A little known fact about Feng Shui is that it is as much about timing as it is about spatial layout and environmental design.  Feng Shui consultants use two calendars known as “10 000 Year Calendar” and the “Tung Sing” almanac to determine the most auspicious timings for key activities.

The “10 000 Year Calendar” contains the qualities of each year, month, day and hour. For instance, we are now in an earth rat year, a metal monkey month and August 3rd is a wood pig day.  This might all sound a bit bizarre, but the universe is full of energy patterns and energy qualities and the elements and animals represent these dynamics very accurately.

Anyhow, anyone with an ounce of awareness can grasp the fact that spring is generally a time of optimism, new beginnings and de-cluttering! Whereas winter feels a little more lethargic and the reduced daylight hours make us want to sleep more and be cosy and snug. Summer sees us getting up earlier to greet the day and autumn feels crisp and somehow transitional. Some climates don’t have such marked seasons as Europe, but the energy changes are still to be seen in the colours of the vegetation and the behaviour of the wildlife.

The feng shui calendars go beyond the general cycles of seasonal change to pinpoint smaller cycles of birth, peak and decline and these cycles may suit some people more than others. They may also suit some businesses more than others due to the nature of the industry.

New product launches or shop openings:
You wouldn’t want to launch a new product or open a new shop on the Void day with the Remove aspect and with an energy pattern (or kua) that drains away from the business owner or manager’s natal kua.  But you might want to have a space clearing ceremony or a de-cluttering performed on this day so that you are getting rid of the stale energy.

Sales presentations:
I was invited a few months ago to give a brief talk at a property developer’s event where the focus was on selling overseas property. I was really looking forward to the event, as the MD is a really creative and open-minded soul, and a few celebrities were lined up to introduce the event. I looked in the calendar about a week in advance and was a little concerned that there was a star in the day that meant “Avoid Property Selling” and it bugged me…. However, I stayed positive and thought, oh well, am sure it will be OK, but about 12 noon on the very day itself I received a call saying it had to be cancelled as the property developers could not attend. I have asked the MD to let me know of any new dates for the event, so that we can avoid this troublesome star.

Re-financing
If your company needs to talk to the bank manager or business angel then do so when the natural forces are in your favour. Feng Shui timing accounts for approximately 30% influence on our overall luck – isn’t it worth stacking the odds in your favour?! Talk to your bank manager on an Establish day or a Settle day, rather than a day that clashes to you or has negative lunar mansion portents.

Some days I can sense there is a Grasp day or a Moon Blessing day, as there is something tangibly clear and vibrant about the energy of the day. I also know that some days are dreadful for me, and it is these days that I will use for filing, cleaning the car, book-keeping and other dull and undemanding tasks, so that I am ready and prepared to make the most of the good days for networking, public speaking, designing and visiting clients. 

For information on our Date Selection Service please click on this link: http://www.fengshuiagency.com/dateselection.html

Sarah

I was recently asked for input into a forthcoming article on business Feng Shui for CorpComms business magazine. 

Always happy to open up my portfolio to scrutiny, I contacted a few of my business clients to see if they would authorise an inclusion in the article. They were very happy to speak about their experience with my services and the appointed journalist found out more about the success of the Feng Shui consultations than I have ever heard directly from the clients!

These real-life examples of how Feng Shui can be applied to increase business were used in the cases of London Calling, Life After Branding and Courtney Bell Clinic (among others…) and here I will distil a few tips for you business owners to implement:

Front Door – it might sound obvious but your front door is vital, because it is the ‘mouth’ of your building and receives the nourishment of energy and human traffic. If you have doors that open outwards then consider re-hanging them so that they open inwards, otherwise you are pushing the natural energy flow outwards.

Reception – having a spacious reception is also really important because people feel comfortable and feel as if they have arrived somewhere good. If you have a small reception use simple tricks like uplighters or slimline aquariums to create sparkle and movement in the space - but contact me first for advice because water is very powerful and should not be placed in the wrong direction.

Open View – where possible, try not to have large trees blocking the frontage of your office, particularly if they are ugly scraggly trees. Depending on where they are situated they can block the wealth position, cause edgy and spiky behaviour (its true!) and even cause problems with internal organs.

Power Position – it is marvellous to make seemingly small changes and see them have a big impact. This technique has to be the most gratifying and I have seen people turn from timid to assertive, simply by following this advice and placing their desk in the power position, found diagonally opposite the main door or if there are two doors then the area furthest away from both doors. Try to sit with your back protected by a solid wall, even if it means installing cable management to keep unsightly wires organised which were previously all jammed up against the wall. Who wants to face a wall day in day out?!

