West Meets East©

By Caroline Patrick

Reconnecting with Family

How can family life be improved by using Feng Shui? The formula used centuries ago to locate the best locations for grave sites, temples, villages and city centers can now be used in your own home and towns. Modernizing the ancient concept of “Wind and Water” for today’s living, our homes, offices, airports, ports of entry, city centers, school systems, businesses and corporations are enjoying the balance and harmony Feng Shui provides.

The world is very large, but using an octagonal grid called the Bagua, the world becomes more personal, as the grid contains nine aspects of our human needs and behaviors. They are very important aspects and are labeled Career, Knowledge, Family, Wealth, Fame, Partnership, Children and Creativity, Helpful People and Travel and Health. There are many schools of Feng Shui, but my very favorite is called Black Sect Feng Shui. This more modern version is easy to follow if you want to improve life in a general way. It doesn’t push religion, it is just a formula which can be used by anyone of any religion or culture to make your life more peaceful and teaches values, how to maintain abundance in all nine of these sections called Guas. A visual view would be to imagine eight equal pieces of a pie with a round center called the Tai Chi.

Last January my daughter and I met in a tiny secluded California café to plan family summer reunions in the Midwest . My mother had six siblings and four were still alive and active, but before the final plans were made, two more of our elders passed away. I was upset with myself for missing the last gathering, and was determined to make “this one” happen. I placed a bamboo flute in the Family Sector of the house vertically, above family pictures, with a strong wish to see everyone strong and healthy in the summer, which became a prayer as I visualized a perfect trip. Bamboo is a very sacred plant is Asia, as it is strong enough to build structures, but also flexible enough to flow in the wind, a perfect example of how family should communicate. The Wood Element supports family life. So the bamboo flute “strengthened” my wishes.

As Spring arrived, so did the thought of expanding the trip to Oklahoma and seeing my husband’s brother, nieces, nephews, cousins and revisiting our old schools, the children’s preschool, homes we built (with bad Feng Shui and knowing the trouble they caused from bad design details), visiting elderly relatives, probably for the last time, and just being in the atmosphere of where my husband and I fell in love and married. My husband decided he wasn’t going and that was fine with me, as I wanted an unplanned journey, not a regimented documentary! Now it was my daughter, my son and the two grandsons who would journey to the great Midwest in the 90-degree heat and humidity. As the plans continued, I could see my husband beginning to change his mind and of course he decided, yes, he would go.

I reinforced my vision of a cool vacation, while my family laughed and continued with asking the “powers that be” to bless us with that one special week of unexpected June coolness, which my mother swore by. “There is always one week in June when unexpectedly, a cold front moves in,” she would predict. My Dad was a pilot, always looking to the skies for weather patterns before jumping in his plane, while my Mother was a dreamer, just looking to the skies. She could tell time by the sun as accurately as Big Ben in England.

So our group expanded as Spring rolled into Summer and we took to the skies and began flying backward in time zones. The kids had a blast, as they hadn’t flown in a couple of years and chose Grandpa to entertain them with tall tales and lots of coloring books. I leaned back and visited with my son as the airplane did the work and took us to the middle of the United States, or the Tai Chi of our nation. This Center Gua is related to the Earth Element and the Health of our nation. Almost anything can be Feng Shui’d. The body, the face, your hand, a country, a port of entry or the United States. If the Center of our country isn’t healthy, then we all suffer in some way. (continued next week)

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS 2006------sign up now------

1. ART classes and workshops ---- from 6 weeks to Saturday All Day Workshops!

2. FENG SHUI ISLAND TOUR---- on site evaluations in the San Juan Islands, WASHINGTON STATE

Where is the entrance or “Mouth of Chi” to the Island?

Please email caroline@fengshuiartistry.com for more information on classes or to purchase her greeting cards.

For Pet Sitting call Barbara Pike at “I Care Pet Services,” 707-745-3420

There are many Feng Shui products available online, but here are my favorites where I personally shop, www.yunlintemple.org for the finest quality; www.harmonydesigns.net ask for Shelly; www.fengshuishopper.com ask for Marina; and www.fengshuifusions.com . All items are cleared and blessed.

Caroline Patrick Caroline's Feng Shui Concepts Mt. Vernon, WA 360-424-1501

caroline@fengshuiartistry.com www.fengshuiartistry.com www.moongateschool.com

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.