My first run-in with dissonant Feng Shui was when I was thirteen years old—and it changed the entire path of my life.
My family moved into a new, modern home, and it was if we had all lost our good vibes, our positive energy, our life force. The new house exacerbated my parents’ most toxic traits.
My older sister lived far away, but she was troubled by the events in our house. She had begun studying Taoist sciences, including Feng Shui, and she quickly realized the connection between our family problems and our new house.
Her explanation made complete sense and launched my awakening to the importance of a space’s energy. Without realizing it, this was my first trial as a Feng Shui consultant. I became her eager assistant in these studies, soaking up all I could—whether I understood it fully or not. Most importantly, it opened up a world of the mysteries and great power of energy that I knew to be true because I was living it.
As my sister and I learned, our former house—where we had been so happy—, which had been built a couple of centuries before, had proportions that were based on the “golden ratio” (not dissimilar to Feng Shui calculations). In earlier centuries, architects were careful with compass directions and sun orientations, but were also often avid students of architecture from Egypt to Asia. These calculations promoted peaceful energy, harmony, and prosperity for all who lived within a home’s walls, using natural lighting, surrounding nature, bodies of water, and other building knowhow not in use anymore. Our new house lacked all of that.
My sister shared her insights with me, and we bought every Feng Shui book available at the time. I spent hours in the evenings reading them, taking notes, changing furniture around and observing the results. We realized that our mother had no interest and little talent for decorating, so her goal had been to build a functional house that was easy to clean. It was practical, but it did not feel like home. Some rooms were cold and echoey. Others felt stuffy and emanated very low energy. She fought us at first, but ultimately agreed to all our suggestions.
After some trial and error, our remedies helped to dissipate the chaos. We furnished the large empty foyer as a welcoming sitting room with a red and cream rug, two antique armchairs from our former house, a coffee table, and decorative vases and flowers. We placed big planters with lush plants in front of any sharp angles. We added mirrors to enhance the energy (the “Chi,” which we will define later), where it was previously lifeless. The living room had a dull green fabric wallpaper which was neither here nor there; we removed it and painted the room white, which energized it immediately. We added a row of planters to separate the (poorly located) swimming pool from the patio area. Our newfound tools and budding knowledge helped our family adjust to the new house. We probably weren’t as effective as an experienced Feng Shui consultant would have been, but it did the trick. We couldn’t believe it! The architectural challenges of the new house, like its odd angular shape, remained, but we could at least mitigate them now.
After that, I was destined to carry on my Feng Shui studies, because I knew in my bones that it was a critical pillar of wellbeing. Like most life-defining moments, it was not a pleasurable experience… but it was an unforgettable one. And it is the reason I am here to share my experience with the immense benefits of Feng Shui on your own well-being.
I’ve now been a practitioner of Feng Shui for decades, since that event, and I still marvel at how well Feng Shui works. Ask me your questions below if you are stuck with your home’s energy or if you are curious about how Feng Shui works. I will try to answer to the best of my ability!
Many blessings,
Marianne
