Lunar Calendar
September 6th – Labor Day – traditionally a day to work on getting ready for the fall and the change of seasons
8th – Rosh Hashanah begins, New Moon
12th – Mercury goes direct! Communications improve for most of us
22nd – Autumnal Equinox Moon Festival
23rd – Sukkoth – Full Moon
24th – American Indian Day
FENG SHUI Element Series
EARTH – second in our series of the 5 Chinese elements, is associated with late summer. The earth yields its bounty with the beginning of the harvest this time of the year.
Table of the elements (from August 2010 Newsletter).
In feng shui, the mountains and water are the vital energies of life force, chi. While water is more financial and possessions; the earth element is more personal. It represents people, their health and relationships. The Love relationship of the bagua is in the SW. The health is in the center. Knowledge is in the NE.
- Earth rules the late summer season and is found in the center of our surroundings.
- Earth is represented by rocks, other heavy objects made of clay, stone and materials from the earth. Pottery, stoneware, statuary, etc., are often earth objects.
- All the earth colors portray the earth element … from light beige to dark brown, oranges and the yellows like the yellow earth of China.
- The earth shapes are rectangular or square, low solid balanced regular shapes – a basic box.
- The qualities of earth are stable and trustworthy. For example a brick or stone bank with a significant or heavy entrance signifies a place that will be around for a long time. Since this is a place that has your money, you don’t want it to be a flimsy place, do you?
- There are certain times and certain years when you want to keep the earth undisturbed and protected in certain directions. Check your annual update given out at Chinese New Year for where this area is each year.
- Earth in the compass system is represented by the numbers 2, 5, 8 in your house grid.
- Remember, we love the number 8 and what it represents – wealth, prosperity and good fortune. We want to encourage this earthy element. The fire element will do that. Fire creates ashes or earth. Adding more earth or earthy colors will also help. Using it in your business telephone number or in transactions is considered lucky.
- The number 5 area is not so fortunate. It’s not the number itself that is undesirable, the number is only a used to represent a lot of undesirable stuff that we don’t want to talk about or put into our subconscious minds. This is the area where we need metal – the next element in the cycle. Earth contains metal and is considered is the mother of metal. Whenever an element is too strong or undesirable, just bring in the offspring (child) of that element and it will be reduced or weakened. Some of us as parents know that our children demand much time and energy from their parents. Since it is a natural thing, it is an okay thing to do. Adding moving metal objects like clocks with second hands or swinging metal pendulums (metal in motion) is stronger than metal that just sits there. This might be a place for the coin and salt cure as well.
- The number 2 is the third earth number/ area. It has a strong feminine energy that doesn’t always have the best connotation in ancient days and was often reduced with metal as well. Feminine energy is a good thing to many of us today and may need support , not reduction.
- The taste is sweet.
- The smell is fragrant
- The emotion is sympathy.
Stable, supportive, solid and heavy, the earth is here for us for the long haul.
Pictures were taken at Kubota Gardens near Seattle. For more photos of this wonderful garden and other places on my recent garden tour of the NW see my face book profile:
http://www.facebook.com/fengshui.pam