with spiral staircases, you can use tall trees at the bottom and ivy along the edges to help influence Chi upward. You can even use wood trim designed with the effects of ivy.
Next Steps
Generally, it is best to avoid a home with a spiral or grand staircase in terms of Feng Shui. But, at least there are cures available to improve such designs to minimize their negative effects.
Spend some time learning about the Feng Shui Bagua to ensure proper Chi flow in your home or office.
If there is something unique about your stairs or layout, such as scissor-stairs, contact me to inquire about a Virtual Feng Shui Consultation because stairs can be a dangerous element.
Considering a new home? Take a look at the recent new home projects where my Feng Shui consultation services were utilized.
I'm careful to link to products that I use myself and recommend to my clients, when those products are necessary. I earn a small commission if you purchase through these links, which enables me to produce and publish free content for you to learn from.
