The Nine Harmonies Feng Shui School

[Guest guest]

Angelic_Inspirations , " Kilia Meri

<spiritbodynsoul> " <spiritbodynsoul> wrote:

A Soul In Place

Reclaiming Home as Sacred Space

 

Introduction and sample chapters

 

The ideas in this book are based, in part, upon an ancient Chinese

system of environmental harmonies called feng shui (pronounced " fung

shway " ). Feng shui means " wind and water. " Like wind and water which

move constantly through all life forms, the principles of feng shui

underlie all of the ideas I have put forth. Yet, this is not a feng

shui text. Instead, this book is a compilation of material which,

when I experienced it, made my soul feel at home. This is material

which gave all of my longings a place, a reason to be and a space to

dwell. This is material which affirms our innate wisdom about spaces

and their effects upon us. Some of it comes from dance, from

meditation, and from study of the body's and the psyche's response to

form as it appears everywhere around us. It comes also from scholarly

study of the works of many building and landscape architects,

ecologists, artists and poets as well as native people and world

spiritual traditions which recognize the environment as also " God, " a

divine creation which can lift us to the highest experiences.

 

According to feng shui, there are nine life endeavors around which

our lives revolve. These are 1) career, 2) self-knowledge, 3)

ancestors, 4) wealth, 5) fame, 6) marriage, 7) children, 8) helpful

people, and 9) health. We will explore each endeavor as it takes

place in our home, our society and our self. The buildings in which

we spend most of our waking hours can enhance our enjoyment and

success in each endeavor or limit and, at times, completely undermine

our best intentions and dreams. Each chapter explores a way of

arranging our environment so that our potential for success is

maximized and our soul is, at the same time, recognized and nourished.

 

For the purpose of assisting you with the design of your home

environment, I have divided each life endeavor into seven features.

There could be many more features listed. You may wish to add some of

your own. The features are ways you can arrange your built, purchased

or collected objects and living plants, stones, fire and water to

create pathways and passages for blessed life-giving energy to travel

through your home, workplace and community. The features are designed

to enhance the enjoyment or encourage the success of each life

endeavor. The more features you are able to arrange for yourself, the

greater will be your personal sense of place and fulfillment, though

even one small shift in your surroundings can often eliminate stress

and bring relief from feeling trapped, lost, scattered or depressed.

 

You can read the book from front to back and it will take you from

the approach to your home through nine life endeavors that take place

in the spaces you occupy, then outside your home's boundaries again

to the community at large. Or, you can just read the section on a

particular life endeavor that needs enhancing and read through the

seven features to glean suggestions on ways to environmentally

correct the imbalance. The features which enhance each endeavor will

provide the key elements that you can use in adjusting your

environment to bring about success in that life situation.

 

Each feature is both a quality and an element of place. The features

are ordinary everyday things put together in such a way that your

soul feels nourished and energized by the arrangement. Our experience

of life is mostly a feeling thing. In every endeavor, the actual

physical achievement of our goal has little value to us unless the

process of achieving it and continuing to relate to it feels good.

 

Play with the ideas offered herein. Feng shui rhymes with fun and

play. It is a joyful refreshment of your surroundings, and yet, it

can be taken as deep as your spirit will allow. After each chapter,

there are three attunements listed: a presenting issue, a movement,

and an affirmation. The presenting issue is a sentence or two you

might hear yourself or your client saying. This will key you in to

the feature that might need attention in her or his environment. The

movement is a suggested body exercise that will help you or your

client feel in your body the physical and spiritual effects that the

feature is trying to actualize in your environment of place. The

affirmation seeds your mind with the thought that will help you or

your client out of the predicament indicated by the presenting issue.

The movement and affirmation begin to create inner sacred space while

you attend to the process of creating outer sacred space.

