Drinking tea can be quite an art form. The ritual of preparing tea can have a hidden impact on your good fortune, as tea releases propitious energy into your home. It was in Chengdu that I discovered that the tea brewing ritual evolved from an ancient belief that pouring freshly-brewed tea onto specially-made clay images of auspicious items such as the rolling ball (which signifies continuous good fortune) and to auspicious creatures such as the farmer’s cow or the pi yao – plus a whole lot of other lucky symbols – was in actual fact an excellent way of unlocking their inner auspiciousness.

Indeed, we were all so charmed by the simple truths being explained to us by the charming young ladies in the tea supply shop we stayed for hours! And after that, between us, we practically bought up her shop’s supply of lucky objects, we were so happy! We were mesmerized by the clay ox that had been “grown” by them over several months, using tea to create a special shine to the ox; this was done by pouring freshly brewed tea over the ox. The tea left a thin veneer of red, which over time got ingrained into the ox, hence its beautiful detail and shine.

This was how they could ensure the clay ox could unlock its inner energies of abundance. They then pointed to other auspicious objects in the tea tray, before the tea lady started to show us how the tea was brewed. The water should be boiled to about 1000C. It was first necessary to pour hot water over all the cups, jug and pots, and this was basically to wake up the tea set before filling the clay tea pot with fresh tea leaves.

Always use the same teapot unless you are a collector of teapots and have special ones for special occasions or for different purposes. Place the tea into the teapot, and then pour the freshly boiled hot water into the pot. Leave for about twenty seconds or so, then pour away this first dousing of boiling water. Pour it over the auspicious objects already placed on the large tea tray… and think… “with this first pouring of tea, I shall awaken the good fortune hidden within my inner essence”.

You can see from the picture of the tea tray above that there can be as many different auspicious objects as you like. Here on this lady’s tray can be seen a pig (she was born in the year of the pig and hence its presence here is to awaken her personal luck). There is also an object showing two dragons offering the red rolling ball – this is said to be very lucky indeed, as the rolling ball indicates continuous good fortune; then you can see the groundnuts which bring growth luck, the ingot which brings prosperity, the lions to offer protection and the Pi Yao with a coin in its mouth. We had such a fun time investigating ALL their auspicious objects!

The tea is left to brew for several minutes. It is then poured onto a clay or glass jug from where the tea will then be poured onto the small clay cups and offered to the guests. When the teapot has been emptied of the first infusion, hot water is again poured onto the leaves to make a second infusion.

We were advised that when pouring in the hot water, we must always pour enough for the water to overflow, as this is a very auspicious sign. Water overflowing from the teapot indicates an abundance of wealth luck. Altogether, the tea leaves should be of a quality that can offer as much as seven infusions of tea. And after the tea colour has thinned out, it is time to wind up, or if you want more, to discard the old tea leaves and place fresh tea leaves into the pot.

Note that the pot and cups should never be washed with soap. They are always washed with boiling water and left in the tea tray. When the tea drinking is over, the tray collecting water from all the washing and drenching is then discarded. Tea stains are always left on the cups, the pot and the auspicious objects. This is what gives a continuity of good fortune!

WHY DRINK TEA?

Well brewed hot Chinese tea helps the body settle after a good meal; it is an excellent way to still the mind, enabling you to rid your body of tension. Offering tea to elders is also a sign of respect. It is the nicest way possible to apologize or to convey gratitude to one’s parents. Drinking good well-brewed tea after a good dinner adds good chi to any celebration. Over the years then, the art of tea drinking has become synonymous with joyous occasions.

In the present day, the most important occasion when serving and drinking tea is taken most seriously is during the tea ceremony at weddings. That is when the bride and groom use the tea offering to signify their respect for their parents and their elders.

To the older generation, sitting down to share a pot of tea with a friend is very meaningful as this transcends the superficial. It signifies more than two friends being sociable; to those who understand the deeper meanings associated with the ritual, the seemingly relaxed way of preparing the tea signifies that good feng shui is maintained in the relationship.

Sitting down to share several pots of tea evokes the philosophical concepts of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism – the three Pillars of classical Chinese culture, so in itself, drinking tea is already a great way to socialize. Add the extra dimension of good feng shui and it becomes something beautiful to do together.

When you sit down to enjoy several cups of ceremonially brewed tea with me, we will be surrounded by many auspicious objects. You will participate with me in a ritual which takes on an empowering dimension. This is a potent Taoist secret long practised by ancient masters. I could not wait to start practising once I learnt it. The ritual is full of promise and I have incorporated it into my typical day. I have watched with fascination as my auspicious Laughing Buddhas and rolling balls come alive.

Now I know that preparing and enjoying good Chinese tea that has been brewed in a special pot, with water boiled to the correct temperature, using excellent tea leaves to create the mood required and served with specially-fired clay cups can be transformed into a powerful way of “growing the abundance of your home” simply by incorporating artfully-crafted auspicious celestial creatures and carefully selected auspicious objects that awaken good fortune for the household. The operative word here is “awaken”; making the luck represented by these auspicious come alive. Grow them to maturity and watch your luck grow alongside!

USEFUL TIPS IN TEA DRINKING

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Everyone knows now that WATER is the key to unlocking prosperity in feng shui, that the shui in feng shui brings the exciting results everyone wants – enhanced wealth. There are so many different formulas one can follow, so many ways to build the Water Dragon, and all that Flying Star stuff, as well as focusing attention on water stars and water flows – that it can all get a bit confusing, especially since not everyone who installs a fountain or pool in their home instantly gets richer. Why is this ? LILLIAN TOO explains smart ways with WATER and reveals some hidden taboos that sometimes block rather than bring wealth luck.

