Tag Archives: Feng Shui Consultant for home design

Soulful Winter Solstice Rituals

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“Winter is not a season it is a celebration.”  
– Anamika Mishra

In deep darkness Winter Solstice holds the promise of the life-giving force of the sun. Sol’s radiance is celebrated on December 21/22 by nearly every culture in the world with simple rituals that ignite new beginnings. In China Winter Solstice is signified by the I-Ching hexagram, Fu, “Retuning”.

But whar does “Returning” mean for you? Winter Solstice begins the transformation of dark to light. This longest night is a tipping point where sunlight will now rise in prominence again. Setting aside personal time to immerse yourself in winter’s stillness will help you reap the benefits from shedding the old to feeling renewed. Partaking in soulful winter solstice rituals create space to contemplate your inner light and like the sun, to return to trust, to recharge and to carefully develop what is new. 

Oh the Soul Loves Ritual
Welcome The Sun With A Solstice Altar
Creating a Soulful Winter Solstice rituals practice includes an altar. They create a deeply personal experience. You can make it as simple or elaborate as you wish. Search for foliage in your home garden or a neighboring green space that is meaningful for you. Gather branches and berries and intertwine these with candles or fairy lights. For the Druids red holly berries were a symbol of fertility and eternal life and were thought to have magical powers because the tree stayed green and strong. Branches and twigs were brought into the home to protect it from malevolent fairies and to shelter fairies from friction between them and the human occupants. Pine, spruce and firs, as well, represent eternal life because they remained green throughout the year. Adding an evergreen bough to your altar will give it a powerful freshness. In traditions long past they were considered to ward off ghosts and illness. Mistletoe, treated as a sacred plant by the Druids, is believed to not only give protection against diseases but is also a symbol of peace and prosperity. Hanging it on the threshold it was thought to ward off evil spirits and ensure vitality and fertility (so hang it from your door and maybe there will be a kiss coming your way).

Anything bright, shiny, gold and yellow symbolizes the sun. The colors of the season, red, white, green and gold come from ancient roots. These colors brighten the home during the darkness of winter and are a reminder that spring will come.
• Red, the color of poinsettias and holly berries, is a symbol of fiery passion and sensuality. It also represents the life force that endures in coldest times.
• Gold depicts sunshine and light and is a symbol of prosperity, abundance and the energy that fuels life.
• Red and gold together are the colors of fire which warms your soul.
• Green represents renewal, eternal life and Nature. It is a reminder of the continuous cycles of growth and rebirth.
• White is the symbol of purity and peace and the serenity of snow. It also signifies the blank slate you’ve created for the coming year.

Foods For Wintertide Warmth
A traditional Chinese winter solstice dish is dumplings while in Korea solstice is celebrated with Patjuk – glutinous rice balls in a sweet porridge made from adzuki beans. Koreans believe that color red wards off evil spirits. The red beans wish good luck for the new year. Pine needles (check for edible varieties) may be made into a hot tea. Pomegranates are a traditional winter solstice food of Iran’s Shab-e Yalda celebrations. Yalda means birth or rebirth. The vibrant red fruit symbolizes dawn and life. Gingerbread is a later yuletide tradition. It’s easy to prepare, warming and delicious. Shortbread from Scandinavian tradition made in round forms represents the sun. In Western European cultures soups, stews and hearty meals were prepared to drive the cold winter away.

Welcome Back the Sun
As early as 900s a tree was placed in the fireplace with the wide end of the trunk first so it would burn from on Christmas day until January 5. In modern times a specially chosen, decorated log is placed in a fireplace to bring luck and fortune to the household. The Yule log symbolizes the light returning to conquer the darkness. It is a ritual of welcoming back the sun and the warmth it brings. Sprinkling minerals or wine onto the burning log would make the log’s flames burn with color such as table salt produced bright yellow, potassium nitrate made violet, borax produced a vivid green.

Set Your Soul Ablaze
One of the Winter Solstice Rituals I enjoy is musing upon an open flame in a fire pit or fireplace. However a burning candle(s) will work too. Gazing into a flame or flames and listening to the soft crackle in the dark evening hours is a beautiful underscore for the mind to contemplate the past year and makes plans for the future.

Time spent on reflection fosters peace, inner stillness and calm. These elements harmonize the body and mind and elevate your emotions. Then as the energy begins to rise in the coming year you will have the inner reserves to meet both opportunities and challenges.

Allow me to help you arrange your home where you feel fully supported. I am available for a full consultation service or for an hour telephone conversation. Details are at this link Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house. 

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

photo credit: Alena Kondrusik

Take Your Dreams To Heart

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“One moment can change a day, one day can change a life and one life can change the world.”
– Buddha

You have an amazing heart and for that I have a special blog for you this month because I know it’s been a big job to hold strong, to have faith, to practice your best self when Covid-19 has pulled the rug out from under your plans and your future feels hijacked. You’ve got this and I want you to get more. I want you to know there is a benefit to the reality that is shifting before your eyes. These are fertile times for personal illumination and destiny is calling us to live our dreams through our hearts. 

Recently I have been enjoying a beautiful meditation by Gregg Braden. It opens the heart to the extraordinary feeling of bliss because this is the space from which dreams come true. And I am supplementing this opportunity for expanded intuition and creativity with four Feng Shui adjustments that correct and enhance “Li” the gua related to the heart.

