feng shui thread - join in and share your experiences / questions etc

[ziggyziggy]

I'm not sure if this is in the right part of the site but it seemed the most apt...

I was on another thread the other day about hobbies, and said feng shui was mine and a handful of people expressed interest in it, so thought I would start a thread.

A lot of people think it's mumbo jumbo (apologies in advance to you lot!) but where I have made real efforts to change things in line with the "rules" of feng shui it has really helped me to turn my life around in many areas (whether that's a placebo effect, some sort of brain / environment changing link or something a bit deeper / more mystical) so I think it's well worth pursuing for anyone that way inclined or who might want to address a particular issue in their life by trying it.

So anyone with a vague interest in feng shui is welcome to share their experiences here and feedback to each other with what they have done and if it had any effects, or ask questions etc.

Most of it is very practical (such as decluttering, organising, fixing broken things etc) but there are other things you can do to address certain issues or enhance areas of your life (such as pimping out your "wealth corner" etc) which seem to have had a big impact for me. I tend to avoid the massively superstitious ideas and go down a more intuitive route while loosely following the rules.

Anyway - all interested, please join! :-) I'd be really interested to hear if anyone else does any feng shui and has noticed any changes in their life since doing it. Tips etc welcome.

I'd be happy to answer any questions I can although I am in no way an expert or professional, just read up a fair bit on it and been doing it a while. Would also be interested to ask others their advice too.

good work Rummi.

Hmm you could get some nice rose quartz crystals which represent both the earth element as well as symbolically representing love (apparently good for attracting love). They are quite cheap to buy and very pretty. You can wash them well in running water / leave in sunlight / wash in salt water to refresh and charge their energy before placing.

Or some nice pottery is meant to represent the earth element, so ceramic soap dishes would work well (get two as things are meant to be in pairs here), or a couple of nice vases and put some nice flowers in.

Colours - apparently red and pink work well in that area, but not sure they go with blue (maybe pink better?) or yellow represents earth in feng shui - that might work nicely with blue?

That said it's important to use colours and things you love, if you hate something then subconsciously it's going to unsettle you, so don't use anything you don't love (I don't believe in strict rules around it all).

Make sure you have two sets of towels - one for the potential new partner... and space in the cabinet for their stuff.

Can you explain to me how i find the wealth corner in my house please ?
We currently have 3 taps that drip, drives me a bit potty!
But, we did get the oven cleaned last week

hi ihate, face inwards from the front door and the wealth corner is the far left from the front door. If you have an L shape house you might be missing it, in which case you can compensate in other ways (described earlier in thread).

Imagine that the whole house is divided into a grid of 9 (3 rows of three squares / rectangles), the wealth corner is the far left square.

You can find the bagua grid by Googling it, it will also tell you want the other areas are. You always align it so the front door is on the bottom row of the grid. By the way, different methods of feng shui sometimes show different bagua grids, where one or two things might be in different places. I tend to use one that has the middle as "health" / earth. Don't fret too much about which one to use, just choose one and stick to it, it is your intention around doing things in each area that has the effect.

Get the leaky taps fixed! You're on track with your oven (I need to do mine!).

Hi Ziggyziggy, great thread I need to look at areas in my house. Currently our front door is at the side of the house. I would like to move it to the front.

What I want to know is if I spend £30 on a money tree will I have more money, or will I just have a massive plant cluttering up my house and be £30 worse off?

hi lynette, I guess that depends on your point of view but that is quite funny and I get why some people might think that way...

money plants aren't expensive, you can find little ones for a few pounds, I picked one up for £1.50 (a jade plant) at a local greengrocer and they grow big if you let them but you can always cut them back.

It doesn't have to be expensive, and you can use stuff you already have, such as any lush green plants from any other area of your home.

If you don't like plants then don't use plants, particularly if you think they are cluttering! You could find something else that represented wealth to you that you already own and move it into your wealth corner.... even a kids toy till or something if your little ones have such things.

Also, much of the emphasis emphasis really is on decluttering. So if you've got loads of stuff then don't go buying tons of new stuff. Get rid of the excess first, then maybe recycle the bits you love in a feng shui way. Clean and fix them etc and give them pride of place in a relevant area.