I have often explained that WATER in feng shui brings enhanced income luck and there are different ways of building water features and designing water flows in and around the home to attract this very sought-after result of using feng shui. For sure, when there is a view of water, the feng shui of any abode instantly improves and the best is to have one’s home built near a natural body of water – a lake or a river – and then creating an orientation to the home so that the cosmic forces help one to harvest the riches from the river or to tap into the wealth of the lake. This is where a skilled feng shui master can really help you to capture the luck of the water.

Natural fresh water lakes and rivers that have their source in the high mountains are the most potent in bringing good wealth luck, especially if these waters have been flowing for thousands of years. It is when one can build near such a flow or body of water that it really benefits to get a feng shui master genuinely skilled in the ways of the COMPASS to make sure your home is tilted exactly right to capture the water.

To get this orientation correctly requires the feng shui expert to engage the cosmic forces of that particular environment. Believe me, the orientation exercise can be tricky. It is easy to make mistakes. One needs to know exactly how to use the compass and precisely how to create the facing direction of the home (or building). But get it right and riches should flow to the residents of the home easily and effortlessly. Usually this exercise is best done with the help of the third dimension i.e. engaging the help of the landlord spirits of the land.

But we do not all live near lakes or rivers… people like us must create our own water flows and our own bodies of water – ponds or pools of water that are near enough, deep enough and yang enough to simulate the prosperity-bringing properties of natural water. This is possible only if you live on landed property; only then is it possible to create auspicious water that benefits your home.

The good news about water is that there are probably four or five SPOTS around your home where its presence would either enhance prosperity luck for you or subdue afflictive luck coming from harmful structures in the surrounding environment. Learning to position your water correctly is part of what good feng shui is about.

Thus for instance the front of the house where the front door is located i.e. what we in feng shui term your facing palace, is where the presence of a body of water is most helpful. In this part of the house, having yang water here would definitely enhance your growth luck and increase your net worth. This is based on the sheng chi energy located in the facing palace, and since sheng chi is of the Wood element, Water here helps the Wood grow and expand. So water at the front of the house is always a very beneficial feature.

Then comes the difficult part…

Do we create the water inside or outside the house? Here, different feng shui experts recommend different things. Some prefer the water to be outside gathering the chi and then wafting into the home through an open door or window, while other experts firmly maintain that having water inside the home, in the vicinity of the foyer area, is what will get the prosperity chi moving.

For me, I have water both outside as well as inside the home… and inside the home I prefer to place the water on the left side of the main door, as water in the middle (very good for period of 8) is not convenient for me, while water on the right will cause me too much headache in case my husband develops a heightened libido for sweet young things! To avoid this problem, I have made very sure my water is on the left side of the main door. But definitely I want water also inside the house.

Water inside the home near the foyer area, near the main door and if possible placed in the facing palace of the home is very auspicious. This is also something that can quite easily be built; and APARTMENT dwellers can also have this kind of prosperity-bringing water. The only problem is that water is most effective when it is dug into the ground. There has to be at least some kind of depth to the water – and according to the old Masters I consulted with in the old days, the deeper the water at the front of the house, the deeper will be your wealth luck! That is why building wells in the backyard or near the front of the house in the appropriate Compass location is simply so beneficial.

But while water that fills up a hole dug into the earth is the most auspicious, this is not something that can be done carelessly. Note that to have a pond of water inside the house YOU MUST INCORPORATE THIS INTO YOUR PLANS WHILE BUILDING THE HOUSE. You must not dig inside your house once you have moved in. Digging a hole in a ground inside the home especially if you or your family are living within is so BAD, and is such a TABOO, that it can cause the family to lose the house altogether and to become bankrupt.

Now that’s the secret taboo! If you want to build water inside your home, make sure it gets done before you move in. You cannot and must not dig inside the home. This disturbs the EARTH SPIRITS of your home – and the repercussions can be extremely severe.

ANOTHER SOLUTION. Or you can do what I did!

I had a very nice pond outside my house in the Seventies when my house was first built. That time my knowledge of feng shui was quite inadequate so we kept the water outside the house. It brought me luck but small luck! After I returned from my nine years in Hong Kong, I was armed with more serious knowledge of feng shui. I decided to expand my home by building around the pond, hence wrapping it around and bringing it into the home.

This signified bringing the wealth represented by the water into the home. The effect of this simple move and of the renovation did wonders for us in terms of enhancing our feng shui. Basically I had successfully brought the lucky water inside without digging.

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Conventional habits make us think of spring-cleaning – washing, dusting and sweeping away the past year’s grime and dusty buildup during the end of the year. This is excellent of course, because annual cleansing does ensure that the home does not suffer from excessive clutter and yin spirit formation building up to dangerous levels. But why should cleansing the home be only a once-a-year exercise? We already know that the malaise caused by clutter in the home, in the cupboards and in all the rooms frequently used by us, can really cause powerfully negative blockages that bring bad feng shui. So why not just create a habit to live without clutter, once and for all, and make it a habit to cleanse and de-clutter regularly.

Why not tune into the ambience of your home on a daily basis? Choose a time of day to do this, perhaps each morning or at the end of the day? Once a day, devote a few minutes to checking up on the refrigerator, the cupboards in the home, the state of the curtains and definitely the state of the messiest room in the house. Once a habit is developed, keeping the home “fresh” and cleansed becomes the foundation for the creation of powerfully bracing energy being present at all times. It’s like having a canvas to paint fresh new ideas on! A de-cluttered and clean home is what brings out all the creativity and confidence that lies latent within you.

I make sure the fallen leaves from my beautiful trees in the garden are raked at least once a day. My pipes and drains are never allowed to clog up, and my light bulbs are changed the moment they expire. Over the years, it has become a habit with me.

