Even for those of us who expect to be here on December 22, 2012, this milestone triple date invites an exploration of the power of numbers.

In Feng Shui, the number one symbolizes the primal being or creation—God.  When humans are “number one,” we are at our best or closest to expressing the Divine in us.

Two can be a symbol of separation, opposition, and conflict.  But in philosophies like the Tao, we understand that the two opposite but complementary forces of yin and yang are necessary to form a whole or equilibrium that governs the entire universe.

So together, twelve becomes a powerful number of both spiritual and earthly order.  When you magnify the power of this number times three, it is not surprising that the magical date of 12/12/12 is associated with a milestone shift in human intellectual and spiritual growth and understanding.

Rather than signaling an end to the physical world, a Feng Shui understanding of these numbers tells us that we are in the midst of a time of amazing expansion of the human potential.  And rather than the fire of destruction, we carry the spark of starlight in our eyes.

Gabriele Amersbach, Lucky Path Feng Shui

One manifestation of this human potential is our willingness to ease the pain and suffering of others. This spirit is manifest in the “12-12-12 Concert” that begins today at 6:30 p.m., and will feature numerous artists from Bon Jovi, and Eric Clapton, to Alicia Keys and the Who.

The concert will be broadcast to more than one billion people in North and South America, Asia, Africa and Australia via television, radio and live streaming. (www.121212concert.org).

Mary, the “Water” person, is the deep thinker who is able to reach down and get a clear, thoughtful understanding or approach to an issue.  If this aspect is not balanced with Fire or Wood energy, she may not be able to express these deep thoughts and is often left in a frustrated silence because she cannot communicate her ideas.

Barry is the “Wood” person.  He constantly has new ideas that he wishes others to understand and accept.  He may talk a lot about these ideas, but without Fire or connection energy, he may become irritable and short-tempered because others don’t jump on board.

John has a lot of “Fire” energy.  He makes connections and always “knows a guy” who can help.   Because he thrives from reaching out to people, he may be a pleasure seeker who craves new relationships and experiences constantly.  If he isn’t grounded with “Earth” in his character, he may burn out or form shallow relationships that don’t last.

Sue is the worrier with too much “Earth.”  Do people have enough to eat? Are they warm or cool enough?  Is the newly waxed floor too slippery? In other words, while she is caring and thoughtful, she tends to be a bit smothering if she doesn’t have some Metal in her personality to provide external structure—and some Water that helps her focus go inward rather than just on other’s needs.

John is the rules guy—he knows the regulations, laws, and schedules in any situation and can be impatient and sarcastic with those who are less structured in their approach.  With excessive “Metal” in his personality, he needs the balance of Earth to bring more compassion and some Fire energy to help him make connections with others more easily.

This is just a quick look at how the Chinese elements appear in our personality.  When we discover where we have too much or too little of an element–through one of my workshops, for example — we can use this awareness to find balance through other relationships or by nurturing areas we may lack.

A recent workshop participant said it best:

“I love how the elements gave an objective look at my personality.  I am no longer making myself wrong for being how I am.  I have a clearer picture of my natural strengths and weaknesses.  And now I know what I can bring into my life to enhance those areas of my life that need greater balance.” — JoAnne Schaub, Coach, Mentor & Holistic Entrepreneur, joanneschaub.com

Gabriele Amersbach, Lucky Path Feng Shui

Make your child’s bedroom happy and uplifting!

I am often asked about colors and décor for bedrooms for younger children to help them feel safe, comfortable, and inspired.  Let’s break down a child’s bedroom into six  aspects from a Feng Shui perspective:

The bed—for younger children a large bed (some young children may sleep in a double or even larger bed) can be intimidating and frightening because they feel lost in it.  Better for children to sleep in beds that fit their smaller size, preferably with a wall nearby for comfort and safety.

Headboards—make sure your child’s bed has a headboard so that they feel supported and confident.

Décor should include items they enjoy—allow your child to hang up pictures he or she painted, posters of (nonviolent) movies or characters he or she enjoys.  A bulletin board is an easy way to allow the child to hang up important items on a rotating basis.

Technology—avoid TVs in the bedroom when possible.  Research has found children isolate themselves more from the family, study less, and sleep more poorly when they have a TV in their rooms.  Consider collecting the phones and laptops of younger children before bed so that they truly focus on sleep.

Colors—choose clear, unmuted colors in children’s rooms so they feel energized and positive.  Designer colors that are muddy and include a high percentage of grays or black like hunter greens, mustards,  browns, “mink,” burgundies can depress the spirit of younger children.  Avoid reds and too many brights because they may prevent sleep and keep the child over stimulated.