 

All of the attunements are to help you to listen to your soul when

you read and when you make the suggested changes in your home,

furnishings and gardens. Try things out. Sit with them for a day or

two. Let yourself feel and be moved. Because we are all unique, you

will probably find yourself doing something a little differently than

any of the suggestions I make. This is as it should be. I hope this

book to be food for the soul, garnished by the special flavors of

your individual life. Savor each lesson until coming home is the

feast it should always be.

 

 

 

Gently Winding Path

 

Feature #3 of the Career Endeavor

 

The human being, like all organic things, is made of curves and feels

at home among them. Although there are places where you might want to

bring about a more controlled and limiting feeling with straight

walks, generally, even short paths are best with a curve.

 

On the winding path, the person is asked to proceed slowly, the path

guiding her or him first to look in one direction, then another. This

brings about a sense of familiarity with all surroundings and thus a

feeling of safety as well. A slow walk allows a person to pay

attention to the walk itself, to take in scenic views and interesting

details.

 

The texture and width of the path must be in keeping with the

atmosphere you are trying to create in your total landscape. The

narrower path is more intimate. If its widest part is " streetside "

and it narrows as you get to the house or garden destination, it will

funnel people to the focal point and also allow those leaving to have

a sense of expanding back into the larger world.

 

If the path is richly textured, such as with stones or creeping

plants, the experience of walking upon it will be more sensual than

if the path is so smooth that you do not notice it beneath your feet.

Assuming you wish to captivate the attention of whoever walks upon

the path, you will want to vary the texture of the path, yet repeat

your materials to form a pattern. This can be done with stones with

creeping plants between them or bricks or boards with grass and

flowers alongside or any number of ways. There are many excellent

books published on specific path-building materials and plants to

enhance your walkway. Refer to these when you are ready to choose the

embellishments of your basic design. An inviting path says, " Welcome,

I am a person who cares to make your journey interesting. "

 

Occasionally, you will see a house where there is no path at all to

the front door because it is not used or where two paths are seen at

once by a guest, each leading to a different door. This throws your

visitors off balance by causing uncertainty. The unused door is an

example of intent at cross purposes. The house designer's intent to

place the door where it is, is at odds with your current intent not

to use that door as an entrance. This " mixed message " cannot be

deciphered by Wild Grace, ( a concept I use to help you understand

the living energy called " Chi. " ) and she will not leave her blessings

at your door. In other words, chi does not flow clearly through

intent in opposition.

 

A feng shui practitioner can perform a ceremony which can

transcendentally change the door, or you can simply design it out by

constructing a wall, bookcase or other architectural item in the

door's place. If, in your career, you find that opportunities almost

knock, but not quite, perhaps the way to your door is not clearly

marked. The only path may lead to your competitor! Your path must

clearly show the way for your benefactors to enter. Your

opportunities may come too fast for you to handle if you do not slow

them down and get them to smell the flowers on the way to your front

door.

 

Presenting Issue: I feel like things happen too fast. Sometimes I

feel hemmed in, up tight or like too much is required of me.

 

Movement: Standing, begin to sway. Move slowly, without thought of

where the movement is leading. Notice what your body does.

 

Affirmation: Pause. Sit down gracefully. Relax. Feel the affirmation

arise from within.

 

Place of Command

 

Feature #1 of the Wealth Endeavor

 

In every room, in every building, in every town and nation, there is

a place of command. That is, there is a physical location that, by

its nature, allows one to take in a view of the whole when you are

there. And that location when viewed from a distance inspires a sense

of awe or respect.

 

As a place on the land, it is usually a high place, but not

necessarily the peak, for the peak of a hill can be unprotected. It

may be vulnerable to strong winds, or cause primal fear of attack by

one's enemies.

 

The place of command in a building is often a room not easily

accessible by the general public. It also may be higher, up a few

stairs from the public domain. At home, it might be your private

office or the workshop/garage out back or the desk facing the door to

the room it is in.

 

In every room of your home, there is a power position, a place where

you will feel most secure and in charge. You may recognize this

position at work, but lose sight of it around the dining table.