I have to confess that I am a compulsive de-cluttering addict. I do it all the time! I believe that a cleansed house devoid of stale energy is what keeps the family happy and joyous, filled with optimism and good vibes all the time. I keep my doors and windows open through the day to let in the air; cosmic chi from outside flows through my home all the time, so it is re-energized each time the wind blows, the rain falls and even when lightning and thunder is booming. I am a great believer of harnessing these natural energy forces whenever they occur, as they emit precious and powerful energy that is not always available…

It’s all a lot easier than it sounds. Just develop the habit. If you have a maid, create a schedule with her. People who work for you are really happier when they know exactly what you want done. Tell them what you want, then leave them to get on with the job without nagging them. Do allow some rest time and allow them to work what needs to be done into their schedule of other work. Do voice some appreciation every now and again.

If you do not have a maid, and you are a small unit family with both of you working, then create a schedule that incorporates de-cluttering and cleansing 20 minutes each day. The more regularly you maintain the visual cleanliness of the home, the less likelihood you will have of stale energy building up. So do not keep dirty dishes piled up, leave rotting food in the refrigerator, or the beds unmade every day or the bathrooms dirty and oily… make the effort! This is the way to ensure living with good feng shui.

When you feel something is wrong in the house but cannot quite put your finger on what the problem might be; when you feel that the atmosphere of your house has turned gloomy, when family members get exhausted easily, feeling disoriented, fearful and even suffer from extreme pessimism – that is when the quality of your house energy has been compromised. You need to correct things before things get worse.

Malaise is usually caused by the buildup of clutter in the home. It becomes not a nice place to come back too. You will find yourself spending more time out of the house than in the house. You (and/or your spouse) will start staying back at work later or accepting any kind of excuse not to come home. Be alert to your own warning signs.Those that have not addressed this aspect of their home maintenance and notice their family members manifesting a listlessness, or see that work is not going well or relationships are fragmenting, you might want to start tuning in to the quality of energy within the rooms of your home.

Concentrate on finding areas of blocked energy; these can be caused by stacks of old newspapers, piles of unwashed dirty laundry, grimy curtains, dark corners caused by bulbs that have blown or just the house feeling in desperate need of a clean up! When the blocked up corners are corners that are important to your animal sign, or they are afflicted corners according to the feng shui chart of the year, then you definitely must immediately unblock the hindrance by “clearing the clutter”.

Blockages in the home are what cause setbacks and problems to manifest in everyone’s life. But often, just by having the intention to clean up generates enough positive energy to make a difference and it will somehow get conveyed to the home.

These days, many people already know how effective just having positive intentions can be, so this can be applied to improving the energy of your home. The secret lies in the attitude. Make up your mind to transform your home energy and you will generate the motivation to start the de-cluttering exercise. You do not need a list of How-to’s to get started – a lot of it is common sense. What is important is generating a firm resolution to smarten up your home. Change your mind set and it will extend into your living and work spaces. Do it. Feel the difference!

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When you apply a thin leaf of gold to your Kuan Yin, your Buddha or your Wealth God, it is considered a very pure offering to the cosmic deities. Doing so has the power to placate local wandering spirits so they bring good fortune to your home and will not cause you obstacles.

Postage-stamp-size booklets of gold leaves made of exquisite 24 carat gold are the best to use as they are deemed to be pure gold; and these are easily available at most Chinese medicine shops. You can also get them from any World Of Feng Shui shop; although you must also get the right kind of glue, and get your timing right, allowing the glue to dry sufficiently before pasting on the gold leaf if you want your gold leafing to be successful.

Usually, the leaves of gold are pounded to .000005 of an inch thin. They are made by two poundings with wooden mallets and it takes about five hours of hammering to complete one pouch of gold leaf. The job of slicing the sheets into squares of 2.5 centimeters are done by young girls whose fingers are delicate and light enough for them to also place waxed sheets of paper in between the leaves of gold. They are then stacked into booklets ready to be used.

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In this article, LILLIAN TOO puts the spotlight on the few vitally important walls that have the potential to bring extreme good fortune or misfortune, and thus are deserving of attention. The effect of walls on residents is almost subliminal, and these days, with so many modern ways of improving the feng shui of our surroundings, there is simply no excuse to get careless about our walls.

Start by studying the location of all the walls in your home. The general rule is that every room should have at least one solid wall. This signifies the abode where the spirit of the room resides; it creates the foundation around which energy accumulates, so how the location of this one wall interacts with the rest of the home has a great impact on the mood of the home; whether it is a happy enriching wall or a source of negative depressing vibrations.

To make your walls of your home truly auspicious, constantly inspiring you and lifting your spirits, you need to work at making each important wall a strongly enhancing wall rand protect against it becoming a blocking wall that merely brings obstacles and blocking energy. So the first thing to take note of is the way the walls of the home have been positioned.

When you start looking at your walls this way, your own common sense will immediately tell you which of your walls are enhancing and enriching and which are those that just do not seem right – just asking to be knocked down !

You can have more than one solid wall but rooms should not have solid walls on three sides; otherwise the room will suffer from potentially stagnating energy; where a shortage of fresh cosmic energy soon causes the room to suffer from yin spirit formation. The room then becomes suffocating. Rooms must be airy and they should benefit from daily fresh supplies of cosmic energy . These must flow in from the great outdoors. Rooms devoid of this flow of replenishing energy tend to cause problems for residents. So there must not be too many walls blocking this vital source of energy.

Rooms should ideally have at least one wall with windows; rooms that lie in the center of the home can suffer from a lack of cosmic replenishment so they should not have more than two solid walls. Then only can energy flows not get blocked. Remember that the center of your home should not suggest too much hemmed in energy. It should never become enclosed dead end space. This guideline to good feng shui is especially important in homes which are left empty for much of the day.

These are the major walls you can work on to bring incredibly good feng shui into your living space. Focus on each one in turn and consider the different ways you can enhance their energy so they become a source of contentment, peace and even inspiration. Think of the times when these walls leave a subliminal imprint onto your mind, stamping itself into your deepest subconscious minds. This is why the walls that hit you on a daily basis must indeed induce positive rather than negative thoughts.

You can use any of the feng shui tools – mirrors, wall paper, wall decals, lights, paintings, photographs, murals, inspiring words and even powerful mantras – all these and more can be used to enhance your wall.

