Every year I field similar follow-up questions from clients after they have received their yearly update report. This article will highlight some of the more popular questions.
When should I make the annual changes to my home or business?
Every year I provide a live link in the report to my article about how the Feng Shui New Year follows a Solar calendar, and not the Chinese Lunar Calendar, where the New Year lands on a different day from year to year like Easter and Passover. The Feng Shui New Year is almost always February 4th or 5th. Changes should be made as close to February 4th as possible. But I always get questions from people if they should go ahead and change things according to the Chinese Lunar New Year, which you should not. I recommend clients take note of their to-do list and figure out how long it will take to make changes. For some it may take longer, but if you have the remedies already, it might only take 30 minutes to actually put things in place.
Why does my place need so much metal?
We just so happen to be living in times where the 2 and 5 stars need to be cancelled out with metal. Each house has two permanent 2 stars and two permanent 5 stars. And then when we add on the annual 2 and 5 stars, this means that some areas that usually don’t need metal, may need it in certain years and that is how we end up sometimes with four to six of the eight basic directions needing metal instead of the other elements: water, wood, fire, and earth. After 2024, we will need LESS metal since the 2 star is going to start having a positive influence then.
What do I do in an area that usually needs a certain element, but it contradicts the yearly recommendation and the permanent element not something I can change easily?
This does happen to many people. Let’s say an area of the house needs the fire element most of the time and you have gone the extra mile to purchase a red piece of furnishing or painted a wall red. Then the annual star comes in where the fire element is not good there. I always say that you should then OVERCOMPENSATE with the corrective element. This also happens when people have big heavy aquariums that they cannot move around from year to year.
Why do your recommendations differ from what I am reading on-line about the annual stars?
General recommendations for annual stars, without knowing the permanent flying stars, are a risky thing for Feng Shui authors to publicize. There are even websites which give out MONTHLY recommendations and that is just as risky, when the author has no idea what permanent energies these more temporary stars join, or the FUNCTION of the room. This is why I also make different recommendations for a sleeping room compared to a working office. What you get from me is personalized and not generic.
Your Update report contains a calendar which I am not sure I understand.
The calendar lists the Chinese zodiac sign assigned for each day of the year. It is a repeating 12-sign cycle. And yet, the calendar is not the same each year. If we had a 360 day year it would be (360 days divided by 12 signs would be 30 complete cycles). But we don’t have a 360 day year, so you should not be referring to the same calendar year after year from a past update report.
I highlight in yellow the first day of each Feng Shui month. But it does not mean that you interpret that to change it to match the Western Calendar. For example, on the Feng Shui calendar, if October 8th is highlighted as the first day in October, that does not mean that you consider October 8th to really be October 1st on the Western calendar. October 8th is October 8th. But let’s say I have recommended you do something ONLY in the month of September: September energy would be in force from September 7th until October 7th. If the month of May starts on May 5th or 6th, and you do something on May 1st, it means you still did something in the April monthly cycle.
This becomes really important to understand when I give a monthly recommendation, such as when to start a remodel.
Where is the best place to put a remedy within the directional zone you show on the floor plan?
The best location is within the wider area of the directional sector and not the narrow area of the “pie shape gridding” and not bordering the edge of another direction, unless I mention that is okay to do. Placing the remedy closer to the exterior wall in that directional zone can help balance and filter the flying stars as soon as they enter the structure and not wait until the energy has moved in close to the center of the house.
I live in a multi-story home. Do I have to remedy both floors?
Consider each floor as its own space, in the same way that a multi-storied apartment has separate units above and below. Remedy all floors, but just know that some areas are more important than others based on how much time you spend in a certain area. If you spend 30 minutes or more per day in a certain area, then it should be adjusted.
Do my outside adjustments change from year to year?
I almost never make an outside recommendation for just one year unless it is to deal with annual Construction sha energy. Placement of outside water features or landscaping suggestions are made for the long term.
I really don’t like red color, but you have recommended it to represent the fire element.What should I do if I really don’t like a color recommendation you made?
Colors usually don’t change the magnetic field in a room if they are light. Intense colors on a large scale, like a black wall, could resonate some of the element it is associated with. Red color is the exception, where it could be more effective than real fire (and safer). I first recommend you choose a shade of red or purple that you like. But if that is not possible, then you can use an accent light in a room many hours a day, or at least when you are in the room, in place of fiery colors. I also include a live link in the report which goes to the CLIENT section of my website, with pdf files on each of the elements, giving lots of photo examples on how to manifest these elemental suggestions.
I also get a lot of questions about “Construction Sha” and whether or not planting flowers is really digging or if some other minor changes inside constitute a “construction” or not. This is why every year the update report includes a live link to an article about what really is Construction Sha. It should be read, when needed, as a reminder.
Based on what you wrote in the Update, it seems like there is no positive place for me to dwell. What should I do?
First of all, with a remedy in place, you can convert potentially negative energy into at least neutral energy, which might have no effect on you at all. Next, the total sum of your feng shui is not just based on the flying stars. While they are important, there are many environmental aspects to your space that could be really wonderful and you can still benefit from the space on another level. As an example, let us say you have an office in a good part of your house and you love being in it and it has tranquil views and you love the room for other reasons. If the annual 5 star comes to that room, it does not mean you have to rope it off like a crime scene and not use the room. Just use the remedy! It may sound like I am exaggerating but other feng shui practitioners do tell people to not step foot in certain rooms, when such hysteria is rarely justified.
Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®
From the Frequent Client Questions Blog Series
