Year Of The Fire Rooster. Craft The Ultimate 2017.

“As the new year energy crosses your threshold there is a moment of transition, a pause, which will be an opportunity to place inspiration and good fortune on your path. Seize the moment.”
– Marina Lighthouse

Engaging, charismatic, compassionate and enthusiastic, the fearless Fire Rooster steps onto the zodiac stage January 28, 2017. Be prepared to awaken to your divine spark. This year you will be inclined to gather around the home fires, where you draw upon your insight, feel the succor of intimacy, quiet your busy mind with solitude and as the indigo night descends, harmonize with your family and friends.

Facing an uncertain year, cultivating diligence, reliability and strength stabilizes the ups and downs. We see these qualities in the crimson-capped proud Rooster who performs his diurnal dawn patrol. Flying to the highest peak, proudly throwing out his chest and with his kikeriki seizing the rosy dawn, he motivates his comrades to take charge of the day. The Chinese believe it is the Rooster’s crow that loosens the divine spark within us. A spark that awakens the virtues of courage, perseverance, efficiency, generosity and punctuality.

Inventing solutions that create a break through in energy renewal, real estate, construction, high tech, textiles, communication and entertainment will receive the green light. This is the year to emulate the Rooster’s virtues of commitment and hard work to get the payoff you desire.

Wasting energy in this reality-show-kind-of-year is not what you will find the Fire Rooster doing. Fire atop Metal is Fire conquering Metal. You will see drama, possible explosions, perhaps witness bigger than life conflict. However don’t let yourself be paralyzed by what is beyond your control. See the drama for what it is–a reshuffling of an old paradigm that is going extinct. In your personal life walk away from what no longer serves you.

Make this a year of balance between achieving your goals, living your values and enjoying your life when you seize the moment to craft the ultimate 2017. I encourage you to think outside your usual strategies and goal setting. Be generous with yourself: create moments of peace, seconds of hope, hours of stability and days of flexibility. For these are the building blocks of self-love and true happiness. When you take care of yourself, you can give to others. I have created the 2017 Fire Rooster Playbook of Feng Shui Strategies that I believe will invite good fortune over your threshold and good luck into your home.

Position Yourself On Solid Ground. – Improve Your Feng Shui
Your front door, bed, desk and stove are populated with your energy and your family’s. Because these areas receive lots of use, their placement and condition is important to your well-being. Here are some Feng Shui guidelines you may have forgotten or did not know. If you do not use the front door, it can cause a sense of suffocation in the house. And you will lack health Ch’i, wealth Ch’i and all kinds of Ch’i. Open your front door once or nine times a month. If shoes clutter the entrance, this attracts chaos. Purchase a cute cubby to arrange your well-heeled foot gear and start the year on the right foot. If you are prone to headaches or find you get overlooked at work, brighten your entry with the maximum wattage that won’t blow a fuse. Visualize you are receiving recognition for your outstanding job. Your stove represents how you attract money. A microwave, over your stove oppresses your wealth Ch’i. Remove it or place a 3″ round mirror on the hood, over the stove to lift up the hood. Lack of command at the bed and desk can create an inability to see both opportunity and trouble coming. You miss out on support and good advice. “Command position” places you where you can see what is coming through the door and take charge of your affairs. Nurture your partnership with a headboard, it connects the two sides of the bed and you and your partner. 

Pay It Forward – Do Kind Deeds
If you do nothing else, this is the adjustment to perform. It comes from His Holiness, Grandmaster Lin Yun and it’s a great secret to a successful life: perform a good deed every day. By helping another person, you shift, not only their reality, but yours as well. A kind deed will improve your luck, lift your esteem and change your circumstances. This creates an opportunity to place good fortune on your path. For emphasis do nine good deeds a day and if you need a boost, perform twenty seven good deeds in one day. But remember that your sincerity is the most important part.

Awaken To Wholeness – Perform Sacred Rituals
BSTB Feng Shui ceremonies are an integral part of beginning anew. They remove the dust of past deeds, attune our hearts, call out our appreciation of the inner space and bestow blessings on what is to come. Taking time to prepare the ground of our home allows what is to come to fully materialize.

Bad Luck Cure: If an entire household is troubled by lots of inauspicious events, do the following: Buy a new black pen and red paper. Or purchase cinnabar ink and buy yellow paper. Cut a circle in 3 inches to 5 inches in diameter. In Chinese or English, write, “One good deed wards off one thousand evil spirits.” Place the charm in a conspicuous location. Complete with the Three Secrets Reinforcements (red envelopes requested for the Three Secrets Reinforcements).

