Basic Feng Shui Cure #1: Bright or Light Refracting Objects to Raise Chi

Note: This series explores the 9 basic Feng Shui cures.

Bright or light-refracting objects include mirrors, crystal balls and, in modern Feng Shui, lights.

Mirrors
Mirrors, sometimes called the aspirin of Feng Shui, are often used to create a sense of depth, when:

- a wall is too close to a front door
- a home has slanted walls or ceilings, which can feel oppressive
- to deflect the negative impact of poison arrows, unpleasant views or anything that creates negative chi, such as funeral homes or high-traffic streets

Rules for Using Mirrors in Feng Shui
- Mirrors should never be hung so low that they cut off the top of your head. This can lead to feelings of low self-esteem, tension and even headaches.

- Mirrors should be all one piece, not tiled. Tiled mirrors distort the image, leading to illness as well as feelings of dis-ease.

- Mirrors should not be hung so high that people have to look up to see them. This can create feelings of “not measuring up” or feeling “small.”

- Mirrors should be bright and clear, not dark or smoky. Smoked glass can lower the chi and feel oppressive in a space -- the exact opposite of the effect you want a mirror to have.

Crystal Balls
Crystal balls are often used to slow and disperse the flow of chi. You may hang one between two doors that are parallel to each other (fighting doors) to slow the flow of chi, or at the top and/or bottom of a steep staircase that leads out a door.

Lights
Lights are used almost as frequently as mirrors in Feng Shui. A spotlight can square off the shape of an L-shaped building, replacing a missing area of the Ba Gua. It can also be used to direct chi upward from a valley, especially if a house is located on the hill. This helps prevent money from “rolling away” from the site. Lights in an entryway can make a space seem larger and more welcoming, inviting opportunities into your home.

For outdoor lighting, you may want to consider solar electric lights, which gather solar energy during the day in order to stay lit at night. These are cost-effective and environmentally friendly and can be used to fill in missing areas of the Ba Gua or lift the chi of a downhill space.

How Missing Areas Could Be Impacting Your Cash Flow & More

When you lay the bagua over the floor plan of your home or apartment, you may discover your home is not a perfect square or rectangle. This creates “additions” or “missing areas” in the bagua, which can affect many areas of your life, including your:

- fortune
- finances
- family life
- career advancement
- relationships with others
- marriage or love life
- relationship with your children
- health
- status
- ability to receive help from others... and more.

Every area of the bagua affects an important area of your life. If that area of the bagua is missing, your life will suffer in that area. On the other hand, an addition in the area can lead to increase wealth, health, social status, great relationships and more.

How Can You Tell If An Area is Missing or Enhanced?

If a segment of your floor plan extends beyond the main rectangle or square of a home and is less than 1/2 of the total length or depth of the house (depending on where the extension lies), then this is an “addition.” You will find this area of your life enhanced. You don't need to do anything about an addition, other than enjoy its effects.

You may also lay out your home to take advantage of the addition. For instance, an addition in the wealth or creativity and children area would be a good place to set up a home office. Consider placing a library or study room in an addition in the knowledge area.

You may be missing an area of the bagua if the extension on your home is greater than one half the total length or width of the house.

If the distances are equal, you can use your intuition to determine whether you have an addition or a missing area -- does the house feel like it has an extension that goes beyond the main area of the house, or does it feel as if part of the main floor plan is missing?
Also consider some of the tribulations or successes you are facing in your life. Do they point to a missing area of the bagua (for instance, are you having money problems?) Or is an area of your life enhanced?

Cures for Missing Areas

There are several Feng Shui cures for a missing area. You can hang a mirror on the wall to project into the missing area. You can shine outdoor, all-weather lights on the missing area to “fill in” that space on the bagua.

You can also enhance the living chi of that space by planting shrubs or flowers that correspond with the elemental colors of that section of the bagua. For instance, a purple lilac bush in the wealth area will “complete” that segment of the bagua and help improve your financial situation.

Do you have missing areas or extensions in your floor plan?

What Can I Expect During a Feng Shui Consultation?

If you're having problems related to your career, finances, romantic relationships or overall mood, a Feng Shui consultation might help. By altering your environment and surroundings under the watchful guidance of a professional, you'll be able to see positive changes take place in your life.

When a Black Sect Feng Shui consultant visits your home for a consultation, expect an interactive experience. Black Sect Feng Shui employs both transcendental (spiritual) and mundane (connected to everyday life) methods to improve the flow of chi (energy) through your home.

The Feng Shui Ba Gua in Your Home
Black Sect Feng Shui does not use a compass to determine the trigram positions or the direction in which to overlay the ba gua over a space. Instead, the Feng Shui consultant will determine the position by which chi enters your home (usually through a front door, but sometimes through another door), and lay the ba gua over the space with the front door in one of three front sectors of the ba gua.

