Not that these aren’t challenging times, but all the fear mongering and consequent pubic anxiety isn’t helping anyone. How can Feng Shui help in all this, you might wonder. It is my experience that when life becomes stagnant and money is not coming in as it should, changing the environmental condition does help to get the energy flowing again. In other words, move the furniture around; put it into a new configuration. The end of summer and beginning of autumn is a good time to make such changes. Sometimes even a small change makes a world of difference.

It really helps to clean out the place. Clutter spells stagnation and anxiety. To clear your space, start by throwing out everything that you don’t need. Clear up all the clutter. Get organized. Look over all the old papers and decide what goes where and what goes into the garbage.

To make a spiritual cleansing of the house, according to Chinese tradition, first open all the windows and do a thorough house cleaning; washing and vacuuming. When that’s done, take a broom and lightly sweep all the floors and walls from the back of the house to the front door, then sweep all the stale energy out the door. And, if you want to do it right, slam the door behind it all once you’ve got it outside.

There is a secret method for getting bad spirits out of the house that you can include. For this you need to get a small round mirror. Traditionally, one uses a round bronze mirror that can be held in the hand, but a small, round cosmetic mirror will do if you can’t find a bronze mirror; bronze mirrors are hard to come by and are expensive. Take the mirror in your left hand; hold it flat with all five fingers around it so the reflecting side faces out. In your right hand, hold a lit red candle so that  the candle flame is reflected on the face of the mirror. With this, go around to all the walls of the house; walk close to the wall surfaces, reflecting the candle flame in the mirror onto the walls as you go from the back of the house all the way around to the front door. This causes hungry ghost energies to flee the house and can cause your hair to stand up on end if you are sensitive to such entities.

To freshen up the house and bring in good luck, bring in fresh oranges and fresh, live flowers and arrange them on a table. Then light two red candles on the table where you have arranged the oranges and flowers, burn sandalwood incense, and make a prayer for the blessings of Heaven for peace and prosperity to come into your home.

When arranging your furniture, make sure the configuration you put everything into lets you move easily through the house; nothing should get in the way of movement. The house has to feel open. Clutter or obstruction anywhere means stagnation in one or another department of your life. A Feng Shui reading of your house will tell you exactly what the cluttered areas of your home correspond to in your life according to the elements of your Chinese astrological chart and the elements of the different compass points inside your home. A complete cleansing of the house, including decluttering it and sorting out and realigning all the stuff will help you to get your energy moving in the right direction, and that’s what you want. While doing this, concentrate of rearranging how you feel about your prospects in life. A feeling of being stuck in life with no idea what to do is no better than living in a cluttered mess. Clear your mental environment of mental clutter while you clear your home environment; both your mental and living environments reflect one another. When you can see your intention for an unobstructed way in life reflected in an open, clean environment you will be taking a very positive step in the right direction. While organizing your house, organize your personal goals and prioritize the steps that will bring you to realize your goals; everything corresponds.

Anxiety or despair, for whatever reason, needs time to come around and be transformed. In the context of the Chinese elements these emotions are related mostly to Earth and Metal. In their most positive life supportive expressions, Earth and Metal signify nourishment and cleanliness. If you are in emotional trouble for fear of not having enough, take care of nourishment and setting healthy boundaries; pay attention to what you eat, and keep negative people and situations at a safe distance. In terms of your space, pay attention to your kitchen, and throw out all the junk.

Money points or areas in the house to consider include the first place you see inside the house upon opening the front door, also the far left-hand area, or corner, of your entire house or apartment, and the southeast area, or corner, of your house or apartment. There are also other areas designated as money points that are determined by the age of the house as well as by the elements of your Chinese astrological chart; to locate these areas, however, you need the help of an expert, one who knows the Chinese astrological and compass methods. Besides the fixed money points, there are money points that circulate around the house on a yearly, even monthly basis due to the rotation of the heavens. In China and Japan people who use fengshui readjust their homes and places of business on a regular basis to catch the luck.

