Where is Your Clutter Causing The Most Harm?
Does anyone go to sleep at night wishing to wake up to a house full of clutter and poof it happens overnight? Of course not, things pile up day-by-day, month-by-month and year-by-year because we're too busy to take the time to get organized or just don't know where to start. Did you know that most people waste 6+ weeks a year looking through their clutter for something they may never find, but you do find all sorts of useless treasures. I define clutter as anything you don't use, love or have a purpose for saving it... not a "maybe we'll need it someday" excuse. In The Courage to Be Rich, Suze Orman talks about how your clutter is affecting your bottom line, because you're buying things you don't really need or already have, but can't find.
From a Feng Shui perspective, there are certain directions from the center of your home/office (both inside and outside) that are the worst areas to leave dirty and cluttered according to the current time period and your date of birth/gender. During our current time period, which started on February 4, 2004 and goes until February 4, 2024, the worst places are the Northeast and the Northwest. In either of those directions clutter causes financial set-backs, health problems and relationships problems. Clutter in the NE also causes children to be disobedient, and in the NW it makes it difficult for a business to become well-known.
From the moment of your birth, you also have a Personal Trigram direction from the Yi Jing (old spelling was I Ching) that affects your finances, health and relationships. Each Trigram of the Yi Jing not only corresponds to a direction, but it's also associated with a number, a symbol, an element (including the colors that represent that element), a familial relationship, parts of the body and illnesses related to those body parts.
When you position the eight Trigrams of the Yi Jing in their corresponding directions in a tic-tac-toe shaped grid with the South direction at the top, they create a magic square. A magic square is a mathematical grid that results in the same sum when you add the numbers in each square in any direction. As seen in the diagram below, the magic square used in Feng Shui has 5 in the center square, which added to two of the opposing Trigram numbers results in the number 15. Since this magic square has eight outer boxes it is often called a BaGua Map, because BaGua in Chinese simply means eight portions or sides. The term BaGua is used in many things Chinese, such as BaGua Tai Chi, which has eight movements that are continually repeated. However, there's nothing really magical about a BaGua grid.
'MAGIC SQUARE' DIAGRAM
Feng Shui isn't mystical... it's a sister science to Acupuncture, with the same 5,000 year history of improving people's lives. Both of these ancient Chinese sciences work with the 5 elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, which are represented by the eight Trigrams. The colors that represent the element of your Personal Trigram are supportive colors for you to wear. However, they are not necessarily good for the Feng Shui energies in your home, because those energies are not influenced by your personal element. Your building's energy blueprint is created when the energy is captured under the roof according to the exact 15° orientation of your building.
As mentioned above, each Trigram relates to a familial relationship, which has nothing to do with your actual gender. In other words, if you're the Trigram of the eldest daughter (which I am) you may not be the oldest or even a female. It's more how your personality relates to the familial relationships as they were in the ancient Chinese culture. In addition, sometimes your personality reflects aspects of the symbol that relates to your Trigram, such as a ZHEN person who can be loud and moving like their thunder symbol.
Your Trigrams original or 'home' 45° direction (as shown above) needs to be kept clean, uncluttered and well lit... both on the inside and outside of your home and office for your entire lifetime to avoid creating a negative influence on your health, relationships and/or finances. In every building there are Feng Shui energies that create delays and procrastination, which can lead to clutter. Those same energies bring accidents and major health problems, so those areas are the most important remedies I go over with clients during a Feng Shui Advantage® consultation. However, if you need help getting organized or staying organized... I leave that up to the organizing professionals. If you'd like a referral to a qualified professional organizer in your area, send me an email with ORGANIZER in the subject line. For advice on stopping Junk Mail, which is a major source of clutter read my article at http://www.fengshuiadvantage.com/articles/sourceofclutter.htm.
Which Trigram Are You?
Your gender and date of birth determines which of the 8 Trigrams is your Personal Trigram. Feng Shui uses the Chinese SOLAR calendar that usually begins on the 4th or 5th of February each year, which is the half-way point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Therefore, if you were born between January 1st & February 3rd you are considered born in the previous year.
See if you can determine your Personal Trigram from the following Trigram descriptions.
QIAN Trigram – Northwest, 6, Heaven, Hard Metal (white, gray, gold, silver), Father (husband, head-of-household, owner, leader or boss)... Head & Lungs (headaches, pulmonary diseases); QIAN people are natural born leaders and authority figures, however, they can be headstrong. A client's QIAN granddaughter has the other children in daycare following her lead, even though she isn't doing anything to cause it.
KUN Trigram – Southwest, 2, Earth, Soft Earth (yellow, brown, earth tones), Mother (wife, female owner, older lady)... Abdomen, Stomach, Reproductive organs (digestive & reproductive disorders); KUN is the equivalent to Mother Earth. They are gracious caregivers and nurturers at heart. I have several KUN clients who are doctors, nurses and chefs. Sometimes they need a little push, just like when you plant something and you need to move the soil up around the plant to hold it in its place until it takes root.
