West Meets East©

By Caroline Patrick BorNei

Certified Red Ribbon Professional of the International Feng Shui Guild

You Deserve a Healthy Floor Plan for a Healthy Life

Here is a seemly simple question from a friend/client that turned into a long answer. I thought I would share it with you. She has had indigestion for many years for many reasons and has many medications for her heart which she has to take. I never suggest anyone go off of any medications prescribed by their physicians, but I do like to educate people on how the house and body are related. The rooms and sections to check for heart and digestion are: Fame for heart and Fire, center of the house, and far back right corner called Partnership for stomach and other organs.

Question:

My digestion has been really causing me problems. Ended up in the ER twice last month In the 5 element system, Stomach and spleen are earth and yellow. Not in Feng Shui? And what is considered bitters, as in bitter lettuces? Seems soooo strange that stomach is in the Partnership section, when its color yellow is in the middle.

Answer:

I feel for your continued health dilemma. It seems your Partnership section is way off. Is it dark and Yin in that room? Partnership is the stomach. Heart is Fame. Doing the Buddha exercise, (raising your palms to the sun several times a day. See the sun’s energy spiral down through the top of your head and palms, clearing out all toxins) will help both of these problems and swallowing the saliva is for spleen and lots of other things. Look in the workbook to find them. (Please call or email to find out more on these exercises.)

Do you take or eat bitters daily? When I haven't had enough greens, I take dandelion tinctures and goldenseal or Oregon grape root, sometimes daily. Watch any oils for a while. Bitters are what help to break up earth or assist digestion, via liver, spleen and gallbladder. Bitters are of the Wood Element of plants and excess Wood breaks apart Earth when it is too solid. Bitters are dandelion, some lettuces like endive, Oregon grape root, a bark that is golden when harvested and scraped from the roots. I used to go out into the Oregon hills and dig the root and prepare the bark and dry the curled scrapings as an apprentice. It tastes similar to Goldenseal and has some of the same properties as Goldenseal, but Goldenseal has been harvested by bulldozers in the 1990’s. Most all the plants were killed during this mass harvest by large companies. There are foods which provide the same action to stimulate the bile, which you can find on the internet.

It could be you are eating yogurt, cheese, ice cream or dairy which could be cooling your digestive system with over-sweetening the earth element, or the medicine you are taking, which we know you need, could be causing a cooling effect or an overheating to your system.

Yes in the 5 element system. But using the expansion of the Bagua with 8 outer sections and one in the center, there are other pieces with are related to the elements, which equals 9 parts. For example, Knowledge sector (at 7 o’clock) is USUALLY located to the front left of the house from the street, is a mountain Gua, blue in color and correlates to the hand, and is Earth related, while looking opposite to the far back right corner, completely across the from this Gua is Partnership (at 1 o'clock). It is the most Yin or female Gua and is also related to Earth, as in Earth Mother. It is the Gua of mother; the body part is abdomen and some other organs. The color is pink or red and white. These are the best colors to use for the Partnership side of the house or far back SW corner. The color is actually the color of the inside of the mouth, which is very earthy and sexy. Pink denotes love and pure intent, joy, romance and happiness.

The center of the Bagua or middle is considered the main Earth Gua and Tai Chi of a house, the grounding force and center of the “wheel.” The colors are Yellow, orange and rich earth colors, but not light beige, which is known as a dead color, or dead grass, dead plants, etc. Brown can be used if it is rich with deep red and black tones. The color stands for stability, depth, something long-established and enduring, elegance, autumn, and the passage of time and heaviness.

The other organs of the human body can be found in the center. There is no hexagram in the center, only the Tai Chi symbol. Yellow in the center of the Bagua stand for tolerance, patience, wisdom, perspective, power, earth and loyalty.

The Partnership Yin Gua has 3 broken lines _ _ stacked on top of each other 3 high, and is the most receptive of all the hexagrams or weakest since it has no Yang solid lines.

Helpful People is located in the right front of the house and yard at 4 or 5 o’clock. It is the heaven Gua, gray in color, considered Metal or (white) and (black) and its aspect is male, ancestors and lineage. Gray denotes frustration and hopelessness; also the marriage of opposites such as black and white – and thus the creation of balance and resolving conflict. The body part is head. This is the Gua where I put an altar or station to pray. It contains several angels including St. Michael, a Kuan Yin statue, a world map and a round metal ice bucket with notes of what I would like to happen. I chant and pray many times at noon or midnight, which is a time when they say the Heavens open a bit wider. This is the corner you ask for help. Actually the altar is on top of my refrigerator in the loft.

Health is our greatest asset. If we don’t maintain our health, life is not easy. Using Feng Shui to design dwellings that are beneficial can make the difference between struggle and happiness. I have been working on a remodel design for a famous singer and his wife. They hired me to work with a well-known architect to remodel and design additions to an old homestead house. He was asked to follow my Feng Shui-friendly advice.

Over the next few months while my clients were on tour, the architect became intimidating and inflexible as I sent him several corrections to his designs. His emails became increasingly demeaning and very unprofessional. I now had to make a tough decision based on my experience of how the house affects those living in the house; even if the owners are not physically there most of the time, it is still a part of them, including the 100+ acres and four other houses on the property.

After several weeks, I wished my clients the best of luck, but decided I couldn’t put my name on the floor plans he proposed because of the many detail designs which could cause several problems. So I called the builder and told them I was withdrawing from the assignment. When asked why, I explained that in my opinion they would loose money, fame and have problems with the marriage with the proposed floor plan from the architect. I thanked them graciously for the opportunity of building a Feng Shui-friendly haven, and assumed that was the end of it. Next thing I knew, the singer “trashed” the whole plan and has decided to build a new house with my suggestions. That way it will not have to be “corrected.” So integrity is priceless on many levels.

Caroline Patrick Bor Nei is a certified Feng Shui Practitioner and a Red Ribbon Professional of The International Feng Shui Guild. Her abilities as a consultant and artist are widely known in the US and abroad. Caroline has completed over 5000 consultations for individuals, large and small businesses. Return clients appreciate the value of her suggestions both mundane and transcendental, providing support on multiple levels. As a college art instructor for many years, Caroline understands the power of color; its symbolism and the visual effect images have on individuals in their surroundings. Her home base is Portland, OR where she continues to write, teach, paint, do illustrations and give herbal medicine making classes. She is available for Feng Shui consultations; Feng Shui art consultant, advises builders, architects and mentors a few serious students.

Call (503) 208-2960 or email caroline@fengshuiartistry.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.

Caroline’s “West Meets East” weekly newspaper column can be read from archives on her website www.fengshuiartistry.com.