Best of the Season from Open Spaces Feng Shui!

This is my last blog post of 2009, one of the biggest and best years of my life.

It seems like much longer ago but it was only last February that I launched Open Spaces Feng Shui.

The rest of the year turned into a succession of wonderful things: connecting with remarkable people in person and on line; speaking, writing and consulting about Feng Shui full time; and generally immersing myself in something I feel absolutely passionate about.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the support and good energy you’ve sent my way this year.

All good wishes to you and yours for the holidays and a prosperous, abundant 2010!

The Winter Solstice: A Big Day in Feng Shui

Today’s a big day in the northern hemisphere: the Winter Solstice, the shortest day and longest night.

In Feng Shui, Yin, the feminine, is at its peak and the wheel turns towards Yang as the days start to get longer. And of course it’s also the first day of Winter.

Water — cold, dark and deep — is Winter’s element.

It’s time to hunker down and reflect, to connect with loved ones and feed your Fire in a myriad of ways, inside and out.

Yesterday’s huge snowstorm created a lot of perfect winter images to savor during this most snug and secluded of seasons. I loved watching this man feed the geese in our local park — stirring up a spark of Fire on a freezing cold day.

After enjoying these scenes yesterday we looked forward to getting cozy with a hot drink!

What’s your favorite way to enjoy the winter?

Fireplaces: Bad (& Good!) Feng Shui

Here are examples of design-magazine fireplaces — a few “Do’s and Don’ts” from a Feng Shui perspective.

First up, a giant painting of a cow:

Pictures of animals symbolize the Fire element — and of course, so does the fire in the hearth. This arrangement is “too hot.”

Here’s another idea that doesn’t quite work from a Feng Shui perspective:

In Feng Shui’s cycle of the Five Elements, Wood creates Fire, so this chair (ideal for kindling!) is a case of compounding what’s already a very hot message.

Why are mirrors so great over fireplaces? Because they represent the cooling element of Water, calming down the heat of any fireplace whether there’s a fire going or not.

Here’s a nice example:

With its circular art (Metal) and earthenware jug (Earth), and backed up by the Water-y mirror, this mantelpiece beautifully balances the Fire element.

What do you think? If you have a fireplace you’d like me to look at from a Feng Shui perspective, send it on in!

Q. of the Week: Mirror in the Bedroom?

Here’s a question that arrived today in my inbox:

“There is a huge round mirror above the headboard. It reflects light from the window that is on the wall directly across the room. Bad?”

Mirrors get a lot of use in Feng Shui, but in the bedroom mirrors disturb and stir up the energy in a negative way.

The presence of a mirror in the bedroom interferes with your ability to get a good night’s sleep and reduces the feeling of sanctuary that’s necessary in your bedroom for all kinds of reasons, romance and health being perhaps the most important!

To have good Feng Shui in your bedroom, move mirrors out of the room and into other spaces in your home — hallways, living rooms and dining rooms, for instance.

Bad Feng Shui in the Bedroom: What Not To Do

Part of the fun of being a Feng Shui expert is spotting pictures of truly-terrible Feng Shui in popular design magazines and using them as examples of “What Not to Do.” They crop up so often that I plan to devote this whole week to them.

Today let’s focus on bedrooms, where good Feng Shui is key.

This is one of my all-time favorites. How would you like to be sleeping under this aggressive-looking lamp? It feels like it could eat the sleeper alive, making this bedroom seem unsafe, the number one requirement for good bedroom Feng Shui.

Or how about this one:

The last thing we want is to feel like we’re being watched as we sleep! I know I’d feel really uncomfortable with this spooky set of eyes hovering over me all night. What about you?

Or this:

From a Feng Shui perspective two things are wrong with this setup : the words “I know” seem ambiguous for a bedroom — does one member of this couple feel that he or she “knows” better than the other?

Besides that, having such powerful electromagnetic energy near their heads is downright harmful. Really a Feng Shui no-no.

Do you have examples you’d like to share? By all means please send them in!!