Keep clutter at a minimum—help your child develop a regular practice of cleaning and keeping the room clutter free.  I remember insisting my daughter clean her room before every event or trip she wanted to take—it worked and helped keep her on top of clutter.   A clean room will help your child think more clearly, be less prone to depression, and stay more active.   Gabriele Amersbach, Lucky Path Feng Shui

Better Health with Feng Shui!

Since with Feng Shui, the environment is a metaphor for the body, adjustments to the physical environment can help to better health, both in general and with specific concerns.

As a Feng Shui practitioner, I often run into clients with low energy or depression as a major concern.  The first place I look is in the lighting.  Are there missing bulbs, broken fixtures? Burnt out light bulbs?  Is the lighting dark and dingy?  The quickest way to raise energy or chi is to increase the number of lamps,  open the drapes or mini blinds, and increase the wattage of current lights.

Common dark areas are hallways, laundry rooms, garages—and teenage rooms.  All benefit from an increase in wattage or additional lighting.  Since teenagers are especially prone to dark thoughts and depression, it can really help to keep the lighting bright—and ban the black lights or blackout curtains—fight this battle!

For general health, it is important to make sure that all appliances work and electrical and plumbing systems are in working order.  Since the electrical system is the “blood” of the house, frayed wires, shorts, overloaded sockets can impact the healthy blood flow as well as the lymphatic system.  Problems with the immune system can be linked to clogged toilets, drains, and leaking faucets.

In Feng Shui, heart disease and some circulatory illnesses are directly linked to pathways in the home—like hallways, doors, staircases.  Since the front door is the “mouth of chi”—the entrance of opportunity and energy into the home—it is critical that clutter and junk be removed.  Make sure the door (all doors!) are able to open fully; windows aren’t blocked with furniture and junk; and hallways aren’t blocked with packages, junk, or protruding furniture that stop the chi from circulating easily.

A special word about stairways—keep them clutter free and make sure you have pictures on the wall and possibly plants or a faceted crystal over the last step to stop the energy from moving too quickly.

Spiral staircases, especially those with open steps without solid support, are a classic Feng Shui disaster.  It is best to avoid buying homes with this feature.  A possible cure is to add a faceted crystal on a red string in 9 inch increments at the top (or add a crystal chandelier if your budget allows it).  Plants at the bottom help, possibly with leaves winding around the handrail to ground the stairs.  Spiral stairs are a complex issue and require more intense intervention.

Other health issues that can be linked to maintenance issues in the home:

• Eyesight—broken or cracked windows, cloudy mirrors
• Headaches—blocks in entryways, looming furniture, overhead beams
• Arthritis and joint problems—rusty hinges, poor fitting doors and cabinet drawers, door handles that are loose

This is of-course just a sampling of health issues that can be linked to the physical environment.  But with a chronic health concern, it is good to take a look at that stopped up toilet, burnt-out socket, and leaky dishwasher you’ve been meaning to fix.  Feng Shui is never considered a substitute for traditional health care or medications, but understanding that our environment can affect our health and well being is an empowering step to healthier living!   Gabriele Amersbach, Lucky Path Feng Shui

Elephants and Feng Shui

Elephants and Feng Shui–Elephants are often used in Feng Shui to energize certain areas of the home and for good luck. The elephant is associated with Buddha and the Indian deity Ganesh and can be used to symbolize power, wisdom, strength, protection of the home, fertility, and general good luck.

Many Feng Shui practitioners believe that elephants should have their trunks facing upwards to represent prosperity, good luck, and success.

Nine ways the elephant can be used in a home:

1. Bringing good luck into the home — Place a statue of an elephant, or a pair of elephants, at the front door facing inward to signal good luck and blessings entering the home.

2. Protection— Place an elephant or pair of elephants facing outward to protect the home and to prevent the loss of chi from the home.

3. Promote love and fidelity – Display an elephant or a pair of elephants in the bedroom to promote love and faithfulness between a couple..

4. Bonding between mother and child – Place a statue of a mother elephant and her baby, a symbol of the love and bonding between a mother and her children, in your Family or Children section to strengthen the bond.

5. Fertility – Place an elephant statue beside the bed or place a pair, one on either side of the bedroom door, to welcome in “infant” energy.

6. Knowledge and academic success – Place a statue in your child’s bedroom, on his or her desk, or wherever s/he does homework.  The elephant is a symbol of knowledge and academic success.

7. Energize the Career area – Place an elephant near the door or the Career area to symbolize wisdom and power.

8. Work success – Place an elephant near the front door or the door of the office to attract power and to protect the person from bad energy in the office.

9. Good management – Place an elephant on your work desk facing out to symbolize intelligent leadership, poise under pressure, and cautiousness.