Some people even hang beautiful decorative images from their important walls. Or they glue on inspiring words, or carefully decorate their walls with auspicious decals that leave strong and powerful imprints. My walls are decorated in a variety of ways and I use wall decals a lot as these are subtle and unobtrusive yet so powerful in their positive effect.

Enhancement techniques do not need to imply a permanence of decoration. Walls in fact benefit from being redecorated, repainted and totally revamped every two to three years.

I redo my walls regularly either with new decorative decals or with new paintings. And definitely the walls are repainted every other year. There is nothing I love more than clean walls that hint of fresh paint. This gives the whole living area a feeling of freshness that suggests good things are just beginning. I also make sure that my walls, and everything that hangs on it or is used to decorate it, never get dirty or dusty. These get wiped daily.

Clutter and dirt are the principle enemies of good feng shui. This is why I am so compulsive about keeping all my spaces clean, free of clutter and never blocked. My walls always look pristine. Where I have installed a wall mirror such as for instance in my dining area to directly reflect the dining table and thus double our daily food on the table; or the one in my living area to double the yang chi of activity created here; these mirrors are wiped daily with a dry piece of newspaper ( this is an excellent way to enhance the mirror and keep it really sharp and clear). I also make sure my mirrors never gets smudged with dirty hands.

The WALL that directly faces your main door should not have a mirror. A reflective surface here can cause all good luck to bounce right out again; it also brings illness to the master of the house. This wall should instead have either an auspicious image or it should be left blank. You can use a matte color to create a feature wall. For instance bright red wall that faces the direction South or an understated darker green directly facing East would be lucky. Choose colours according to the element of the facing direction of the door. Thus earth or yellow colour for doors facing SW or NE; Blue for doors facing North and metallic for doors facing NW or West.

Colours can also be used to suppress some afflictive star number causing problems for your door in any given year. For instance this year, doors that face SE are afflicted by the 5 yellow, so a metallic colour wall directly facing the main door would be an excellent idea.

Any wall that faces your front door, whether it is a complete or a partial wall, should always seem welcoming; it is auspicious when it makes you think positive or inspiring thoughts related to an important ambition or aspiration of yours or it should simply bring a smile to your face. I do not have a wall directly facing my main door but I do have a two feet wide upper wall on which I hang a large plaque with nine golden dragons. This welcomes in beneficial chi and seeing it every time I come home makes me feel very welcome indeed.

Walls that are in the living room area or the dining room can also be used to hang happy family pictures. In fact it is a great idea to select an especially happy picture of the whole family together, and hang this on a prominent wall in the house. This is powerful feng shui. It creates the feng shui of safety and togetherness for the whole family.

Then on the wall leading into my home I have used golden decals to create a flock of happy birds flying into my house. these are very tastefully designed and artfully placed by the designer who makes these decals – my niece in law actually, Audrey who is married to my nephew Han Jin. She has a great artistic gift which she is cleverly channeling into making beautiful artistic wall decals that really personalizes space in the most effective way.

One of her best selling designs are exactly these birds that bring good luck and wonderful opportunities into any home. She tried them out for her own home first and since putting up these birds on the wall leading into her home, she has progressed in her career really satisfactorily. Her little online business is also growing very fast. More importantly, she has never felt happier or more fulfilled. Birds do have that kind of positive effect! Each time someone wants to sell a house for instance, creating the image of a bird on the wall here but now flying out with the price being asked for in its mouth is one way of attracting a serious buyer!

Any wall that directly faces your bed should have a soothing ambience although some people have placed inspiring words or powerful affirmations here with great success. Doing this is like practicing 3D feng shui – as subliminal thoughts get implanted onto the sub conscious mind without you even realizing it. Each night the last thing you see before closing your eyes and each morning the first thing you see before becoming completely awake should be images or thoughts that make you feel galvanized, confident and very secure. Good feng shui always follows positive thoughts. And you can use your bedroom wall to plant these thoughts into your mind. This also leads to good pleasant dreams that is so good for your subliminal feng shui.

Do avoid placing images of depressing or socially aware pictures such as starving children, depressive scenes or other nightmare inducing images in your bedroom.

The wall that directly face you at work can also be a source of affirmative words – although powerful words impacting on a busy mind cannot have the same effect as it does on a relaxed mind. If you work from home it is an excellent idea to face a water feature or a beautiful garden and if this is not possible, then simulating the presence of such would be most beneficial. Thus having a wall facing you decorated with a wall mural can be a great way of simulating the presence of flowing water or a harvesting scene … anything taken from nature that suggests something abundant or lucky will always work well. At all costs avoid anything that can represent or signify an obstacle or which appears threatening. certain types of modern artistic renditions can be harmful so be watchful of the stuff you hang in front of you.

The wall that faces me as I write in my home office is my prize Chinese painting of the 8 Immortals, each holding an auspicious object and having a wide smile on a happy face.

Finally the wall that is behind you as you work is even more important as this wall represents support for you. Whether you are at home or in the office a wall behind you is always beneficial. An image of a strong mountain placed here suggests support for you. Do not hang a picture of a hole or at your back. It is also not good having anything hostile here. Refrain from hanging pictures of sharp edged buildings or wild animals behind you.

The post Make the Walls of Your Home Fabulously Auspicious appeared first on WOFS.com.

Lillian Too puts the spotlight on developing cosmic awareness to investigating feng shui ills around the house that could be causing problems to surface. The method involves using a special hand mudra used in conjunction with a focused mindset to investigate things that are out of sync inside your home; things that could be causing imbalances that create problems, setbacks and obstacles that block your success.

FIRST, THE HAND MUDRA

There is an investigative hand mudra you can learn to use when you wish to uncover and “smell out” negative energy that may be causing you or your family to fall sick, or causing you to experience obstacles in your life.

