Prosperity Cures! Money Trees & Lucky Bamboo

The easiest cure I can think of to get your finances growing is to put a plant in the Money area of your home or office (or even desk!)

Remember, the Money gua (purple) is the back left corner
of the space when you are standing at the entrance facing in.  

Plants are generally just awesome because they are alive and therefore will generate beneficial chi (which loosely translates to "life force").  But plants also clean the air, emit oxygen, and reduce the effects of EMFs.  Plus they are pretty, and they bring healing nature indoors, into your space.

Feng Shui 101:  There are two plants that are known to be great for the Money gua.
The Money Tree (duh) & Lucky Bamboo.

Source

This is the Money Tree.   It's scientific name is Pachira aquatica.  It can come small (say 8 inches high and be able to sit on an end table, like you see here), or they can get quite large, up to three feet or more!  The trunks are usually braided, and the leaves are a lovely, shiny green that sprout very easily and, well, abundantly.

Source for Lucky Bamboo

This is the Lucky Bamboo.  It's scientific name is Dracaena braunii.  These babies also can come quite small, as short as 3-4 inches, but they can be quite big, as tall as five feet!

Both these plants grow easily with very little effort on your part.  The Money Tree only needs little watering once every other week or so.  It thrives in all sort of light conditions as well, including dim.  The Lucky Bamboo can simply sit in water, so all you have to do is change the water or just add some every few weeks.  It too is sturdy and survives for quite a while even in zero light!

Wood is the element for the Money gua, and these plants are perfect symbols for how you would like your Money to be:  growing with little effort, providing pleasure and breathing room, and easy to tend to.

Happy plant-buying!  Cha-ching!

Feng Shui & Money: Promoting the FLOW (or Why Not All Fountains Are Created Equal)

There are so many ways to facilitate money flow in feng shui.

And there are also so many ways to block it.

My friend and client, Dave Romanelli -- yoga & meditation teacher, Momenteer, and author of Happy is the New Healthy -- texted me for a session the other day:

our text conversation

The last time we had spoke, we assessed the Money area of his home and his office, which is usually the back left corner of the space.

If you line the brown/black/gray areas to the front door of your floor plan, you will see that the Prosperity/Money area falls in the back left of your space.

Originally, on a prior session, he had a huge metal bookshelf in his office that he did not like.  This was a problem for many reasons.

1.  It irritated him, as it was darn ugly, and it overwhelmed the space.  

2.  It was a place for collecting bits of clutter, which is a no-no anyway BUT especially in the Money area, where this shelf happened to be,  and... 

3. It was big and metal, and the element for the Money area is Wood.  In the destructive cycle, Metal "chops" Wood, so Metal is the least favorable element for that section of the bagua map!

I suggested getting rid of the shelving unit and replacing it with a small table with perhaps a fountain, which would symbolize a flow of money.  Also because Water "nurtures" Wood in the constructive cycle of the elements, a fountain would be nice, and it would add a lovely natural sound to the office.

We had not followed up until he sent me that text.  In our Skype session, he showed me the great little black table he had found and the new fountain he had purchased.  

This:

Source, Amazon

Harmless enough, right?  In fact, it's quite nice in the photo...

However, in our session, I noticed it was not on.  The fountain that was supposed to promote flow was not flowing!  

"Dave, what's up with the fountain?  Why isn't it on?"  

"Oh, it is just so noisy honestly.  I didn't want it to interrupt our call."

I raised my eyebrows.

"How often do you have to turn it off and on?"

"Well, I forget to turn it on a lot.  Really I have to unplug it.  Even then, it really doesn't work that well, to make sure it's working, I have to...etc. etc."

So now, readers, you see what is going on here.  He had the best of intentions, but this fountain that he chose was symbolizing his subconscious notions about money:  that it takes a lot of effort to even get a trickle out of it!  

Not all feng shui cures are created equal, indeed!

