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(A Trilogy About Feng Shui)
I. Mr. In-Between
I never put much stock in feng shui before. Someone could tell me this certain house had good feng shui and that certain house had bad one and I would believe him. What did I know? These and more statements from the book “Dumb Feng Shui” could best describe what my knowledge of feng shui was: "Red tassels will enliven any area. I personally have found it particularly helpful in the nipple department." "Your house has a wealth corner. There are some items you can place there which will cause you to make more money. Buggered if I can remember what they are." Funny, eh? But that was the essence of what I thought the whole business was. A professional geomancer piqued my interest when she told me I should have my house fixed. But I couldn’t afford her fees. I didn’t want anyone who would just sell me stuff, either. And I would run in the other direction if a person told me to put a three-legged toad in a certain area of my house because it would make me rich, without being able to tell me why. So I did some reading. Feng shui is literally translated "wind and water." It has to do with the balancing of the elements fire, wood, water, metal and earth. It’s directing the flow of chi or energy to where there is good chi and away from where there is bad chi. Basically, it’s just the art of placing the right things in the right place at the right time. There are so many schools now existent that I got a little confused. One school says that the relationship corner is in the southwest of your house and your wealth corner is in the southeast. Guess what? My apartment is L-shaped and so I am missing my entire southwest corner and my southeast corner is where I do my laundry so I am symbolically “washing away my money” with water. Another school says just divide your house into two rectangles. My two southwest corners then become a bathroom (where I am flushing my marriage prospects away) and a closet (where I keep my junk --too many memories?). My curiosity on the subject was still not sated so I did some more reading. I discovered a more precise way to “read a house” given the exact direction in which it faces and the year it was constructed. Depending on these two factors, the theory says you seal in a certain pattern of chi when you build your house. I thought it was eerie that a house could have its own energy. But I made a few changes to experiment. I found that suddenly, I was determined to reduce if not remove the clutter in my house (and man, there’s a lot!), most of which accumulated last year. And I’m more willing to change and to experiment not only with the house but also with life in general. I guess the house and I are exchanging energies like ping-pong balls. I found it surprising how people are so invested in the status quo that they will not even exert energy in moving a relatively light object even if you tell them it’s badly placed. I don’t do my laundry in the house anymore. I tried having it done at the laundromat. I didn’t even attempt it before because I thought the cost would be prohibitive. But my clothes are relatively small and light. On the first trial, I couldn’t even meet their minimum weight requirement. And the cost was not that much. My clothes and my sheets smell extra good. The best part is I don’t have to iron too many things. I don’t know if that will make me wealthier. But on a cool day, lying on crisp, fragrant sheets (that I didn’t slave over ironing!), snuggling with a sweet-smelling comforter and reading a book, I felt as rich as could be. So maybe there was something good from all this feng shui stuff. Feng shui is not all about increasing prosperity. In the end, feng shui attempts to help us be at harmony with our environment and ourselves. It helps us achieve balance. That’s not so bad, is it? There’s an old song by Bing Crosby that goes: You’ve got to accentuate the positive Eliminate the negative Latch on to the affirmative Don’t mess with Mr. In Between Feng shui advocates the first three statements. But it tells us that often Mr. In Between becomes Mr. Right. One last thought in case you think I take myself too seriously: "Desperate for sex? Place a large inflatable doll wearing suspenders in your front window, and a red lantern on the front porch."
II. Mountains and Screws If you were to divide your house into nine equal sections, each section would have a mountain star and a water star. Generally, mountain is for people and health, and water is for prosperity. The basic principle is to give mountain to the good mountain stars and water to the good water stars. Conversely, one should give water to the bad mountain stars and mountain to the bad water stars. Since most of us cannot build real mountains or real lakes inside our homes, virtual mountain is simulated by large, tall structures against a wall in a quiet area while virtual water is simulated by open, active spaces. The long and short of it is I didn’t have a mountain where a mountain was needed. Maybe a mountain would give me the stability I craved. Who knows? At any rate, my books, which I’ve always considered my true wealth, were piling up in all sorts of places. They needed a home. So I decided I would save money to have a carpenter install shelves along that area of my house. I was measuring the dimensions of our office building last week when I noticed a bunch of metal shelves in a row at the back of our office. These had been unused since we had moved in. Some of them were exposed to the elements and had become breeding grounds for corrosion. I asked the office administrator if I could have one of the shelves. She said ok. Joy. These metal shelves are the knock down ones held together by screws. I asked someone to knock down one of them so I could take the parts home in my car. I took them home and after four trips from my car to my second-floor apartment, I finally got all the parts together inside my house. That wasn’t easy since what had looked so small at the back of my office was actually six feet tall and a yard wide (and I’m not talking aluminum here, I got an instant workout). In my tiny living space, you can hardly miss it. The part of lugging the parts turned out to be easier than putting the thing together. I had to move everything in my living room so I could lay down the parts. I made such a racket of metal crashing on the floor it’s a wonder my downstairs neighbor didn’t come up to complain. I was at a loss at first. I didn’t know which end was up. I figured that out after a while then proceeded to build the base. You had to put the parts together by slipping a screw/nut through grooves in the metal then slipping a bolt through a nut to tighten it. I had a tough time doing that. You have to squeeze your fingers inside the tiniest of places to get the bolt on. But after a while, screwing…er, putting on screws, gets easier. I had built up three of the four pillars on the base. But the pillars were skewing in the wrong directions. So I put in the middle shelf, and then added the fourth pillar. Things moved faster after that. I had put it most of the screws so I lifted the thing upright (another workout). To my annoyance, it was still very shaky. Couldn’t put my books on that. I just tightened the screws and it became steadier. I had my mountain. I just finished assembling it before I wrote this. I’m looking at it now. It houses my CD’s my books, my bills, my candles, my bag, my keys and a whole lot of other things. There’s a little rust around the edges reminiscent of the antiquing technique and giving it a shabby chic look. It took me three hours to assemble and cost me the nail polish on my fingers. I love it. In summary, below are the things to remember when building a mountain: You have to get all the parts together. Sometimes, this may take
a long time and a lot of going back and forth.