Enact New Year Ceremonies – Invite Prosperity And Fortune
Cultural Chinese Lunar New Year Eve ceremonies: The Five Fold Happiness https://shenmenfengshui.com/articles/the-meaning-behind-chinese-lunar-new-year/

Join the party January 28, 2017. Besides making a “lucky eight” foods dinner, perform BSTB ceremonies to bless your home and invite good fortune. Revel in “Welcoming the Wealth Gods” into your home. Delight in peeling away bad luck during “the Golden Cicada” ceremony and jump up for joy when you throw the orange peel as the clock strikes 12:00 a.m. during “Changing the Ch’i…You will receive these + two bonus cures in the “Three Lucky Feng Shui Secret Traditions Packet”+ Two Bonus Cures and the Three Secret Reinforcements. The packet is normally $36. I have discounted to $27 + nine red envelopes. My way of saying, “Thank you!” Payment by check and red envelopes need to arrive at my doorstep by January 19, 2017 to ensure your mailing will arrive in time. Contact me: bette@shenmenfengshui.com for details. 

Set Your Intentions – Make Known What Is In Your Heart.
When making Feng Shui adjustments to your home, visualize your intention for the cure. Calm your mind and see as many details as possible and create the process from beginning to end. This allows the cure to be more real. All things are created twice. First we create something in our minds, then we find a way to bring our creation into the third dimension. The clearer we can visualize our intention the more easily it is to bring it in. What is held in your heart is so powerful that even if you make a mistake with pronunciations or hand gestures the intention and visualization is still more powerful. Intention is always more powerful than form. As long as your intentions are clear your cures will work.

Carry The Animal Talisman For The Year – Offset Bad Luck.
The theory behind getting a new charm every year is that buying something new symbolizes a fresh start and new opportunities are coming your way. The ancient Chinese did not celebrate Christmas, but instead the Spring Festival which celebrates the importance of family. During the two week festival beginning at Chinese Lunar New Year they give little gifts for good luck. In the Year of the Fire Rooster, it is Dragon who is Rooster’s good friend, for it is said when Rooster and Dragon come together “the joy of this encounter is enough to offset any bad luck that the year may harbor.” As a transcendental cure: carry a three dimensional representation of a Dragon (made of boxwood, porcelain, bone or jade) with you during the year, either in your pocket, purse, on your wrist or around your neck.

Wan Shi Ru Yi – May Everything Go As You Wish!
H.H. “Professor” Lin Yun’s commentary on the 2005 Rooster year still applies today. He urges to keep the five virtues (literate, courageous, compassionate, trustworthy and punctual) of Rooster close at heart and to teach it to one’s young. Encourage them to be reliable and true to their word, to be fearless and to be devoted to their jobs. Encourage them to sober up as the Rooster announces the coming of dawn. However tumultuous the times, however great the setback, one needs to be encouraged to work hard and work one’s way out of the problems we face – hopefully this will be a productive year for all. 

Have you decided this will be your year? “Boldness has genius”…start with one hour of 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.

Feng Shui. How Your Emotions Decorate Your Space

“An interior is the natural projection of the soul.”
– Coco Chanel

Feng Shui design reveals how your house is talking from joy to abundance to anxiety and stress. If you walk into a room and it triggers unhappy thoughts…your emotions decorate your space and visa versa, the door, the stairs, the stove, the bed may initiate physiological stress that creates mood swings.  Here is what Jeanette discovered. Her family decided to move across country so her husband could take a new position and they could be closer to her parents. She had one week to choose a home for her family. The home she fell in love with had vaulted ceilings, a view of the back yard from the front door, a large master suite that stretched from front to back, a three car garage…it was certainly the right neighborhood and the school was perfect for her children. Once they settled into the new house she thought everything would be as before. But the stress of moving never dissipated. A barrier progressively developed between she and her husband. They were silent at the dinner table and he stopped coming home at reasonable hours. Her 13 year old son did not like sleeping in his room. It was so good before the move, what happened? 

Wanting to find the husband she had lost, to help her son stop his nightly wandering and bring some happiness to herself, she called me for help. Jeanette’s story is a powerfully moving scenario and not unlike the stories clients share expressing their profound loss and disbelief over what has happened to the life they once had. She had read several Feng Shui books. She suspected the emotional issues between she and her husband, her son’s distraction and her moodiness were stemming from her home. And she admitted she didn’t feel good being there. When I shared what I saw, my words immediately resonated with her. She had no trouble making a plan and her next step would be decorating using Feng Shui design.

I believe Feng Shui education goes a long way in creating awareness that our home influences our well-being. With that in mind, I composed this Feng Shui guide to help you understand how the design of your home influences how your emotions decorate your space. This guide will help you make informed decisions when you purchase your new home. And if you are already settled in your space, you might recognize one or two design features where your emotions decorate your space, limit your freedom and curb your peace of mind. 

