My London Feng Shui conference recap continues with several more lectures on a wide range of Feng Shui-related topics.
(Need to catch up? My recap of the first three conference speakers can be found in Part 1 of my 2013 Feng Shui conference series.)
KB Lim, a Feng Shui master from Singapore (who also spoke at the 2011 Feng Shui conference) clarified some of the mysteries of the I Ching, the ancient book of Chinese wisdom.
KB spoke about how the relationship between the 10 Heavenly Stems (Yin & Yang of each of the Five Elements) and 12 Earthly Branches (the 12 Chinese astrological animals) affects any I Ching reading.
He also described a view of the Bagua time cycle that was new to me: starting in the East and going clockwise, we move through the Beginning (spring), the Smooth (summer), the Harvest (autumn) and the Analytical (winter). This adds a sense of depth to my understanding of a wonderful tool we use every day!
Next we heard from Neil Kingham, a Traditional Chinese Medicince practitioner from Wales. Neil’s lecture emphasized ways to use food to achieve balance in our bodies and our lives, similar to the ways we bring balance and harmony into a space using Feng Shui.
For example, each of the Five Elements calls forth a specific flavor: Earth/Sweetness, Metal/Pungent flavors, Water/Saltiness, Wood/Sour flavors, and Fire/Bitter tastes.
Of all these five flavors, Neil said that most of us lack balance in Fire foods — those with a bitter taste. If you’d like to get more Fire into your life, try things like rhubarb, asparagus, and especially freshly-picked young dandelion leaves (available in most front yards!).
This part of the day also included a moving tribute to Feng Shui master, author and educator Jon Sandifer, who died last year after a short illness.
From his base in London Jon was a leader of the international Feng Shui community and he is sorely missed by everyone who knew him. I feel blessed to have met Jon at the last conference I attended; his humor and spirit brought a sense of lightness to everything he did.
Tomorrow’s wrap-up of the conference will include my recap of the final two lectures of the day by Howard Choy and Karen Kingston.