It’s frustrating not to find any good books on Feng Shui. Most of them are just filled with “tips”: Don’t do this, do that. Hang this here, hang that there. They don’t bother to explain why. Which was what led me to join a forum (one of those e-lists on Yahoo). Mostly I just “lurk”, just been reading the archive messages trying to pick up a thing or two. It’s interesting when the experts get into a debate over hanging what where. They have to defend their positions so you learn the whys. Sometimes it’s even interesting when larger than life egos clash and tempers flare. Drama gets tossed back and forth between messages. They end up kissing and making up, they’re not FS experts for nothing. I try to read some of the messages every night. I really should get a life. One interesting message thread I found was when someone asked, “Do you not think we choose the house to how our life is at the present time?” All of the replies were yeses. Someone even asserted that we choose the house that will lead us to our path: “The energies are already in our mind, but maybe we have not recognized it at the present time with our brain.” I’m not going to get metaphysical on you but from the few houses I’ve checked, this seems to be true. It seems to be true in my case. Last year, I spent the majority of my waking time in an area of my house that indicated: “Gossip, arguments, lawsuits, digestive and abdominal problems, especially older females, serious situation.” It was last year that I had a huge argument with an ex who I was trying to be friends with. To this day, he refuses to speak to me. I also received a demand letter from one of our company creditors and was recently given a subpoena to appear before the fiscal’s office. It was also last year that we moved into an office with my desk in an area that indicated: “Creativity, writing, academic success, fame” The day after we moved in, I started writing weekly articles like this distributed through email to my friends. This year, I’m hanging around in an area that indicates: “Fame, Name, Fortune, possible loneliness” What struck me the most was when somebody said: “A change is always a chance.” I realized that I spent most of last year bitching about the circumstances in my life, but I refused to change the circumstances in my life. I refused to change my beliefs about my life. I didn’t even lift a finger to clear up the clutter. The clutter has been reduced to about a quarter of what it was, by the way, and I’ve moved some stuff around. I’ve opened windows and opened the blinds and everything just looks brighter and clearer. Did the change occur in me because of my surroundings or did a change in me cause me to alter my surroundings? Maybe it’s a little of both. Perhaps the loneliness part is starting to kick in or maybe I got a little hung up on the change thing. Last Wednesday, I brought home a metal shelf. Today, I brought home the cat that resides in our office. I’ve been partial to cats since I started writing again. This one I have been feeding since September. Lately, she has taken to following me around sometimes sneaking inside the office and perching on my desk. I thought of her not being fed on weekends and holidays. I tried to bring her home last October but she panicked when I opened the car door. Today, she just went right on in the car. She was a little agitated at first when the car started moving, but settled her head down on my lap after a while. I didn’t realize that the change might be too much for her. The minute I parked the car and she got out, she panicked and hid under another car. She refused to come out from under the car even when I tried coaxing her out with some food. After a while, I brought her some milk and placed it under my car. I was afraid at first because I couldn’t find her but then she came running along and started lapping the milk. She followed me to the edge of the parking lot then stopped. I carried her to take home with me but she panicked again and ran away. I felt the urgency to bring her to my apartment because I didn’t want to go out at night to the parking lot and get hit on by one of my neighbors. Then again, that’s not such a bad idea. I guess change is better in small doses. She was still there the
last time I gave her food. This time, she followed me right up to
the entrance of the building until a tomcat started giving her the
look. She acted coy and slunk away. The male cat was intent on following.
So my cat has a date on the eve before Valentine’s Day and I
am home writing this. I really should find a cure. ________________________________ Open Forum! Share your opinions and suggestions pertaining to this topic at the Message Boards MagsalitaKa (Speak Out) Section. © Web site is a Copyright of NewFilipina, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.
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