Want a picture? Here is a helpful companion blog on floor plans, “Unraveling Your Home’s Floor Plan With Feng Shui.
 Depletion That Paints You Into A Corner
A hidden front door is when you cannot see the door from the street. Here’s a surprising example how emotions decorate your space. Feelings of isolation can develop over time. What Professor Lin would call “strange chi.” At an office there may be loss of income, feeling frustration, depression and loss of motivation.
• An obstacle (blocking tree, wall, utility pole or column) at the front door can limit opportunities.
• Double doors can create confusion, especially if the door to enter is not marked properly.
• A slanted front door creates a slant on daily interactions that explode into unexpected events related to all areas of life.
• A blocking wall inside the front door can impede the forward movement of everyone in the household. Everyone may struggle with their career. Faith in the future may be lost.
• Front door /back door alignment may possibly create a split through the whole house. The closer the doors the worse this patten is. Parents may feel a barrier between them and lead separate lives. Parents and children lose touch. Money may leak and opportunities dry up. Money, motivation, reputation, health and good luck may fly out the back door.
• Your emotions decorate your space when there is a split at the front door. This detail can affect all areas of life dramatically. The brain is activated unevenly and the two sides will start to lack coordination. The inhabitant may act more and think less. Or think more and act less. In either situation there is an imbalance. As a result illness along the midline can development. Also confusion and the lack of sound decision making can cost a family their health or business. Non-stop arguing and violence can result with a split at the front door. Extreme marital, family and business interactions can take place here.
• A split stairway (typical of split level homes) aka Mandarin duck stairway creates an environment where everything begins to fall apart; it can even shatter a person’s peace of mind. The different levels affect partners where they are more likely to experience miscommunication or not speak at all; children have difficulty feeling accepted; finances fluctuate wildly. Invariably health is unstable. When it is a company and affects all the employees, the consequences can be disastrous.

 Bad Luck That Colors Your Morale
• Seeing a cemetery, a morgue or a deserted house from your front door may bring illness and sudden expected disasters.
• If your home is at end of a “double T” intersection your luck may dwindle in all areas but in particular health and finances.
• A narrow driveway or path. The opportunity to expand your heart and mind may never happen. And if you see opportunity you won’t be able to grasp it, feeling shut down.
• A toilet over the front door brings bad luck to the entire household or business.
• A stove that is backed up to the toilet that is on the other side of the wall affects your luck to the point it may run out.
• A dead door is a door that is nailed shut or that cannot be opened. This feature may stifle’s one’s voice completely. If the original door has been closed there can be a sudden downturn in fortune or slow loss of resources.

Details That Design Conflict
• Arguing Doors are two doors that when they are open bump up against one another. The clashing is jarring to the senses and disturbs the inhabitants equilibrium. Conflict results. It may run throughout the house.
• Biting Doors are a very troubling example how emotions decorate your space. Biting doors are doors that are out of alignment with one another. Visualize walking out of your bedroom and seeing part of a door entry and part of a wall. This design feature creates a split and has the effect of a front door split. Biting doors create discord between parents and parents and children. In a child’s room it can create a bully. You may lose friends and neighbors can turn into enemies. In an office setting there may be gossip, back stabbing and power struggles. Biting doors at the front door are especially detrimental as the conflict and verbal fighting can reach into the neighborhood.
• Piercing Heart Doors are three or more doors which you could walk in a straight line. They create an invisible obstacle through the house which impedes relations between partners, partners and their children and between siblings. Alienation and separation tear the family apart.
• Many doors opening into a small space. I think we all have this one, especially around the bedrooms and bathroom. A door is a “mouth”. This area can be especially noisy because all the voices are trying to speak at once. Listening is difficult and family members may end up quarreling. This design feature is the underpinnings for health issues, particularly the digestive organs.
• Too many doors in relationship to the windows and the adult voice may be too powerful. This ratio may silence the voice of the children. In a business situation management (the adult) may not heart the feedback of employees (the children). There may be a conflict of wills.
• Too few doors in relationship to the windows and the children may create havoc. On the job, employees may strike or rebel.

Architecture That Exhausts All Your Emotional Resources
• A door that is below the level of the street make every movement feel like an uphill climb. Time becomes altered and energy depleted. There is an inability to follow through and complete projects.
• A contrary door is a door that opens to a wall instead of the main part of the room. Everyone who lives in the house may find they are laboring and not enjoying the results of their work. They may feel exhausted and disappointed most of the time.
• If a stove is in line with the front door, family problems may never be resolved. There is constant worry and pressure which can exhaust everyone who lives there.
• If a bedroom is the first room an inhabitant sees when entering the house, they may be too tired to take care of their responsibilities and daily duties.

 Exterior And Interiors That Are Blueprints For Illness
• An industrial park or factory next door may be overwhelming. The distraction and pollution create physical and mental imbalances. Being empty at night they create a yin presence. All of this affects your ability to concentrate, be clear and effective.
• A bathroom in the center of the house or office can deplete all life situations. Poor health can plague every inhabitant year after year, effecting succeeding generations.
• A fireplace in the center of the house can burn up money, create infamy and heat up passion so it is burns outside the house, drying up your creative juices. The flow of your career may come to a drizzle and your inner growth may be non-existent. Your vitality is depleted and your emotional capacity to lift your life to joy is severely restrained.
•A stairway that ends too close to a wall may impede the flow of Ch’i in the building and the bodies of the inhabitants. You may feel blocked physically, emotionally and in your career.

If you would like to receive a cure for any one of these design features, I am happy to share I request red envelopes, here is the red envelope tradition.

Have you decided this will be your year? ”Boldness has genius”…start with one hour of 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.