Also if you don't believe (or at least have a little belief) that it will work, and remain cynical then it is unlikely to work. It takes real intention to actually achieve anything, mindset is important. Thus for cynics if it's done with a feeling that "this is a load of mumbo jumbo" it probably won't work. Where intention goes, energy flows, that's the key thing with it.

Also it helps to carry out a bit of work towards your goals in your own life, not just move things around but do a little work to help it along (such as go out if you want to improve your social life etc). You might find that where you normally go out nothing happens but something special happens with the feng shui stuff going on as well. Or if you're intent on getting a new job, you can't just wait for it to happen, you have to do a bit of looking, but you might find more suitable jobs come up or you get more interviews etc if you have done your career area out - with intention, that is!

Hope this is helpful, although I do appreciate some people are cynical (which is probably the opposite of how you need to be to get this stuff to work)... you need at least a little open mindedness about it.

Indigocat - wow, moving a whole front door - do you have a different door there already or are you making a whole new one? this would alter the bagua grid completely if you make a new front door. I know little about such a thing but it could change things in your life. (Or maybe just have a new place for a front door if you're a cynic )

Thanks ziggy
If my house is a rectangle shape with an extra bit of the left hand side of the rectangle for the kitchen.
Would the wealth area be in the LH part of the rectangle or the furthest LH Corner that is in the extension?

It would be the far corner of the extension (I think) if this is the furthest left corner of the whole house, which could mean you are missing a couple of other baguas to the right of it, depending on how far out it stretches from the main part.

That said, the area is 1/9th of your house (if a grid were laid over it) so not just that furthest corner but that whole square of the grid.

You stretch the entire bagua out to the furthest corners and then see if there are any missing or part missing areas. If some areas are completely missing (you may have enough of a bit of a bagua to work with it fine) you can strengthen the relevant areas in other rooms to counteract this (see earlier in thread).

Hi Ziggyziggy only a window at the front of the house atm. We could just put another one in to confuse the postie ????. I have had an interest in Feng Shui for a while and read some of the mentioned books.

Hey ziggy thanks for all the info. In the far right corner of my house I have a sideboard with lots of photos of my kids on it, which is quite appropriate because they are the only people I can really be bothered having a relationship with right now lol. However-right outside that window is where my bins are kept in the garden. Does it matter what's in that area outside, or just inside?

Funnily enough it's the left corner where I keep all my work stuff anyway, just need to restore some order to it.

Btw, I still share my bedroom with a two,and a half year old too...she has her own room, just refuses to sleep in it.

Was thinking that when I do feel ready to pursue a new relationship, I might put an empty frame up on the sideboard next to all the kids photos, just to put it out there that there is space.

Ordered the Karen Kingston book yesterday, inspired by this thread and also did a huge declutter at the weekend. It really does lift your spirits.

hi zipe glad to hear you are inspired... it does feel good to have a chuck out doesn't it!

your ideas around relationships sound great - I think you just have to do what works for you, and being creative about it like you have with the frames is a great idea.

as far as your outside area goes - I'm not entirely sure, I think the bagua generally relates to the house (I don't have a garden so not looked into it), however it really can't hurt to make sure your entire outside property is nice and feng shui friendly too - I would if I had one! What I will say is my mum cleared out her shed (in her wealth corner of her garden) then got a large unexpected cheque a week or so after so I think it's the intention that will work.

If your area outside with bins is the most practical place to put them don't fret too much, what would be worse is to put them somewhere less practical and keep tripping over them. You could always try moving them as and when you want to attract a man as it might help!!

Look forward to hearing your updates in due course. I think you have to give it a bit of time for it to work, sometimes results are very quick, other times it's more gradual as you chip away at it...

Talking of which I have had a few issues with DS lately - and my children area is cluttered - I think I need to declutter and see how it goes... I am currently storing a load of junk there... when I get the time I must give it an overhaul!!

Really interesting thread, thank you for starting it, Ziggy.

I have never really thought about feng shui before, but in the back of my mind always thought there was something in it.