The above tips might seem ridiculously simple, but how hard we find it to be simple! How rarely do we slow down enough to stop and consider the breath of life in our buildings? Myself included! I love my job as a Feng Shui consultant because it demands that I slow down and when not tearing up and down the motorway I am to be found standing ponderously, calmly and almost invisibly in the forecourts of companies throughout the country with my big red Lo Pan compass …

Next time, the role of Feng Shui timing for business success…

Sarah

Sarah McAllister BA FSSA
www.fengshuiagency.com – sign up for your FREE Feng shui tips newsletter!

5 Reasons to have an expert Business Feng Shui Consultation
1. Increase protection against a possible economic downturn
2. Support productivity of key staff
3. Explore untapped environmental factors affecting your business
4. Raise your visibility within the high street
5. Optimise your office refurbishment or relocate to a luckier premises

China is currently quite a controversial subject but happily, Feng Shui is a “universal” system of energy management. I now emphasise in my talks and lectures that Feng Shui originates from ancient China, because it is more accurate than simply saying it is Chinese. The practice of Feng Shui in China is experiencing a return these last few years having previously been outlawed under Chairman Mao for years. Many practitioners are found in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, because they had to flee mainland China.

The Feng Shui Language might be of Chinese origin, but in fact, you ask any ordinary Chinese person about Feng Shui and it is as mysterious to them as it is to your average European. Some teachers of other styles of Feng Shui teach accelerated methods, which need no knowledge of Chinese or Cantonese – people sign up for these courses with enthusiasm only to discover that their understanding will never reach the depths available to you if you take the trouble to learn the source language. Why? Because the Feng Shui language has characters that are not included in ordinary Chinese language – it is in a realm of its own and to truly understand the deeper significance of the teachings and increase your skill you need to know the ‘Feng Shui alphabet’! This is why Chue style practitioners learn the characters, and also because this helps us access their unique energy and resonance.  

Yes Feng Shui originated in China, but it has its own language, a language of nature, cosmology, mathematics and harmonics. It is universally applicable and I love nothing more than finding a new climate and understanding how Feng Shui theory plays itself out – from Lanzarote to Frankfurt, London to Hong Kong, Sweden, South Africa and Austria we take our cues from nature and seek to harmoniously combine the human with the environment.

Until next time

Sarah

Sarah McAllister BA FSSA (Feng Shui Society Accredited)

Director & Lead Consultant

http://www.fengshuiagency.com/

Email sarah@fengshuiagency.com

Spring is starting to gather full momentum and it is delicious to feel some heat on the limbs again after the winter. Feng Shui study is a paradise for nature enthusiasts, as quite often our trainings take us outside into nature to look at topographical features in the landscape, types of plants growing in certain areas and what they signal, how water is flowing and even the sound the water is making. Advanced feng shui is all about a fine-tuned nature awareness.

So, I am really delighted to see the Eco debate being taken more and more seriously by the public at large and by businesses and homeowners. I have been flying the banner of green and eco since my teens and while I don’t always live up to my standards (I drive around the UK on Feng Shui consultations, so my carbon footprint makes me shudder), I do recycle and compost and purchase the Carbon Neutralisation option when booking a flight….and yes, am not entirely convinced it works but I figure that planting a few trees rather than none must be good in the long run….

Anyhow, I recently wrote and delivered a talk on “Feng Shui – the original green design!” at the Homes for Good exhibition in Somerset and was delighted by the feedback from those who attended the talk. I drew upon influences such as Ecopsychology, Feng Shui and Sacred Geometry to demonstrate how Feng Shui really is the original eco design. It doesn’t matter how much non-toxic paint you use or whether your furniture is recycled or not, if the Feng Shui is wrong you are not benefiting from nature’s healing forces, which is a shame, because nature wants to help us and wants us to engage in co-operation.

As a Feng Shui consultant of nine years experience I am delighted to be able to help people reconnect themselves and their environment to forces of vitality rather than negative forces. So, if you are planning an eco interior or an eco-build this spring you would do well to consider hiring a feng shui expert to help you create a magical and healing space.

Anyhow, enough about me (!), I thought I would start this Feng Shui blog by perhaps surprising many a reader by pointing out that Feng Shui is not really that much about interiors and more about landscaping and nature. Did you know that the way your front door receives energy from the outside is 60-70% influence on your overall luck?    Did you know that trees in certain areas of a garden can be beneficial or very problematic?   I take a long walk around an office, house or flat to assess the natural and man-made outside influences before looking inside a premises.

To honour the role that nature plays in our lives and certainly in my work, my company purchased land in 2004 via www.naturefund.net and I would like to bring this wonderful charity to your attention. Nature Fund was founded in 2003 by a good friend of mine Katja Wiese, winner of the Yves Rocher 2007 Woman of the Earth award. Her vision is to protect 20% of the worlds wilderness by 2020 and you can become a land patron by purchasing small inexpensive parcels of land and receive regular updates on wildlife activity in your area!

Talk again soon!

Sarah 

http://www.fengshuiagency.com