This painting “ATLANTA(Blue Sky Dream” isn’t finished yet and the photo doesn’t do it justice but I wanted to share my work-in-progress since we’re celebrating MLK Day today. Happy Birthday, Martin. We shall never forget you.
Monthly Archives: January 2010
MEDIA ROOM GETS FENG SHUI REVIEW
From time to time I like to do a feng shui analysis of photos I find online. Today’s LA Times has a featured “Home of the Week” of a modern mid-century home in Beverly Hills. The house is a long rectangle. The photo shown here is the media room. Does it have good feng shui? Yes. Here’s why:
*Because the location of the media room is to the left of the Mouth of Chi (entry door to home), looking at the location of the door I place the media room to be in the Career Area of the home. Since this home is and has been owned by people with entertainment careers, having a media room in this location enhances/strengthens that portion of their Career bagua.
*Because the Career sector of the bagua is activated by the color black, the sofa color is a good choice.
*Because the Career sector is activated by the element of water, the color black represents water and is doubly a good choice for the sofa. In addition, the huge windows represent water as well.
*The balance of yin-yang is good here: curvy couch, curvy track lighting, round ceramic tables, tiles with curvy lines….all of these curves offset the square and rectangular angles of the media center.
*Balance of elements is good: water (as mentioned above), metal(the track lights and accents), wood (the front of the cabinet), earth (the tiles and the ceramic tables), and a slight touch of fire (the red accent pillows on the couch). You don’t want too much fire here because you don’t want to dowse the influence of the water which is naturally located in the Career area.
What could be improved? I’d add a large round-leaved plant to bring in some green representing wealth, health, and breathing energy to this room. What would you do?
Filed under Career, Design, Feng Shui, Feng Shui Home, Interior Design
LUCKY e-CARDS
There are an abundance of free e-card websites but few e-card websites that support abundance through the use of feng shui symbolism. Feng Shui By Fishgirl recommends this site for unusual animated greeting cards appropriate for all occasions, birthdays to Chinese New Year.
CONNIE KAPLAN’S TURTLE DREAMERS
Are you a dreamer? Maybe you wake up knowing that your dreams have some deeper meaning but you’re not quite sure what to do with them. Keeping a dream journal is a good place to start. After that, joining a dream circle will expand your dreaming to a much richer experience.
When I lived in Los Angeles I belonged to a very special dream circle that took place at the home of Dr. Connie Kaplan, author (Dreams Are Letters From the Soul and The Invisible Garmentand The Woman’s Book of Dreams: Dreaming as a Spiritual Practice).
Connie is a wonderful teacher, enthusiastic knitter, a dreamer and a human being that radiates warmth. I feel blessed to count her as a friend and a mentor.
When I relocated to the east coast, the saddest thing about leaving LA was that I would no longer be able to participate in the bi-weekly circle meetings with the women I’d met there. Women of all ages and backgrounds, the dream circle was truly a meeting of like-minded souls with wonderful spirits. Since I couldn’t be there anymore, I joined Connie’s online dream circle. Skeptical at first that the online experience would not be as meaningful to me as the up close and personal circle, I am now a true believer. Connie’s online dream circle can be joined at the Turtle Dreamers website. But that is not all you’ll find there. Here’s a glimpse of some of the exciting stuff you’ll discover at Connie’s site:
*Free podcasts covering the principles of The Invisible Garment are available for download. The Invisible Garment is a new system based on astrology that helps the dreamer discover personal traits that can unlock her personal destiny/spiritual path. Dr. Kaplan discusses the system one-principle-at-a-time.
*Connie’s new six book series “A Colorful Life” is available directly from the author as an easy download with the first book offered as a freebie.
*A really cool personal Lunar Dream Calendar is available that will knock your socks off. Record your dreams directly to your calendar and search for key dreams such as “Full Moon” dreams once you have enough dreams stored in your database. A subscription service, this program replaces a paper dream journal and provides optimum security and convenience for the dreamer.
I spoke with Connie recently about the role of dreamers in 2010 as we embark on a new decade well into the 21st century. Here’s what she had to say:
“I teach people to see dreaming as the work of the visionary. When we go to sleep we leave the constraints of time/space and waking-reality perspective and plug into Source. (It’s sort of like recharging your iPod at night.) We awaken having visited the realm of all possibility, returning to ordinary reality with memories of the future – memories of the not-yet dimensions – memories of what resides in the “becoming” realms.
That is the role of the dreamer – to dream the possibilities into being. Of course, in order to dream a healthy world, we have be BE health. In order to dream a peaceful world we have to BE peace. In order to dream a functional world, we have to BE function.
In other words, dreamers have to manifest their own dreams in their waking lives in order to deliver the gifts of the dream to the world. We are visionaries, and we are participants in the ever-evolving creation of our experience.
Dreamers are the artists and the architects of waking reality. When we stop seeing our dreams as personal and psychological experiences, and when we learn to understand the darker images of our dreams as something magnificent and powerful emerging from the Void, we are able to joyfully build a personal life, a family life, a culture around us that reflects the sacredness of all life.”