First, focus on whatever may be troubling you. It can be an illness, an obstacle, perhaps severe quarrelling energy, conflicts with others or within the family; troubles at work, a sudden worsening of a physical ailment, an accident, an attempted burglary or a financial crisis… actually, the problem can be anything at all, but if you “feel” that perhaps something may be not right about the energy of your space, you can find out if indeed something may be out of sync.

The hand mudra recommended here is a powerful mudra found on many sacred statues and images of Buddhas and Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy. Taoist masters give it great credence in feng shui work.

Used correctly, it will draw you towards physical imbalances in your space or towards misplacements of objects that could be emitting bad energy in your important corners. These are items you may have overlooked or which have broken but you are not aware of it or it may not be immediately obvious. The mudra is sure to assist you in your feng shui detective work.

With both hands joined thus, walk around the rooms of your home in a relaxed manner, but keeping a keen eye out for the familiar objects in your home, including your furniture, decorative items that are on the walls, the tables and the floors. Be mindful of the energy at all times. Tune into it while allowing your joined hands to point the way.

Your hand mudra is a powerful investigative gesture which also affords you great auric protection. This is the mudra that connects you to the cosmic realms that are parallel to our human realm, and it also engages the assistance of the spirits and local landlords of your space. They will recognize the sacredness of this hand gesture.

When the energy of any portion of the space is negative, your hands will start to tingle or shake. If it does, do stop and look around you more closely. Your hand mudra is helping you to penetrate the chi of that part of the house, and usually, if you look closely enough, it will reveal the cause of any illness or problem area you may be experiencing.

Developing the ability to feel out spaces with negative energy enables you to play feng shui detective in your homes. You can over time systematically develop all seven of your awareness sensors to help you find the cause and then alleviate, for instance, a sudden spate of illness hurting every member of the family, an unexpected lowering of energy causing despondency which seems to sap you of your strength, a series of business setbacks causing your mood to turn negative and just almost any kind of obstacle that may affect your success.

Taoists Masters steeped in the knowledge of cosmic principles know that many negative developments/events/occurrences in any home or office can be caused by some matching affliction in the physical space; and that when what is wrong can be detected, then the cause of negativities can indeed be “traced” and then dealt with. Usually, the feeling that something around you or your home does not feel “quite right” should be pursued.

To help you understand how this works here are three examples.

1. NEST OF RED ANTS

Once some years ago, one of my maids suddenly developed an ugly red rash across the front part of her body. Nothing we used could get her out of her misery as the rash itched and caused her a great deal of discomfort. And no matter what we did, the rash simply refused to subside.

I decided to play detective and using the hand mudra walked around the inside and outside of her room. I stopped outside her window where I discovered a nest of red ants at the base of the rambutan tree there. The nest of ants was directly facing her room window and the nest itself was quite large.

I immediately appeased the ant nest with incense offering… invoking the local spirit there for assistance. Within a week, the ants appeared to have left to build their nest elsewhere. More importantly, the rash cleared up; the itch disappeared.

2. LINE ACROSS THE FACE OF LADY IN MY SCREEN

This was a Chinese Screen I used to place along one wall of my living room. It was a beautiful antique screen that featured the Queen of the West Hsi Wang Mu. There was a hairline crack across the face of this lady and when I noticed it, I realized it was really quite inauspicious.

I had developed a very severe pain across my face and was reluctant to see the doctor because there seemed no apparent reason for the pain. I used the investigation mudra to get a feel for the energy in my living areas and that was how I discovered the problem. As soon as I saw the crack, I dismantled the screen, folded it and stored it away in the back room. Believe it or not my pain vanished almost instantly.

3. BIG CRACK IN OUR RICE URN

This was something that happened many years ago but I never forgot because it made me extra careful after that. I had just returned from Hong Kong and was going through a bad time. Despite a great effort on my part, I simply could not shake off a feeling of dread and fear; it was totally illogical and unreasonable, but I kept feeling that I was about to lose some money, that my investments would go bad, that I was over spending… I could not sleep well at all. So I decided to walk round my home in the hope of seeing if perhaps something was not right with the energy.

I used the mudra and stopped in front of my rice urn. My heart skipped a beat because I was starring at a huge crack that ran the length of the urn from the mouth to the bottom. The maid had turned the crack to the back so it was not immediately noticeable.

Once I changed the rice urn, it was like a cloud had lifted. My feelings of dread evaporated and I became more confident. So sometimes when you feel uncertain and unsure of yourself and it is affecting your judgment and your relations with others, use the mudra and see if maybe something in your living space is perhaps causing you to feel the way you do.

It is a good idea to mindful of decorative objects hanging on your walls, plates used daily, art pieces standing on your mantelpiece, paintings in your important rooms, broken glass on the windows, cracked furniture in the bedroom and so forth – these can often cause bigger problems than you realize. The energy of space is sensitive to imbalances and these can manifest in afflictions and ailments that really cause problems.

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1. GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Very often people expect feng shui to work like magic. Usually they hear about feng shui from someone who has had some amazing experience with the practice and they immediately expect the same result can happen for them like someone finding a soul mate within a month of getting their sleeping direction changed; or someone expecting her first baby as soon as a pink crystal lotus is placed in their descendents corner of West. Surely if feng shui can land a dream man or cause someone to have a baby after years of failure, feng shui must also be able to help them!

The problem of setting high expectations is that there will always be the possibility of getting disappointed. Be realistic and be relaxed about getting results. Get your feng shui done the best way you can and then forget about it. Let the energies rearrange themselves to bring you what you want… the more relaxed you are, the better your feng shui will work for you.

2. LOOKING FOR INSTANT RESULTS

Worse than high expectations is expecting immediate results. You cannot expect the energy of your home to change immediately; if you do, you can sometimes get disappointed and the more you agonize and wait for results to “happen”, the more you will be disappointed. Feng shui must be done with a nonchalant confidence. It is this non-obsessive expectation that usually gets good results. When you understand the cycles of time that affect change, you will also come to realize that depending on when feng shui changes are made, how long it takes for feng shui to show results can vary for up to nine months…

3. CONSULTING TOO MANY EXPERTS

These days feng shui has become so popular that there are so many so-called feng shui “experts” that one can end up having too many expert opinions!