Recently single, I am now free to do as I please with most of the house (I live with my mum)...so will bear this in mind as I de-clutter and move stuff around.

The far right of the house (downstairs) is my mum's bedroom...how does that work then?? Its her space so should that make a difference to my love life, plus I can't really go in there and change things around? Far right, upstairs - doesn't exist...it is part of our neighbour's flat. Is my love life doomed?? Am confused, sorry for the silly and probably very obvious question!

The far left of my home - downstairs - is where the TV is, in the sitting room. Is this bad? Upstairs far right is my bedroom, at the moment I have my desk there, with a pinboard and a painting I've done recently and some makeup clutter. Should I remove the desk and clutter?

Any tips would be gratefully received. Also please tell me if I am getting my left and right mixed up. I am imagining it as when I am entering my home through the front door.

Also does it matter that I have to go through a communal entrance before I get to my front door - which is in the basement? That another thing - can't grow plants in the basement!

Thank you

hi scabby, glad you found the thread interesting

So from what you have said I presume you've based your far right, far left on facing inwards from the front door? If so that's the right way to do it, so will base my reply on that.

The bagua applies to the whole house so your mums' area is taking up the relationships bagua area of the house, and your bedroom is probably in a different bagua (although it's on a different floor the bagua grid would stretch over the whole house, upstairs and downstairs rather than being different on each floor).

So what you can do is focus on changing the love bagua are of your own bedroom (each room has its own set of bagua areas as well as being one of the main bagua areas - see earlier in the thread) and any other rooms you use a lot (or indeed in the whole house (bar any non-communal areas) if you wanted to. So find the far right corner of your bedroom (facing inwards from the bedroom door) and use that instead. It's not an issue that your mum is in the main relationship area of the house, it's her space and you can't mess with it so just focus on changing the other room relationship areas you have access too, particularly your room.

Re. the far left of your home that is the wealth area, I don't really know if having a TV etc there is good or bad, just make sure that the area is nice and clean and clutter free and put a few things there that remind you of abundance etc. You could also focus on improving your own bedroom's wealth area if you wanted to.

It's also worth clearing the clutter in your bedroom in general as any clutter can affect your sleep. it may also affect the area of your life that your bedroom falls in (depending on the overall position within the main house bagua and where it falls - best to google the bagua grid and find out). As well as do all the other stuff which is relevant to relationships (such as having two of everything, moving the bed so you can get into it from each side - if practical etc) - described earlier in the thread.

Also your communal entrance isn't something you can really affect so don't worry about it, you don't have to count it in your bagua area, however if you want to clean it or make some improvements I am sure it wouldn't harm! but depends if you can be bothered, so just focus on changing what you can.

Also rather than just focus on wealth / relationships as mostly this thread has focussed on, think carefully about your life and what might be going on in different areas (e.g. career, health etc). If you have any issues in a particular area of your life you can find where in the house it is and make appropriate amends or intentional changes there...

Hope this helps, shout if you have any more questions.

Thanks so much for replying

Just quickly, before I read your full reply properly - when you say "facing inwards from the door" - do you mean I am standing in my doorway, and looking in towards the interior? Or am I looking out of the door, at the street / hallway?

God, sorry, I sound really dim don't I

sorry I should have been clearer - if you were coming into your house, from your front door, facing in towards the house is the right way, not facing away from the house. :)

Hi again, Ziggy

Have read your reply properly. Thanks again for taking the time.

I did a huge declutter a few months ago but its starting to pile up again now. I need to get going again. It does feel utterly amazing once its done, and there is space again.

In regards to my bedroom - its a weird sort of place because of the location of the in built wardrobe, the placement of the windows and radiator, and seemingly random indentations in the wall - means there is only one place I can realistically place my bed - and that position, I have just read - is not great for feng shui (it is in alignment with the door). But I do have two bedside tables

I am completely new to this and feel quite fired up about it. I'm sure I'll have loads of questions as I go along, and will learn a lot from this thread.