He will also find the central palace (tai chi position) of your home, and assess the placement of important rooms (including the kitchen, bathroom and master bedroom) in relation to the central line and central palace.

After completing a site survey, in which he uses his knowledge of Feng Shui, observational skills, intuition and other techniques to assess the chi in the space, he will assess your Feng Shui needs in relation to your personal chi and the dynamics of your home.

Working with your Feng Shui Consultant
At the start of the consultation, the Feng Shui consultant will discuss with you the areas of your life you feel need help, where your priorities lie, and what your future goals are.

Be prepared to think -- and speak -- in depth about the areas of life covered by the eight Trigrams and the tai chi position (the central palace). You'll want to consider strong and weak areas of your life, and how your surroundings may affect these areas. It's a good idea to brainstorm your goals in regard to these eight areas. It may help to ask yourself the following questions:

- What role does money play in my life? Do I have enough? Do I spend it (or lose it) as quickly as it comes in? Is increasing my wealth a major goal right now?

- What are my goals in regard to children? Do I want to conceive right now? Do I desire better control as a parent?

- Do I feel creativity lacking in my life?

- What is my reputation at work and in my community? Is it important to me that I'm highly regarded amongst my peers?

- Am I stuck in my career or advancing quickly? What aspects of my business life would I like to improve?

- Am I looking to further my education or take part in career development? Is this a priority right now? How are my children doing in school?

- How is my love life and my relationship with my partner? Or am I seeking a romantic relationship?

- How are my relationships with others in general? Do people help me when I need it? Do my friendships have a fair amount of give and take?

- What is my overall health? Do I have any illnesses or ailments? Do I have a lot of energy everyday? Do I sleep well at night?  

- What is my overall mood? Am I typically in good spirits?

Intention in Feng Shui
Since intention plays such a large role in Feng Shui, it's important to visualize the improvements you'd like to make in your life, and to know that the Feng Shui cures an expert implements will help you to realize these positive changes.

Learn more about working with a Feng Shui consultant to experience your full potential.

Placement of the Stove to Increase Income

An island layout promotes the flow of chi through the kitchen. When the stove is placed on the island so the cook stands in the command position, a family should enjoy wealth and good relationships.

Additionally, you should not be able to see the stove from your front door, even if the view is through two doors (or through an empty door). Placing a mirror behind the stove can cure this problem.

In fact, placing a mirror behind a stove offers a number of benefits:

- If you can see the burners in the mirror, your income will increase, as the affect of the burners is doubled -- or more than doubled.

- Mirrors behind the stove help the cook see anyone entering the room. If someone sneaks up behind a cook and he becomes startled, that fright can makes it way into the meal, diminishing the quality of the food and hurting those who eat it.

- Mirrors behind the stove simulate the command position, similar to the way a mirror on the wall in front of a desk can increase that person's income and job security.

How To Use Feng Shui To Overcome Life's Struggles

Did you recently move into a home and experience a string of unfortunate events negatively impacting your income, health or relationships with others? Have you experienced these struggles your whole life?

It could be due to unbalanced or negative chi collecting in your home's central palace, the very heart of your home. Just as our heart, lungs and other major organs reside in the center of our body and do their individual jobs to keep us alive, the central palace of our home affects the Feng Shui of the house or apartment.

If a kitchen or bathroom (and especially a stove) is located in the central palace, you may experience a loss of income, adverse events that negatively affect your relationships with others, and even health problems.

How to Find the Central Palace
To find the central palace, find the center point of each room in your home. If you have irregularly shaped rooms, it may be easier to divide your home into individual squares and rectangles implied by the home's layout. Connect the points to a central axis point in your home, which represents the chi of the house and Central Palace. Basically the direct center of your home or space and notice what is located there.

Feng Shui Cures for the Central Palace
If a bathroom is located in your home's central palace, you can place a mirror on the outside of the bathroom door to reflect the chi away from the toilet. If your kitchen is located in the central palace, you can place mirrors on either side and behind the stove.

If you want to adjust the balance of chi in the Central Palace, even though you can't pinpoint a specific problem, a number of cures can work. Choose the one that best fits your style preference and the decor of the space. Visualizing the balanced chi and positive effects on your lifestyle, place or hang any one of the following in the Central Palace:

- Wind chimes
- Crystal ball
- Lights
- Plants

10 Ways to Use Mirrors to Improve the Feng Shui in Your Home

We use mirrors in Feng Shui in a number of ways to improve the chi of a space, counteracting bad influences,  filling in missing pieces of the trigram and improving our fortune. Here are ten ways we can hang a mirror on an interior or exterior wall of our home to improve the Feng Shui.

1. Counteract a bad influence. Some homes evoke a feeling of pressure, close quarters or darkness as we enter. Hang a mirror on the wall opposite the entrance to create a sense of openness in the space.

2. Eliminate bad chi. Hang a mirror to make a sharp point -- which directs bad chi our way -- disappear. Mirrors also enhance our own chi and increase the domain of our vision.

