23rd August 2005
Chu Shu: Limit of Heat; Gategourmetgate; Kate; Adrian; Sheila and Gordon; Tai Sui Warning…
Richard Ashworth
Feng Shui Diaries
Chu Shu: Limit of Heat
Solar fortnight beginning:
Thursday August 23rd 2005 09.17
Hour Day Month Year
earth earth wood wood
gay gay gap yute
jee muw shen yuw
snake rabbit monkey rooster
Chu Shu: Limit of Heat
Last fortnight there was a window of girl power (fun gok). This fortnight’s dial plate character is Heaven’s Amulet which may be characterised as heavenly intervention.
And appropriately Mrs Cindy Sheehan intervened in George W. Bush’s holiday in Crawford, Texas. Mrs Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, has vowed to stay on his doorstep until George W. answers her questions. Meanwhile the US anti-war faction has topped 50% for the first time with the homely soccer Mom as focus. When opposition to Vietnam topped 50% it never went down again.
Gategourmetgate,
In the same fortnight, BA workers struck in sympathy with the preparers of inflight meals, mostly women from the Punjab who on average nett less than £12,000 a year. Although they work long antisocial shifts in conditions that are often stifling, they really want the work. It means their children get educated and they have some sort of future. Meanwhile, squeezed by Virgin and BA, Gate Gourmet aim to pay new contract workers even less.
This complaint has now been taken up by baggage handlers and check-in staff who themselves struck last year during BA’s period of maximum vulnerability.
How did the women who juggle children and home-management with the thankless task of checking passengers onto crowded planes become involved? It seems that hard-pressed women doing their best in the face of insensitive management recognise others in the same boat. Ethnic, philosophical, cultural and linguistic differences are dwarfed by the commonality of women managing under difficult circumstances.
Is it only me or does this suggest a way that the entire “War against Terr” could unravel? Watch for further fun gok.
Kate
Kate was a successful career woman who had recently parted with her husband. In her matter-fact Northern way she explained that he had just not been responsible.In his absence she lavished love on her terminally ill terrier. We both had tears in our eyes as the dog hauled himself around the house. What a soft pair of Jessies!
Kate’s house was close to the Thames so it was, as riverside houses usually are, overwhelmed with chi coming from several directions. The key is blocking off the water as opposed to installing it which is more usual.
The house was dark. I suggested she open some curtains. Windows too. The windows are the eyes of the house, the front door is the mouth. Opening them entails all sorts of movement. I know heartbreak when I see it.
Adrian
Adrian’s wife had been having affairs for years. Now he and his three children are setting up home with Sandra and her two. Brave people. His beautiful Jacobean house backs onto a disproportionately large swimming pool. At the North West. This can mean man undermined. Adrian’s ba zi (personal feng shui) showed a character called mo yuk which is most simply rendered as hanky panky. I had a hunch I would find the same character on the house plan. So with half an eye on the Test Match and the Aussies – in fulfillment of prophecy – receiving a long overdue thrashing, I clarified this with some more than usually arcane calculations. I was right.. Right by the swimming pool.
So far so ingenious. Now to alter it.
Sheila and Gordon
Sheila and Gordon put me up at a beautiful mediaeval pub deep in the Dorset countryside. Their office was relatively straightforward. A chunk of the very stylish 18th Century building had been nicked by next door. The walls narrowed by feet towards the back. The missing Eastern chi was to do with younger men, thrust, ambition and so on. Sheila and Gordon had these qualities in spades but not their staff: there were no males and a shortage of ambition. I advised them to replace the missing East with plants, colours and so on.
Their home was another story; one of the toughest I’ve ever surveyed. They had not been there long so the energy was largely inherited. But equally if the lessons in the house were irrelevant they would not have been present. The house was arguing with itself. The previous incumbents must have been in serious distress.
The heart of the house was an unusual courtyard affair which is just about perfect feng shui but extensions to width and depth had shifted it. Twice. How would you or I find space for three hearts?
And there were three separate sources of chi. For the lay reader this means the house had three alternate natures. Once I had identified them it became plainer sailing. I settled on just the one heart. This meant separating out a lovely little pond in the South West. Water located here is associated with unhappy women. We didn’t want any of that! So I effectively placed it in the South East of a water garden now distinct from the rest of the property. Here it will produce healthy chi that Sheila and Gordon can go there to enjoy.
Tai Sui Warning
I have found this year’s tai sui – the year animal – particularly fierce. The Rooster of 2005 faces West so once again, take care with alterations in these areas. If the West must be included, start somewhere else and work round. And sympathy to those with East-West houses where remedies are taking longer than usual. The worst will be over by the early October. At least it’s only once every twelve years!
Feedback is encouraged including that you never want to hear from me again if that happens to be the case.
Best wishes,
Richard Ashworth
Richardashworthfengshui@hotmail.com
If Poverty is to be History now is the time.
As ever, names have been changed to protect privacy.