What to do mainly in money points is to make sure the energy or chi, breathes unobstructedly. Clutter or unsightly stuff in the money points militates against a healthy relationship with money. Money points, besides being uncluttered, should be well lit. If you wish, put symbols of prosperity in the money points. Symbols of prosperity, besides the appropriate Chinese calligraphies, include such things as bouquets of flowers, flowering plants, miniature orange trees, jade plants, the lucky Buddha, a conch shell, images of two gold fish swiming around one another, images of elephants, deer, horses, dogs and so on. Certain images such as dragons or money turtles need to be positioned in special ways according to the element they represent in order to work for you the way you want them to. For example, a dragon or money turtle made of plastic, crystal or glass corresponds to the element Water and has to be positioned to face north; made of wood, it has to face east or southeast; made of stone, it has to face northeast or southwest; made of metal it has to face west or northwest. The famous money toad has to be positioned to face the direction of the front door. The money toad also has to be placed high up, never low down. This is because the money toad is a form of the Moon Fairy Chang-O, and Chang-O lives in the sky, not on the earth. There are Chinese magical formulas for using money toads to increase money luck that require knowledge of the lunar tides and astrological number theories to work. The same holds true for using fish tanks for attracting money luck.

To make decent money, you need to keep your mind clear and focused while persevering. This is where the element Metal comes in. Metal cuts out everything undesirable and concentrates. To keep your mind clear, or clearer than it has been these past months, make sure to throw out everything you don’t want and can’t use anymore. Keep your house in a simple, balanced condition. And to cheer up, use the element Fire. Fire is beauty. Keep things of beauty to inspire you.

In the Chinese system, everything is cyclical; everything moves in waves. This down cycle will be followed by an up cycle. The tides will turn. Get ready for improved luck. Money is flow, or affluence. If the flow of energy of your home and life is good, your chances of luck are good. If the flow is stale and stagnant, your chances of luck are poor. Breathe right, open the channels to life, let in the light and get more luck. Chaos, or clutter often denotes depression. If you or someone in your home is depressed or chaotic, go about decluttering very carefully and sensitively unless you want to get a bad reaction; decluttering often exposes emotional pain that wants to be left alone and needs time to come through its own process by itself in its own time. In other words, be patient with yourself and with the others living with you when fixing up the place.

How well can you move through your home? Do you need all the stuff you cling to? Can you take chances with your money to improve your condition? Fear comes of feeling stuck. The more freely you can move the more unstuck you feel. Open your space and move and you will begin to feel less stuck. And that will start to turn your luck around for the better.For more information about Raphael’s work in Feng Shui see www.psychicarts.net or www.trs-fengshui.com

T. Raphael Simons will be on The Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show Friday, August 28th at 8pm Eastern.

More about T. Raphael Simons…

T. Raphael Simons is a psychic reader, astrologer (Western and Chinese forms), feng shui expert, hypnotherapist and life coach and is  available for consultations and counseling in person and by telephone. Author of Feng Shui, Step by Step, Feng Shui Strategies for Business Success: Arranging Your Office for Success and Prosperity, and The Feng Shui of Love, his interest in the metaphysical sciences and arts began in 1970, he first learned to read Tarot cards in 1971 and took up reading them professionally in 1977. From there he studied astrology for seven years with Ivy Jacobson beginning in 1980. In 1988 he took up the study of Chinese astrology and fengshui with Terry Lee in New York and has been practicing and teaching Chinese astrology and fengshui ever since. He also trained in channeling in New York with the medium Alex Murray. Since 1999 Raphael has been a member of OBOD (the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids), the most ancient bardic and druid order in the UK in which he was elected a full member in the Druid grade. Raphael has been living in Durham, North Carolina since 2003, moving to NC from New York City. Originally trained as a musician, he taught music at Princeton University and Oberlin College. More info at: www.psychicarts.net

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