Often when you are not careful, the consultant you bring in to help you does not have enough experience, or is not fully qualified, or worse still, is simply a charlatan out to take advantage of you. That is when you could find yourself changing one feng shui master for another until in the end you would have consulted so many experts you are left confused.

You might even lose faith in this wonderful practice, which will surely be a shame. So if you are looking for a feng shui expert, look for someone who has good solid experience or get a practitioner who comes highly recommended by someone whose judgement you respect. As with any profession, there are genuinely good practitioners and there are fakes. Do not consult too many experts – get a good book to read so you know at least some basics. This way you will be in a better position to judge whether something recommended makes sense or not.

4. GETTING SIDE TRACKED BY AMATEURS

Just as harmful as having too many “experts” is when you get sidetracked by well-meaning amateurs whose knowledge of feng shui is wholly inadequate. Incredible as it sounds, I know so many of my friends who have been side-tracked by the loose remarks of people who really have so little knowledge of feng shui. Do not allow such folk to deter you from treating feng shui seriously.

5. GETTING HUNG UP ON TERMINOLOGY

Do not get carried away by clever sounding “Chinese” terminology. Just because someone throws out clever-sounding phrases that make it seem like they understand this esoteric science does not mean they know the complete formula or know how to apply theoretical feng shui. Often, the applications of feng shui are as challenging as learning the methods of analysis. Taking directions, determining facing directions and deciding on which formula to use for instance can often be so challenging that mistakes of method and judgement can be made. I have discovered that those who are too hung up on terminology do not really appreciate the depth of feng shui analysis; their treatment can be superficial in that they overlook other inputs which can sometimes change the equation.

If you are looking for a feng shui expert, look for someone who has good solid experience or get a practitioner who comes highly recommended by someone whose judgement you respect.

6. NOT USING A GOOD COMPASS

Another thing that can go wrong is when you do not use an accurate compass or you take the facing or sitting directions incorrectly. In fact, this “mistake” accounts for more than 50% of mistakes. Remember that feng shui can be quite technical when it comes to taking directions, so you need a good compass and you need to be careful when taking directions. Be mindful where you stand and how you hold the compass. When the directions taken are inaccurate, your whole feng shui application could be flawed.

7. SKIPPING THE HARD PARTS

The practice of feng shui can sometimes be challenging enough to tempt you to overlook certain important steps. If you are using a difficult formula, for instance to design a good auspicious water flow around your house, you must be fastidious and very careful to include all the important aspects of the formula. You cannot skip the hard parts, as doing so renders the water flow you build invalid. It will not work when the flow does not pass your front door, or does not pass the door in the correct direction!

8. OVERWHELMED BY ALL THAT CLASSICAL STUFF

Another common myth amongst those who are insufficiently well informed about feng shui is the belief that anything “classical” or “Chinese” must be more accurate and thus superior. Nothing can be further from the truth! This is because there was a period of the Ming Dynasty when feng shui was out of favour and many Taoist feng shui masters had to go underground. The Emperor’s court even ordered fake feng shui books to be written to fool practitioners. It is said that soon after the Forbidden City was completed in 1419, three of its main halls as well as the quarters of the Emperor’s concubines burned to the ground. Historical gossip has it that it was severely wrong feng shui that caused lightning to strike the buildings, thus razing them to the ground.

9. BEING TOO MUCH OF A PERFECTIONIST

Those who want to get everything right in feng shui are in for a disappointment as it is simply impossible to get everything perfect! In fact, one of the skills of the experienced feng shui master is that he/she knows that there are always tradeoffs involved when choosing between formulas. It is not always possible to tap into all of one’s good directions and locations, so you always have to choose between options. It is better to not be too much of a perfectionist!

10. THROWING OUT CONVENTIONAL WISDOM AKA common sense

Finally, remember that good feng shui is almost always about good common sense. When an expert recommends something which does not seem to make sense, do not throw out conventional wisdom. Going against your better judgement usually causes you to make quite severe mistakes.

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LILLIAN TOO shares three important dreams… the first of two white Tigers which turned out to be snow lions, heralded her transformational embrace of Tibetan Buddhism; the other two she had over two consecutive nights of very deep and restful sleep in January… she believes they are auspicious but is still waiting for good events to unfold.

Dreams reveal the inner psychic awareness of one’s deepest thoughts. They emerge during the moments when we are resting our conscious minds, when we are allowing our inner subconscious free rein and that is when dream images manifest, take shape and become real in one’s conscious awareness.

A River Filled With Goldfish

I dreamt of a river in a jungle the night after I got back from Las Vegas. Jet lagged and bone tired, I slipped into a very deep sleep and in the morning when I woke up, the image of me bending by the river side in amazement as I watched big fat goldfish swimming in the river! I shook my head, “impossible” I am thinking, the goldfish cannot possibly survive in the river, yet there they were swimming happily, so many of them and as I stood up and looked at the river on both sides of me, there appeared more and more of these fat slow moving goldfish – big and round and quite happy… and then it seemed as if the entire river was filled with goldfish – silver and red in colour… and then I realized I was dreaming!

Auspicious? Of course! Goldfish are one of the most popular symbols of good fortune as they symbolize abundance, and a river of healthy swimming goldfish must surely mean plenty of great good fortune coming! Whatever they indicate, the dream left me feeling very happy…

Two White Tigers

I dreamt of two white Tigers twelve years ago. They were vivid, real and startlingly memorable. There was not a doubt they were prophetic dreams because I awoke slowly with the images of the two large white furred creatures next to me. The dream had begun with one white furred creature up a very large tree… I looked up and saw it, turned to my daughter Jennifer who was with me in the dream, and said, “Look darling, a White Tiger up in the tree!”