However, if you confront rowdy children there or end up feeling

routinely out of sorts at mealtime, this may be the place where you

need to rearrange the furniture.

 

The place of command is the seat where you look toward the major

entrances to the room and no one can approach you from behind. When

you can see everything going on in a room, you tend to feel more

powerful. In rooms where several doors make placement a challenge,

mirrors can be utilized on walls facing the power seat so that you

can see in all directions.

 

A higher or more substantial appearing chair also denotes power. The

head of the table position is often given to the person recognized as

the authority of the family. The " best spot " in the living room is

sometimes reserved for the most respected member of the household.

Although you may not want to live your life one-upping others, there

are times when being in control of a situation is very important. How

much more pleasant to be able to command simply by an arrangement of

the room than to be verbally aggressive.

 

In your place of command, you need a chair which is sturdy, supports

you upright and is comfortable. It must give you the sense of ease

and power you would like to have with your position of authority. A

throne is an extreme example.

 

You may wish to play with this concept when entering into situations

where you want to make a good impression, where you might tend to

stagefright or shyness in meeting important people or when

entertaining influential business companions. See if there is some

position in the room that makes you feel more at ease. Also, notice

in the course of the event who ends up appearing most in charge and

where they are sitting.

 

Take advantage of the subtle energies that give power to a place.

These can enhance your presentation and your position. Even an inch

or two higher, lower, closer or farther from the door, nearer to the

most pleasant objects in the room or the best lighting can make a

difference in how others perceive you and whether or not they will

respect your opinions. You may have learned the importance of timing;

now learn the importance of placement.

 

The place of command allows you to feel some moments of control over

your " empire. " You sit, ideally, protected on three sides by walls,

hills, trees or partitions of some kind and view as large of an

expanse as you can manage of your world before you.

 

Every person, even if she is not the head of the household needs to

feel in charge of some location, however small. Give yourself and

everyone in your family a space over which they have authority. For a

child, it could be a bench near the toy box. For a teen, it might be

a bedroom overlooking the street where her friends arrive. For

grandma, it might be a table and chair next to her shelf of favorite

books.

 

The important factors are: a view of one's domain, protection from

behind, and the right to be in charge of a specific area, however

small.

 

Presenting Issue: I have no control over the situation. Others

overpower me.

 

Movement: Find the most powerful spot in the room. Take a commanding

position.

 

Affirmation: I am the ruler of my body and the place in which it

dwells.

 

 

 

Intimate Nook

 

Feature #4 of the Marriage Endeavor

 

Eating is more than just putting food in a body to keep it going. At

its best, it is communion. It is a uniting of your body with the body

of the Mother Earth. It is a sharing of this body with those you hold

dear. This kind of sharing calls for an intimate nook.

 

Make a place where you and invited others can sit cozily and close as

you exchange ideas in the shared nourishment of eating. To take in is

to taste, to savor, to relish, to blend into exciting combination,

not only dishes, but words and ideas. To be a guest of someone

providing this opportunity is to be blessed. It is thanksgiving

itself.

 

Make this intimate nook an eating place that encourages intimate

ingestion of what you have to offer. Seating that surrounds, cushions

thick, colorful cloth, flowers in the sun, sparkling goblets and

steaming kettles could all play a part on this stage you are setting.

Give it a look of painstaking care, attention to detail and your

special flare, so that if you were a guest, you would want to sit

there.

 

Look at the arrangement of all of the seating in your house. Are

guests encouraged to look at each other? If not, where are their eyes

directed? To improve relationship, orient the seating so that all can

see each other easily. Provide items nearby that may spark

conversation. The more intimate the room, the closer the chairs can

be. Never expect true intimacy from watching TV.

 

Presenting Issue: No one talks to me. I experience a lack of intimacy

with others.

 

Movement: In a group (or alone looking in a mirror), veil your face

so that only your eyes are showing. Look into each other's eyes as

you dance.

 

Affirmation: As we look into each other's eyes, I recognize a friend.