The yin-yang balance of your space

In Chinese medicine good health is read as balanced yin and yang. Illness starts when yin and yang are chronically unbalanced and blocked. Balance is dynamic, not static. The dynamic balance of yin and yang is seen in the flow your energy, or Chi, between its yin and yang phases. Yin rests; yang surges. Yin falls; Yang rises. Life undulates.

When we describe yin and yang in terms of time, yin is the fall and winter, and yang is the spring and summer. Everything that lives has yin and yang phases.

In terms of a city, yin is the middle of the block and yang is the corner. In a house yin is the back and yang is the front.Yin is the private area, yang is the public area. Yin is dark and yang is bright.

Sometimes feng shui is done from reading a person's face and body. There is a yang type face and a yin type face. A yang type face has eyes closer together and deep set, and the mouth is smaller, and the body is tightly knit. A yin type face has eyes further apart, perhaps even bulging, and the mouth is wider, and the body seems more loosely knit. A space can be arranged to complement the face type, a yang type person better suited to a yin type space, and a yin type person better suited to a yang type space. While these ideas are good and useful, any space that is overly yang or overly yin is not supportive and can contribute to poor health and declining fortunes.

A place with windows from floor to ceiling, or where the windows take up more than one third the size of the walls, and the rooms are unusually large, especially if the space is on a high floor of a building is overly yang. A person living in such an extremely yang space, especially if he or she is a yang type, may tend to become hyper-active, nervous, impatient, angry, anxious, easily distracted, indecisive and confused, and prone to insomnia.

A place that lacks sufficient light, whose windows are too small, or too close to, and facing the wall of a neighboring building, and whose rooms are too small and dark, especially if the the space is on a low floor of a building is overly yin. A person living in such an extremely yin space, especially if the person is a yin type, will tend to become lethargic, tired, sleepy, absent-minded, depressed, and stressed out.

You can treat an excessively yang space by using darker hues. Use window treatments to screen the light where possible, and create intimate areas with the furniture and lighting.

You can treat an excessively yin space by using lighter, more vibrant hues. Window treatments should not limit the light, but should let in a maximum of light. Use overhead lighting where possible. Another way of treating a very yin space is to arrange small areas of intimate beauty using art objects, while keeping the center of the space open for free movement. Cramped space means cramped life. A balanced space means a balanced life.

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Raphael is available for personal consultations in Chinese astrology and feng shui. Visit www.trs-fengshui.com

Raphael's best selling feng shui book, Feng Shui Step by Step is reprinted and available at Amazon and at www.createspace.com/3472024

Chinese Autumn in Chinese astrology and feng shui

Autumn in the Chinese calendar begins when the Sun is exactly mid-point the summer solstice and the autumn equinox, or 15 degrees Leo. This year Chinese autumn season began on August 7. The Chinese astrological chart made for the moment the sun entered 15 degrees Leo at Washington DC shows the following.

The signs for the year, lunar month, day, and hour are Water Dragon, Fire Sheep, Earth Pig, and Wood Pig, respectively. Autumn, in Chinese reckoning, is the season of the element Metal. In the present chart we find 1 Metal, 4 Water, 6 Wood, 2 Fire, and 3 Earth. Except for the Metal of the season there is no Metal in the chart. This makes Metal extremely weak; it tells us that in the lunar months beginning on August 17, September 16, and October 15, in other words from August 17 to the beginning of Chinese winter season on November 8, alarming events may develop in the US leading up to the Presidential election. Metal represents the military and police. The chart has an extreme overbalance of Wood. Wood shows anger. People are angry.

A major focus of the chart is on what is called Implicit Talent deity. This, especially when combined with the Star of Arts found in the chart, and the strong Wood of the chart, favors all talent related professions, including careers having to do with the arts, entertainments, and tourism. This is an excellent time for creative work. Viewed in Feng Shui, pay attention to whatever area of your home is used for creative activities, especially if connected to money; the chart also has a prominent Money Storage Star. This is a good time for professionals in the arts. Instead of letting the energy drive you to madness put it to creative work.

No Metal in the chart, but in the season, is not a good sign. It shows a lack of boundaries. Metal controls Wood. Wood is too strong, and there is no Metal. When Metal shows up in the lunar months beginning on August 17 there will be danger of more violence in the country.

The year, lunar month, day, and hour of the beginning of autumn reduced to an I Ching hexagram give us hexagram 9, Xiaoxu, or TheTaming Power of the Small. The line indicated is the 5th. The hexagram indicates that it is good to do something despite the dangers or difficulties. The hexagram is good in winter, bad in summer, and warns of fighting in the autumn. Avoid unnecessary conflict. Rely on the restraining power of smallness. The 5th line says that if you are sincere and loyally attached, you will be blessed with good neighbors. Trustworthiness brings success. It also says unless you take advantage of a seemingly worthless opportunity you will have no reason to expect anything.

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Raphael is available for private consultations in Chinese astrology and fengshui. To find out more visit www.trs-fengshui.com.

Raphael's book Feng Shui Step by Step is reprinted and available at Amazon.com and at www.createspace.com/3472024.