4th February 2005
Spring tiger springs; Charging crystals under new moon; The colour of money; You move, they move; Driving miss Daisy …
Feng Shui Diaries
Lap Chun: Spring Begins
Solar fortnight beginning:
Thursday Feb 4th 2005 01.34
Hour Day Month Year
wood earth earth wood
yute gay mow yute
chow may yan yuw
ox sheep tiger rooster
The Spring Tiger…er…springs.
This is the month of the Tiger. Although on the compass it is one of the North Eastern Mountains of late Winter, the Tiger belongs to the wood element. Wood is growth, new stuff, freshness, early mornings and so on. Spring is in the air.
So predictably, the Americans are rattling sabres in Iran’s direction but Condoleeza Rice may yet (as predicted) do significant good on her travels.
As Bernal Diaz said of his time with Cortez: “We came to serve God and grow rich”.
Charging Crystals under the New Moon
As I am so very late getting this diary out, today is the New Moon. I don’t have to rely on feeling this in my bones because I have a nice Moon Chart on my wall. (Available from my favourite MBS shop in the world: Apache Tears in Guildford. Phone: 01483.457874. Ask for Gemma or Anna.)
The New Moon is a time to charge crystals. The beginning of the waxing phase is a very constructive moment which you can lock into the cells of the crystal much as you fire a clay pot. Except that you can do it over and over.
Wash them first in spring water, adding rock or sea salt for the rougher stones like rose quartz or amethyst. This helps get the stuff out of them especially if they’ve been working hard on your behalf. Don’t put salt on the polished ones.
Then leave them outside in the moonlight. If the New Moon is so perverse as to manifest in daytime, I usually leave the stones out for 24 hours before and after.
Then I programme them: literally telling them what I want from them.
Crystals live in the North East or the South West or at the tai chi, the heart of the house. These are the earth areas. Sometimes there are jobs for them elsewhere and certain houses have too much earth in the tai chi already but if your crystals are taking time out, these are the default locations to store them.
The Colour of Money
Following last fortnight, I have been asked again about logos.
Here’s how you do it.
Your ba zi will reveal what each element represents for you. This is derived from the day stem unique to your day of birth. For me, for instance fire is money aka choi. So red is for me the colour of money. Everyone is different.
Your logo or headed notepaper wants to feature the colours of your choi. But don’t forget that it has to be supported by the background colour (ie the card or paper) it is on. So on white paper (a metal colour) I use blue or black (water supported by the metal) for the main message as well as a splash of green (wood supported by water) and my name in red where it is supported by the white, blue and green.
The principle should be visible on this very page.
You move, they move.
You will remember the lady with the brood of complex children. She was especially keen that I see her youngest son:. her baby who was sad and withdrawn and dealing with all sorts of problems. But he wouldn’t come. So I suggested I work with her first. She was a little incredulous. I explained that we are all connected. The more we care about someone, the closer that connection is.
“You work on yourself, you move and he’ll move,” I told her.
Informed by what her ba zi showed we did some very powerful work in her first session: mostly about forgiving herself. Which took some considerable trust and courage from her. And next session guess what? Junior wants to come in and see me.
Told you so.
Driving Miss Daisy
This week we placed Vesta the Goddess of Spring in my clients Paul and Donna’s garden. The house had a very specific area missing in the SouthWest which represents hard work for a Mother. Paul has a habit of jetting off to LA for weeks at a time – in the course of his ruthless climb up the ladder of success, I must add – leaving Donna to do the job of two parents. So the house certainly reflected the way things were.
I had asked them to find an assertive female figure of approx lifesize to fill this gap. It was important that she be powerful but not provocative. And they chose a classical statue, one of a set of four representing the Seasons: demi-Goddesses, if you like, properly addressed, we believe as Vesta or Hestia.
What was remarkable was that as we wheeled her into place the chi instantly felt different. Actually it was Dean the handyman who did the wheeling, dug her in and made her safe for the children and placed the Judges’ Bench at the other side of the house as well as a dozen other jobs I could not have begun to do but he completed with expert good humour. And when we sat down to lunch something had snapped into place.
It was a different house.
They Load Our Premiums not the Trees’
Sometimes some of us are disappointed. After a while we can forget how not to be. Knowing her ba zi to have this quality I went to follow up my friend Alpha’s feng shui this week.
Alpha has upped sticks to the Midlands and bought a new house miles from anywhere. Like myself, she is no longer a teenager. She knows nobody. Oh and she doesn’t drive. This is a daring lady.
Now her house is almost perfectly oriented. But you could write an essay on that word “almost.” Somehow the front door is at a quite different angle to the front bricks. Somehow the fountain and ornamental lake bless the block behind and not hers. Somehow she has the one garden that backs onto tricky chi from a neighbour’s garage.
The great thing is that feng shui is very good for correcting little details like that. A mirror here and a few rocks there. A couple of Master Chan Kun Wah’s wonderful jiu shapes. No need for disappointment here. Not for her, not for her children.
Disappointment like forgetfulness or smoking can become a habit. And like all habits it can simply be replaced with another one. Here’s an idea: each time a disappointed thought comes up simply substitute a hopeful one.
Alpha’s life here is going to be great. I just hope they’ll lay on a railway station for me!
Remember:
If we keep driving into trees it’s our insurance premiums they load not the trees.’
Best wishes,
Richard Ashworth
Richard is featured in Channel Five’s Housebusters during 2005.
As ever, names have been changed to protect privacy.