my soul expression

Before you start any kind of Feng Shui practice, you have to prep your space. You know the old saying, “you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.” If your space is cluttered, filled with items you don’t love, or dirty, there will not be any benefit from a Feng Shui practice.

1. Clean your space. I suggest picking a day and cleaning everything. Once a week, the same day every week, clean your house. That way it doesn’t get so bad that you don’t know where to start. 

2. Now that your house is clean, start identifying items you don’t use anymore. Either they are broke, not your size, something you shouldn’t have bought in the first place, etc. Either throw them away or donate them if they are in good condition. 

3. Address the items you are keeping. What do they mean to you? If they symbolize an achievement from your past or present, how does it make you feel? If you love the feeling you get from seeing this item, then it needs to be displayed it a way that reminds you of that achievement. Showing the item respect in your home respects the effort and struggle you went through to achieve it. Maybe it was a gift from a beloved relative. If it makes you feel good to remember this connection, respect this by displaying the item in your home. Don’t leave important items in nasty boxes or bags. That is not respectful. 

4. Look at the materials/elements in your home. There should be a balance of fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. If you have white walls, white kitchen cabinets, metal décor, grey couch, etc. You have too much metal. Too much of an element causes an imbalance. See below for colors and materials representing the 5 elements. 

5. Any space in your home that has a roof and walls is included. A patio with no walls or carport would not be counted in the layout of your home. This may create a missing area. If you have a missing area, you may need to enhance the outside of your home to bring in the energy that should be in that area. For example, a U or L shaped home.

6. Find out where the center of your home is located. Stand in that location and use your phone with it’s compass app and map out each direction. North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, Northwest.

There are several ways to enhance your space after you get things uncluttered and organized.

Some people say you can enhance using different quadrants that are not based on compass directions. For example, the front door is used as a starting point and the quadrants are based on it. I don’t think this method is as effective.

If you are using compass directions (which I prefer), enhance according to the directions. This can be done using more traditional enhancements or you can use the Flying Stars method.  Both are below.

Compass direction – traditional enhancements  

Using the compass (on your phone or a compass), map out the directions of your home while standing in the center. Here are the enhancements for each direction.

North – This is the career or life’s purpose area. Some people also say relationships. Here you want to incorporate water. This is where a fountain or aquarium would be great. Colors in dark blue or black. 

Northeast – This is the self-improvement, knowledge, spirituality, and learning area. Earth is the element here. Crystals, earth tones, stones, statues are good here.

East – This is the family area. The element is wood. Plants, flowers, anything made of wood.

Southeast – This is the wealth and prosperity area. Wood is also the main element here. But make sure if you put plants in this area, they are tall growing plants. You want the plant to be a symbol of your growing.

South – Fame, reputation, and being recognized. The element is fire. Actual fire, electronics that stay on most of the day, the color red, and candles are good here.

Southwest – Love and partnership. Earth is the element here. Make sure you have 2 of something here. You don’t want a picture of a lonely woman or a lone statue if you want to attract love or make your relationship stronger. Choose things in pairs.

West – Creativity. The element here is metal. Anything metal, pastel colors, white, gold, or silver. Wind chimes are a good metal element.

Northwest – synchronicity, travel, networking. Metal is also the element for this area. 

Center – Health. Any earth element.

Nothing here is set in stone. You can try out an element from each method and see what intuitively feels better to you. The most important thing is the decluttering and cleaning of your space. That will get the qi moving where once it was stagnant. After that, it’s just what feel right to you.

I personally use a combination of the two and I also incorporate astrocartography in there.  First, I identify the directions that are challenged according to the Flying Stars.  If I don't have a planet in that direction, I do what I can to minimize the stars effect.  If I have a planet in that direction according to astrocartography, then I optimize with colors and elements of that planet.  

Then, I look for directions I want to optimize like money or relationships.  I optimize according to Flying Stars first and then traditional if I want to add something.

If there is an area that is neutral according to Flying Stars, I add traditional elements.

You can really get crazy with feng shui and this is only the tip of the iceberg.   The most important thing is to clean and organize.  That will go a long way to bring new life force energy into your home.

Happy organizing and cleaning!