LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Feng Shui for Late Fall


Silver pumpkins and orange or "earth" silk flowers activate metal in this Lafayette home. Photos provided

Hiking around Lamorinda I am always delighted by the clever fall displays of pumpkins, gourds, and fall wreaths. There is a truly clever witch display in Orinda, with said witch, driving her broom straight into a tree. Sweet. With days getting shorter and with the challenges shorter days present, such as living with less natural light, celebrating with all of our children and family around balances out the fall and winter seasons perfectly.

Understanding space as medicine can help you fill your environment with joyfulness, and create happy and healthy communications and energy or Qi.

The Feng Shui Bagua area of joy, descendants and completion is located from your front entrance to the middle right of your home. This area is ruled by metal, so you should minimize fire and wood elements in this area. Great colors to incorporate into your seasonal décor include white, gray, silver, gold and metallic, plus the earth element also works strategically well here too, with orange, yellow and brown as accents.

This area is often misunderstood. We activate this area to enhance the childlike fearlessness we need to harness when completing all of the tasks ahead, and the resultant joy we feel when loose ends are buttoned up by our efforts. This is also the area we adjust and activate in homes if children are not doing well for whatever reason, for example, if they are struggling in school or perhaps not stepping into age-appropriate activities.

This metal element bagua area also governs things like conceiving and bearing children, finding fulfillment with a hobby or job, having more creative ideas for every situation, getting unstuck on a project, improving your relationship with children, becoming more comfortable showing the childlike side of your personality, making "something out of nothing," creating efficiency in a company, or even deterring the aging process.

So in addition to buying those expensive wrinkle creams, try spending a moment in the middle right area of your home and listen to what it is saying to you. What is physically located in this area? Are you able to finish your projects? Are all of your children thriving? A pile of laundry, messy shelves or closets, or a bathroom located in this area can clog or drain positive Qi. Many common energetic culprits are easily adjusted and improved using feng shui or space as medicine.

Are the plants we have placed unknowingly in this area, not doing well or not growing as vibrantly as they might elsewhere? In this metal area, the wood element does not fare well, so minimize it and use instead a single silk orchid. Save your plants for better energetic areas of your home or office. If there is a fireplace in this metal area, we can adjust this anxiety-producing mix by applying the water element, which controls fire. Mirrors represent the water element, so placing a mirror over a fireplace in this location adjusts this friction nicely.

You can place metal angels depicting one for each of your children in the same middle-right area of your home's yard. Metal yard sculpture is an excellent way to activate and represent each one of your children. See what transpires.

Feng shui philosophy is based on the ancient but still entirely relevant philosophy of the TAO, which states that everything is connected to everything else. Since this bagua area rules children, too, as we prepare for the holiday season, work with intention to create magic with your kids. What delights can you bring into your home that will dazzle and delight in the candlelit glow of holiday days and nights to come?

As we plan all things sparkly for holiday festivities, borrow the Qi of a child by preparing to make new memories and traditions with joy and inquisitiveness. Include lots of metallic in cozy throws for chilly little kids, warm them up with hot cocoa served in ceramic snowmen mugs, and wrap gifts in abundant golds, silvers, blue metallic and coppers for an auspicious reflection of the wonder of the season.

Making an effort to delight and dazzle will have many lasting returns and will connect generations in timeless ways.