I'm happy to say that Dave was actually relieved to hear this and he said, "This makes total sense!"   I suggested he get rid of that fountain altogether and use some lucky bamboo (8 stalks) and a red silk cloth (red is a power color) and perhaps a deity of some sort, such as Lakshmi or Ganesha (which coincides with his yogic traditions) or a happy Buddha.  

I must say, I've seen this with fountains and water features a lot with clients.  Basically, if maintaining the feature is a huge pain and takes more effort (cleaning, fixing, etc.) than it is worth and causes you more stress than tranquility, then that fountain is NOT the way to go for you.  Think of the symbolism, always!  You would be better off with a picture of money flow or a nice, sturdy plant or any of the suggestions I gave Dave.

So...get flowing!  

If you'd like to take Feng Shui to the next level, (and learn all you can about Money and Feng Shui), considering Katie's 9-week Feng Shui Journey, a tele-course beginning July 20th, 2015!  

When a Feng Shui Cure is NOT a Cure (a.k.a. My Feng Shui Nod to Football Season)

It's football season!  And you know what that means in the South.

That it's football season!  And people are really happy about it.

For that reason, I thought I'd share a true story about a client and a football helmet.

To begin:
This particular client had a working knowledge of feng shui, so much so that her entire home office (which was also located in her Money section) had just about every knick-knacky feng shui cure known to man in there.

Like this:

...wealth gods?

...some kind of money tree?

...no clue...just don't go there.

And, of course, the famous lucky cat:

Hi, I'm a lucky cat...(and I'm kind of random.)

Now, if this is your style, then great.  BUT these items do not necessarily promote good feng shui.  Especially if there are so many of them that it equals the c-l-u-t-t-e-r.

When I explained to this client that
#1. clutter is not good feng shui, I don't care what the kind of luck it promises,
#2. having SO many cures actually reveals to me that she's afraid of losing her money rather than implementing a cure and trusting that the cure will work, and
#3. a lot of these gimmicky things that are labeled as good feng shui are actually just that --

gimmicks...

...so we both went to work clearing out most of these so-called cures and leaving only the really awesome ones to represent healthy wealth and finances.

It felt great!

But we weren't finished.

Now, as we were clearing out objects, it became more and more apparent what was working and what wasn't.  (You know, the ol' peeling layers from an onion analogy.)  Lo and behold, a certain something was calling out to me.  She had a large bookshelf in her office, and it was very close to her chair and desk, and on the top of that bookshelf, amongst other items, was a football helmet in a glass case.

It looked something like this:

I asked her about it.

She said, "Oh, I don't know.  It was some gift or award or something.  I just didn't know what to do with it."

Ding, ding, ding!!!  My little clutter alarm went off.  She could care less about this helmet so why the heck was it taking up space in her home?

Now, here is what happened.

We took it down.

And let me tell you, it felt like a gush of wind had come into the room. The energy shifted so much from that one item, that my client literally had to sit down because she was dizzy.  I was used to this kind of shift, but boy, she didn't know what hit her!

gush of wind   (Hey! Feng Shui is literally "wind, water")

It was BIG.  I noted that the helmet was representing a burden "hanging over her head," and that it's presence had taken on some major energy.   I explained that her money situation was "overbearing" in some way and had become a "weight on her shoulders."

By removing the helmet and shaking that energy up, we lightened the feel of the office...and therefore, her money situation.

I'm happy to say that her finances, which had been in major crisis, took a huge shift and are getting back on track.

And that football helmet has found a new home at the Goodwill. Thank goodness.

Feng Shui your Love Life...Fast

Another success story!  And this is all it took:

A client called with a quick question.  (Yes, I do Quick Question consultations!)  She was ready to ramp up her love life.  I was already familiar with her home, and after some discussion, I gave her a few tips.  The above shot from her camera phone was the result....and it worked!!!

Here's her testimonial:
Katie can work her magic from afar! I asked her for 15 minutes of guidance about my love life and she led me through a quick exercise. One week later I met the most magnificent man. I would recommend her services to ANYONE.

...and here's to love!