Before she could answer, the Tiger sprung down and landed ever so softly right next to us and purred. It was incredible. There was no feeling of fear, just awe and wonder at the enormous power of the creature as it landed next to us, and then before I could extend my hand to stroke it, hearing Jennifer’s voice saying, “Look Mummy, there’s another one up there.”

True enough when I looked up, there was another equally large white tiger in the tree. For months after that I went round asking everyone what they thought the dream meant… No one came even close to explaining the dream and I myself did not realize what the dream meant until almost a year later when I saw a large Tibetan thangka painting of Shakyamuni Buddha sitting on a throne decorated with two snow lions that looked exactly like the white tigers of my dream. The thangka was behind Lama Zopa in his room at Kopan monastery in Katmandu. Only then did it suddenly dawn on me that my inner subconscious mind had been preparing me for my meeting with my Lama… the Tree itself was also prophetic because in Tibetan Buddhism, the Guru Merit field is usually visualized against a background of a great big tree. So next time you have a dream which you suspect to be prophetic, don’t try to interpret it – just wait for events to unfold…

Related Common Dreams and What They Mean

Drawing All The Big Cards In A Game Of “ Mahjong”

Then the night I had another spectacular dream. Believe it or not, this time, all I can see is my extended hand reaching out to pull out my card. I am at a mahjong game and my cards are brilliant. I have already “ponged” the “hong chong”, the red character which means central and it is a BIG card in mahjong; I have also “ponged” the green “fatt choy”, another BIG card in the game, so altogether I have three’s of the red and green BIG cards lined up in front of me and I am telling my co-players to watch me as I am only waiting for the “part pahn”, the other white BIG card and if I have all three I will win in a very BIG way.

So here I am pulling my next card and guess what? Indeed I pull exactly the card I need … and so I win the game of mahjong and it is a very big win indeed. All this will sound like double Dutch to those of you who do not play mahjong, but for those of you who do, you know getting all three BIG cards is a big deal in mahjong, so I am interpreting this as a very auspicious dream!

It is strange that I dream of mahjong because I have not played this game seriously now for over 35 years. It is only in recent months that I have been teaching Jack my grandson how to play it as a way of teaching him some Chinese; so to have this game featured in my dream one night after my dream of goldfish must surely mean something really auspicious – perhaps associated with Jack my grandson? Maybe it means winning the lottery!! We will see!

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I am charmed by this because I know that birds coming into the home spells excellent feng shui. Indeed, birds have been sharing my house for a long time. This started years ago when a pair of mynahs started living in the eaves of my home at the back. Over the years, this has expanded into a Mynah community and we hear them each morning making loud chirpy sounds. They are a noisy and aggressive bunch but I am happy to share my home with them.

I have always known that BIRDS bring opportunities for advancement, that they convey cosmic messages from the Gods, that they even bring wealth and unexpected developments in one’s life, and I have always rather liked the strident handsome appearance of the Mynahs with their yellow beaks and sharp eyes. They feed on the worms in my garden and catch lizards from the walls. They also share dog food pellets with my American Goldens.

That they are happily reproducing in my backyard has brought good fortune and yang chi for us, so I regard them as part of my family.

Now a smaller, gentler variety of birds has started coming to nest in the potted palms that grow profusely in my patios and outdoor verandahs. More recently, we spied several pairs at both the front and sides of my home, but this is the first time a bird has gone so far as to build a nest right inside my living room, on a chandelier no less.

The bird flies in and out of the house using different windows each time. It took a week for the nest to get built, then another week for the egg to be laid… a fortnight later we started seeing the baby bird… it was amazing watching mother bird feed baby bird over a period of ten days. At nights, the baby bird sleeps alone in the nest and early morning the parents return with breakfast, and then lunch and dinner.

And even as we look at them fascinated, they stare back at us… oblivious to all the sounds we are making. Their presence is reassuring and gives us all a warm feeling. I have no doubt they bring goodwill messages from the heavenly Phoenixes, for this past month has been a very special and lovely time for me. I successfully completed a very special Buddhist meditation Retreat with a dozen friends. It was an amazing week for us and I returned home rejuvenated, feeling very light and happy.

On the third night after my return, the baby bird flew away with its mother…

Birds in general always spell good fortune and when you share your home with birds without you having to keep them in captivity, they always bring some special good fortune. When you cannot have the real thing however, images of birds can be just as effective in bringing good feng shui.

Different birds bring a different  kind of energy… let me share with you here a list of birds that bring very auspicious feng shui significance into the home… these are the Phoenix, the Peacock, the Crane, the Mandarin Duck, the Rooster, the Dove and the Magpie…

The mythical Phoenix is the most famous bird in feng shui. It is usually paired with the Dragon as a feng shui symbol of marital happiness. On its own, the Phoenix is Yang, but when paired with a Dragon it is Yin. The Phoenix represents a time of good harvests, big profits and great happiness. This is the winged creature that has immortal and heavenly status. The Phoenix symbolizes strength, resilience and perfect transformation. The Phoenix also signifies rising triumphant just when you think it has passed on… having a Phoenix or even better 9 Phoenixes in a golden screen brings amazing opportunities which come continuously; and it takes residents into new heights of attainments.

In feng shui, the Phoenix is associated with the element of Fire; its direction is South, and it brings transformational change.

Next to the Phoenix in popularity is the elegant Crane, which signifies longevity and eternal love. Images of flocks of Cranes with red beaks feature prominently on feng shui inspired vases, embroidered items, pieces of clothing, decor items and even in fine art. According to ancient Chinese legends, Cranes carry the Spirit of the departed to the heavens. Thus, the Crane is often used in feng shui to signify the energy of a long, noble and peaceful life that is eventually taken to heavens.

