WELCOME TO MY BLOG

Welcome to my blog! My daughter Grace helped me set it up (actually she did the whole thing!) and showed me that I could have an interactive (you can feed them) virtual koi pond – in truth they look more like tadpoles then koi, but close enough! I figured I feng shuied (is that even a word?)my house, so why not my blog! I picked 9 fish as that is supposed to be lucky. The number 9 symbolizes completion and fulfillment, and I am hoping that this blogging is a fulfilling experience for both blogger and reader. Feng Shui, for those of you who might not know it, is the art of organizing your environment to invite a flow of good and benevolent energies into your life. The wonderful Master George Yau, whose family has been skilled in Feng Shui since the Ming Dynasty, has been feng shuing our house for the past 6 years. Every year he arrives, sometime around Chinese New Year, and gives us our yearly tune up. This is the Year of the Rabbit and apparently we can make progress by leaps and bounds: after all rabbits hop, they don’t walk. That sounds way better than last year’s volatile Tiger! Every year our menagerie of frightening Chinese statues are carefully rearranged to protect the newly assigned disaster areas. And every year, my husband exhibits a suicidal tendency, insisting that digging must be done in that particular corner of the property; and every year I call Master Yau screaming, “Casper wants to dig in the disaster area!” So, Master Yau gets on the phone and gives him the same speech, “Casper, digging very bad! You no dig there!” and his digging plans are once again aborted.

At first, I must admit, I was a little horrified by the size and style of these snorting statues. A giant bronze bull dwarfs my desk. So, I asked Master Yau, “Could I please hide the bull, maybe in a closet?” I thought he was going to have a heart attack. “Ohh! I thought you good people! You see! You will fall in love with this bull, it will do good work for you, it will bring you luck!” So, I resigned myself to sharing my desk with the great big bull. And he was right, I have learned to love him, I even pet him from time to time. And money did come, so maybe he is earning his keep.

Master Yau is also a koi master. He has a collection of koi as big as dolphins and he has inducted Casper into the koi breeding ministry. Master Yau’s philosophy on koi is, “Men need hobby, something to occupy them so they don’t stray; either they have mermaids or koi – koi much better!” So he convinced me to allow a giant hole to be dug out of my yard to accommodate these behemoth fish. Apparently they can live over 200 years old, so they will have to be assigned in our will.

Koi represent harmony and peace. They symbolize healthy, peaceful community because they never fight. Our family still fights occasionally, but all in all, we’re becoming more and more harmonious. So maybe the koi have been a good influence.

Feng shui seems superstitious to me and I am not a particularly superstitious person; but I do love the concept of sanctifying a space and turning my home into a sanctuary. And, I am a firm believer in setting a space to intend a certain coherence of loving communication, benevolence, nurturing and creativity. I would like for those who are invited into our home to feel welcomed by an atmosphere of warmth and an immediate sense of wellbeing.

As far as the Feng Shui, the ritual of arranging my house to receive the energy of grace and good fortune is fun; I am inviting these qualities into my life symbolically. I have always had a sense that the home that I create for my loved ones is an externalization of my consciousness and an extension of my embrace. Perhaps because my body has expanded to house creation through 3 pregnancies that this is an organic concept for me.

http://myfengshuimaster.com/ -Master Yau's Link

© 2011