Feng Shui and the Recession

Not that these aren't challenging times, but all the fear mongering and consequent public anxiety isn't helping anyone. How can Feng Shui help with this, you might ask. It is my experience that when life becomes stagnant and money is not coming in as it should, changing the environmental conditions does help to get the energy going again. In other words, move the furniture around, and put it into a new configuration. Sometimes even a small change makes a world of difference.
It really helps to clean out the place. Clutter spells stagnation and anxiety. Traditionally, one completely sweeps clean the house at the beginning of spring, which, in the Chinese calendar, begins on or near February 4th. Throw away everything that you don't need. Clear up all the clutter. Get organized. Look over all the old papers and decide what goes where and what goes into the garbage.
To make a spiritual cleansing of the house, according to tradition, first open all the windows and do a thorough cleaning; washing and vacuuming. When that's done, take a broom and lightly sweep all the floors and walls from the back of the house to the front door, then sweep all the stale energy out the door. If you want to do it right, slam the door behind it all once you've got it outside.
There is a secret method used by Mongolian and Chinese wizards for getting bad spirits out of the house that you can include with the above cleansing. For this, you need to get a small round mirror. Traditionally, one uses a round bronze mirror that can be held in the hand, but a small, round cosmetic mirror will do if you can't find a bronze mirror; they're hard to come by and are expensive. Take the mirror in your left hand; hold it flat with all five fingers around it so the reflecting side shows out. In your right hand, hold a red candle that you have lit. The candle flame has to be reflected by the face of the mirror. With this, go around to all the walls of the house, walk close to the wall surfaces, reflecting the candle fire in the mirror onto the walls as you go from the back of the house all the way around to the front door. This causes hungry ghost energies to flee the house and can cause your hair to stand up on end if you are sensitive to such entities. This practice is best done in the early Autumn. Chinese Autumn season begins on or around August 8th.
To freshen up the house and bring in good luck, bring in fresh oranges and fresh flowers and arrange them on a table. Then light two red candles on the table where you have arranged the oranges and flowers, burn sandalwood incense, and make a prayer for the blessings of Heaven for peace and prosperity to come into your home.
When arranging the furniture, make sure the configuration lets you move easily through the house; nothing should get in the way of movement. The house has to feel open and airy. Clutter anywhere means stagnation in one or another department of your life. A Feng Shui reading of your house will tell you exactly what the cluttered areas of your home correspond to in your life according to the elements of your Chinese astrological chart and the elements of the different compass points inside your house. Whatever, a complete cleaning of the house, including decluttering it and sorting out and rearranging all the stuff will help you to get the energy moving again, and that's what you want. While doing this, concentrate on rearranging how you feel about your prospects in life. A feeling of being stuck in life with no idea what to do is no better than living in a cluttered mess. Clear your mental environment while you clear your home environment; they both reflect one another. When you can see your intention for an unobstructed way in life that is conducive to success reflected in an open, clean environment you will be taking a very positive step in the right direction.
Anxiety or dispair, for whatever reason, needs time to come around and be transformed. In the context of the Chinese elements these emotions are related mostly to Earth and Metal. In their most positive, life supportive expressions, Earth and Metal signify nourishment and cleanliness. If you are in emotional trouble for fear of not having enough, take care of nourishment and setting healthy boundaries. In terms of your space, pay attention to your kitchen, and throw out all the junk.
Money points in the house to consider include the first place you see upon opening the front door, also the far left-hand area, or corner, of your entire house or apartment, and the south-east area of the house or apartment. There are also areas designated as money points that correspond to the age of your house as well as to your Chinese astrological chart; to locate these, however, you may want the help of an expert. Besides the fixed money points, there are money points that circulate around the house on a yearly, even monthly basis due to the rotation of the heavens. In China and Japan people who use fengshui readjust the house or place of business on a regular basis to catch the luck.
What to do mainly in money points is to make sure the energy, or C'hi, breathes. Clutter or unsightly stuff in those areas designated as money points militates against a healthy relationship with money. Money points, besides being uncluttered should be well lit. If you wish, you can put symbols of prosperity at the money points. Symbols of prosperity, besides appropriate Chinese calligraphies, include such things as bouquets of flowers, flowering plants, jade plants, the lucky Buddha, a conch shell, images of two gold fish swiming around one another, elephants, deer, horses, dogs, and so on. Certain images, such as dragons or money turtles need to be positioned in special ways according to the element they represent. For example, a dragon or money turtle made of plastic, crystal or glass corresponds to the element Water and has to be positioned to face north; a dragon made of Wood has to face east or south east, a dragon made of stone has to face northeast or southwest, a dragon made of metal has to face west or northwest. The famous money toad has to be positioned to face the direction of the front door. The money toad should be placed up high, never low down. This is because the money toad is a form of the Moon Fairy Chang-O, and Chang-O lives in the sky, not on the earth. The money toad works with the lunar tides. What this means is if you are using money toads, you are putting your money luck on a lunar tide basis which is always a good idea. To do it right, you have to get six money toads. Select five places to put five of them. They don't all have to be seen; they can be hidden. Put one of the money toads away. Every new moon rotate the positions of the money toads, and exchange the one that was put away with one that was already used. You wake one up and put one to sleep month by month; you rotate the money toads like in a game of musical chairs. Every month one of them goes to sleep. That way when you rotate them you keep your luck flowing. Five is the best number to have working for you. There are five elements; you want to keep the elements turning. The Five Elements are the expressions of the cycle of C'hi, and C'hi is energy. The way magic works is all in your intention. Magic works in the unconscious; it's totally irrational. It works if you let it work.
To make decent money, you need to keep your mind clear. This is where the element Metal comes in. Metal cuts out everything undesirable. To keep your mind clear, or clearer than it has been these past months, make sure to throw out everything you don't want and can't use anymore. Keep your home in a simple, balanced condition.
And to cheer up, use the element Fire. Keep things of beauty that inspire you.
In the Chinese system, everything is cyclical; everything moves in waves. This down cycle will be followed by an up cycle, and so on. Money is flow, or affluence. If the flow of the energy of your home and life is good, your chances of luck are good. If the flow is stale and stagnant, your chances of luck are poor. Breathe right, open the channels to life, let in the light and get more luck. Chaos or clutter often denotes depression. If you or someone in your home is depressed or chaotic, go about decluttering very carefully and sensitively unless you want to get a bad reaction; decluttering often exposes emotional pain that wants to be left alone and needs time to come through its own process by itself in its own time. In other words, be patient with yourself as well as with the others living with you when fixing up the place.
How well can you move through your home? Do you need all the stuff you cling to? Can you take chances with money to improve your condition? Fear comes of feeling stuck. The less freely you can move the more stuck you feel. Open your space and move and you will begin to feel less stuck. That will begin to turn your luck around for the better.
The autumn is a very good time to clear out the house and prepare to concentrate on your aims through the winter.
For more information about Raphael's work in Feng Shui please see www.psychicarts.net, or www.trs-fengshui.com.