The love birds that feng shui recommends for those wanting to find a mate are the Mandarin Ducks. These birds mate for life, so they have come to symbolize devotion, fidelity and lifelong affection. To enhance romance, mandarin ducks are always displayed in pairs and placed in the Southwest corners of frequently used rooms.

The brilliantly plumaged Peacock is the equivalent of the Phoenix who lives on Earth. Its mesmerizing colours and the “thousand eyes” look enhances popularity and recognition. The peacock also symbolizes beauty and love. Images of peacock are extremely auspicious, bringing wealth and prosperity, while peacock feathers assist the lovelorn to find and keep love.

The practical and disciplined Rooster is often used in feng shui to improve professional mobility and for career advancement.  Roosters placed in the office reduce gossip and backbiting thus making for a better environment.

Meanwhile, the Magpie in feng shui is associated with joyousness. This bird sings beautifully and is usually associated with marriage or having a baby – it magnifies the nesting instincts of those slow to wed or find a mate. Magpies signify love and marriage. Mothers keen to see their children happily married can use the magpie as a wonderful enhancer. In China, whenever magpies come to your home, it is said to signify an auspicious omen. It brings new opportunities and this can come as feng shui cure to help remove or alleviate obstacles in one’s career or love life.

Finally of course we must not forget the Dove, the universal symbol of peace and purity of motivation.

The ENERGY OF BIRDS
It is always beneficial to invite into the home the energy of auspicious birds. You can select the kind of birds that thrill and please you. And bird images can come as a photograph, a painting, a small sculpture or a vase, a pot or anything at all showing happy birds, and especially 100 happy birds.

Placed in your living room or work area, the energy of auspicious birds brings warm feelings of love. They lighten the air, and for those working from home, bird images give you a clarity of concentration that raises your productivity amazingly.

As someone totally mindful of the multiple benefits that birds bring, you can understand then how thrilled I was when a beautiful baby bird was born inside my home!

I interpret this as a definite sign that we will soon welcome a new baby into the family, and this can take any form – it may be a new project, or a fresh new perspective; I await the forthcoming good fortune approaching with open arms!

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First we selected an auspicious day and hour. This has now been made very easy because each year we compile the Feng Shui Almanac calendar which makes choosing the right day and time a very easy process indeed. In each month, there are usually a few days that are especially auspicious for moving into a new house and having found these dates, it is also very important that the day selected does not clash with the animal sign of the main parties. This is really vital as a clash will render the move inauspicious!

As such, the moving-in date needs to be carefully worked out.

It is also more auspicious to move in during the fifteen days of the waxing moon i.e. when the moon is rising rather than during the second half of the lunar month when the moon is waning. And I always prefer moving in during the morning hours as opposed to the afternoon hours. This ensures that you bring excellent sunshine yang chi into the home with you.

THE MAIN RITUAL

Prior to moving into the home, it is a good idea to make Incense Offering to the local landlords and spirits of the land. This is an excellent way to appease them and the ritual ensures that the spirits do not create obstacles for the family. It is simply so important that the family can live in harmony with the spirits of the land and the goddesses of the earth.

Getting the spirits of the cosmic realms on your side is a powerful method of Spiritual Feng Shui and it ensures that life in the new house will not just be safe and secure for the family, but also that there will be abundance and good fortune. This is an important dimension of ensuring that life in the new house will be smooth, prosperous and happy; and that there will always be longevity of good feng shui.

The incense offering ritual should be done in the early morning hours before the family moves in. Prior to the moving-in date, furniture and clothes can already be moved in. The “official moving-in date” is the day when the family moves in the beds and sleeps in the house thereafter. So by the day the family moves in to live in the house, quite a lot of the furniture has already been moved in.

It is also a good idea to ensure that before the family moves in, that ALL the light switches work, that the plumbing works and most important of all, that the kitchen is in good functioning order, as part of the moving in ritual involves boiling water and cooking something “sweet” i.e. turning on the stove. On the day of the move, everything must work!

STEPPING OVER THE FIRE

At the designated hour, burn some charcoal, and as the family enters the main door into the home, they should, one by one, step over the fire and into the home.

The Patriarch should carry a golden rice urn (half filled with rice) as he walks over the fire and into the home. This signifies that he will be the principle provider of the home. Carrying the rice urn symbolizes wealth and it being half full indicates there is room for more wealth to come. Walking over fire means leaving all the bad luck behind, as the Fire element has great relevance in getting rid of all misfortune luck.

The Matriarch should carry a pillow as she steps over the fire. This signifies that she can sleep well with no worries and that her life will be one of great good fortune. It also signifies that there will be no problems arising out of infidelities and other misfortunes causing the marriage to go wrong.

The sons of the family should carry books as they walk over the fire, while the daughters of the family should carry flowers. This ensures the sons will become brilliant scholars and have success and rise to minister’s level, while the daughters will become great beauties and contract auspicious marriages. In the old days, sons of families would bring honour to families by their rise in society, while daughters would make brilliant marriages. Modern day living is not so different, as many families continue to harbour very similar aspirations.

Thus, on the day they moved into the home, Chris carried a golden rice urn, Jennifer carried a soft pillow, while Jack and Josh carried their school books. All four of them wore long pants to signify longevity of abundance in their new home. If there are altars in the home, these should be consecrated and set up with water, light, food, incense and flower offerings – five types of offerings to ensure that the Buddhas are properly welcomed into the home at the same time.

Once inside the house, the maids, who each carry foodstuff and clothes as they walk over the fire then warm up a pre-cooked sweet concoction comprising sweet longan and other fruits cooked earlier with rock sugar. Then the family sits down to have a meal. Water is boiled to make sweet tea and a pot of rice is cooked.

By the time they moved in of course, most of their furniture had already been moved in and set up. The fridges and the pantry had been filled with food.

The television is turned on to generate yang chi and a few friends come over an hour later to signify plenty of friends visiting. Conversation as they eat and laugh together should comprise only the most positive comments and remarks!

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