Interested? Check out Turtle Dreamers and let me know what you think.
Filed under Creativity & Future Projects, Dreaming, Feng Shui, Fun, Healing Energy, Self Help
HELPING HAITI HELPS YOUR FENG SHUI
Photo courtesy of BBC News. A building in Port-au-Prince devastated, a chair still standing.
If you need a reason to open your hearts and your wallets to help the survivors of the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti here it is: it’s good for your karma and your feng shui. The photos of the devastation are heartbreaking.
If you are an artist, you can contribute the income from some of your t-shirt designs by sending your graphic design images directly to HaitiRelief@cafepress.com. CafePress.com is setting up a special shop where all proceeds will go to UNICEF‘s Haiti Relief Fund.
Musicmaker Wyclef Jean has been involved with helping the people of Haiti for awhile now and has enlisted other celebrities such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to work with his Yele Foundation. Now of course Yele will be targeting the survivors and the rebuilding that will follow. All you need do to contribute $5 to Wyclef’s org is to use your cell phone to text a message to 501501 and the message you type in is “YELE”. They will text you back a confirmation that you reply “Yes” to in order to collect the funds from your phone company.
These are just two organizations you can donate to. The Red Cross and many others are also good choices.
CASH IN YOUR FANCY CHINA
When you got married, did you register for fancy china dinnerware for your wedding? What do you do if some if has broken? Having broken or incomplete stuff around your house is a feng shui no-no.
Maybe you got divorced and have one–or two!–boxes of wedding china kicking around in storage somewhere in your home. Hopefully it’s not in your Love & Relationship sector messing with your new marriage…or blocking energy so you can’t find a new partner.
Or perhaps you inherited various china from grandma and are afraid to use it and break it?
Here’s the solution: you can buy missing pieces of your china pattern at Replacements, Ltd OR you can turn your old china set into cash by selling. Now THAT’S good for your Wealth sector AND your Love sector! Replacements, Ltd is a huge retail store near Raleigh, NC. However, you don’t have to live in NC to take advantage of them. Do it all via phone, internet, or postal service.
I’ve never been married or registered for china but I do have a great collection of vintage Fiestaware that I absolutely love for its vibrant energy.
What’s your tableware like?
Filed under Design, Feng Shui, Getting Organized, Love & Relationship
THE YEAR OF THE TIGER LILY
This is the Year of the Tiger. What more perfect flower to beautify your garden AND harness tiger energy than the Tiger Lily? Order your bulbs and plant in early spring for a riot of color this summer. Classic deep orange or more exotic pinks and whites will activate good chi (energy) around your property.
Filed under Feng Shui, Plants & Outdoors
THIS BENCH IS SERIOUSLY TWISTED, DUDE
All copyrights belong to Pablo Reinoso Studio.
Isn’t this a fun piece of art? My partner and I received this new year’s greeting from his friend artist Pablo Reinoso and we’re not quite sure if he produced it in real life or in photoshop. He’s capable of either. What do you think?
Filed under ART, Creativity & Future Projects, Design, Feng Shui
STUFFED ANIMALS OF THE DEAD KIND: Good Feng Shui?
Feng Shui By Fishgirl stopped recently to have lunch in a strange town and found the interior of the restaurant to be even stranger. The walls, columns, overhead of the bar were all covered with dead animals and exotic taxidermied hunting trophies. There were fish, birds, deer, elk, moose, bear, wild boars, and even an alligator and a lion.
What do you think the impact of all this death chi (energy) has on a space? It was obvious: the restaurant had about 20 tables and a bar and there were only 3 tables occupied for the lunch setting. And another entire banquet room that looked like it hadn’t served any real diners in decades.
Although the food was good, and the weirdness of the decor certainly a conversation piece, it isn’t helping business. Maybe it’s because people don’t like to be watched while they eat…or maybe it’s not so fun eating a burger while looking at Bambi’s head on a wall. I think it is more about overkill. This restaurant had waaaaay too many stuffed animals on display.
And if you insist on having trophies like this in your home space, you better be awfully careful about which feng shui sector you place them in. An open-jawed alligator might scare your opportunities for wealth away, for example. And you might not have heard that a dead moose head in your Love & Relationship area is not the latest trend in romance. Trust me on this!
Filed under Feng Shui, Interior Design, Qi
ASHEVILLE ART & ART DECO
I love Art Deco architecture and Asheville, NC has more of it than any other city in America’s southeastern states with the exception of Miami, Florida. Not only that, Asheville is an art town. Visiting the Blue Spiral 1 Gallery on Biltmore Ave I was able to experience both. With over 15,000 square feet of beautiful exhibition galleries and some excellent artists, the Blue Spiral has fantastic Qi energy (I’m pretty sure the symbolic name of the gallery adds to that energy, as well).
Naming your business properly requires great thought and planning. If you don’t get it right, your feng shui will not flow. Do you have a business that benefits from an appropriate name/logo? Share with us, please.
Filed under Architecture, ART, Feng Shui, Travel
Feng Shui By Fishgirl 