 –Gabriele Amersbach, Lucky Path Feng Shui

Feng Shui tells us our environment is a reflection of our inner world—and our inner world shapes our environment.

The environment in the US?

•  Nearly 47 percent of all Americans own guns—yet statistics tell us we have more of a chance of dying from gun violence if our homes contain a gun.
•  America is the highest exporter of weapons (as of 2000)—and we have the highest rate of gun deaths in ALL industrial countries.

I won’t go on—in America, eyes glaze over at these horrific statistics as yet another pro-concealed weapon law is passed.  Perhaps if we understood the association of guns and violence from a Feng Shui perspective…

Everything in our environment sends us messages—consciously and unconsciously.  You have a lot of snack food in the house?  You’ll probably be a greater risk for obesity because you tend to eat it.  Pictures all around of Italy?  You’ll probably go there some time.  Broken down appliances, clutter, and dirt in you home? Often the setting for depression, despair, and financial hardship.

America’s focus on guns

And our American focus on keeping guns in the home, playing violent video games, and watching the most brutal violence as daily TV and movie fare?  Well, we can’t possibly be surprised at yet another national shooting tragedy. I notice the shooter didn’t choose Madagascar 3 as his background scenario.

So until we come up with an acceptable legal approach that can truly reduce death from gun violence, we can make personal changes to bring peace into our homes:

• Move the gun out of the house—or at least lock it up since you have a much greater chance of being shot yourself than shooting an intruder.
• Monitor the daily violence you and your children consume on TV and the computer.
• Use peaceful language.

Four thousand years of experience in Feng Shui tells us we become that with which we surround ourselves.  A gun under the bed or flowers on the nightstand?  Choose wisely.  –Gabriele Amersbach, Lucky Path Feng Shui

*Statistics come from the CCD and the Harvard Injury Control Research Center.

1.  Check for plants, bushes and trees that didn’t make it through the winter.  Dead plants in your yard (and in your home) do not set the stage for a vibrant energized environment of growth and opportunity.  Remove whole plants or cut away dead limbs.

2.  Don’t leave tree stumps visible—these are sad reminders of what used to grow here.  Have stumps removed or ground.

3.  Add flowers and color to the area near the entrance of your home—in Feng Shui we know that the entrance to the home is where we symbolically invite in new opportunities and energy.  Therefore, make the entrance as inviting as possible!

4.  An outdoor fountain can add visual appeal and energy—well placed fountains are wonderful energizers.  Placed near the front door (inside or out), they are known to draw money and financial opportunities into the home.

5.  Avoid dead spots in your lawn—in Feng Shui terms, dead spots in your lawn represent areas of your life you may be neglecting.  By the way, that goes for poison ivy patches as well! Weed and reseed—by placing the bagua over your garden and determining where weedy areas are, you can bring areas of neglect in your personal life into your consciousness.

6.  Stay organic and green—Feng Shui is all about harmony and balance.  If you sacrifice birds, small animals, and even beneficial insects for a deep green lawn dependent on chemicals, your lawn and life may lack balance.  With green products that stimulate plant growth without harming other living beings in your environment, you are symbolically supporting a harmonious life style.  In the Raleigh area, check out Leap Frog Land Care for a green approach to lawn care.   Gabriele Amersbach, Lucky Path Shui 4-29-12

The number 13—it is interesting that the most inauspicious number in the West is 13, which  can be translated in numerological terms to four (1+3 = 4), the most dreaded number in traditional Feng Shui.  In Cantonese, four is associated with death.  Though both number superstitions developed continents apart, the behaviors are parallel.  While Westerners may avoid staying on the 13^th floor or buying the 13^th seat on a plane, Asians may also avoid staying in hotels rooms with the number 4 or buying homes that include this number.

Walking under a ladder—most Western people avoid walking under a ladder because it is just considered bad luck.  According to Feng Shui, the point formed at the top of the ladder is considered to be shar or a “poison arrow” and is to be avoided, just as we don’t sit in front of sharp desk or table corner or under a ceiling beam.  Feng Shui tells us that shar energy is dangerous and unbalancing—a reason for everyone to walk around the ladder.

Rabbit’s foot—Westerners have carried a rabbit’s foot for good luck for centuries.  In Feng Shui, the rabbit is also associated with good luck and abundance because of its astounding ability to procreate.  Rather than carrying the unfortunate animal’s hind foot, in Feng Shui, we place a rabbit statue in particular areas of the home for “child luck” and good fortune.

