West Meets East©

By Caroline Patrick

Caroline’s Feng Shui Concepts

Spring is knocking at my door once again. While most of my friends welcome her cheerfulness and the promise of warmer days, budding trees, new relationships, new beginnings and the smell of flowers, I come into spring as if I’m being dragged from my cave, growling and snarling at the disruption. Although I own a spring birthday, this is my confession to the world. I love winter and that is the way it is. Having permission to “snuggle in” write, read and catch up on clearing clutter from my home with the comfort of new snow blanketing the earth. The fireplace burns a log or two and I sneak a nap before anyone notices I’m missing.

I also confess to loving rain. Painting a watercolor picture is magic during a downpour of liquid sunshine, as you can toss the paper out on the porch and watch Mother Nature splash color in every direction with her genius artistic alchemy. Although my consultations and classes continue through the winter months, it feels more as if I’m playing hooky from life in the shelter of cloudy and cold skies.

So now I must wake up and get with it, as they say. Back to serious business, is the message of the Rooster, the Wood Rooster, or 2005 energy of this little feisty bird. She is Yin Wood, the timekeeper whose job it is to wake you up to your possibilities and won’t let you rest until the mission is accomplished! I must get my act together as my April calendar is booked with some speaking engagements for large corporate facilities. The Northwest is on the move, as California, Arizona, New Mexico and Oregon real estate is skyrocketing. New malls and homes go up every day, filling the beautiful forests and over taxing the environment. Feng Shui designers, consultants and practitioners are beginning to be appreciated as they are teaching better design features for energy flow to new buildings, considering the shapes of land plots and water features, as Feng Shui is translated as Wind and Water.

Last week I drove to the center of Washington State to check out the remodel and construction of the 201,815 sq. ft. existing regional mall. The traffic count for the complexes is 64,000 cars per day. Though several years old, you can see how the Northwest is expanding. Two architects were on site, one of which had just flown in from Las Vegas to evaluate the properties for the prospect of space needed to add a theater. I was actually asked my opinion on the best building site! Yes, those of us who have studied the land and the flow of Chi are now included in the prep work. Many of my colleagues have quietly been working with engineers, educating them with Feng Shui principles. If Feng Shui worked for the ancients, why not use it in today’s design concepts.

At times I have been impatient with my new location accepting Feng Shui as a necessary art of life, especially when friends and clients email and call asking me to return to California and help solve some Feng Shui dilemma. Having a fax and phone still allows me to assist those in need of a consultation. When I do come that way, I try to announce my visit for those who want an onsite appointment. But the Tail Of The Pig, as Washington is known by those who attend Master Lin Yun’s workshops on Black Sect Feng Shui, is close to the “butt” or tenderloin of the nation. This is a humorous analysis of placing the Chinese boar or pig on an overlay of the United States, which represents the abundance of the U.S. Washington State will “Wag the Country” as they say. Oregon is blessed with the most tender section or tenderloin of this auspicious animal!

The flamboyant Rooster is strutting its Chi in 2005, awaking us to new spring energy. Use this time to check your surroundings, and clean, clean and clean out old clutter. Move furniture around each day for 27 days to change your life. Yes, that is a lot of work, but remember and visualize the intent when doing this. It could be just a kitchen chair, kitty litter boxes, getting rid of old appliances and those college papers from days gone by (I just tossed mine), or giving that old couch away to a shelter will shift things in your life. Place mirrors in dark hallways and entries and hang a wind chime over the stove for health, abundance, more money and Career opportunities.

And my last suggestion can undo any wrong action, words, bad language and anger.......... Perform good deeds every day!

Caroline Patrick, Feng Shui consultant/practitioner, teacher/speaker, Feng Shui artist and writer, lives in the San Juan Islands, off the coast of Washington. Her weekly newspaper article called WEST MEETS EAST is a popular Feng Shui advice column. She enjoys answering your questions, when possible. Some questions will be chosen for publication with the permission from the reader. Enjoy her new 5 Element attached-folding cards which can be used as a Feng Shui enhancement or correction in any space. Larger prints of several selected paintings are also available. For consultations, speaking/teaching engagements and art evaluations contact her at caroline@fengshuiartistry.com or visit her websites at www.fengshuiartistry.com and www.moongateschool.com.

Any suggestions given in this column are only for entertainment. Please contact your physician for any medical or herbal advice or diagnosis. Caroline Patrick is not responsible for any misuse of her advice or suggestions.