Ziggy - I thought so! I get mixed up with my left and right at the best of times, so just wanted to make sure. Thanks for clarifying

don't stress about the bed / bedroom thing... just strengthen the relevant areas of other rooms. Also there are little "cures" you can do, I believe if this is the case that the room is a funny shape or there's only one place to put the bed etc, but I am not sure what they are in this situation (sometimes they recommend placing a crystal or a mirror a special way to counteract the chi flow or whatever, I am sure with googling it you will find a suggestion online).

good luck - I hope you achieve whatever you want to! or at least that this helps you along.

ps hope everyone updates here if they get any results! :-)

look forward to hearing them.

Ziggy, I came across your thread and had an introductory look into Feng Shui.

I am a little bit creeped out, to be honest. When I looked at the bagua areas in my home, there were some seriously eerie correlations between those zones and the circumstances of our lives.

I mean, seriously eerie.

It's a coincidence seeing this thread today as I was just Googling this morning where a money toad should go!

I love Feng Shui and had done a bit as you are doing but got confused and stopped because I did a one-day course to learn more then found that was based around compass directions which just made everything far more complex

I'll follow you all with interest!

werksall, how interesting! when you say seriously eerie, what do you mean? I hope things haven't been too bad for you - at least you might have a solution now to sort it out.

is there clutter in the areas you're having issues with? Can you enlighten any more?

I hope you are able to make the right changes now and see if things get any easier.

as I explained earlier in the thread I have been having issues with DS and my children area is cluttered right now, I'm going to give it a good clean this week. I've also been a bit down about stuff around parenting the last week or two, I have had a difficult couple of years since DS was born and as a lone parent and he's a toddler it's a particularly trying time. I have come a long way though since he has been born, and really feel like the feng shui has helped with that.

I don't put everything in my life down to it, as I know life itself always has some issues or things going on, but when I have made intentional changes through the decluttering or whatever, I have noticed improvements, sometimes immediately. And when I think back to a couple of years ago and the situation then (and my clutter etc) things are so much different in a positive way in most of my life areas...now I think I need to get on a relationship feng shui sorting tip though ASAP!...(could do with a helpful partner but probably most single parents feel that way!!). Must get on the case!

calmyobadself - yes you can do it based on the compass directions, and that is going opposite to some of the bagua grids suggested, however I think the important thing to do is choose a method (either compass or bagua based on the front door) and stick to it and believe it will work and either one you will get results with.

It's the intention that's important so if you decide an area is your wealth area then the changes you make there will impact your life, whether you use the compass or the bagua aligned with the front door method. I think the front door aligned bagua method is easier (and probably the more western method) so I just go with this.

I also think with it you can get super-superstitious (even if what I have written seems superstitious there are a lot more deeply superstitious ideas I don't follow!) such as people getting concerned about things going in different areas at different times of the year etc (called flying stars directions) or putting the wrong number of such and such or shape in the wrong place. I don't think it's helpful to get too obsessed by every tiny detail, I think you need to focus on small or important changes you can make and not worry about every single thing in a room (that will make you go mad and counter what good you are trying to do).

also calmyo - you are welcome here and would love to hear what you've been doing so far - have you had any success?

ziggy ... to give an example, the love and marriage area in our house covers my office and the utility room, which is currently full of DIY materials and tools.

Since we moved into this house, the two contentious issues in my marriage to DH have been that I spend too much time working in my office in the evening and the DIY that needs to be done around the house.

Another one is that the wealth area is our kitchen. We have had a lot of problems with controlling miscellaneous spend every month: a fiver here, a fiver there ... all adding up to quite a bit a month. I haven't been able to figure out where it goes and it has driven me mad trying to track it. DH and I have had flaming rows about it.

The uncanny thing is that, at the same time, we have had a series of problems with the kitchen sink and the plumbing. First, the plug for the sink disappeared. Then the tap started leaking badly. Then the dishwasher waste pipe failed and left stagnant water in the bottom of the dishwasher.

It is only in the last month that we have finally sorted out how to track this spend, and I had the idea for the new system we use at around the same time as I bought a new plug for the sink and sorted out the dishwasher waste pipe.

There are more eerie correlations like this. The bagua zones in my house seem to quite accurately reflect the present circumstances of those areas in our lives.