Lucky horseshoe over the door—in the West, the traditional belief is that the horseshoe hung over the main door to the home will keep the devil from entering.  In Feng Shui, the front door is also given much attention.  But rather than warding off evil, in Feng Shui, we focus on welcoming good luck and opportunities into the home with an entrance that is uncluttered, free of cobwebs and dirt, freshly painted, and made inviting with blooming flowers and welcoming décor.

The color black—in the West, the color black is often associated with fear and superstition— think black cats, witches’ hats, the Black Death, and black-hearted villains. Feng Shui expands this limited perspective.  We move past fear and understand that black is associated with the water element, the mysterious origin of all life, the magic of night, the unfathomable depths of the feminine (a New Year’s resolution to use this term in a blog…).  Black can connote strength, depth, definition, and timeless mystery.  Kind of makes you want to wear that pointy Halloween hat all the time…

Gabriele Amersbach, Lucky Path Feng Shui

1. Clear off the dining room table so you have a place to eat together—then do so!  Make one meal a week together a minimum.
2. Find other areas in the home where the family can be together—and make sure there is enough seating for everyone.
3. A critical area in Feng Shui terms is the spot you see when you first open your eyes in the morning—make sure you see something uplifting and inspirational for the day, not a full laundry basket or an open bathroom door.  If your son sees a violent movie poster as his first view of the day, he may have an attitude to match!
4. Clean the garage--when the first thing you see at the end of a long day is boxes of family junk and unfinished projects as you trip over size 13 sneakers and bags of dog food on your way to the door, you may be less inclined to kiss your mate or keep your temper when your child’s math grade is short of stellar.
5. Same goes for your kids’ rooms.  Help them to declutter—sometimes they just need a helping hand for the first half hour.  As the chaos in their rooms decreases, you’ll notice a more cheerful kid emerge.
6. Make each family member feel honored and valued–keep a child’s art project dusted and in a place of honor, hang the painted pottery plate that Mom made in class, display Dad’s softball trophies and frame his picture with the team.

When each member of the family feels cherished, and the family home is clean, well lit, and clutter free, with plenty of areas where all can gather and interact, harmonious family life becomes a daily reality rather than a holiday movie dream. –  Gabriele Amersbach,  Lucky Path Feng Shui

1.  Remove the obvious signs of a break-up—missing furniture and pictures!  According to Feng Shui, your environment speaks to you and has a major impact on how you view the world.  I’ve been in client homes (often men) months—sometimes years—after the sad day—yet the rooms are half empty, missing sofas, kitchen tables, and even dishes, while walls retain the outlines of pictures long gone.

The only message from half empty rooms is loss!  To make your life feel whole again, make your room feel whole! Get a new couch, replace the pictures, buy a new set of dishes, and remember, an adult living room requires more than a flat screen TV and a folding chair.

2.  Remove pictures with the missing partner—in Feng Shui, these pictures send constant reminder messages of happier times, even if you think you don’t notice them.  Even if the former love is in the middle of family shots, remove these photos from bureaus and walls and pack them away in a safe place—at least until you are over the worst of the pain and loss.

3.  Store the ex’s possession in a storage locker, not your garage or attic!  I had a client who was unable to make a clear separation from her husband.  The energy changed when she finally moved out his tools and equipment that were spread throughout the garage.

4.  Stop checking up on your ex on Facebook—in Feng Shui, the rule is where you place your attention, your energy flows.  If you spend time daily tracking his or her new loves, new fun activities, you will have little time or emotional energy to develop a new life of your own.

5.  Remove the ex’s belongings from your bedroom—in Feng Shui, the center for relationship energy is in the bedroom.  Therefore, make cleaning out the ex’s belongings a priority to start the healing.

Remove the DVDs left behind, the love letters in a box in the closet (or in a file in your computer, but that’s another blog), the teddy bear he won for you at last year’s state fair, the framed wedding announcement (!!) she made for you.

You don’t have to dispose of everything—healing takes time.  Just put the objects that remind you of your ex into a big box, seal up, and store somewhere out of the bedroom—preferably at a friend or relative’s house where you won’t be tempted to nostalgically rummage through the box as you sip—or gulp your favorite anesthetizing beverage.

6.  Last and not least, don’t keep your wedding ring, diamond, or other special jewelry from your ex in your jewelry box or change plate where you see it every time you get a pair of earrings or toss in coins from your pocket.

And don’t carry your wedding set around in your briefcase for years because you wanted to get an estimate at a few jewelry stores, but never found the time to actually do it!  (I’ll let that true story be anonymous).

Sell the jewelry, give it to friend to dispose of, or add it to the big box (see #5).

Feng Shui tells us when we remove the daily reminders of lost love, we make room to find ourselves again as a single person—and eventually to make space, both literally and figuratively, for new love.  Gabriele Amersbach, Lucky Path Feng Shui