Gregg shares we have 40,000 brain-like cells,  ‘sensory neurites’, concentrated in such a way that they are called the ‘little brain in the heart’. They can learn independently from the neurons in our brain. They can think and remember independently from the neurons in the brain. They communicate separately to us from the neurons in our brain…When we marry the heart and the brain together, when we harmonize the heart and the brain together, this extended neural network makes us different from all other forms of life. This is where our deepest empathy, compassion, intuition comes from. When we harmonize the little brain heart with the big brain in the head we can process information very quickly. Really fast information recall. Here is the reason why: when we access with our heart, using our intuition we don’t go through the logic and the fear, self esteem and all the doubt that we have in our brain which defends with ego resistance nor are we slowed down by our mental functions.

Our heart doesn’t work that way. Affirmations are powerful tools to implement change in our lives at any time. They are especially potent when we are communicating with our subconscious in a language that our subconscious recognizes. When we harmonize our heart and our brain, this is the hot line to our subconscious. Our affirmations of our perfect relationships, our healing, our dreams begins in our bodies. Extraordinary states of deep intuition are available through harmonizing the heart and the brain. There are three steps to creating this harmonious awareness that come from ancient traditions. (This can be performed just as you awake or go to sleep because these are excellent times for intention setting and opening the channel to the subconscious. Enhance the meditation with background music, lighting a candle, burning incense to clear energy, diffusing sandalwood or frankincense essentials oils. – Bette Steflik)

• Simply and gently place either one finger or your hand or your palms or the prayer mudra on the sternum of your heart. Your awareness will always go to the place in your body where you feel the touch, the sensation. Allow your awareness to move there.

• Slow your breathing. Five seconds on the inhale. Five seconds on the exhale. This sends a powerful signal to your body, from your mind to your heart that says I am turning my attention inward. You are telling your body that “I am safe”. That frees your body to let go of the stress hormones and the feelings of stress. When that happens the healing chemistry begins….Now the body is awakening to its powerful immune response and anti-aging hormones. Breathing slower you are telling your body it is safe.

• Create a feeling in your heart where you feel the touch. Feel one or some combination of the following four feelings: care for anything or for anyone. Appreciation or anything or for anyone. Gratitude or anything or for anyone. And compassion for or anything or for anyone. Researchers have found these four key words will trigger the experience between our heart and our brain to create that coherence .1 Hz. To the best of your ability feel those feelings and breathe from your heart center. Do that for 60 seconds. This ritual is ancient and primal. It is the key to the deepest truth of who you are in this world. The positive vibration you created will hold for six hours after you open your eyes. 

Why do this? This is where the super learning comes from. Or when you are working to solve or create something new: a book, poetry, music. Your creativity comes from this deep space.
– Gregg Braden

In the Bagua formation, Li, the Fame gua is connected to the Fire element of the Five Elements. The heart which is known as the Emperor in Traditional Chinese Medicine is the organ that represents this phase. When standing at the front door facing into your home, the location is the central back section of your house. It rests between Hsun, the Wealth gua to the left and Kun, the Partnership gua to the right.

If this area is missing or depleted by a design feature such as a bathroom it may be difficult to excel in your career, pass examinations, receive recognition for a promotion, improve your status, and connect with networking groups that can enhance your visibility and that affects your sense of esteem and well-being. Physically you may develop eye disorders. Mentally your clarity, whether it’s your goals, being self directed or your vision of your future, may be obscured. A side note when Fame is enhanced this activates and improves your career. Want more name recognition? More heart in your relationships? More joy in your life? Here are four Fame tips to increase your influence.

Correct A bathroom in the Fame gua depletes this area (see above). Place a mirror on the outside of the door. It will reflect whatever is in front of it and the bathroom will transcendentally disappear. The nuance from Professor Lin the door may remain open and the cure still works.

Color Red is associated with Fame and Fire. Color may be used to fill in a missing area. Painting the wall red with the visualization that the color is pushing the wall out will transcendentally correct the missing area of the house. The added bonus is you’ve added your “Wall of Fame”.

Center Stage Li means “bright”. When you project yourself from a place of courtesy, professionalism and regard, you raise your esteem and others will view you as confident, considerate and connected. This place of power raises your status. Activate this area with diplomas, awards, and recognitions. The triangle shape is associated with this gua. Animals that represent Li are the tortoise, crab, pheasant (from The Form School) and shellfish. Illumination is a quality of this gua. A framed sunset or a rainbow are suitable for this gua as well.

Credit Believe in you, find your mantra and light your fire with an empowerment. Place an affirmation in this area, such as “I am so grateful and happy that I am now…(fill in the blank) or I am endlessly abundant with talent, skill, intelligence and joy that I utilize everyday. 

If you are looking to build a new home, remodel, plan a wedding, purchase a home or sell one, when you begin has tremendous influence on the outcome of your event. Beginning on the right foot with an auspicious date and time will bring success to your endeavor. Contact me, bette@shenmenfengshui.com for details of how I can assist you with getting started.

Allow me to help you arrange your home where you feel fully supported. I am available for a full consultation service or for an hour telephone conversation. Details are at this link Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.