3. Attract auspicious chi into our space. Mirrors can attract positive chi from outside our home. Place a mirror on a wall opposite a view of natural beauty, such as a flowing stream or landscape of rolling green hills.

4. Dissect. If a large tree or building blocks the flow of chi into your home, you can “break up” its influence (and its image) by placing multiple mirrors in a position that breaks the object into smaller parts, dissipating its effect.

5. Enable chi to flow through a closed space. “Dead doors” (doors you don't open or that are blocked from opening) are bad Feng Shui. Permit the chi to flow through them by hanging a mirror on that door.

6. Expand a space. Hang a mirror on a wall to compensate for a missing part of the trigram to complete that space.

7. Turn an object upside down. You can minimize the influence of an object by turning its image upside down using a mirror. For instance, to dissipate the blocking chi of two large buildings on either side of your home (a frequent problem in city apartments), hang convex mirrors in a position to turn the images of the buildings upside down, reducing their influence.

8. Reflect the chi. If you live at the end of a T-intersection, you may have too much chi rushing too forcefully toward your home. A similar situation occurs if the side of a building is aimed at your home. Hang a ba gua mirror outside your home to reflect the element.

9. Strengthen your chi by increasing your viewing area. For example, positioning a mirror so you can see who is standing at your entrance, even from an upper level, strengthens you.

10. Show movement. Take advantage of moving shadows throughout the course of the day by hanging a mirror in your home to reflect the sun's movement into your home.

Learn How Mirrors in the Bedroom Can Enhance Your Relationship

Many Feng Shui experts warn against placing mirrors in the bedroom. Multiple myths and superstitions surround mirrors. People who are against placing mirrors in the bedroom often have one of three arguments:

1. Some people believe that when you sleep, your spirit and energy leaves your body. As your energy or spirit returns, it may get confused and enter the mirror rather than your body.
 
2. Some people believe mirrors in the bedroom effectively “double” the number of people in the room and can lead to extramarital affairs.
 
3.  People claim that if you wake up in the middle of the night and spot yourself in the mirror, you may get startled and have a hard time falling asleep again.

However, these are simply beliefs steeped in superstition. From my point of view and practice, mirrors in the bedroom can actually enhance a relationship.

A large round mirror on the wall above the headboard can relax the eyes, reduce tension and improve a marriage. Add a mirror near the foot of the bed, and you’ll see an infinite doubling of the image, which can provide a sense of joyful expansion, completion and advancement. Both options can actually improve communication with your loved one. Mirrors can also be placed on the left and right sides of the bed for a similar effect.

One thing to be cautious of, however, is that the bedroom is yin energy and mirrors can be considered yang. Be careful about energizing the bedroom too much with a mirror that reflects morning sunlight into the room.

Aside from that one consideration, however, mirrors in the bedroom can actually relax couples and enhance relationships. Place mirrors in the bedroom wherever you feel comfortable doing so.

How To Use A Feng Shui BaGua Mirror

If you ever visit a Chinese Souvenir shop or Feng Shui shop, you'll notice these octagonal shaped mirrors with lines (trigrams representing each section of the BaGua) painted on wood around them. Many people like the looks of them but may not know why or how you should use them.

The BaGua mirror is used to diffuse strong energy directed towards a specific point. A general guideline is that they should never be hung inside a home or business and only be used on the outside. There are special circumstances when you would hang one indoors but 98% of the time, always on the outside of a residence or business.

Examples of when to use a BaGua Mirror:
1) If your home or business is at the end of a T-Intersection,
2) if you have a corner or sharp object pointing at the front door,
3) if you are experiencing unpleasant energy from a particular area around your home or business.

It is then appropriate to hang a BaGua Mirror pointing towards that direction. Many times, if a person is having difficulty with a neighbor or receiving tension from a particular location, a bagua mirror can be hung pointing towards that direction. Individuals typically notice a shift of energy right away.

The most common position is to place it over the front door for a business or home. Keep in mind that this should be diffusing energy that you find difficult and not necessarily because you just thought it should be there because it was for sale in a store.

I recently visited a home that had 6 BaGua mirrors hanging in the bedroom and hallway. I asked the individual why and they said, I don't know, because I thought that is what you were supposed to do and I always saw them at the store so I picked up a couple.

There actually was a recent law suit in San Fransisco's China Town where a store owner was suing another store owner because they placed a BaGua mirror over their door and was pointing at their business. This is the wrong approach when thinking about a BaGua mirror. It does not necessarily reflect the energy or send energy back to that location to make them suffer but actually is a method to transform the energy and disperse the energy.

So the next time you see a BaGua mirror, don't feel that you need to purchase it for Feng Shui unless you have a specific reason for placing it.

To purchase a BaGua mirror or other Feng Shui items, visit www.LuckyCat.com.

Ever had difficulties with a loud or noisy neighbor?

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