ZHEN Trigram – East, 3, Thunder, Hard Wood (green to represent leaves), Eldest Son... Legs, Feet, Throat (hysteria, convulsions, leg/feet/throat problems); ZHEN relates to thunder, which is loud and moving. ZHEN people like to be moving and would hate a job where they had to sit still for long. They are also enthusiastic.
XUN Trigram – Southeast, 4, Wind, Soft Wood (green to represent leaves), Eldest Daughter... Hips, Thighs, Buttocks (colds, rheumatism, hip/thigh/buttock problems); XUN is the eldest daughter whose marriage into a family in a nearby town would be arranged from the time of her birth. Knowing she would move like the wind, she would be restless and crave variety. She would also love to travel since, when she married, she would travel back and forth between her two families.
KAN Trigram – North, 1, Water, Water (blue, black), Middle Son (middle aged man)... Ears, Blood, Kidneys (earache, blood or kidney ailments); KAN people are flexible, yet focused and determined like water. Water is soft, but the most powerful element on earth... since it can erode a mountain and corrodes metal.
LI Trigram – South, 9, Fire, Fire (red, purple, burgundy, violet), Middle Daughter (middle aged woman)... Eyes, Heart (eye & heart disease); LI people are like the "Energizer Bunny," because they keep going & going & going, sometimes until they burn themselves out. Most LI people only rest when they are ill. They are very passionate and can have a hot-temper that can blow like a tea kettle.
GEN Trigram – Northeast, 8, Mountain, Hard Earth (yellow, brown, earth tones), Youngest Son (youth / children in general)... Small Bones: Arms, Hands, Fingers, Spine (arthritis, broken bones); GEN relates to the mountain, which is hard earth. It takes forever for a mountain to age, so a GEN person is very youthful. Mountains are not easily moved so GEN people are stable, however, they can become stubborn.
DUI Trigram – West, 7, Marsh, Soft Metal (white, gray, gold, silver), Youngest Daughter (young girls)... Mouth, Teeth, Chest (mouth & chest related diseases); DUI is the youngest daughter who was the more artistic, sociable and talkative in the traditional Chinese family. Therefore, you won't find a DUI working as a librarian or any other profession where they need to be quiet.
To confirm which is your personal Trigram... Send me an email with TRIGRAM in the subject line. In the body of that email list your first name, gender and date of birth (yes, including the year) to PK@FengShuiAdvantage.com. I'll send you an email confirming your personal Trigram, along with all its supportive 45° directions.
Your Personal Trigram directions are only the tip of the Feng Shui iceberg when it comes to how you're affected by Earth's magnetic pull. According to your gender and date of birth you also have a dozen 15° Feng Shui Personal Directions, which barely 5% of Feng Shui consultants can determine. These more powerful 15° directions can override your general 45° Trigram directions. For instance, I'm a XUN person, so SE is my Trigram's home direction and my most restful sleeping direction. However, my personal "Lonely Pillow" direction is 15° of SE, so I sleep in my second best sleeping direction to avoid any interference with my love-life.
All of your Feng Shui Personal Directions have beautiful Chinese names that would confuse most of my readers, so I refer to all of your Personal Directions as your "Lifetime Keys," because they are with you from the moment of your birth and they're the key to how you're influenced by Earth's magnetic pull for your entire lifetime. After working with clients much like you for 14 years, I've fine-tuned the process of explaining how to locate... then avoid or activate ALL of your "Lifetime Keys / Personal Directions" including your 15° directions for:
- Prosperity vs. Consuming
- Valued Friends vs. Backstabbers
- Luck / Romance vs. Lonely Pillow
- Creativity vs. Analytical Abilities
- Injury vs. Robbery
- Marriage vs. Celebration
A Feng Shui Advantage® consultation reveals how to manage your building's energy patterns using the 5 elements as beautiful accessories that blend with your décor, in addition to including 2 pages for each resident's Feng Shui Personal Directions. One page describes all of their Personal Directions and the second is a diagram that can be used to find those directions anywhere in the world. For complete consultation details visit... www.FengShuiAdvantage.com/consulting
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
P.K. Odle is a celebrated classical Yi Jing Feng Shui consultant and the Executive Director of the world-renowned American Feng Shui Institute®, where she has taught since 1998. She created The Feng Shui Advantage's "Lifetime Keys Personal Directions Self-Mastery Toolbox." To learn more about using the ancient Chinese science of Yi Jing Feng Shui to improve your Health, Relationships and Finances... through 16 weeks of FREE TIPS subscribe to her award-winning eNewsletter, The Feng Shui Advantage MONTHLY, at http://www.FengShuiAdvantage.com. The next issue could change your life!